There are many rooms in the average home, but few provide the warmth and inviting spirit of the kitchen. The perfect kitchen can set the tone for the entire home, and remodeling the kitchen has proven itself to be one of the most valuable of all home improvement projects.

When planning for a kitchen remodeling job, it is important to take stock of the existing kitchen, determine what changes need to be made, and plan for the future.

The Cooking Appliances

The centerpieces of any kitchen, of course, are the many cooking appliances. It is important for the homeowner to take stock of what appliances he or she has, and which ones he or she wishes to add to the new kitchen.

For instance, take a look at where the microwave oven is. Is it conveniently located or would it be better off in another location? It may be a good idea to incorporate an under the counter or above the range design into the new kitchen.

It is also important to look at the existing oven and determine if it will be replaced. Do you want a new stainless steel convection oven or a double oven? Do you prefer the greater control of a gas cook top or the convenience of an electric stove?

The ventilation is important as well. It is important to ensure that there will be proper ventilation, both for removing cooking odors and smoke and to minimize the grease that can build up on the surfaces around the kitchen.

It is also important for the kitchen remodeler to pay attention to the little details as well as the big ones. For instance, is there enough room near the stove for all those cookbooks. It is important to provide enough shelf space for cooking utensils, cookbooks and other small items, and to incorporate those items into the design of the new kitchen.

It is also important, of course, to pay attention to the cabinets in the new kitchen. A kitchen remodeling job is a great time to take stock of the kitchen cabinets and to see where they can be improved. The kitchen cabinets are one of the most important, and most often used, features of any kitchen, and it is important that they be well made and easy to use.

Safety is another important consideration when designing a kitchen. It is important to include a fire extinguisher in the design, and to hang it in a convenient location that will be easy to reach in an emergency.

What about cleanup?

Any cook will tell you that cleanup is an important part of any kitchen design. After all, it is not enough for the next kitchen to be beautiful to look at when it is new. It is important that the new kitchen be easy to cleanup, and that it is easy to keep it looking new. It is a good idea to choose materials that are easy to clean, like tile and Formica, and to choose kitchen appliances that are easy to clean and designed to repel fingerprints and other common stains.

Brooke Sikula is a freelance writer based in Ventura, CA and writes on a wide range of topics from home improvement to credit repair and everything in between. She is a regular contributor to http://www.get-home-improvement.com and http://www.home-remodeling4u.com

For more information and advice on home improvement projects, check out http://www.home-improvement4u.com

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Organizing your kitchen with these products and tips can make your small kitchen seem bigger. And you won’t have to cram stuff inside your kitchen cabinets and drawers. This is just a small sample of hidden storage space in your kitchen and how to use it.

UNDERNEATH KITCHEN CABINETS

Attach cup racks or stemware racks to the underside of kitchen cabinets. This will free the space you’re currently using in that kitchen cup cabinet for something else. Stemracks hold stemware such as wineglasses bottoms up by the stem. You probably see these frequently in restaurants over the bars but don’t really notice them. You can find a stemware rack for your home that will hold as few as perhaps nine glasses or get one that holds more. Or place two or three small stemware racks side-by-side to hold more stemware. A sliding mug rag attached beneath a kitchen cabinet can hold about 10 mugs in a straight slim line. Mugs hang from the rack hooks by their handles.

INSIDE KITCHEN CABINETS

Use portable shelving inside kitchen cabinets on the existing shelves. Typical kitchen shelf organizers are white plastic coated wire portable shelves. They’re usually rectangular or designed to fit in the corner of your kitchen cabinet. The corner shelves can hold dinner plates and saucers. The rectangular ones are great for holding bowls, cups or cans. Put one row of items on top of the shelf and one row underneath it on your permanent shelf. Kitchen shelf organizers double the space of a single shelf in your cabinet. You may have to adjust your existing kitchen shelves to appropriately fit the portable ones. But in the end, it’s worth it.

CEILING SPACE

Hang your pots from a ceiling pot rack. This will free kitchen cabinet space. Ceiling pot racks come in straight bar shapes or you can get a multidimensional one that is a square, circle or another shape. Don’t place the pot rack too close to the stove if you’re worried about grease splashes staining it.

Suspend a chain horizontally at a height well above head level (so family members don’t walk into it.). Fasten each end of the chain securely to ceiling studs. Then spread S hooks throughout the rungs. Hang wicker baskets from the S hooks. Not only will this look decorative but you can keep handy and store all kind of stuff inside the baskets.

WALL MOUNT IT

Install a simple peg rack on the wall horizontally. Hang all of your potholders and cooking mitts from the pegs.

Buy a wall-mounted magnetic knife rack. If you’re currently using a knife block on your kitchen counter, this will free that counter space. Magnetic wall knife holders are stainless steel magnetic strips. When you hang it horizontally on your kitchen wall, it should be less than two feet wide. You can use it to hold other metal kitchen utensils or instruments too.

Karen Fritscher-Porter writes extensively about organizing your kitchen at http://www.EasyHomeOrganizing.com You’ll also find these kitchen organization products pictured on the site.

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Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Freedom comes from letting go of what you think you know to be true. Over the years I see that many people do not wish to cook versus those that enjoy it. One of the biggest differences is how one holds the idea of cooking. Do you think of it as a necessary chore? Something you do, just because your family must eat? Something you avoid because it is like work. You might like the cooking and loathe the cleaning up enough to avoid it all together? You think other things are more important so you usually run out of time and just need to grab food from wherever you can? What are your reasons for not cooking or incorporating cooking and planning food into your daily life?

I find that some of my own reasons for making cooking a part of my day are:

1. I feel much better eating clean, healthy, fresh food that I’ve made myself.

2. I have control over what goes into the food so I have control over how the food affects my well being. I can create better energy, beauty, vitality, moods, etc. from getting to choose exactly what goes into my food.

3. Making food is like an arts and crafts project that I enjoy.

4. I can share the results and people like to enjoy the food, often giving me a lot of positive reinforcement to keep up my arts and crafts experiments.

5. I feel good about myself for both the cooking easily, and then also for the cleaning up and making the space feel good.

6. The whole process can be relaxing like a meditation when I allow it to be.

7. Sometimes I use clean up as a time to enjoy some music. My top priority is that I value looking and feeling great and cooking food at home is one of the best ways to support that.

I encourage you to find reasons that support you to incorporate a bit of cooking into your day. If you would like skills and tools on how to fit in making food when you have a busy full schedule or how to make food fast and simply, then just schedule a session at www.SusanMarque.com. The success journal is also available and has wonderful tools for creating your body and life the way you would like it to be.

Susan Marque is a dynamic food coach. With phone coaching, seminars and classes she has been sharing her whole foods approach to health since 1997. Her distinctions have helped people with easy weight loss that stays off, creating more vitality and energy, clearing ailments, looking younger and feeling better on every level.

Susan has written four Fast and Easy Cookbooks, and co-created the Beyond Weight Loss

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