Small Home Living - Food! And Other Features of Your Small Home Design

 

Have you ever listed your life's creature comforts? Shelter would have to top that list. One of the most enjoyable benefits of my work is the fact that I get to help people with this basic need. It's awesome.
 
But, where does food fit into the housing picture? Well, food is another basic need. Actually, wouldn't food rank higher in Maslow's hierarchy of needs? Yes, enter "kitchen, stage right!" (That dates me, doesn't it?) The kitchen is one room to pay close attention to click here to download image

when designing and building a small home.

Your Home, Your Food, Your Kitchen
 
The desire for small homes is growing but there are challenges. I find that people start with a small home floor plan but once they start analyzing what they want and adding things here and there, the small home living idea has morphed into something quite different and the plan often grows by up to fifty percent!

 
For most people, the kitchen is a central part of their lives. It should not be slighted when building a small home. It should be featured. Let the kitchen solve part of your problem.
 
How a Large Kitchen Makes for a Smaller Home
 
Smaller homes require plenty of thought and design to make them as livable and comfortable as possible. There's no one solution for this. If you center your solutions around making the kitchen not only a place for food, but a living area as well, you'll find ways to make the rest of the home smaller. Here are a couple ideas and reasons behind them.
 

• Make the kitchen part of the Great Room/Family Room: An open kitchen allows for "living" to flow more easily throughout the house.
• Bring the Dining Room into the kitchen: This means eliminate the dining room! It also means making the kitchen a little bigger. Like the old "country kitchens". And if it's designed well, when company comes you can expand your dining on into the great/family room area.
• Let your interior design and décor flow too: To bring it all together, allow your furnishings, décor, and other features to overlap and compliment to give a bigger feel to the home.

Food and shelter go hand in hand just like a bigger, multi-use kitchen makes sense for small home designs. I bet you never thought food could solve your small home design problems!