Command Not-So-Central

The kitchen is where the action is these days, which can make your job both easier and more challenging. The good news is that the kitchen has come into its own as the place where the family gathers to eat, greet, relax and even entertain. That means the kitchen is getting the design attention and budget priority it deserves. Homeowners want their kitchens to shine and are springing for show-stopping appliances, cabinets, countertops and fixtures. It's no surprise that a remodeled kitchen often is the star of the house.

On the other hand, kitchen wish lists can put on the pressure because homeowners have their hearts set on squeezing a lot of zones into the kitchen -- food preparation center, eating area, entertainment space, bill-paying headquarters and children's play station, to name a few. And, of course, they still want the room to look uncluttered and gorgeous. When space is limited, as it often is, delivering on these wishes can be tricky.

Home Rebuilders, an Atlanta design/build company, scored a perfect 10 with the 12x19-foot kitchen shown here. The client is all smiles. After adding a family room adjoining the kitchen, the owner of this 1914 house asked Home Rebuilders kitchen designer Kate Bartlett to revamp the kitchen. The client had three big wishes.

1. Create a smooth connection between the kitchen and family room. A high peninsula featuring closed storage on both sides binds the rooms. It serves as a buffet for entertaining and blocks views of the kitchen sink from the family room. The rooms share paint colors and a heart pine floor.

2. Enlarge and improve the food prep area. A breakfast area, closet and midkitchen peninsula chewed up a lot of space in the old kitchen. Home Rebuilders removed all three space hogs, flipped the work triangle to the other side of the room and placed the sink in a more sociable spot, facing the family room.

3. Add an office. The best thing about this kitchen is the mini-office. It's the home's command central, but one reason it works so well is that it's not so central after all. By rearranging the kitchen and moving the pantry, Bartlett released space for an L-shaped corner office that is close to yet separate from the work triangle. "It's close enough for me to hear what's going on in the family room," says the client, a mother of three, but "tucked away so I can leave a mess and people can't see it."

This office is packed with winning features:

• Well-planned storage -- including file drawers, an under-counter keyboard drawer and pencil drawer, bookshelves and cubbyholes for office supplies -- all inside cabinetry that matches the kitchen cabinetry
• Accessible but out-of-the-way under-counter platforms, flanking the kneehole, that house the computer and the printer/fax machine
• A corkboard wall
• High perimeter shelving for decorative items
• Placement by a window for light and views
• A textural glass door on the pantry, admitting light from the pantry window but obscuring views of pantry shelves (frosted, corduroy and custom-etched glass can be used for cabinet doors, too, to show colorful forms but hide clutter)
• Under-cabinet task lighting
• Generous countertops in wood that complement the kitchen design and provide a "friendlier" writing surface than limestone kitchen counters

This great little office is a comfortable 5 3/4 by 8 feet, but clients with less available space still can have a nice office. Marvin Moser, CKD, of Kitchens and Baths International in Norfolk, Va., says they can gain valuable inches by choosing smaller appliance models (even professional ranges come in several sizes). If space is really tight, there's always the "office in a box" -- a single cabinet or tower of stacked cabinets outfitted with a pullout keyboard drawer, a slide-out writing surface (instead of a cutting board) or even a roll-top desk unit. Instant office components such as these have become standard offerings for many cabinet companies.

Wendy A. Jordan is senior contributing editor of Professional Remodeler magazine, and the author of numerous remodeling books for contractors and homeowners.