Holiday Time

When planning on hosting your family and friends for the holidays, it's important to consider the requirements of everyone who will be using the space. For large or small gatherings, you will need an adaptable, spacious space that can fit the needs of you and your family members.

A kitchen isn't just for cooking and eating. Over the holidays it's also a sociable space for gatherings, making memories, trying to recreate grandma’s recipe, and a space to make new traditions. So, with this in mind, here are 4 design tips to get your kitchen prepared for the holidays!

Kitchen Island

Keeping your family in mind, it's important to think about the members of your family. Do you have a lot of children in your family? If so, having an island in the kitchen is the perfect way to keep an eye on them while prepping food, but it also safely separates them from the hazards of the food prep area. 

An island is also great for children because you can include them in cooking. Around the holidays, families gather and create new memories and if you have a kitchen island with seating, you are allowing the younger members to be included in the memory-making while not being in the way.

Adding an extended countertop is also a great way to do this! Building an island with an extended countertop is a great way to prepare food on one end, and have family members sit and still be involved on the other end, but you don't want your family bumping their knees on the corbels holding the countertop up. The best way to avoid this situation is including the best invisible countertop support brackets to your island. Create more countertop space for cooking and mingling!

No Stress Countertops

Baking powder is flying, your younger cousin stole the cookie dough, and your dog is covered in sugar. When gatherings occur, a mess is to follow, but that's what the holidays are all about! Sticky hands and messy recipes can be a constant problem during the holidays, so opt for a surface or finish that makes cleaning easy!

Materials such as Corian, quartz, granite, or other natural stone materials like marble, limestone, and soapstone are stress-free surfaces and easy to clean! When designing a kitchen, some people stress about the weight of a countertop like this, but don't worry! The best countertop support bracket on the market is the hidden island support bracket and will support any countertop of any weight!

All the space

You want to make sure you have room for all the activities! Give yourself enough countertop space for all the different members cooking all the different recipes. If Aunt Bertha is prepping ham and Mama June is making the sugar cookies, you want to make sure they both have enough space to not cross-contaminate the food or bump each other.

Walking space is important too. You want enough room for your family to be able to see and hear each other and feel part of the conversation from any point in the kitchen without being on top of each other. When designing the kitchen, your layout is so important! Keep these events in mind so you can prepare to fit all situations.

Enjoy your space

The holidays are stressful alone, and before you know it, the holidays are gone, and the family is back home. Make sure when designing your kitchen, you keep the family gatherings in mind, but make sure your space will fit your family from a day-to-day life too.

When the holidays roll around, don't take a second for granted. Maybe your in-laws are crazy or don't get along with your parents, but the time will go so fast, so enjoy your kitchen and the family in the space while they are there. And make sure your kitchen will support all the memories you plan on making!