Holiday gatherings lay bare all the little quirks of a kitchen. The hallway gets full of relatives holding pans of foil-covered food. Someone opens the refrigerator door right as a baking dish comes out of the oven. The cook ends up trapped between the sink and three people trying to get somewhere. When you’re thinking about kitchen remodeling near Western High School, it’s good to figure out what will need fixing before a November dinner or December party shows up on your schedule.
If you plan your kitchen remodeling for October, some types of changes may still be feasible. But getting custom cabinets, countertops, appliances and a final inspection done might mean your kitchen remodel could spill over into the holidays. Time your kitchen remodeling as well as your measurements.
Clear the Routes Between Work Zones
That classic holiday traffic jam happens most often when the space between the fridge and the island is too narrow. You grab a bowl of cranberry sauce just as someone else walks through with a pan. In many Davie kitchens, it isn’t a lack of total space. It’s the path they need to take to get somewhere.
A simple layout adjustment can move an island, widen a pathway, or swap a peninsula for a space-saving counter. Even repositioning the dishwasher away from main walkways prevents everyday bottlenecks when loading glasses or utensils. For homeowners planning a kitchen remodeling near Western High School, practical design starts by mapping out these daily movements. Grab some painter’s tape and outline your primary foot traffic zones before buying cabinets. Pay attention to how far the refrigerator door opens, where the oven handle sticks out, and where the trash can rest so no one carrying a hot dish has to dodge someone at the sink.Reserve Counter Space for Food and Drinks
The counter goes away quickly when you set down the mixer, the cutting board, the pie dish and three pots of food. You can set aside a short run of cabinets for a place to put things down without turning the kitchen into a food storage depot. Some other ideas include:
- Wider overhang on the island for plates and informal seating
- Pull-out shelf next to the oven for baking sheets
- Small counter next to the refrigerator for drinks and grocery bags
- Cabinet for serving pieces, trivets and aluminum pans
It takes several weeks to get cabinets, then countertops get measured after the old cabinets are taken out. You don’t usually measure stone tops while the old cabinets are still in place, so a kitchen remodel starting in the fall may mean you need some space between demo and the first meal you have at the counter.
Set Up Drinks Away From the Stove
A drink station keeps people from crowding around the stove while you sauté onions. It can be a little counter with a mini-fridge, some shelves for cups and a drawer for tea bags and bottle openers. When you’re hosting a December brunch, you’ll want the drinks set up so people can pour their own coffee without opening the refrigerator repeatedly.
This is unnecessary if you already have a bar or host small groups at a time. For big parties, it might be better to set up the drinks near the dining room instead of next to the stove, which tends to get steamy and crowded.
Delivery times vary for appliances, so think about when you need everything delivered. Appliance delivery companies may need to load the stuff out of a garage or a side gate. You might need to install an outlet before you can hook up a beverage fridge.
Finish Lighting and Cleanup Before Hosting
Dinner gets started later in the evening toward the end of fall – NOAA explains the why of it at www.noaa.gov/jetstream. One overhead light leaves the back of the counter shadowy, especially underneath cabinets where you can’t see the blades of a knife, the numbers on a measuring cup or the edge of a black baking sheet.
Each type of lighting, including under-cabinet lights, recessed lights, and pendants over the island, illuminates a different part of the room. Dimmer switches are nice if there’s a party going on in the dining room while you’re doing dishes in the kitchen. A crooked switch plate or a flickering puck light is something you’ll probably want to fix before the party is over, not when people are arriving with cake.
Plan Time for the Final Dust
The end of any remodel includes sealant, knobs, grout smears and white powder that gathers inside drawers after the countertop has been cut. Plan for those last touches before you pull out the holiday napkins and serving platters.
Start by making a list of the holidays coming up, then find out when cabinets, counters and appliances can be delivered before choosing a day to start demo.
