Building a home is overwhelming (been there, done that!) … and one of the hardest (yet most fun) parts is designing a functional kitchen!
The kitchen is the most utilized room in the house and the top place for friends and family to gather … so you want it to work well for both entertaining and everyday living (e.g. putting away your dishes).
In this episode, I’m sharing 9 tips for designing a functional kitchen. These are all things I LOVE about my own kitchen design. I’m also sharing a couple of things that I wish I had done differently in my kitchen (so you can learn from my ‘mistakes’).
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Welcome back to the Before You Build Podcast! I’m your host, Carrie Barker (a.k.a. Caroline on Design), and today in episode 37, we are talking kitchen design. This is such a fun topic and I can’t wait to share with you what I love (and don’t love) about my current kitchen.
MY OPEN KITCHEN LAYOUT
First of all, let me just say that I LOVE having my kitchen open to the family room. I know there are a lot of open-concept kitchen haters out there, but I personally love this layout.
These are the two rooms that my family spends 90% of our time in … so I wanted to combine the rooms so we can all be together. However, my girls are teenagers now so they don’t hang out with us as much as they used to, but when they do, it’s in our open kitchen/family room :).
Below is a visual of my exact kitchen layout.
Interested in seeing my entire custom floor plan for ideas?! CLICK HERE for details.
DESIGNING A FUNCTIONAL KITCHEN: 9 TIPS
Let’s go through my 9 tips that are ALL based on things I LOVE about my own custom kitchen. For some of these things, you’ll have a different opinion than me and that is totally fine. Just listen to the list with an open mind and get whatever out of this episode that you can.
1. AMPLE WALKING SPACE ON ALL 4 SIDES OF MY ISLAND
We have at least 42″ on all four sides of our kitchen island. This allows us enough space to open the dishwasher or the refrigerator and still have plenty of space to stand there without bumping your backside up to the island.
2. STOVE DIRECTLY BEHIND SINK
When I say ‘behind the sink’, I mean that when I stand at my sink, the stove is directly behind me. This allows for easy transportation when I have a full pot of water to boil. I simply turn around and place the pot on the stove (as opposed to walking across the kitchen with a full pot of water).
You can even go a step further (no pun intended) and include a pot filler above your stove.
3. SILVERWARE + EVERYDAY DISHES DIRECTLY BEHIND THE DISHWASHER
One of my least favorite tasks (aside from laundry) is unloading the dishwasher! However, it is more pleasant (and faster) when your silverware and everyday dishes are stored directly behind the dishwasher … or above it if your dishwasher is not on a kitchen island.
4. PULL OUT GARBAGE/RECYCLING CABINET
We included a rollout garbage/recycling cabinet by our kitchen sink which allows for VERY easy cleanup when we’re cooking or doing dishes.
A word of caution if you have a dog … our pup sneaks in the cabinet when it’s open (to find crumbs) and she’s been smooshed a couple of times!
5. DRAWERS, DRAWERS, + MORE DRAWERS
Drawers allow for SO much storage. We added drawers wherever possible. I especially love the large drawers under our stove because they are more practical than traditional cabinets.
I highly recommend installing drawers inside your lower cabinets as well (shown below) because it makes it MUCH easier to reach dishes in the back of cabinets.
6. DRAWER UNDER OVEN
Adding a drawer under your oven (if you have a wall oven) is a very practical idea as well. This is a great place to store cookie sheets.
7. SOFT CLOSE DRAWERS + CABINETS
We have soft close on all drawers and cabinet doors. While this isn’t necessary, it definitely is a great feature to include when designing your custom kitchen.
8. CENTRAL VAC TOE KICK
If you have a Central Vac system, consider installing a vac pan toe kick in your kitchen island.
When turned on (with your foot … hence the name), the intense suction allows you to sweep crumbs and debris right into your central vac. Easy breezy!
Tip: we installed our toe kick on the inside of the island so it wouldn’t be visible from the family room. You can see my toe kick in the kitchen island photo above.
9. SINK IN THE KITCHEN ISLAND
I know not everyone will agree with this tip but I personally love having my sink in the island because it’s right in the middle of all the action.
