An emerging trend for modern kitchens is the re-introduction of the auxiliary kitchen. Many years ago, estate owners had separate kitchens for the staff on hand to prepare food while the homeowners dined and entertained in the dining room and sometimes secondary luxury kitchen. In modern homes these auxiliary kitchens, or prep kitchens, are no longer a space for staff to prepare food but to replace a luxury pantry. The majority of luxury pantries are walk in spaces for dry goods, but prep kitchens are on their way to replacing the conventional pantry.
The creation of a space in the home to hold kitchen clutter is growing in popularity. “Main Street is catching on to the convenience of the prep kitchen concept,” says Heather Hungeling, an Atlanta, GA-based kitchen designer and blogger. “Savvy builders are already offering home designs with these supplemental workspaces.”
With kitchens transforming into part of the living space, the desire for homeowners to keep the kitchen looking clean and beautiful for their guests to see. While there are a multitude of ways to hide small appliances and clutter in cabinetry, there is also an increase in the desire to add more windows to a kitchen space leading to stunning kitchens that simply do not have enough storage. So where do you keep the bulky blender, tasteless toaster, and messy microwave?
The solution to this issue for many people is the prep kitchen. The prep kitchen not only contains pantry goods, but it can also hold all food storage, the refrigerator, freezer, coffee bar, and have a secondary prep area that contains the mess. This leaves the main kitchen open, luxurious, and clean for entertaining and living.
Below are some interesting and creative prep kitchens to consider for your inspiration.
1. The Green Cottage Dream
The beautiful green makes the small space in this prep kitchen feel elegant and planned. When mixed with the painted beadboard, butcher block countertops, and crystal cabinet pulls the room feels like a luxury cottage to dream about. This prep kitchen has plenty of shelving for storage of dry goods, countertops that expose a multitude of small appliances and space to prep dinner. Another interesting addition to this prep kitchen that sets it apart from others is the large farm sink. Whether used for washing vegetables or keeping dirty dishes out of sight, it certainly is a useful space for the sink to be kept.
2. Transitional
Elegant and well organized, this prep kitchen is certainly Instagram worthy. Adding the refrigerator into the space allows for easy access to all food items and creates an exquisitely functional prep kitchen.
3. Family Function
This prep kitchen has plenty of storage for the whole family. As in many prep kitchens, small appliances have a home on the countertops, but the addition of the built-in microwave is an excellent way to save counter space. The best part of this prep kitchen is the ladder. Rails adorn both sides of the room to transfer the wheeled ladder like in a library. This means there is no wasted space, even tall cabinets can be utilized for the whole family to reach.
4. Small but Stunning
This prep kitchen, hidden behind frosted glass, is small in size but not in function. The built-in cabinetry provide ample space for breakfast prep and a coffee bar, while maintaining the same amount of storage for dry goods as a standard sized pantry.
5. Hidden Kitchen
Not much needs to be said about the brilliance of the hidden pantry, but to turn that concept into a hidden prep kitchen is another level of amazement.
Need a more subtle storage solution in your kitchen? Read this article to see more creative storage for your space.
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