06/24/2026
A lot of kitchen renovations focus on what the space will look like. Far fewer focus on how it will actually be used.
One of the most common mistakes is designing around the island as a centrepiece rather than as a working part of the kitchen. Beautiful in photos, but if the prep zone is too far from the cooktop, the cleanup zone is too far from the dishwasher, or two people cannot move through it without crossing paths, the space ends up working against the people using it.
Layout is the part of a kitchen renovation that is hardest to undo. It is also the part that shapes daily life the most.