Bigger Kitchens but Fewer Cooks

I see many new and older homes in and around Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida. I have observed that homebuyers want bigger kitchens and that the kitchen is very much the center of activity, conversation and planning. It is used as an office, decorative piece, place for preparing checks to pay the bills. It is a place to read the mail, the coffee house, a location for viewing the television or listen to songs. Some even have a computer in the kitchen. The kitchen is bigger, no doubt, than many kitchens in the days of the popular ranch styles homes of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Many of those homes however, had bigger food closets, pantries.

Today, people are cooking less it seems. There are more restaurants, more eating out, and the dishes people do prepare at home are not of the quality or richness of the meals prepared by our parents and grandparents. Times are different of course. Foods are often less healthier, filled with preservatives, and people are too busy and overworked to cook complete, healthy, or interesting dishes. We often cook the easiest, fastest dishes possible for ourselves and those we entertain. Yet, we buy bigger bigger homes with bigger kitchens, and many of these beautiful kitchens (and they are beautiful) have small pantries, or no pantries at all to store food items. Another example of less emphasis on cooking at home.

If you one of the few who take the time to cook nice, healthy, complete meals, and want to stock up on food and ingredients, be sure that the home you like with the big kitchen also has a decent size pantry. You will determine what is decent size, but most home cooks like a big pantry and will complain of lack of storage space if there is not a place to keep the essentials. A cook without the ingredients for the desired dish is not a happy cook. I know, I get irritated when I forget to by baking soda, or other items for a recipe that I must prepare at the moment of inspiration. I do have a nice pantry too. Some builders of new homes with big kitchens put in very tiny pantries, sometimes, even in upper priced neighborhoods. If the kitche is so important, you may want to make sure that it is not only big, but complete. Something that I like in my kitchen is a place to hang a bulletin board. Not all new kitchens in contemporary style homes have wall space for a bulletin board, or even pictures. These are open kitchens, that swiftly flow into the surrounding rooms.

When looking at homes, you may not want to rule out the older homes since many of the older homes, including ranch style homes, have big pantries, and plenty of functionality, even if not as attractive or elegant.

Kenneth Fach, REALTORm ePRO
Weichert, REALTORS- Anchor
1607 Village Square BOULEVARD, Suite B 103
Tallahassee, FL 32309
Direct/Text 850-339-5753
Blog: http://KennethFach.wordpress.com

Each office is independently owned and operated