There’s no question that the way your kitchen looks plays a huge role when you’re considering a new home. But perhaps even more important than how your kitchen looks is how you plan to use your kitchen. You want your kitchen to work well with the way you live and your personality.

So what is your kitchen personality? When we talk about kitchen personality, we’re really not talking about whether you’re outgoing or quiet, or reserved. What we’re really looking at is how you use your kitchen.

If you’re someone who loves to cook and spends a lot of time doing that, you’ll want your kitchen to be a place that lends itself to cooking, cutting, stirring, and washing.  The traditional “work triangle” design of your kitchen will be important. You don’t want to have to run from one end of the kitchen to the other to accomplish your tasks.

If, however, you do more casual entertaining and your kitchen is a place where friends, family, and guests congregate, you may pay more attention to the amount of space your guest have in which to mingle.  You may be more comfort-focused when it comes to your kitchen space, and it may be even more important that your kitchen is open to other common areas such as the great room or dining room.

If your kitchen is going to be more of a practical workspace for everything from meal preparation, to homework, to minor fix-it projects, you’ll want to make sure that there is adequate space (and lighting) to accommodate all of those activities.

Meal Preparation:

• What kind of cooking will you be doing?
• What kind of space will you need for that?
• Does the floor plan your looking at give you the kind of arrangement that works well with how you plan to cook?

Entertaining:

• Will you do more casual or formal entertaining?
• If you do formal entertaining, how is the access to your dining room?
• Is it important that guests can congregate in your kitchen?
• Does your kitchen need to be open and easily accessible to other common rooms?

Family Life:

• What activities do you anticipate in the kitchen?
• Do you plan to eat in or near the kitchen?
• Is there adequate space for a desk for a computer, homework or other activities?

Country Classics offers spectacular floor plans for your New Jersey home. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about our current new home opportunities —and keep the above questions in mind as you look at the kitchens in each home. Those questions can help you evaluate which option fits your kitchen personality the best, now and for years to come.