If you or someone else in your home does a lot of baking in the kitchen, building a dedicated baking center can be a great home improvement project. A baking center generally provides both storage and work space area, making it an especially convenient and efficient place to work. Depending on your space and budget, you can build a large area with specialized features, or a smaller area that simply provides a handy place to work. Either way, you’ll find this will be one home improvement project that you’ll add lots of function and use to your kitchen.

Baking Center Design Considerations

If you already have a section of cabinets and kitchen countertop that you plan to use for the baking center, then your design considerations should focus on how to retrofit the area to get the most use out of the space. This could include removing the doors from upper cabinets, in order to provide convenient open shelf storage space.

If you are designing an entirely new space, consider making the countertop lower in the baking center than what is normal for the other countertop surfaces in your home. In most cases, the standard 36 inch countertop height is simply too high to comfortably mix and chop ingredients or roll dough. Dropping the countertop to around 32 inches can make the area more comfortable for such tasks. However, once you reduce the countertop height, you will have less space underneath, which can be a problem for standard sized cabinets. To get around this problem, you can install deep sliding drawers instead of a regular base cabinet, which can provide a lot of useful storage space.

Choose sturdy high-quality door slides, so that they are easy to use and strong enough to support your heavy baking equipment. This style of drawer can actually hold more than a standard cabinet while providing easier access. When choosing the countertop surface, natural stone such as granite or marble are popular choices. These surfaces are cool, smooth and perfect for rolling dough. However, always make sure to use a good sealant, since many baking ingredients can stain stone surfaces. Quartz can be a good low-maintenance substitute for marble.

Space and Location Considerations

When designing your baking center, give some thought to providing plenty of space for cooling your baked goods. Upper shelves can be built for this use, or look for some stackable tiered cooling racks that can make the most of your countertop area. Upper shelves and cabinets are also important for storing your baking supplies. However, canisters for flour, sugar and other often-used ingredients are usually more convenient if stored on the countertop itself. If you’ve never had a baking center before, you’ll love how you’ll be able to cook with convenience and ease, without the need to walk all over the kitchen collecting supplies. Design your baking center to hold as many food supplies, baking pans, and other supplies as possible. You can further cut down on foot traffic in the kitchen by building your baking center within close proximity to the oven.

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Article written by Alyssa Davis of Metal-Wall-Art.com – find great deals on butterfly metal wall art and metal art wall decor.