In this snack-sized episode of Home: The Second Story, we dive into evolving kitchen trends from our own architectural practices, focusing on the functionality, creativity, and customization homeowners increasingly desire. Kitchens are adapting to the daily needs of families. Kid-specific beverage fridges, dog food stations, and innovative trash and compost systems are all on the table as we explore how kitchen layouts can support different household rhythms.
One standout trend is the return of the pantry — not just as storage, but as an auxiliary kitchen. From walk-in pantries that serve poolside snacks to hybrid pantry-mudroom setups in tight urban homes, we’re rethinking how to maximize space. We share strategies for incorporating Costco closets, “kitchen attic” storage for infrequently used items, and cleverly hidden paper towel dispensers that maintain clean counter aesthetics.
We also tackle the nuance between entertaining and cooking-focused kitchens. We recount creating custom storage solutions for clients’ specialty appliances and delve into how regional differences shape kitchen priorities — like silver storage in the South or salt-stained boot lockers in New England.
Our design philosophies differ slightly on dining rooms, but we all agree on the value of tailoring kitchen openness based on family dynamics and privacy. From generational preferences to layout sensitivities like avoiding direct views of the kitchen from the front door, we highlight the importance of adapting design to lifestyle.
Ultimately, we reinforce that while trends come and go, the most successful kitchens reflect the unique needs of the people using them. Whether you're storing heirloom silver or building a nook for your Vitamix, it’s all about making the space work for you.
Snack Size – Kitchens
Speakers: Jon Gay, Taylor Davis, Sheri Scott, & Marilyn Moedinger
[Music Playing]
Voiceover (00:02):
Everyone says how horrible it'll be to renovate or build your house — we're here to say, it doesn't have to be that way.
Join three seasoned architects as they interview homeowners who recently completed a large project, and ask them one simple question: what do you know now that you wish you knew before you started?
Welcome to Home: The Second Story Podcast.
Sheri Scott (00:26):
Hi, and welcome to a snack sized episode of Home: The Second Story. I'm Sheri Scott.
Marilyn Moedinger (00:32):
I'm Marilyn Moedinger.
Taylor Davis (00:33):
And I'm Taylor Davis.
Sheri Scott (00:35):
Today, we're getting together to talk about kitchens and what's new, what's on our boards, and what our clients are asking for. What are you guys seeing?
Marilyn Moedinger (00:44):
I've been seeing this for a couple of years now, but it's really starting to take off, is kid beverage fridges. Have you guys seen this?
Sheri Scott (00:52):
No.
Marilyn Moedinger (00:53):
So, instead of having just the fridge with all the stuff in it, you have a beverage fridge that might be in a different part of the kitchen, that's all the kid drinks and snacks.
So, when the kids are running in from outside and friends are over, whatever, you run over to the snack fridge, snack episode, snack fridge, it's on my mind here. And then the kids aren't under foot while you're trying to cook and things are happening, and it obviously, the fridge, you can put all the stuff in and you can take all the kid stuff out and you have more room.
So, do you guys see stuff like that? Like kid-focused stuff?
Sheri Scott (01:28):
Not really kid focused. We do a lot of beverage refrigerators and wine refrigerators.
Marilyn Moedinger (01:33):
So, adult fridge?
Sheri Scott (01:34):
Yes, adult fridge (laughs).
Taylor Davis (01:36):
We do the kid fridge, and sometimes we do it as a refrigerator drawer so that they can just slide it open and it doesn't take up a full bank in a lower cabinet. And you can have another drawer below it that's got snacks in it too. So, it's like a dedicated spot. Sometimes we put them in the pantry, so nobody has to see the mess that the kids leave behind. So, that's another option.
But yeah, we do kid stuff. We've actually been seeing, and y'all probably all get those dog kitchen stuff. So, like built-in bowls and places for dog food and all the fun little … people like to slide so many things into cabinets, and that's what I think is fun, is sort of getting creative like Rubik's cube with figuring out what we can fit in a bank of cabinetry.
