That Handy Foam Board: Kitchen Planning

Foam board sure came in handy many times. From RV insulation to kneeling pads for the builders, we always had some hanging around. It also came in handy for the "kitchen."

We were in a bit of a hurry to get the plans made and then submitted for the house, so the kitchen was a rough sketch at best (this would come back to bite us later, of course). It is something that takes a great deal of thought and design. With two cooks in the kitchen, it had to be a design that we agreed on as the most useful for our own ways of doing things. That was a lot of conversation! 

 I did do some reading on kitchen planning; and, taking warning from one designer's mistake, made sure I knew where the garbage can would go at the very least. Other than the plumbing and the big windows (light from two sources is an important home design tip), it was just a big, blank room ready to have a finalized design.

Some dimensions naturally change as you build. Finding that the kitchen columns, for instance, have to be scooted just a bit (which messed up one of our designs some) or that the window size had to shrink because of cost can send you back to the drawing board in a hurry to design compromises.

 

 But I wanted to know what it would be in real life; so we took the foam board and cobbled together a kitchen! A full-size fridge and freezer seemed to just loom over me on one wall. I found that tucking "them" into the corner felt better in person.

What do you think worked best? I'll have to let you know someday how it all turned out, stay tuned:)