Why You Need Kitchen Zones and How to Make Them
We have all been in those kitchens. The ones where you can’t open the oven door if the pantry is also open. How about when you can’t get into your turn style cabinet if your dishwasher is open. Or my personal favorite was the one where the home cook couldn’t open her dishwasher if she was standing next to the oven. These are kitchens that we stand in and think, “Who designed this?” I’m not sure how they made it into existence but here we are.
No matter the kitchen, no matter the size, and no matter the layout, if you thoughtfully fill your cabinets and place items on your counter top, you too can have a functional, practical space where you enjoy cooking for yourself and those you love. So let’s talk Kitchen Zones.
What is a Kitchen Zone? It is a way of setting up your kitchen with homecooking and living in mind. When you move into a new kitchen, think about it in zones. If you do, you’ll unpack correctly the first time and will have a room that is at the very least functional. Because the kitchen is seriously the meeting place of the home. This can be done without spending any additional money and all it will take is a Saturday afternoon.
Let me show you around my kitchen and explain as we go. 
If you are planning a remodel or a new build I cannot recommend an island enough. You have 360 degree access to your kitchen and several more working and prep zones. When possible I like islands that house one kitchen work zone at least. You see here our island has the cooktop as well as additional counter space. The countertop is butcher block. The kids and I distressed it then used a Annie Sloan’s dark wax for the rustic look. Some folks may have an island that is simply additional counter space. I have a friend who has a gorgeously grand island like this and it’s ideal for a million and a half things, so having your sink or cooktop in your island can create limitations to how it’s used. Islands also present the benefit of additional storage and contribute to the ideas of community and fellowship in the kitchen (which happens anyway right?). I’m a really social home cook so I love that my back is not to the family while I cook. If you have a peninsula you can create extra seating and more prep space. A galley or U-shaped kitchen may support a small table on one end for the community aspect. In whatever layout you have, dedicate a section of it to prep and if have the space for an island, go for it. 
The back of my kitchen is essentially an L shaped counter. My sink is on this side and looks out to the back side of our property. This counter material is granite. It has a beautiful movement with natural browns, whites, grays and blacks. The backsplash is also granite and goes all the way up to the base of the cabinets. We pretty much lucked out and didn’t need to install anything in this kitchen (except a fridge) when we moved in. So I’m just working to maximize the space we were given. My purpose for this back counter top is quick access and open ready space for cooking. You see I’ve got a few of my kitchen essentials out and ready, fruit, knives, and quick access canisters with some neutral colored food that is easy to access. I intentionally keep this counter as clear as I can. I want to be able to use small kitchen electrics or cutting boards back here if need be. I’ve also set plating zones here too. If you have open shelving in your kitchen do yourself a favor and keep your countertop as clutter free as possible. It will be more visually appealing that way and you won’t have to stress keeping your open shelves staged all the time.
Last thing, do you see my dishwasher? I have strategically stored all my dishes either above or directly to the left of my dishwasher. So I can literally stand in one spot and unload the whole dishwasher in under 5 minutes. Now I know a lot of that has to do with the location of my kitchen cabinets. But if you think about how you can unload your dishwasher in the quickest possible way, it will inform how you fill your cabinets. This is possible in any kitchen.
Okay moving on…
Notice, my disposal is on the left? It wasn’t that way when we moved in. I had a super handy brother in law move it for me one day when he was visiting. The prep side of my sink was just too small for me, I couldn’t fit my plates and cutting boards on that side and don’t get me started on when I was trying to clean messy pots. So I moved it and put the disposal in the large basin side, I adore it there. If you are remodeling or building your kitchen, consider this part. Make sure your under the sink cabinets are big enough for the garbage disposal motor on your preferred side. Again, we seriously lucked out, the depth of the large side of my sink could have been a deal breaker but it wasn’t. You get a solid look at the granite here too. See how the design adds a subtle movement to room? I love how natural and simple it is but it makes a big impact at the same time.
The pantry zone is right here. We have a unique, narrow, deep, pantry. Again I’m just working with what we have and put the toaster oven directly next to it. The bread is on the top shelf of the pantry for easy access. I keep my toaster oven super clean because honestly, they can be kinda dangerous otherwise. So depending on where your pantry is maybe put one of your small kitchen electrics near the pantry so people don’t have to carry things like a loaf of bread across the kitchen to make their toast. Behind the top two cabinet doors of my pantry are all my spices and flours etc. The larger bottom two are where I keep typical pantry items like canned goods, pastas, and cereals. We are seriously considering painting our cabinets in the kitchen a really nice light gray (kinda like the grout in that tile by the fireplace). What do you think? There is just so much brown going on in this picture it’s starting to make me twitch.
Directly outside of the kitchen is our coffee station. This is just an easy free standing island from Ikea. It works perfectly here and I can create a nice beverage station out of the way when we have company, especially on busy breakfast mornings with more than two coffee drinkers around. Yes, I have two crockpots. This is a a really nice kitchen hack. On Sundays, I will sometimes prep some meat for a later meal in the week in one, while I’m cooking dinner in the other. Meal Prepping needs a best friend? Enter the Crockpot.
We have plank style flooring all throughout the kitchen area. I love it. It was one of the many things that sold me on this house. The cleaning maintenance is a little higher because we have to use the vacuum to clean between the planks sometimes, but its so worth it.
Last zone. Here is the little kitchen command center on the right. The silver bar and caddies are from IKEA. This spot is important in every kitchen. The tins on the floor have dog food and easy grab snacks for the kids. Here you also see the base of the island. I chalk painted and distressed it the same time I did the island counter top. The color is Annie Sloan’s graphite with a clear wax finish. The whole island project cost under $100 because I borrowed the fancy brushes from a friend. Final thought here. We have one oven (see the towel) with the microwave above it. I like that they are both safely out of the way but the microwave is situated in such a way that the door opens down and our 10 year old still can’t reach the handle. Something like that means children (or vertically challenged people) weren’t necessarily in the designers mind when this layout was established. So if you are flipping a house/kitchen think about all shapes and sizes of people when you place your appliances.
Whew, this was a biggee but I wanted to be thorough and hey I did promise a tour. Stay tuned because now I have the cabinet painting bug! Think purposefully about your kitchen and the flow of your living style. When everything works naturally and instinctually you and everyone in your kitchen will be that much more comfortable.
