If you’re interested send us a note at sammy at supernaturalagency dot com. Tell us a little bit about your project, where it stands, your design approach, budget range, etc. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

*There’s a movement afoot to turn the word ‘dyson’ into a replacement for the word ‘cool’, as in Dyson (vacuum cleaner) sucks- opposite of which is doesn’t suck= cool. Whatever.

Feng Shui is taken very seriously in China, so seriously that buildings designed by Westerners that don’t follow its rules will not get any tenants. The principles of Feng Shui ensure that your kitchen will be a healthy place. The use of light, flowing water, reflections, eliminating obstructions and other principles make good design sense whether you believe in the process or not.

Locating the kitchen in the house floor plan:

“In any case, it’s better if you don’t see the kitchen immediately upon entering the house, as this can portend digestive, nutritional and eating problems. Having the kitchen at the entry point can also mean that guests will come over and eat and then leave immediately, and such a placement can also encourage the inhabitants to eat all the time.”

On the layout:

“Looking at the kitchen itself, it’s very important for the cook to be in a “commanding position” when at the stove — that is, facing the door and not with her back to the door when cooking. Renovating a kitchen so this is achieved can be particularly challenging as many modern kitchens have the range facing the wall. “ 

The article goes into much more detail and is full of common sense ideas. Sometimes, when designing kitchens, we fall into ‘design habits’ and repeat ourselves. Thinking about the process from a Feng Shui point of view can ensure your design is unique and functional.

Be sure to bookmark it as we are just beginning to add Photo Galleries, expanded Resource Sections and more.

Visit: www.KitchenDesignInsights.com

Here’s how to do this design exercise (be forewarned, this a project but it will pay off!):

• Cupboard by cupboard and drawer by drawer, take everything out and lay it on a towel in front of the cabinet. You can do one cabinet at a time.
• Photograph the stuff laid out on the towel or counter. This will be useful later when you’re determining your storage requirements.
• Go through the stuff and separate out anything you have not used in the last 18 months (this saves those things you only use on once-a-year occasions like holidays). Set these things aside.
• Note the storage things that bug you- having to remove stacks of bowls to get a particular one, digging in the back for hard to reach items, heavy items down low that they painful require bending and lifting, etc. Keep notes. This is where you start to plan your ideal storage requirements like using big drawers for bowels, vertical tray cabinets for baking trays and cutting boards, hanging storage for pots and pans and utensils, etc.
• Do the same for food storage. Organize the dry goods you remove by type (starches like rice and pasta, herbs and spices, canned goods, baking materials, etc.). You’ll want to plan storage that consolidates these items in logical work groups. Then you can specify pantry cabinets for these groups, in locations where you work with them.
• Untangle junk drawers. Everyone has at least one and they are a functional part of any kitchen- a catch-all for odd items or rarely used tools and gadgets. Clean them out and look for patterns in what you actually use and what is simply stuffed in there ‘just in case you need it’.
• Think about cookbooks, knives, visibility, wines and liquors, small appliance storage, etc., and apply this approach to determining how you will store them.

This will be a full weekend project depending on how much stuff you have. The end result should be a wishlist of storage needs that your kitchen designer can use when specifying cabinets and locations for various items. It is also a great time to get rid of stuff that is no longer useful to you, old, out of date, etc. Throw out and donate now.

Finally, this inventory may alert you to things you’re going to want that you were not planning on. Getting a nice high end range? You can’t use those old Revere pans on a big flame- better budget for an upgrade. You may also discover that your lifestyle has changed, a critical thing to know when designing a new kitchen. Maybe you entertain more- or less, cook different foods, go out more, have kids or the kids are gone, etc. This is going to mean a different approach to your new kitchen, one that will help you get everything you need without breaking the budget.

• Problem Finders
• Problem Solvers

Problem finders are critics who see their role as the keeper of the quality and/or the keeper of the vision. Unfortunately they often are only capable of finding problems not solving them. When they are unable to stop you have a problem because an entire design process can come to a screeching halt as more and more issues are ‘uncovered’.
Problem solvers are those who identify a potential problem and offer up potential solutions. Where they differ from the finders is that they can prioritize problems and then solve the real ones and let the other ones go- after all this is not nuclear powerplant design. A poor hardware selection won’t blow the planet up.
In my brother’s case an entire redesign done detail by detail derailed the original budget and timeline significantly as more and more ‘problems’ were found. This is where you start spending money you had not planned on: Hardware is upgraded, materials are found to be insufficiently immortal, appliance specifications become consequential (the refrigerator needs to have its compressor in a remote location- boom, add $4000), etc.
If you suspect this might happen with your project then make sure you engage any potential problem finders from day one so they understand how and why choices are being made. If they come in after the fact you may find yourself back to the drawing board just when you thought you were done.