How To Plan A Kitchen For Entertaining

The Perfect Kitchen For Hosting: The How To Guide

In years gone by, the living room has been the place to relax, but busier lifestyles and broadening horizons when it comes to food have meant that the main event of a party is often happening in the kitchen. From fancy cocktail making to canapé creation and exotic main meals, the kitchen is a hub of excitement at a dinner party.

With open plan kitchen/diners becoming more and more popular, people are looking to optimise these spaces to get the most out of them. Whether you are hosting a couple’s night in, a family gathering or something a little more elegant, you’ll want to read on to gain some key insights to achieving the perfect kitchen for entertaining.

‘Zoning’ is key for a spacious kitchen

In the modern day we spend enough of our time working, so when it comes to keeping up with the constant demands of feeding a family you’ll want to make sure you can do it in the most efficient way possible. This all means that you can spend less time over a hot stove and more time on the sofa in front of your favourite TV drama.

More and more people are extending their houses to create large, open-plan kitchens, but when doing this it’s imperative that the space is used well. A kitchen island or peninsula provides a fantastic feature to not only create a wow factor in your kitchen but to create a smooth flow around the room, as well as helping to divide your space into practical work zones. This can be the difference between making cooking a breeze and a stressful situation!

A popular approach is the ‘half and half’: one half of the kitchen is built for food preparation and cooking, the other houses softer furnishings such as a dining table, breakfast bar with stools and a designated space to serve food and drinks.

Setting up your appliances for maximum efficiency

Sufficient thought is often not given to the flow of a kitchen. Flow is very important and it can be the difference between a kitchen you love and a kitchen you don’t. Most meal times follow a structure starting with food preparation, followed by cooking activities and the arduous task of clearing everything up. The actual cooking is best done on the island, as having a sink in the middle of your island leads to the main space in the kitchen being cluttered with crockery and cookware once the main event is over.

Thinking About Your Guests

Now that the functional and practical side of things has been thought about, it’s time to look at the ‘living’ side of the kitchen. This half will house some of the softer furnishings and can be arranged in a way that works for visitors such as family and guests. Being tied up in the kitchen whilst your guests are left to fend for themselves is a situation that no one enjoys, so laying out your interior so that your guests can feel free to relax in your company is the best way to get the most out of your kitchen. Here are some methods for creating this perfect concept…

First and foremost, a breakfast bar provides a great environment to fit in with the modern, fast-paced life that so many of us live. It allows you to talk and interact with dinner guests whilst you cook a meal, and it will also serve as a safe place to interact with the kids, keeping them away from the hot appliances and hobs.

A good kitchen island provides both worktop and storage space and can also house other elements to give your kitchen another dynamic. Glass-fronted cabinets and wine coolers are the perfect way to take your island to the next level, and the latter is a great way of involving your guests in the evening with their own access to the drinks!

Another on-trend feature for your kitchen is a serving space on the outward-facing side of the island so that your guests can help themselves to nibbles without disrupting the cooking.

Designing a fabulous kitchen for entertaining like this takes considerable thought and effort, and that’s why our expert designers here at the Ream Interiors showroom have wide-ranging knowledge and expertise when it comes to designing your perfect kitchen.

You can talk to our expert kitchen designers here at the showroom or alternatively you can click here If you’d like to book a design appointment, feel free to pop into the showroom or click here to request one.

Summary

Trying to pick every little element of a kitchen isn’t always easy, especially if you have a lot of unique requirements or particular preferences.

If you like a few of these kitchen design trends, you should book a free consultation with us.

One of our professional interior designers will use the latest technology to create a photorealistic 3D model of your dream kitchen, enabling you to customise it to fit your needs.