Read This Before You Remodel Your Kitchen

Finishes, fixtures and appliance aren’t the only things you need to consider when designing a kitchen. Cabinetmaker/kitchen designer John McGilvray shares some planning tips and storage options to make your kitchen not only beautiful but functional. "First thing you need to do create a list of how you will use the room, not just how it will look," says McGilvray. For these homeowners, the number-one wish on their list was a large center island on one level with plenty of seating and work surface where the whole family can eat and cook together. This island and its single slab of marble provide space for five stools, plenty of storage, plus a full-size sink.

"Layout is usually the most common issue and there are a lot of considerations many people often overlook," says McGilvray. "Make sure there is ample room to move around the space freely and that there is enough distance between the center island and the wall cabinets so two people can walk by each other comfortably especially when carrying food, knives and hot cookware. Also, if you plan on centering the sink on an island that is across from a cooktop, this will dictate the size of your island because you're probably going to want to center the sink on the island as well as across from the stove."

"The homeowners didn't want the freezer in the kitchen. They felt it would take up too much precious space so they put it in the garage instead," explains McGilvray. A drink station/wet bar was created with a main refrigerator (left), an ice maker (center, bottom) and a clear-door mini fridge just for drinks. The mini fridge provides easy access for the kids to get juice boxes and water bottles. A microwave, oven and warming drawer are stacked up in between the drink station and double pantry doors.

To make the drink station even more convenient, an under-mount hammered stainless-steel sink was tucked into the corner.