When my girls were younger, I could keep an eye on them while I was in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes. I do love the look of a sink under a window, but my husband didn’t want to have pipes on an exterior wall so we opted for the sink on the island.
So those are 9 things I love about my kitchen, but what about the things I would do differently?
MY KITCHEN DESIGN ‘MISTAKES’
Ok, so these aren’t exactly mistakes … but they are two (significant) things I would change if I were designing my kitchen again.
1. HIDDEN PANTRY CABINET DOORS
First of all, I love my hidden pantry … however, I would do our pantry cabinet doors differently if I were to do a hidden pantry again.
Our pantry doors are opened and closed at least 20 times a day so the tall cabinet doors take a beating.
The doors have held up amazingly well after 9+ years of use, but they aren’t perfectly straight anymore (which annoys me). I’m not exactly sure what I would do differently (possibly a swinging pantry door?) … I just know that I will NOT do tall cabinet pantry doors again!
2. KITCHEN ISLAND SIZE NOT IDEAL
I would LOVE to have a huge (12′ -14′ long) kitchen island with tons of prep space and storage on all four sides.
Obviously, my 8′ x 4′ isn’t terrible, BUT a large island with ample storage is a MUST in my next home build!
NEXT STEPS
So there you have it … my 9 tips for designing a functional kitchen. Plus, a couple of bonus tips of what I would change if designing my kitchen again :).
You might not agree with all these tips and that is obviously A-OK! Just take what ideas you love and leave the rest when it comes to designing your own custom kitchen.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into preparing to build your dream home, download my FREE Custom Home Build Prep Guide and learn the steps to prepare for a successful home build … in other words, learn how to bring your beautiful and functional dream home to life that is designed perfectly for your family and comes in close to budget.
My kitchen conundrum is the vent under my kitchen sink. Heat is nice on a cold Winter day, but cold air even in Summer is a little much . And since my sink is on an exterior wall, the I see the necessity of heat.
Oh no! That sounds tricky!
Your kitchen is beautiful! Would you please be willing to share what your hardwood floors are? We are getting ready to replace all the flooring on our first floor. Thank you!!
P.S. I love your “hidden” pantry…so clever!
Thank you, Meg! You can find my floor source HERE … you’ll just need to scroll down to the bottom. You can also find it under Shop my Home Decor. Hope that helps!
I love this post! I like to know practical things about what makes a kitchen work well and not just how pretty it is. I’m not in the building process (yet!) but I like to think about what I would want in my home when the time comes and I got some great takeaways from your post.
We’re currently renting and my main complaint about our kitchen is the need for drawers inside of cabinets. ALL kitchens should come with them standard! And the layout of the dishwasher vs the cabinets that hold everyday dishes doesn’t really work the best but we make do for now. Again thanks for the great post!
It’s always great to make a list of things you ‘must have’ in your future kitchen (home) and things you don’t enjoy about your current kitchen (home)! I did that … and I still have a running list for my next home (Far in the future)! So glad you enjoyed this post, and I am SO excited for your future home build!
Designing a kitchen properly is very important. Much appreciated for sharing these tips for designing a functional kitchen.
Hello,
Are your plans “editable”? For example I love the layout but we may have room to extend the family room and kitchen to be deeper.
Emily
Absolutely, Emily! When you purchase the construction drawings, your builder/architect can draw in any changes to the plan. The easier option is to purchase the CAD file and your builder/architect can easily make changes directly to the plan. You can email me (hello@carolineondesign.com) if you have any questions!
I appreciate that you brought up how adding a drawer directly under your oven can be the perfect place to keep appliances like cookie sheets. When my wife and I moved into our home, we noticed that the kitchen’s layout was particularly cluttered, we have a difficult time locating anything inside of our kitchen. It may be time to redesign our kitchen so that we can prioritize functionality and accessibility.
