When we first moved into the guest house, I momentarily tricked myself into thinking we “needed” an appliance garage & beverage station, as this kitchen feature has been heavily-marketed as a design essential in recent years. (Spoiler alert: it’s not essential at all.) I had a spot picked out - the windowed cabinet that straddles the line between our multitasking entryway / dining room and the kitchen.
Family and friends will immediately have drinks in their hands upon arrival!
Kitchen gizmos will be tucked away but easily accessible!
I’ll become a less frenzied and more focused host, partner and parent thanks to my clever design choices!
In the meantime, our carefully pared down collection of non-library books had nowhere to go, so I slid stacks of them into that windowed cabinet as a temporary fix. As it turned out, I quite liked how the books looked in there. And, in a not-so-shocking turn of events, we didn’t need an appliance garage at all, because most newfangled kitchen gadgets are things we can live happily without.*
Still, there was something I liked about the idea of further blurring the line between the kitchen and neighboring areas. After all, most small spaces rely upon flexible borders in order to remain functional to the fullest— why not lean into it?
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