Feeling Flexible: The Easy-to-Use Kitchen

"In any kitchen, you need to define your work zones — the prep area, the cleanup area, the dining area if you're going to have one," says Melissa. "This kitchen was very large, so the angled wall I used to delineate different spaces didn't detract from the space. But a lot of people with smaller kitchens say, 'I don't have room for work areas.' But think about it. You have the same functions as people with larger kitchens. You can still place everything for one task in one area, like linking the dishwasher, the sink and the soap in one spot for cleanup.

"Designers call it 'point of use' organization and it really makes for a more functional kitchen design. Store 'em where you use 'em!"

Meet the designer:
Melissa Wilson asks her clients for emotional information. "I want to know how they want their place to feel, what their dream is, even if they can't have the whole thing," she says. Designing for the kitchen and bath industry for 18 years, most recently for Insignia Kitchen & Bath, Melissa is a certified bath designer and particularly likes to take on remodeling jobs. She describes her role as that of a "guide, never a dictator" and has worked around many restrictions, memorably for a longtime client who was really into wave radio and required her to place walls, cabinets and appliances in a kitchen with the primary goal that his radios would have reception in the kitchen.

Resources
Melissa Wilson
Insignia Kitchen & Bath
Barrington, Ill.
www.InsigniaKitchenandBath.com