Sounds like you are correct … you can start by just adding some small functional features to your kitchen! Good luck 🙂
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Hello Carrie,
I am so happy to have found you. I love your designs in your home. I have never had an interest in home design until a few months ago when we purchased our retirement fixer-upper. Every room has been completely gutted and here I sit going through hours of Pinterest trying to learn about everything from room textures, support beams, kitchen designs, tiles, floors, to venting for fireplace. There is so much information out there it gets overwhelming. Thankfully, I have found you. I will study your designs. Thank you
Hi Susan! I’m so glad you are finding my blog helpful! Best of luck to you as you renovate your fixer-upper 🙂
Your design has come I hardy when I am about to go internal fittings to my house.I will definitely borrow alot from your layouts
Wonderful, Abel! Glad to hear my kitchen design is helping you design your own kitchen :). – Carrie
Very helpful tips. I like bright, large kitchens with lots of space.
So my kitchen design (we are about to break ground) I have been back and forth on. My fridge is to left side, (back wall), 48” stove in middle of back wall and sink is on right wall under a window bc I LOVE looking out the window at my sink. My island is 12’ with nothing in it. Just large space with storage. I have gone back and forth about whether or not to put sink in the island!!!! Help!
Hi Lindy! If you love looking out the window when you’re at the sink, then go with that setup! I LOVE that look, but our winters are too harsh to have any pipes on exterior walls here in the MidWest. I’m totally jealous of your huge kitchen island! One thing you could do to break it up just a little bit is to add a smaller beverage sink in it. Does that make sense? It would just be a little sink (off to the side of the island) that is maybe above an ice maker so people can easily get ice water or something like that. Just a thought to break up your large island a little bit.
I live in Iowa and we have our sink under the window. On an exterior wall. I love being able to look outside while at the sink.
That’s great, Molly! I wish my husband was willing to do this, but he is too worried about pipes freezing. So great that you don’t have issues with this. I imagine your Iowa weather is very similar to my Illinois weather 🙂
I live in Canada, and you can absolutely put your kitchen sink under a window. That’s where mine is now. Thanks for the article! I love hearing what works and what doesn’t. It really helps in planning projects.
I’ll second (third? Fourth? 😉) plumbing on exterior walls in midwest. I’m in Minnesota and sink has been on exterior wall in all my homes without a single issue (and come to think of it, virtually all my friends’ homes also…)
Looks like I need to remove this from my blog post … there are many of you who are proving my husband wrong. He told me there was no way we could do plumbing in an exterior wall. Sounds like we can. Thanks for your input.
I love the idea of installing drawers inside cabinets. It would makes so much space for everything. I m planning on renovating my kitchen next month and i m gonna bookmark your post and plan its renovation accordingly, Thank you for sharing such helpful tips Carrie.
Yep – definitely add drawers to the inside of your cabinets!
How do you handle not splashing people sitting opposite your sink (or anything placed on the counter there) while washing dishes? Thank you.
It hasn’t ever been a problem to my knowledge :).
Just FYI – I have my dish cabinet above my dishwasher and I would move it anywhere else if I had a choice. I have to unload the dishwasher on to the counter, close the dishwasher, then put my dishes away. When open, the washer blocks me from getting close enough to the cabinet to put them away directly. Although, I am rather short, taller people may not have this issue.
That is great insight, Jane! I actually didn’t think about it that way. My family is tall so I don’t know that it would be an issue for us. However, that is a really great point! Thanks for sharing :).
Certain soft close cabinet hardware allows for small adjustments to move the cabinet fronts. You might be able to adjust the pantry door slightly more towards center to close gap. I’d check what type of cabinet hardware you have and see if it’s possible.
Thank you, MJ! I did have my builder try to adjust the pantry ‘cabinet’ doors a few years ago and we didn’t have much luck. At this point, I just live with the small gap :).
When we remodeled and expanded our kitchen I did a lot of thinking and planning. One thing I do not like is anything involving extra, what I think of is unnecessary steps or action.
1. A pull out drawer for trash means you need both hands (one is holding the trash) to open it. We designed it so that it is wide enough to hold 2 trash cans side by side, and left the top, where a drawer would be, open. This way we just drop in our garbage or paper recyclables in with out having to open a drawer. If we need to add something larger or empty we just open the door. The top opening is large enough for most items yet too small for our large dog to fit her head in! One less step, especially if you have dirty hand (then need to wash again, another unnecessary step).
