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Pro Spotlight: The Key to a Successful Kitchen Remodel
A Portland designer shares how space planning can help you get the most out of your kitchen
Sponsoreret indhold
Who: Kathie Maughan Francis of Maughan Design & Remodel
Where: Portland, Oregon
In her own words: “Space planning is essential. It’s all about creating solutions that will fit you and enrich your life.”
Want to give your tired kitchen a refresh? Although it might be tempting to dive in and start replacing things, it’s important to take a step back first. The key to a great kitchen remodel is figuring out how the space will be used — for cooking, for storage and for entertaining. It’s challenging, but it’s also an opportunity to get creative, designer Kathie Maughan Francis says.
Where: Portland, Oregon
In her own words: “Space planning is essential. It’s all about creating solutions that will fit you and enrich your life.”
Want to give your tired kitchen a refresh? Although it might be tempting to dive in and start replacing things, it’s important to take a step back first. The key to a great kitchen remodel is figuring out how the space will be used — for cooking, for storage and for entertaining. It’s challenging, but it’s also an opportunity to get creative, designer Kathie Maughan Francis says.
Material girl. Francis, the principal of Maughan Design & Remodel in Portland, grew up designing dream houses on graph paper. By high school, she was doing interior materials selections for a building firm. When she graduated from Bassist College (now the Art Institute of Portland), she knew she wanted to embark on a career in the design/remodel field. “I enjoy seeing plans come to life through the stages of a project,” she says. “I love walking through a finished space and sharing that joy with the client.”
Special spaces. When you’re designing a kitchen, you’re looking for solutions that are both highly functional and aesthetically pleasing. “You want your space to flow, and at the same time to have beauty and balance,” Francis says. She is involved in the space planning for all of her projects; “there’s almost always something quirky about the house that you discover, and some personality that you want to preserve.”
Planning a kitchen remodel? Read Francis’ space-planning tips below before you begin.
Planning a kitchen remodel? Read Francis’ space-planning tips below before you begin.
1. Plan for Your Cooking Style
The best kitchen design is the one that works for you. If you prefer to focus on cooking and do your cleaning up later, you’ll want an uninterrupted expanse of counter space — often an island — with room for everything. “If you like to clean up as you work, you need to create a tighter ‘kitchen cockpit’ that includes lots of adjacent tall storage,” Francis says. This kitchen in Dundee, Washington, illustrates both concepts, with a large countertop as well as plenty of storage adjacent to the workspace.
See more of this project
The best kitchen design is the one that works for you. If you prefer to focus on cooking and do your cleaning up later, you’ll want an uninterrupted expanse of counter space — often an island — with room for everything. “If you like to clean up as you work, you need to create a tighter ‘kitchen cockpit’ that includes lots of adjacent tall storage,” Francis says. This kitchen in Dundee, Washington, illustrates both concepts, with a large countertop as well as plenty of storage adjacent to the workspace.
See more of this project
2. Layer Your Storage
When planning your kitchen storage, it helps to envision your space as being made up of layers. Traditional cabinets typically offer only deep storage, but much of what you want to keep in a kitchen fits quite nicely in a series of shallower shelves.
This double-layer buffet in a Portland kitchen is a creative space-saving solution. “Steal the space in the walls to get shallow storage,” Francis says. “Often the space between studs is ideal for this. You can take the same approach with the spaces beside the refrigerator, where narrow pullouts are a perfect place to store canned goods one row deep.”
See more of this project
When planning your kitchen storage, it helps to envision your space as being made up of layers. Traditional cabinets typically offer only deep storage, but much of what you want to keep in a kitchen fits quite nicely in a series of shallower shelves.
This double-layer buffet in a Portland kitchen is a creative space-saving solution. “Steal the space in the walls to get shallow storage,” Francis says. “Often the space between studs is ideal for this. You can take the same approach with the spaces beside the refrigerator, where narrow pullouts are a perfect place to store canned goods one row deep.”
See more of this project
3. Borrow From Adjoining Rooms
You can expand the footprint of your kitchen by taking just a few inches from an adjacent space. The result is a great improvement in usability. “Look at the rooms that adjoin the room you’re remodeling,” Francis says. “Is there a closet you can reshape? A sliver of another room that you can borrow to expand your storage?” For Beaverton clients who enjoy winemaking, she borrowed the space under the stairs to create the kitchen wine cellar seen here.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Kathie Maughan Francis and examples of her work, visit Maughan Design & Remodel’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
You can expand the footprint of your kitchen by taking just a few inches from an adjacent space. The result is a great improvement in usability. “Look at the rooms that adjoin the room you’re remodeling,” Francis says. “Is there a closet you can reshape? A sliver of another room that you can borrow to expand your storage?” For Beaverton clients who enjoy winemaking, she borrowed the space under the stairs to create the kitchen wine cellar seen here.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Kathie Maughan Francis and examples of her work, visit Maughan Design & Remodel’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
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