Easy Entertaining

Make your kitchen party central.

STORY BY CATHLEEN McCARTHY

That nip in the air means the holidays are approaching, bringing the happy chaos of a house filled with friends and family. You can bet they will all end up in the kitchen—which makes this the perfect time to start rethinking that space. With proper planning and today's technology, a kitchen can be remodeled to accommodate even the most ambitious entertaining. DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen experts offer suggestions for making your kitchen party-friendly.

Open It Up

If you live in an older home, you may be dealing with the kitchen of the June Cleaver generation—a U- or G-shaped space sequestered from the rest of the house, where Mom cooked and cleaned, then served everyone in an adjoining room. In today's typical household, both partners are likely to bring home the bacon—and help each other cook it. Hosting a dinner party usually involves a tag team. "The kitchen is the hub of the home today and has to serve multiple purposes," says Lynn Monson, owner of DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. "If you entertain a lot, you need flexible-use spaces within your kitchen that can accommodate various people, whether young kids or friends or visiting relatives."

Islands are usually recommended for kitchens at least 12 feet wide. Monson prefers an open galley kitchen with an island and a bank of cabinets against the back wall, or an L-shape with peninsula or island. Such open layouts allow the cook(s) to chat with kids doing homework or guests gathered around the island, which serves as a makeshift desk, buffet, wet bar, and dining area.

Make the Island Multitask

Islands are requested in most new kitchens now, and for good reason. "Not only do you eat most of your meals there, it also serves as a traffic cop, keeping people close at hand but out of the way of the food-preparation area," Monson says. Most of his kitchen projects these days involve ripping out the wall between the kitchen and dining room and replacing it with an island, so the kitchen can be expanded into one large space. This allows better access and traffic flow for entertaining.

He tries to avoid putting a range in an island because he finds it creates problems with ventilation and aesthetics. "If people are sitting there, you don't want to feel like you're performing at the hibachi grill of a Japanese restaurant." Sinks, on the other hand, allow for less messy operations like salad making. "You spend 80 percent of your time in the kitchen at the sink, so you should put it where you want the most interaction," Monson says. "For entertaining and dealing with family, an island sink is the best use of that space."

Jim Bodner, owner of DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen in Bethel, Connecticut, often puts a cooktop on the lower section of a two-level island, with a countertop at standard height and a serving/eating area slightly higher, at 42 inches. "That way, guests can sip wine at bar stools behind the higher area, while they put in their two cents with the cook."

Choose Spill-Resistant Counters

Granite is still the first choice for counter and island tops, but engineered stone or quartz countertops such as Zodiaq® and Silestone® are gaining fast. "It used to be one in 20 people went with quartz; now it's more like seven in 20," Bodner reports. "There is more variety available now, and more consistency. Since the quartz products are ground-up stone suspended in resin, you get what you see in the showroom." Granite, on the other hand, is a solid chunk of natural stone, so coloration and texture can vary. He encourages customers to choose their granite slabs at the fabricator so they can see exactly what they're getting.

If you do a lot of entertaining, it's important to note that quartz repels stains better than granite and requires less maintenance. "Granite needs to be sealed a couple times a year, while quartz counters come pre-treated and don't require upkeep," says Bodner. "Granite is also more porous. Spill a glass of red wine on anything but black granite and it will get into those tiny pits and stain. Red wine will not penetrate quartz materials."

Consider Ceramic

Bodner puts hardwood floors in about a third of his kitchen projects, partly to tie an open kitchen into the adjoining rooms. "A hardwood floor with four coats of water-based acrylic finish will wear well and is fairly easy to buff and refinish," he says. But for frequent entertaining, he recommends ceramic tile. "Hardwood will scratch and discolor with a lot of spills. Ceramic tile can be costly, but it's nonporous, so it resists stains and wears like iron if installed properly." This means laying tiles directly onto subflooring. Installing over old vinyl can leave a void beneath, causing the ceramic to crack with the first dropped jar.

Add Storage

"One of the merits of creating flexible spaces is that you don't have to keep everything in one spot," Monson points out. "If you have multiple people cooking, you may need more than one workstation." The way we buy groceries has also changed," he points out. "People use home delivery services more now and shop in bulk at mega-stores like Costco and Wal-Mart, which tends to demand the older-style pantry storage in an adjacent or secondary area." Installing a butler's pantry is a good way to store items ordinary cabinets can't accommodate—and comes in mighty handy when you're stocking up for company. Bodner also recommends appliance garages: "They're great for hiding bulky appliances like blenders and mixers—big things you need to access easily."

Bring in Backup

For homeowners who do serious entertaining, Monson often installs extra-large, professional ranges or ranges designed for specialty cooking with woks or grills. He recommends a second sink to use as a serving bar or quick rinse for wine glasses and, possibly, a second dishwasher and mini-refrigerator. "We're seeing a lot of under-counter wine cooler/refrigerator combinations," he says. While ice machines come standard in most refrigerators now, you might want an under-counter ice maker placed where it's more convenient. Full-height wine coolers are particularly popular, Monson says, and are handy for cooling pots and serving drinks at large dinner parties. "I would also recommend a warming drawer if you plan to bring in caterers or have multiple types of food, some warm and some cool," Monson says. "A warming drawer can also be used to warm towels."

Turn Up the Party Lights

A well-planned lighting scheme allows for function as well as ambience. Monson puts all lighting on dimmers so it can be adjusted for brightly-lit work areas and a quiet, intimate meal at the same time. Recessed overhead lights provide an even wash over the entire room, while under-cabinet lights illuminate food prep and cleanup, and decorative pendants cast a romantic glow over the island. If you want something really unique, consider LED technology. Monson recently installed a computer-aided LED display around a glass-sided fireplace, programming an aurora borealis light show to wow guests. "LED lights are costly," he says, "but they last 80,000 hours—the life of your home."

Cathleen McCarthy is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. Her stories have appeared in Country Living, Art & Antiques, Elle Decor, and New Old House.