Kitchen Design Don'ts

Designer Dave Stimmel deconstructs the successful kitchen.

Open shelving and glass-door cabinets can be pretty, but don’t forget to plan for enough closed cabinets so you don’t have to "see all the cereal boxes," says Dave Stimmel.

Don’t #3: Skimp on storage
People will buy a large double oven or 48-inch range so they can do a lot of baking, but don’t plan storage space for oven racks and cookie sheets, Stimmel says. Or clients will want "a lot of glass doors and open shelves to make the room look pretty, but the reality is you have to have some concealed storage, some doors you can’t see behind." Do you really want to look at those half-eaten boxes of cereal and bags of kidney beans every day? And what about the juicer, toaster, blender, mixer and other small appliances?