2. I too love large drawers but regret having my pots and pans in roll-out shelves. Have to open both drawers completely to roll out the shelves. An unnecessary step. Would have rather had 2 large drawers that just pulled out.
3. I find 2 smaller doors to gain access to a cupboard or room (pantry, bathroom, or in my case the pans drawer) just doesn’t make sense if you need to open both. Just another unnecessary step.
4. Having a counter next to fridge is a must for me to make loading groceries and taking out items easier.
I may have learned about efficiency working in food service for my career so was glad to be able to eliminate some, albeit small, time consuming actions needed when working in a kitchen. I am in Wisconsin and if insulated properly your pipes should not freeze. One thing I absolutely love about our kitchen is the 6×6 window overlooking my garden. Can watch wildlife, flowers and dog when at the sink. Regret putting a skylight where we did. When looking up we can see the upstairs window, rather than a tree and sky. Love having the extra “free” light but should have placed it a few feet over. Some things you just do not think of until it is too late. Hope these items may help those planning a new kitchen.
Thank you for all your tips, Ann, and for showing a different perspective than what I find works in my kitchen. – Carrie
Thanks for the tip that getting drawers will complement traditional kitchen cabinets very well. I plan to remodel my kitchen soon because I’d like to start making cooking videos online someday. Having more space for more kitchen appliances would surely be a welcome addition.
Thanks for the tip about the pantry doors. We are going to have cabinet doors for our pantry. I’ll be sure to look at perhaps going with one solid door to avoid having my the issue of my doors not looking up over time. I would have never have thought of that. I do have a 14′ island in our plans. I figure you can never have enough prep and storage space!
Absolutely, Michele! No such thing as too much storage and prep space!
Thanks for the chuckle! I live in Canada and we have as low as -40F for week long stretches. More often than not our homes have the sink on an outside wall so we can face the window when at the sink. It really is a non issue.
I’m glad it’s a non-issue for you in Canada.
Very informative article. We’re in the planning stage of our build & intrigued by hidden pantries. I’m a neat freak & would use this as a work pantry w/possibly a small sink. Thanks to your advise will go w/one door.
You’ll love a hidden pantry, Shari!
These are all great thoughts. Thank you. In our custom build, there wasn’t a good place next to our dishwasher for silverware and plates. In fact, they are almost as far away as you can get. But they are stored right next to the kitchen table so setting the table is a breeze and no one gets in may way while I’m finished up meal prep. In the end, I love that they are not near the dishwasher. Also, I live in Michigan and my kitchen sink is on an exterior wall looking out a window – I believe they had to make that wall 6 inches rather than the standard 4.
Thank you for your comment, Kristy! Yes, I keep hearing from people further north that they have their sink on the exterior wall. My husband was against this because he feared the pipes would freeze, but maybe we would have been ok. Oh well … I like how our kitchen is laid out. – Carrie
Hey! I’ve been trying to find information on “making” a functional kitchen and your article here is one of the first I’ve seen that seems to have anything to do with a kitchen that is actually used as a KITCHEN. I thought I would ask your opinion about MY kitchen. I will provide details on two aspects. My kitchen is mostly DIY, from design up. If you’d like to weigh-in, please proceed. If not, thanks for reading this far and I’ll explore your website. (1 of 2) I have a space 9 feet E-W and 15 feet N-S. The S wall has a 30:inch wide door to living area, and the E wall has a 36 inch wide door to the dining room. The wet wall is on the N side, and has a large-ish single window, off-center to the W, with the E side roughly on the half-way mark E-W. Obviously the sink, the dishwasher and refrigerator are on that wall as well. (2 of 2) I bake — and until osteoarthritis began to take a serious toll it’s all been by-hand-from-scratch. I have now invested in an Ankarsrum to alleviate a lot of the physical demand. I also cook — also scratch — ovo-lacto-vegetarian, for what that’s worth. I ‘put food by’ — usually canning (which would be called jarring but cans were first to the party), but also drying both from fresh and cooked states. (Dried herbs are an example of the first; berry “leather” is an example of the second.) I also cook and prepare food for my parrots, which is a slightly different task than kitchening to feed my husband. Outside of the kitchen, at least at the beginning, I garden A LOT — not just edibles but also flowers and herbs. If you’ve gotten this far — thank you! Any and all suggestions gratefully accepted. Thank you.
