Here's How to Make Your Kitchen Work for You

One thing Filipinos are known for across the globe is their strong passion for food. With a culture so steeped in cooking and hospitality, it’s no surprise that the kitchen is often one of the most important spaces in any Filipino household. Nourishment and celebration take root in the kitchen, where each ingredient must be handled with precision and love. Whether you lead a modern lifestyle or have a more traditional family setup, you’ll need a kitchen that’s functional yet aesthetically pleasing enough to make every almusal, merienda, and hapunan a more enjoyable experience.

From the placement of your appliances to the organization of your pantry, there are many things that you can adjust to make your kitchen a more well-appointed one. To help you achieve this goal, here are some tips on how to design and furnish a kitchen that works for your space and lifestyle:

Do Some Decluttering

Before making some changes to your kitchen, you may want to check if you have too many things in it. Decluttering will help you maintain oversight of the appliances and furniture inside your kitchen and allow you to determine which items need to go. When cleaning up your kitchen, keep an eye out for broken items, such as cracked plates, creaky chairs, or a dysfunctional stove. Next, make a catalog of kitchen items that are still in working condition, but that you no longer need as much as you did before.

To support your decluttering or downsizing efforts, consider selling some of the kitchen and dining furniture you no longer use. You can check out local buy and sell online marketplaces like LookingFour, where you can connect with prospective buyers in your area. Once you’ve made a sale, you can use your earnings to buy new items for your kitchen. Buying secondhand is a great option if you’re on a budget, and a reliable buy-and-sell platform will help you find quality preloved items that you’ll enjoy using in your kitchen as much brand-new items.

Designate Areas for Particular Tasks

Having a central area for action-heavy kitchen tasks is a good way to improve your movement and therefore ensure that your kitchen truly works for you. Other than your cooking range and fridge, you may also want to sort the other elements of your kitchen into their own categories. For example, you can designate separate zones or stations for utensils and cutlery, pots and pans, and small appliances such as a microwave or mixer.

You may also want to group the different elements in your kitchen based on function. For instance, your coffee maker and oven toaster should be near each other if you want to designate a “breakfast corner” for your kitchen, and the dishwasher should be near the sink for easy loading and unloading. How you decide on these zones depends on your preferences, but the general idea is to group items that are related to each other when it comes to food prep, cooking, or washing.

Prioritize Smooth Movement

With the amount of action that occurs in the kitchen, you’ll want to prioritize movement and remove obstructions that could be inconvenient or even dangerous for you. If you have an open kitchen layout, for example, you’ll want keep the “working” part of the space separate from the dining or get-together area. You’ll also want to keep workstation elements such as the stovetop, refrigerator, and sink near each other. Deciding on a center of activity in your kitchen will eliminate the need to keep moving around from place to place, which will ensure a safe and hassle-free food prep and cooking experience.

You also need to make sure that the kitchen’s doors and entryways are unobstructed so that it’s easy to bring meals around. If your kitchen has lots of corners, consider handles that don’t stick out, such as round doorknobs. Lastly, pay attention to the placement of appliances with swinging doors, like refrigerators and freezers. Ideally, they should be kept away from kitchen corners so that they don’t bang onto surfaces or people.

All in all, smooth movement is a fundamental element of any kitchen layout. It should be one of your main priorities if you intend to revamp your kitchen.

Utilize Additional Storage Items

Space savers provide an opportunity to keep all that you need within arm’s reach, all without overpopulating your kitchen. Additional shelving, for instance, will make it easier for you to organize the herbs, spices, and condiments that you often use while preparing food. Dressers, sideboards, and storage spaces under dining tables and kitchen islands can also serve as areas for safekeeping. You’ll be thankful that you invested in additional storage, especially if your kitchen occupies a small floor area.

Provide Enough Ventilation, Light, and Space in Your Kitchen

While enjoyable, cooking can also be an uncomfortable task to complete when the Philippines’ tropical temperatures get exceptionally high. If your space has windows that open to the outdoors, make sure that these remain unobstructed so that your kitchen receives ample airflow and natural light. The ideal kitchen space is light and airy, not cramped and suffocating.

If you’re down to make a few minor refurbishments to your kitchen, you can try outfitting your windows with less heavy curtains and repainting your walls in lighter hues. Light-colored walls in small rooms can create the illusion of space and therefore make a kitchen feel roomier and cozier.

How you style your kitchen to make it roomier, airier, and more pleasant to cook in ultimately depends on your taste. But for starters, you can furnish it with details such as vintage cabinet handles, a textured backsplash, or a pop of color in your tiling. These will definitely make your kitchen more pleasing to the eye.

Maximize Other Areas in the House

Lastly, even if your kitchen is one of the main hubs of activity in your home, remember that you don’t have to keep everything in it. If you have a storage room or an attic, you can place excess glassware and other barely-used items there to free up space in your kitchen. And if your pantry is separate from your kitchen, you can store away food items such as cereals, coffee beans, and pasta noodles there after use. Using these extra areas will help minimize clutter and keep your kitchen spick and span.

Takeaway: A Kitchen for Making Meals and Memories

Filipino culture and tradition are deeply ingrained in the food, whether it’s simple meals for the family or big feasts for the holidays. That being said, the everyday chaos of working in the kitchen is a universal experience. Everyone will need to upgrade their kitchens at some point, considering all the work that goes into cooking and cleaning up.

Your kitchen will work best for you if it maximizes your movement, makes all your essential cooking tools and ingredients readily accessible, and ensures that you and your household members are safe and happy being there. Through channels like LookingFour, make your kitchen a place of comfort and a sanctuary where you can make lovely meals and even lovelier memories.