After living in 13 different houses during my 17 years of wifeing to a hungry man and three hungry boys, I’ve learned a thing or two about what I need in a kitchen. As small as the kitchen appeared in our new house, I evaluated it before we bought it to make sure it had the potential to accommodate these three things:

before kitchenbelieve it or not, I deemed this little kitchen potential worthy

bay window beforethe best part about our new old kitchen: WINDOWS!

1. Natural Light

If you’ve ever tried to cook breakfast at 10am in a dark kitchen then you know how valuable natural light is.

We’ve had kitchens that had one tiny window and kitchens that have had no windows. We’ve had kitchens that were so dark that they sucked up all the natural light. And sometimes we get lucky and find a kitchen with a bay window. My favorite part of our current kitchen? The windows! Really, there’s not much more to love, but one thing is for sure, I WILL GET SUNLIGHT!

pure style home Pure Style Home

2. A place for people to gather

There’s nothing worse than inviting people over for dinner and then escaping into your one woman cave where no one else can fit to visit while you finish up the cooking alone. Not only do I want to be able to welcome people into my kitchen, I want to make sure they have a place to sit. I don’t feel the need to accommodate a crowd (although I’m a big fan of the kitchen table) but it’s a priority for me to have a few places to sit for guests or my boys or my husband to be close enough to the kitchen where I don’t feel like I’m in solitary confinement. So in our tiny new/old kitchen, that means opening up the walls so the room can breathe and people can connect with each other.

3. Cleared off surfaces

Oh, the glorious luxury of a cleared off counter in the kitchen. I used to keep my counters packed full of tchotchkes, small appliances, mail and that left over doughnut. But no more! There is something about a cleared off kitchen counter that motivates me to cook and clean up after myself, and I need all the help I can get. I cannot wait to have counters in my kitchen–so I can use them, and then clear them off. I believe a cleared off counter is a luxury.

 

Your turn, what are your kitchen must haves?