Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2018 - 82

Sister Spaces
LEFT Aidan Design created

this pantry as an organized
central storage area for china,
stemware, serving pieces
and table décor. According to
owner and lead designer Nadia Subaran, the space is also
intended to be a restful place
to plan parties and gatherings,
and its dressier appearance
makes it more presentable
to the adjacent dining room.
Photo by Angie Seckinger
Photography

Jennifer Carter, principal of New York Citybased Studio Envie. "Bundling projects is more
cost effective, and once you do one renovation,
no one is very eager to do another one shortly
thereafter. It also allows you to make sure the
spaces you're bundling really impact and complement each other - both from a design and
functionality perspective."
IS THERE A NEED FOR A SISTER SPACE?

A good design professional will ask clients ample
questions to find out what they are lacking in their
current homes to determine if adding a space like
this makes sense. Are they looking for more storage for things like china? Do they desire a bar or
outdoor living area because they are avid entertainers? Do they need a mudroom for catching
snowy boots or a larger laundry room to wash
clothes for multiple children?
"A remodeler's goal is always to make the space better than it was," said
Chris Dreith, CMKBD, CRPM, of Woodland, Calif.-based Home Improvements Group. "Sometimes that means the storage needs to be more
efficient, while outdoor spaces and beverage areas expand the livability of
the home."
When it comes down to brass tacks, you need to make sure adding one of
these sister spaces works with the client's lifestyle. And when incorporating
one, clients often want these adjoining rooms to correlate with the design
and function of the main kitchen or bathroom.
"People love the idea of being neat and everything having its place, and
laundry/mudrooms and wet bars keep the main living spaces clean and decluttered," said Ashlee Richardson, lead designer for California-based Nar
Design Group. "Wet bars and beverage centers are less frequently separated
from the kitchen and are now becoming an extension of it."
Pantries and wet bars can also keep service people and guests out of the
main kitchen where all the action is taking place.These spaces can be used to
bridge the gap between the prep area and the entertaining space. Mudrooms

Advantages
by Association
S m a l l e r, m o r e f u n c t i o n a l a r e a s
related to kitchens and baths are
making lives easier for homeowners
KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS ARE UNDOUBTED-

LY THE MOST REQUESTED residential renovations

by homeowners, but there are several "sister spaces"
that are associated with these larger rooms, which
include bars, butler's pantries, mudrooms, outdoor
living spaces and laundry rooms. If clients have
the money in their budget and the designer can
come up with creative solutions for incorporating
these spaces, they can add function, efficiency and
aesthetics to a renovation and make life easier for
the homeowners.
"Kitchens and bathrooms are a big investment, so sometimes people only want to tackle
those rooms, but we're seeing more projects
where everything gets renovated at once," said

82

RIGHT This laundry room
serves multiple purposes,
including a prep and postparty breakdown area while
entertaining that is not visible
to guests. To conserve space,
designer Jennifer Carter
and her team incorporated
an ironing board and drying
racks that fold back into the
wall when they aren't in use.
Photo by Emma Tannenbaum
Photography

BY CHELSIE BUTLER

Kitchen & Bath Business / JANUARY 2018 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of KBIS (KBIS.com)
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Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2018

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