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Whether your idea of a great get-together is a sophisticated wine tasting or a multigenerational free-for-all, these 20+ spaces are full of designers’ best tricks for creating a kitchen that’s ready to party.
[post_ads]Gone are the days when a hostess toiled alone behind closed doors, missing the best jokes while everyone else sat stiffly at a formal dining table in another room. Today, guests want to mix and mingle with their hosts near the cooking — and hosts prefer kitchens where the planning and prep feels less like work and more like a party, too.
Designer Nancy Blandford, CMKBD, ASID, calls this kitchen “party central.” Designed around two support columns, the large U-shaped island can be approached — and used — from six sides. One side is for seating, while another acts as the bar, and the other four sides are for meal prep and serving. “This was the first time I designed a U-shaped island,” Blandford says, “and I’m amazed at how well it works for entertaining.”
For a cook who likes company but prefers a little elbow room during a party, Sheila Tilander, CKD, CBD, designed a kitchen that provides the hosts (or chefs for catered events) plenty of space for food prep and cleanup while guests gather in the living room. Guests can rest drinks and elbows on the long curved counter, or gather around the island, at the dining table or in the family room.
Entertaining on a large scale requires plenty of platters, trays and glassware that must be handy for events but out of the way for everyday meal prep. In this kitchen by designer Keira Burgess, ceiling-height cabinets offer lots of storage for entertaining essentials. Everything’s right in the kitchen, protected from dust and grease — but out of the way of daily family cooking. White cabinets on the back wall, and nearly white Ceasarstone counters keep the room bright, while the dark-stained wood island and far china cabinet wall add a warm, inviting feeling.
When a kitchen opens up to a living/dining area as stylish as the one in this New York City apartment by Andrew Suvalsky, form and function are equally important. The long countertop Suvalsky designed for the space ends in a wedge-shaped, wood-paneled cabinet that keeps it integrated with the kitchen while also inviting guests to stand around the “wedge” as one would at a restaurant or bar. “The materials, lines, colors and tones of the kitchen are slick and sophisticated,” Suvalsky says, “so the kitchen blends in with the apartment, rather than separating itself from the look of the living/dining area.”
