Kitchen Design for Holiday Entertaining

Holidays bring families together, often in the kitchen! If your current kitchen is cramped or ill-equipped for cooking and entertaining for a crowd, that can be challenging. When Cathy Kelly decided to work with Excel Interior Concepts & Construction to remodel her family’s kitchen, holiday gatherings were something she had in mind, “We used to always get together at my daughter’s place because she had the biggest home, but since the remodel, we can now host our family gatherings here.”

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To create more space in the kitchen and dining area, Excel removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room, as well as the wall between the dining room and family room. Now, this warm and inviting space is perfectly set up for cooking, with plenty of seating including counter stools around the peninsula to allow for family members to sit and visit while the cooking is in progress. When the food’s ready, the peninsula can also function as buffet area for serving.

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In the kitchen, cooking is made much easier with an induction cooktop which never gets hot, but heats pots very rapidly; a double oven, perfect for baking holiday dishes at the same time at different temperatures; and a new microwave – all thoughtfully spaced so that several people can be comfortably working all at the same time. When it’s time to clean up, the Kohler Strive apron-front sink with Smart Divide® provides separate basins divided by a low barrier, making it easy to wash large pots and pans.

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Best of all, the entire family can be together throughout the day. A creative idea brought even the youngest children into the action at the Kelly’s. Cathy shared that, “At Thanksgiving, we covered the dining room table with a paper tablecloth and crayons, and the grandkids made pictures and colored all over it while the rest of us were cooking and visiting. We could see and hear everyone, but had plenty of room to spread out and do our work, it was just wonderful. We are already looking forward to our next holiday family get together!”

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To see before & after photos of this project, click here.

Could your kitchen be more functional for future holiday entertaining? Share your project wishes with us to get started!

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