When buying a new home, the kitchen is one of the most important areas that should fit with your cooking style and the lifestyle of you or your family. However, until you’ve actually spent time cooking and living in a kitchen, it can be hard to know if there are things about it that will or won’t work for you.
To help you in determining this before you finalize the purchase of your new house, here are three ways you can tell if a home’s kitchen will be a good fit for you.
Comfortable In-Kitchen Seating
For many current home buyers, in-kitchen seating is something that’s very sought after. However, not all in-kitchen seating is going to work for your exact situation.
To help you know if the in-kitchen seating option of a house you’re considering buying will match your needs, Kathy Barnes and Jessica Bennett, contributors to Better Homes and Gardens, share that there are certain measurements that you should ensure are minimally met. For example, you’ll need to make sure that there’s enough knee room so that adults can sit at the in-kitchen seating comfortably. Also, there will need to be enough room for anyone working in the kitchen to safely move around those sitting at the in-kitchen seating. Otherwise, the seating options might not work functionally.
Age And Style Of Appliances
Unless you’re coming into your new home knowing that there are some major changes that you’ll be making, you should try to find a kitchen that’s as turnkey as possible. By doing this, you will be saving yourself both time and money on renovations and replacements.
With this in mind, Jennifer Noona, a contributor to BobVila.com, recommends that you think twice about a kitchen that has bright appliances that aren’t to your taste or appliances that are old and will likely need to be replaced soon. At the very least, you should factor the costs of replacing these into your final offer for the home if you do choose to proceed.
Adequate Storage Space
While there’s a lot you can do to set up a kitchen the way you want it, what you can’t really do is add more space where there’s nowhere to bring in additional square footage.
Because of this, Lucy Searle, a contributor to RealHomes.com, shares that you’ll want to make sure that the home you’re looking at has the type of storage space that you need. If you have bigger kitchen electronics, make sure there’s a place for you to store these items. And if you have little kids that need easy access to certain items in the kitchen, be sure that there’s a logical place for you to keep what they need.
If you’re wondering how to know if the kitchen in a home you’re looking at will work for you or your family, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you in making this distinction.