 |
Models That Make
the Sale
Dueling Kitchens
Powder Room
Showers That Sell
Vent-Free Drains
|
|
Double Duty
Complementary kitchens can ease workflow in busy homes
One of the hottest design trends in large homes is two kitchens. For people who can afford it, a second kitchen can hide the mess during dinner parties, give guests easy access to food and drinks throughout the home, and let children get their own snacks. The challenge is making the two kitchens complement rather than compete with each other.
Corralling the kids
Mary Cook, president of Mary Cook & Associates in Chicago, is designing a Colorado home with a second kitchen that will be used mostly by the little ones in the family. "It's next to the main kitchen, but geared for the kids," she said. "There will be a built-in countertop at their level and a microwave below it. Their cups and plates will be down there too." The refrigerator will be a drawer-bin style for fruits, snacks, soft drinks and milk. "They can help themselves whenever they want to get something, and don't have to stand in front of the main refrigerator for five minutes with the door open wondering they want," she said.
But as much as the kids like having their own serving area, it's really for their mother: It keeps them out from underfoot when she prepares meals. And it does so without isolating them. Because Cook separated the kids' kitchen from the main kitchen with a narrow traffic lane, rather than a wall, kids and adults can interact as a family while staying out of each others' way. The open plan has the added benefit that it looks like a single space when viewed from the family room.
Two of a kind
Suzette E. Emerson, president of SEE Architecture in Denver, is facing a different set of dual-kitchen challenges. "The clients like to entertain as part of their business development. They wanted a butler kitchen, so events could be catered without interrupting the rest of the home," she said. The second kitchen also has to be used by the nanny to prepare food for her and the children.
"It was important to put the butler kitchen next to the garage so the caterer could move items directly to their area, yet still be near the children's wing and adjacent to the main dinning area, while keeping the main kitchen near the dining room and adjacent to the breakfast nook," Emerson said.
The butler kitchen opens to the main kitchen on one end. At the other end, a door opens to a landing with two sets of stairs and an elevator - a five-step stairway leading to the garage, a full stairway descending to a walk-out basement that includes a family room and game space, and an elevator that serves all three levels. The elevator allows handicapped and elderly access to all levels. "It also makes it easy for caterers to serve throughout the house and onto the patio," Emerson says. A hallway off the landing leads to the kids' suite. Emerson says it took time to create a scheme that eased workflow for everyone. Getting there was a matter of moving the pieces around until they made sense.
Of course Emerson's design is quite different from Cook's. What the two projects have in common is that, in each case, the two kitchens don't duel - they dance. And they show how one good idea can serve very different needs. Who knows? It might not be long before the well-designed dual kitchen becomes as common as the two-car garage.
Mary Cook's kids' kitchen keeps the little ones out of from underfoot without isolating them from the adults.
Emerson's butler kitchen provides an out-of-the-way workspace for caterers, while also serving the children's wing.
|
|
|
|
