If you view cooking less as a hobby, and more as a chore, it can be paralysing to have a large portion of your house taken up with cooking space that you'll never used. Here are some ways to renovate and rejig your kitchen to make it more useful.
For renters
The kitchen is full of useful cupboards and deep storage spaces that can be used to store many non-cooking related supplies. Purchase some storage boxes from a container store and make the most of your space for storing shoes, books or other bulky items you might not need everyday.
Other temporary kitchen renovation options include installing screens or light sliding doors to isolate the "functional" kitchen area, opening up the rest of the kitchen space for entertaining or living area.
For owners who love to entertain
If you love to entertain friends but prefer to buy in premade foods and focus on socialising, why not remove the stove and extra bench area, and put in a kitchen bar and some serving islands? The kitchen area can be a great place to gather around and share a chat at a party, particularly if you aren't stuck juggling cooking duties at the same time.
You can also try changing the light fittings at the same time to give a more flattering warm light, rather than a clinical cooler light suitable for preparation of finicky snacks. If you are going to be doing more entertaining in the kitchen it can also be useful to extend your sound system, so you can get some atmospheric music piping through the kitchen area as well.
For owners with other priorities
If food is just not that exciting to you, and you mainly order in or heat up frozen meals, try removing the main benches and ovens/stovetops and moving a table into the gap where you can sit for small meals. You can use the rest of the kitchen area as a casual living area and modify kitchen cabinets to hold your TV and AV equipment, leaving you free to use your current living area as music studio, second bedroom or home system.
Think about including custom cupboards into your renovation to hide away the fridge, dishwasher and microwave to draw attention away from the food preparation aspect of the room.
If you are overwhelmed by how your kitchen currently looks, speak to a kitchen renovations specialist such as Kitchen Connection to find a solution that truly fits your lifestyle.
