Real Estate
Homeowners are often forced to see what their kitchens are lacking during family gatherings. In the new year, a growing number are deciding to do something about it.
Picture this: As you’re hosting your family and friends during the holidays, you realize you don’t have a central place on the counter to put your cheeseboard. You look up from your search to see that your in-laws are squeezing between the kitchen island and the doorway to get into the dining room. Then, you notice you could put the board right where your stand mixer is sitting … if only there was a spot to store the mixer.
Entertaining can be a source of joy during the holidays, but hosting in a cramped or unoptimized space has the power to dull its shine. This was the case for Samantha Baj, a homeowner in Bedford. Her house was built in 2007, but the kitchen lacked a modern flow. The refrigerator was stranded on the other side of the room, opposite the cooking space. And instead of an island, there was what Baj calls a “peninsula” with three stools, which jutted right in front of a sliding door that led to the outdoor deck.
“I was like, ‘This is just not working.’ I didn’t really have a good place to put food down, because if people were sitting at the peninsula, you didn’t want to shove things right in front of their face,” Baj said.
After hosting Christmas, it was clear: the kitchen needed an update. “We were like ‘Let’s really think about how this flow is going to work and what will best suit our family going forward,’” Baj said.
Having a post-holiday renovation realization is fairly common, said Ben O’Sullivan Pierce, owner of Burlington-based Fresh Start Contracting. Baj tapped O’Sullivan Pierce and Melissa Hammond of Hammond Design in Andover, to help create a space that would be more conducive to hosting.
“We definitely have these conversations with people, because after they’ve had the holidays or had people stay at the house, they start to notice what the house lacks,” said O’Sullivan Pierce. “And it comes back to the kitchen, this sort of main entertainment hub of the home.”
According to a Realtor.com survey released in November, 52 percent of American adults say hosting Thanksgiving dinner played at least some role in their most recent home search, and a whopping 92 percent said a large kitchen increased their willingness to host Thanksgiving.
O’Sullivan Pierce said he finished a remodeling project in Cambridge earlier this month with related goals. “I was just talking about how next Thanksgiving they can have a really great gathering. It’s an open floor plan and a beautiful kitchen. You could probably have 50 people on the first floor, no problem.”
While customers are increasingly picking up the phone to discuss a renovation in the new year, a project may not begin until spring or summer, O’Sullivan Pierce said. It’s a process that happens nationally, too. According to a small nationwide survey by the National Kitchen + Bath Association, around 50 percent of projects kick off between April and June.
Melissa Kennedy, president at Meadowlark Design + Build in Michigan, has seen a 3 percent to 8 percent increase in calls coming in during the month of January. It’s a time when people “decide what they want to fix and solve,” she said. “But also, you just had a bunch of people over and are frustrated with what didn’t work.”
Typically, that means addressing countertop clutter, storage solutions, floorplan flow, and lighting and sound. Kennedy joked that she may not be able to fix a family’s drama, but she can fix their kitchen.
In Baj’s case, a lot of attention was dedicated to flow. A large island was installed that spans most of the kitchen to provide more counter space, and eliminated a double-glass door behind the previous peninsula in favor of a single Dutch door, which allowed her to move the refrigerator and freezer to the same wall as the sink.
“Aesthetically [the renovation] is phenomenal, but just in terms of flow — I mean, I can go into the fridge and take food out. It’s right there, so I can chop it. The sink’s right there,” Baj said.
Now, the new island seats five, and a set of pantry cabinets behind it creates more storage. As a bonus, those cabinets are no longer dark wood, but a light paint color called “Alaskan Sky.” The overall effect is a more open, bright, and welcoming space. Baj said she’s hosted many times since the renovation was completed.
“There’s more room for people to gather in the space, and they’re still not in the way,” she said. “We also opened up the entryway to our dining room and centered it more with the kitchen, which was all part of this project. It made the flow between the dining room and the kitchen much nicer, so you can be in the dining room now and still feel like you’re part of what’s happening in the kitchen.”
If you’re a homeowner wanting to make a change next year, Kennedy recommends asking yourself what’s posing problems and — more importantly — why.
“I know that feeling of being frustrated when we’re all trying to pass through the hallway with dishes when we’re cleaning off the table,” she said. “Use your emotions as indicators … How do I feel in this room with 15 people eating this meal? Is this the feeling I want to have in this space? Architecture and design can change all that, and they can really influence the emotional impact you have when you’re with other people.”
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