Hi Rede! I am so sorry but I am unable to give advice specific to my readers’ design dilemmas. It would be impossible to keep up as I have over 100K visitors to my blog each month. Thank you for understanding :). – Carrie
By chance, do u have the measurement of the wall that your stove runs along? I’m trying to figure out if this layout will work in my space.
Hi Amber! I believe the back wall is about 18′. That would be from the kitchen entrance to the edge of the cabinets on the other side.
[…] Garbage and recycling bins can take up too much space when they stand alone. If you build them into your cabinets as pull out drawers, you save space and boost the aesthetic view of your kitchen. It is out of sight and gives you more space to work with. […]
Great post! I love your hiden pantery!
This is nicely describe Kitchen Designand very helpful from me. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for sharing. We are in process of building. Waiting on plans. I have looked at so much information that I am driving myself crazy. I think we finally have the plans right. Thanks for helping me with my kitchen. I have about the same plan as your kitchen.
Hi Diane! I am SO happy to hear that you found this blog post about kitchen design to be helpful :).
[…] home can be complete without a large and functional kitchen. It is the source of nourishment and wellness for your family and guest. It also provides a central […]
Thank you for sharing this article! We are moving into our new construction in two weeks (CAN’T WAIT!) and our kitchen layout is incredibly similar to yours (pantry however is not “hidden” but is a walk in on the opposite side yours is located). Anyhow, I have never had large drawers under our built in stove like you have prior to this new house, so I have been churning over how to best use them effectively. What do you store in those and how do you keep them organized? Thanks so much!
Hi Kate! How exciting that you’re moving into your new home (you’re probably already in since I’m responding to this comment so delayed)! We use one of the drawers below our stove to store placemats, oven mitts, hot pads, and spices. The drawer below that is basically a catch-all for platters that have no other ‘home’ in our kitchen :). You’d be surprised how much you can fit into a big drawer. Good luck! – Carrie
[…] remodeling your kitchen, it is essential to consider that the space needs to be functional. This means that you will need to think about how you currently use your kitchen and what changes […]
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We finished our custom home last year and Carrie provided a lot of great advice. We have 9′ ceilings which means we had an extra foot in the upper cabinets. I didn’t want stacked cabinet, i.e., a one foot cabinet above the upper cabinets. I can’t reach the top cabinet anyway and didn’t like the look. Instead, I had the cabinet maker build a frieze around the upper perimeter of the kitchen with crown molding similar to Carrie’s kitchen. I repeated this in the walk-in pantry. The extra molding gives the ktichen a high-end look.
One comment if you are going with 9 or 10′ ceilings: Be sure to size your windows and doors larger as well, along with your base molding and crown molding.
Great layout and good tips! Totally, totally agree on the base drawers – no more crawling on the floor to get something from the back. One more tip I’d love in a new kitchen I’d a narrow, 6” or 9” wide cabinet where cookie sheets, cooling racks, muffin tins etc can be stored vertically! No more picking up a and b to get to c.
That is a GREAT recommendation, Mare! Thanks for sharing :).
One thing I notice all the time, that I consider a mistake, is dishwashers are often placed to the right of a sink, which is perfect if you are left handed, but are wrong if you are right handed. When you’re right handed and you scrape a plate, You were holding it in your left hand meaning you have to bend and twist to place it in a dishwasher on your right. I learned this from an architect and I can’t unsee it now.
Also, consider if you are sharing the kitchen with more than one user. If someone else is doing cleanup while you’re cooking, you don’t want them standing where you are at the stove. I’d like to create a cooking zone and a clean up zone that never crosses paths. This is also something I rarely see, because most kitchens are not designed by people who cook, let alone by people who bake, which requires more prep space. I believe, but can’t recall off hand, so don’t hold me to it, but one needs at least a 48” uninterrupted run of counter to get prep area and two baking sheets of work space. Refrigerators should always be on the perimeter of the space so snackers don’t walk into prep/cooking area. Traffic patterns are sometimes over looked.
