Guest Blogger: A Kitchen Renovation Should Improve your Organization

Guest Blog Entry #40, Entry #382,  January 11, 2011

This month of organization has helpful tips for taking each room of your home and organizing to its best potential. Even though organization is good, there comes a point in some rooms, especially the kitchen where a renovation should lead to organization. Meaning, if you have an outdated kitchen, all of the organizing tricks in the world may just be a band-aid approach. A kitchen renovation may solve current organization issues and lead to a well functioning and beautiful kitchen.

A kitchen renovation should help your organizaton

Today, my guest blogger Robin Siegerman ARIDO, CKD, from Renovation Bootcamp shows you how a kitchen renovation

Robin Siegerman

should vastly improve organization and showcases some beautiful examples of organization at its finest. See if Robin’s reasons below to get a kitchen remodel are in tune with your kitchen. You never know, the difference in a renovation may also help you sell your home quicker when it is time!

——————————————–

KITCHEN RENOVATION SHOULD VASTLY IMPROVE ORGANIZATION

Think of me as your renovation Drill Sergeant.  Yikes! Pretty cocky, you’re thinking?  Well, after 18 years designing and renovating kitchens, I can tell you, I’ve pretty much got this thing down cold, and I want you to benefit from my experience.

In my experience, the most compelling reasons to spend a lot of money remodeling your kitchen (even a modest face-lift will cost you thousands), endure months of mess and dust and workmen tromping through your house are:

1.  The kitchen is butt ugly

2.  The appliances are all on their last legs

3.  It is inconvenient and unpleasant to work in, which results in dread of meal preparation.

When I am called by a prospective client to do a Kitchen Use and Needs Audit™, invariably, I find that the biggest problem is disorganization which leads to frustration and daily stress.  Many builder homes may have kitchens that look pretty good when you walk into the room, but on closer inspection, are missing or low on most of the conveniences which make a kitchen truly functional and organized.  Things like enough shallow drawers, deep pot drawers or pull out internal shelves, spice storage, carving knife storage, accessible re-cycling receptacles, and even food storage space.  Condos are even worse.  Then there are old homes which were built with the idea that a functional kitchen had the 3 major components of fridge, stove and sink and anything else was a frill.  After all, the men of previous generations didn’t use the kitchen, so convenience and aesthetics were of no concern to them.

A kitchen renovation may be right for your home

The Kitchen Use and Needs Audit™ allows me to delve deep into a prospective client’s life and kitchen habits:

• are they left or right handed
• are there kids or pets
• do they have allergies or disabilities
• how many times per week do they cook from scratch
• how often do they bake
• how many people use the kitchen at one time
• do they shop weekly, daily or in bulk
• what special small appliances do they have (bread maker, pasta maker, rice cooker, food processor)
• what other activities besides cooking are done in the kitchen (homework, bill paying, watching TV, surfing the web)
• how many people does a kitchen eating area need to accommodate

Your kitchen organization can be closer than you think!

These are just a few things which help me get a clear picture of the needs and lifestyle of the clients so that everything can be designed with their habits in mind and all the equipment and implements can be stored at point of use.

One thing to keep in mind during the planning stage is that internal cabinet accessories are very costly.  So it’s important to come up with a realistic budget for the entire renovation project before you get started with a designer, so they know how much can be allocated to the cabinetry and you can get the biggest bang for your buck.

Robin Siegerman, ARIDO, CKD, is a Registered Interior Designer and Certified Kitchen Designer and has been practicing in Toronto for 18 years.  Her  forthcoming book: Renovation Bootcamp®: Kitchen – Design and Remodel Your Kitchen Without Losing Your Wallet Your Mind or Your Spouse by Yorkshire Publishing will be available in February 2011 at www.RenovationBootcamp.com

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.