Kitchen design ideas for homes in Alaska
Kitchens today are undergoing an interesting transformation. As Realtors in the Anchorage and Eagle River, Alaska area, we’ve seen a lot of kitchens. Years ago, kitchens were mostly used just for preparing daily meals and gathering around a table. Today, though, kitchens can also host everything from home office space and homework nooks to hobby corners and media centers. Much has changed, and it’s opened up a whole new world when it comes to kitchen design and function.
If you’re thinking about redesigning your kitchen, or searching for a new home with the kitchen of your dreams, we’ve gathered up a few of the best ideas we’ve seen for creating a beautiful, functional kitchen that is up to the task of meeting today’s modern needs.
Banquette seating: From breakfast nooks to awkward alcoves that you never quite knew what to do with, banquette seating is a great way to add seating, serving and storage to spaces that might have gone unused before. To keep it from looking like a booth at grandpa’s old-time soda shop, stick to light woods, put a bench on one side and chairs on the other, use pretty light fixtures, and add hidden storage (in the benches).
Eco-disposal: In an environmentally conscious world, many people are creating systems in their kitchens that make it easier to sort and dispose of recycling, refuse, and composting responsibly.
Light fixtures: Beautiful and fun light fixtures aren’t just for the dining room anymore. In the last few years we’ve seen more elegant designs for lighting make appearances in the kitchen. Chandeliers, drop lighting, and fun track lighting in edgy metallics are showing up in kitchens a lot these days.
LED lighting: Over the last couple of years LED lighting has lost its chilly, unfriendly look with warmer light better able to illuminate a breakfast nook, perk up an island, or brighten the space beneath cabinetry.
Open shelving: You’ve got pretty things; open shelving lets you show them off. Deeper lower cabinets with space-saving storage allow you to store away the stuff you don’t want people to see. While open shelving allows you to put the pretty and practical things you use close at hand and easy to see.
Big, practical sinks: When it comes to sinks, the emphasis is on function. No matter what you call them – farm-style, pasta, washroom, etc. – generous, high-performance sinks with a single large bowl cuts down on splashing and overflow while accommodating large pots and pans or your most recent haul from the farmers market.
Technology nooks: Another clever use of smallish nooks and awkward spaces we’ve seen is creating a technology hub in the kitchen. It’s a place where the whole family can store, charge and use smart phones, tablets, gaming devices and more.
Kids homework space: Keeping kids close is a big requirement when planning for homework space. Since the kitchen is still the central gathering point of most homes, kitchen-adjacent areas such as corner cubbies, hallways, sun rooms, breakfast nooks, or unused dining rooms can be converted to a great homework zone. (And parents can use it as a makeshift office when they need it too).
