You Can Have a Stylish & Functional Family-Friendly Kitchen
Ask any parent and they’ll likely agree, the room in their home that sees the most action is the kitchen. But unless your family has its own reality television show, you’re probably not spending countless hours in your gourmet kitchen preparing fancy dishes with your children. In fact, most family kitchens take center stage for more conventional, daily activities like making school lunches, helping your kids with their homework, preparing your family’s favorite meal, and socializing with your loved ones at the start or end of a busy day.
Though it may seem your daily kitchen activities aren’t all that glamorous, there’s no reason your kitchen can be just as fabulous as the ones you see on tv. It can also be functional and customized for the specific needs of your family, too.
Check out the details of this recent Albany, Georgia kitchen renovation completed by Pool Brothers to see how we combined function and style to give this family the kitchen of their dreams.
The Akers Home
Kris and Shanti Akers were looking to transform the kitchen in their Albany, Georgia home into a more functional, safe, and family-friendly space for their family. The family’s top priority was to remove the awkwardly shaped peninsula island that housed a cooktop surface. This was a major safety concern for the family’s small children. The Akers also wanted to open up the space a bit, add more storage, and create an updated design for their kitchen space.
The Akers top priorities for their kitchen remodel project were:
Implementing safe, family-friendly kitchen features
Creating a more open kitchen layout
Installing a functional, new kitchen island
Creating more storage and organization opportunities
Updating the overall look and feel of their kitchen
Designing A Safe and Functional Kitchen With Storage
When the Akers family purchased their home, they loved the house. But they knew they’d soon need to update the kitchen to reflect the family’s personality and also to make it a more functional space.
“When I first met with Shanti, she knew right away that she wanted a clean, modern, and functional space. A striking, updated design was a priority, as well,” said Rachel Rish, one of Pool Brothers’ professional, in-house kitchen and bathroom designers.
To address the family’s desire for a more open concept and a safer space for their small children, the first thing to go was the peninsula island.
“The safety of their children was this family’s top priority,” said Rachel. “To create a more child-friendly, open space, we removed the peninsula island that had the built-in cooktop. Next, we reworked the layout of the kitchen to give the family a more functional space which created plenty of room for the family to gather together safely.”
The Akers’ new kitchen design now features a large island in the center of the room, complete with many unique storage features. The family’s refrigerator was relocated from the back wall and is now located on the sidewall. A decorative hood was installed above a new range which is now located on the back wall of the room and out of reach of children.
“Originally the kitchen had an old wall-unit oven. Since we added a range, we were able to remove the old wall unit, which provided space to install additional cabinets for storage,” said Rachel.
Rachel continued, “The Akers family asked for a space they could utilize as a “drop off” area, a designated space they could utilize to charge phones, and tablets, or fix a cup of coffee. We created the space they needed by installing matching utility cabinets with roll-outs on either side of a window on the street-facing side of the room. This gave them more usable countertop space and provided additional storage options for the family, as well.”
BEFORE PICTURES
AFTER PICTURES
As a full-service kitchen and bath design + build company, Pool Brothers is experienced in reconfiguring plumbing and electrical systems to meet the unique needs of every project.
For the Akers’ home, the Pool Brothers team rerouted both the plumbing and electrical systems to accommodate the new kitchen layout.
The plumbing was rerouted to move lines for the refrigerator from one side of the room to another side of the kitchen.
Since the peninsula was removed and a new range was installed on the back wall (where a wall oven was originally housed), we had to reconfigure the electrical system to accommodate the changes.
A Functional Family Kitchen With Style
The cabinets installed on the perimeter of the Akers’ kitchen were from the Pool Brothers Aspect Cabinetry manufacturer. The Akers family chose a square flat panel door design and elected to finish the cabinets in the color Agreeable Grey. For their new large, center kitchen island, the family chose a cabinet from the Pool Brothers manufacturer Shiloh Cabinets. The kitchen island was finished with a beautiful carbon stain.
“Once the perimeter and island cabinets were in place, we installed stunning calacatta laza quartz countertops,” said Rachel. “And the breakfast area cabinet countertops were topped with a fossil gray quartz.”
The Akers family decided to go with quartz because the durability of the material is sure to withstand their busy family that loves to cook together in their kitchen.
“To pull all of the design elements for the cabinets and countertops together, we went with a natural stone two-inch hexagon-shaped backsplash,” said Rachel
Putting The New Kitchen on Display with Designer Lighting
All of the lighting in the kitchen needed to be replaced to reflect the new, updated style of the family’s kitchen. The old ceiling lights were replaced with new, updated recessed can lighting. A long decorative light was installed over the island and an accent light was placed over the breakfast table area. Undercabinet lights were installed to illuminate the area for the best possible food prep zones. Pool Brothers provided all of the lighting for this project.
Tying All The Design Elements Together With Updating Hardwood Floors
“The Akers family already had beautiful hardwood floors, so we didn’t see the need to install brand new flooring,” said Rachel. “Our Pool Brothers flooring team was able to refinish the family’s existing floors with a stain that coordinated well with the new cabinets in their kitchen. The floors turned out beautifully.”
Ready to have the beautiful, family-friendly kitchen of your dreams?
The kitchen and bath designers at Pool Brothers are ready to help you plan every detail of your remodel project. We will work alongside you to design and build a beautiful one-of-a-kind kitchen your family will love for years to come.