I am blessed to have a large family and also a close-knit community. There are always extra people at our home and we are constantly entertaining people in some manner. From the elaborate holiday gatherings to the impromptu get-togethers I always have to be prepared to entertain in our home.

When we first moved in I would spend hours cleaning the entire house, dusting, vacuuming, polishing floors, and washing the windows. We live in a two-story colonial style home where all the living areas are on the first floor and the bedrooms are located on the second floor. The first floor was always spotless and ready for entertaining. For special occasions I would pull out all the stops and get out the good table linens, china and have fresh flowers in the living areas of our home. I wanted to make sure our guests would feel welcome and comfortable. But no matter how much work I put into the other rooms of our home everyone always ended up in the kitchen. There were many get togethers when I don’t think anyone ventured past the kitchen.  That got me thinking – why do I go through all the extra work when it isn’t enjoyed by anyone? I could spend much less time preparing and more time relaxing if I only concentrated on making our kitchen an area where we could comfortably entertain.

I took a good look around our kitchen and decided to make some changes. It was time to turn the busiest and messiest room in our home into an area that served all purposes including laundry, homework, family calendar, office space, mail delivery, bill paying, club projects, food preparation and informal entertaining. I needed to find creative ways to hide the clutter and open it up to be a fun social kitchen.

The first hurdle was to hide the clutter and organize things so everything had a place. The planning center was the busiest so that was my first project. Just looking at it stressed me out. It was so unorganized that there was no room to work and the papers always ended up strewn throughout the room on any available countertop. The family calendar was organized and every child and organization we are involved with was given a folder. The bills were organized according to due dates and the computer and printer area was cleaned up. There were cables running everywhere that looked like utter chaos.  What I could hook up wirelessly I did and the others were neatly strapped together. This helped out this area immensely and soon I was able to move on to the heart of the home – the cooking area of the kitchen.

It seems whenever guests are over I am always busy preparing snacks, meals, or food for kids on the go. The breakfast bar is the perfect place for preparing meals and also carrying on a conversation with both family and friends. Now that everything was neatly placed in the planning center I was amazed at how much space was available. There is plenty of room around it so when people are gathered there won’t be a traffic jam in the kitchen. I now have room to prepare meals and also enough room to informally entertain. It will definitely be a great spot for everyone to sit back and relax.

Speaking of sitting back – we are definitely in need of some extra seating space. The breakfast bar itself has 4 chairs that fit nicely under the counter but we need additional seating that can be added for when the next visitors arrive. There are many options such as stools, chairs or even benches. Finding something that will blend in, that is maintenance free and can easily be stored should not be a problem.

Lighting is another thing that needs to be addressed when trying to transform the kitchen into a social area. Right now the lighting is all very bright. While this is great when trying to cut up vegetables and getting the spices just right it isn’t very appropriate when sitting back and having a conversation. It is too institutional and not welcoming at all. I could always turn the lights out and just light some candles but then it is too dark. My neighbor gave me the perfect suggestion – dimmers! He said they are easy to install and far less expensive then new fixtures. That way I can simply adjust the lighting for the task.

We also have a very unique collection of vases and other antique pieces of art that are now hidden from view in the formal dining room that no one uses.  By replacing some of the wooden front panels on the upper cabinets in the kitchen I think that we will be able to display most of them. If not, we can change them out and create a dynamic decorating scheme. In order to hide some of the appliances and everyday dishes my husband is going to install a full-height pantry that matches the rest of the cabinets. It will be a seamless addition but will add a lot of much needed space.

We love to entertain and I truly believe that our guests always feel welcome when they visit. With these added changes to our kitchen we will create the perfect social kitchen. Now rather than placing flowers in every room I’ll just get a big bouquet and place them on the kitchen counter. That way everyone gets to enjoy them, including the chef of the house, which would be me!

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