The holidays are coming up really quickly and it has me thinking about my kitchen. I love to cook and create fabulous meals for my friends and family every holiday season, and I finally have a kitchen that supports me and I want your kitchen to do that for you, too!
There are a few must-have kitchen ideas that I try to implement into each project, if the client loves to entertain as much as I do. So if you are making changes to your kitchen quickly before this holiday season arrives, or you are planning a bigger kitchen redo by this time next year, these are 5 key holiday-friendly ideas to keep in mind. Let’s take a look…
- If you are a major entertainer, I always suggest 2 ovens and a warming drawer! There are always so many different dishes to prepare, and it will take you all day to create them, but they all need to be warm when they hit the table! A warming drawer is perfect for keeping dishes like mashed potatoes, vegetable dishes, and bread at just the right serving temperature without losing any of their moisture or getting soggy. In my kitchen I even added a steam oven into the mix, so 3 ovens and a warmer make it easier than ever to pull off my holiday meals.
- The holidays are all about finding a place for everyone to be seated for dinner. And I love it when you don’t have to pull out a card table and chairs to make that happen. So planning multiple dining areas, especially when they can do double duty for lounging and conversation, is always on my kitchen design short list for those who love to entertain. In this great kitchen, counter stools are perfect for meals and catching up with relatives while you cook, The breakfast table with a banquette on one side is comfy for lounging over dessert and a great space-saving idea because lots of kiddos can pile in on the side with the bench seat. The formal dining room is just off the kitchen with seating for 10. So more than 20 family members can easily eat and enjoy time together in this space.
- Let’s talk about storage. Those tall upper cabinets may seem out of reach for everyday, but they are great for storing your holiday platters. In my Riverside Penthouse project we added a library ladder with brass accents that makes it easy to get to all of those hard to reach upper cabinets, while looking way more sleek and sophisticated than grabbing a step-stool from the pantry.
- If you have a big crew, you might find it’s not just platter storage that is at a premium, it’s also true for your holiday food. For this family of 7 we added 2 refrigerators to make sure they had all of the space they would need for everybody’s favorite meals, for the holidays and everyday. You can easily keep an entire Thanksgiving meal fresh plus all of the appetizers and desserts, with room to spare in this kitchen!
- And probably the most important, and beautiful, tip I focus on in any kitchen is task lighting. I love to use large pendants to light up an island so you can see every detail when preparing your favorite recipes. In my own kitchen, I selected these fabulous white and polished nickel pendants from Hudson Valley that are as much a statement as they are a vital design element. And they perfectly light the island, where my entire holiday meal is served there buffet style, for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Want to know my favorite kitchen bonus tip for after your holiday meal is over? Two dishwashers. In my kitchen you can get a glimpse of both of my Thermador dishwashers on either side of the sink. Boy, do they ever make clean up easier on holidays! Now I don’t spend the whole night washing china instead of enjoying my my special guests.
So, now you have my top Kitchen design tips to get you holiday ready. It’s only about 8 weeks until Thanksgiving and 12 weeks until Christmas, but you may still have time to pull off adding some of these ideas into your home if you start now. I hope I’ve inspired you to make your kitchen work for you like never before, so you can spend less time working and more time enjoying your holiday guests this year.