Great recommendations, Maria! I am NOT a cook, so your suggestions on how to create a functional cooking/baking space are very helpful. As far as the dishwasher, I guess I’ve never noticed it being a problem to load my dishwasher on the right side (and I’m a righty). My left hand isn’t very functional, so even if I’m holding a plate in my left hand, I wouldn’t be able to easily get it into its proper spot in the dishwasher. A Dishwasher to the left of the sink might work for some people, but I don’t think it would work for me (personally). Thanks! Carrie
Yes! These are all the things I’m glad I have in my new kitchen. We almost didn’t do the pull out trash/recycle and we would have regretted that big time! Our’s was a complete gut job and addition, so we were able to make our kitchen open to the new living room, instead of closed at the back of the house. I wish I could have a pantry like yours, but we’re bound by the idiosyncrasies of a 4-level home, so we have an “overflow” pantry in the basement. And I 100% agree with the space around the island! Our kitchen designer told us a one-person kitchen typically has 38″, a two-person 45″. When they were installing the island cabinets and I stood there in the gap, I told them to add two more inches, lol.
Sounds like you planned your kitchen very well, Liana!
[…] Caroline on Design recommends designing a kitchen based on how you’ll use the kitchen. For example, using an awkward side cabinet to hold a roll-out trash can is a great way to use dead space, and it allows you to place the trashcan near the prep area, making cleaning up a breeze. Additionally, drawers may not be trendy at the current moment, but they allow for a lot of space. Instead of installing traditional cabinets that are builder grade or look trendy, opt for large drawers or built-in freezer drawers to increase the kitchen’s functionality. […]
Thank you for sharing your tips! I’m in the middle of a cabinet refinishing project and I’m excited to see how they turn out. I will definitely be using your tips to make the rest of my kitchen look beautiful.
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I wish I would have found you sooner, as we are currently building our new home. Your blog helped solidify some of my thoughts. I am going with more drawer styles in my kitchen and I have thought through the dishwasher/dish cabinet situation. I have decided with the pantry door situation that I am going to go with a pocket door. I struggled with wall ovens and I think we will get a double oven range to help keep costs down. It is a lot of decisions but fun in the end. Thank You
So true, Dawn! LOTS of decisions … but all so fun because you can design your kitchen to be efficient for the way YOUR family will use the kitchen. Best of luck to you! -Carrie
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Love these tips! 😍👌 Designing a functional kitchen is such an important aspect of any home. The right layout and organization can make a world of difference. 🍳🍽️ I’m going to keep these pointers in mind for my upcoming kitchen remodel. Thanks for sharing! 🏡✨
I designed my kitchen the first time and then a designer helped the second time, which made a world of difference. Good to have: frig on the outside of major traffic so that drinks can be retrieved w/out interfering in cooking, Ovens can be separate from the main counter/working space since it isn’t used as much as a stove/drawer microwave, a pantry in the kitchen and a bigger pantry away from main traffic area, garbage next to main sink , in-between sink and stove, DRAWERS!!!!!.My kitchen has a smaller sink/microwave area where I put coffee/tea center.
We are putting a new kitchen into a 175 year old home (it hasn’t been lived in for 100 years so there is no obvious original kitchen). All the trim is painted an off white shade and we are peeling off 7 layers of linoleum, plywood and carpet from every room and plan to poly the wood (we think it is pine). Should we go off-white cupboards or walnut? I love the off-white idea but our cupboard designer says it is on its way out and suggests a stained maple wood – which I think is very pretty but dark. Any and all thoughts are welcome. Thank you.
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Love love ALL of these. And I couldn’t agree more. This helped me so much with our new construction.
So many great tips in this article! I also fell in love with your countertops and backsplash. Would you be willing to share the names of the products you used? Thanks
Hi Mary! Head to carolineondesign.com/kitchen for info about my kitchen products! – Carrie