Marilyn Moedinger (02:25):
Yeah, we have not done dog bowls because I've had a couple clients say that they make a big mess. The dog makes a big mess and they're going to ruin the cabinets. So, I was like wow.
Sheri Scott (02:35):
In the kitchen.
Marilyn Moedinger (02:36):
In the kitchen. So, we do dog food storage, and we use a trash pullout. So, we put just a big Tupperware, a big Rubbermaid thing instead of the trash can, and then you pull it out and you can scoop out the dog food.
Taylor Davis (02:51):
Can we talk about trash for a second? Because trash is like something that nobody wants to talk about in kitchens, but it's like a huge thing — how does everybody get the trash out? And then there's disposal, not disposal, what's allowed, what's not allowed, recycling — like there's so much to do with trash and everybody focuses on the countertop, which don't get me wrong, is really important, but trash is like kind of hypercritical.
Sheri Scott (03:18):
Yeah. Thank God nobody does trash compactors anymore (laughs).
Marilyn Moedinger (03:22):
I remember that.
Sheri Scott (03:24):
Where your trash stays in your kitchen for a week, it's gross.
Taylor Davis (03:28):
I think there's actually a … I want to say we just had a lunch and learn, and I can't remember who it was with, that has made a special depth appliance to replace empty holes left when people take out their trash compactors that's a certain size, like a refrigerator that you can stick in where people have taken out their trash compactors. So, that's a whole thing.
Sheri Scott (03:48):
That's a good idea.
Marilyn Moedinger (03:49):
So, we're not doing trash compactors obviously, because no one does them anymore. But what we do in the Boston area is we often have a dedicated compost area. So, in Cambridge, Massachusetts there's municipal composting. So, we have a dedicated compost.
But yeah, usually what we do is we do a pullout drawer, it's the full depth of the lowers, and there's two containers there, one for recycling, one for trash. And then sometimes, we'll do the compost mixed in with that or the compost lives on the counter. And I always say put it somewhere where when the kids need to throw something out or when guests need to throw something out, they're not entering deep into the kitchen.
Sheri Scott (04:30):
Yes. Into your space.
Marilyn Moedinger (04:32):
Into your space, right. Into your workspace and being underfoot. So, that's important. And put it near the sink if you can. But that's not as big of a deal in my opinion.
Sheri Scott (04:40):
Well, another thing that we're working on, it seems like every project we're doing now has a back pantry, and these pantries are kitchen sized. And we used to do dirty kitchens; we don't do those as much anymore. But so not all of the appliances but all of the storage and some open storage, some closed storage.
One we're doing right now is kind of fun. It's a couple who their kids are grown and flown, and they're designing this house for entertainment. So, we are doing actually an open pantry.
Marilyn Moedinger (05:17):
Fun (laughs).
Sheri Scott (05:18):
So, we're doing a big kitchen with a huge island for entertaining. And then we actually have a little nook pantry that has a window that opens to the outside so they can serve drinks and snacks out the window to the pool and all of that. So, that's a fun one we're doing.
Marilyn Moedinger (05:37):
Yeah, there's no shortage of — I feel like it's very much what people want to do, is have an entertaining kitchen. Have a kitchen that works really well for entertaining. And one of the things we are often doing with that, because we're working in smaller spaces oftentimes if we're in the Boston area, we just don't often have a lot of space in these really tight homes.
So, we will often do a combination mudroom pantry overflow space, which is connected to the kitchen, and it functions in several different ways. But it's also like where do you put the big thing of paper towels from Costco?
Sheri Scott (06:13):
Exactly. We do a Costco closet sometimes.
Marilyn Moedinger (06:16):
Yeah. And in these tight homes that are smaller, we can't do a Costco closet, so we do what I call kitchen attic storage. So, it's those high cabinets that you don't want to climb up to every day, but you get out the stool and when you need new paper towels.
So, maybe it's like once a week or something that you're kind of going up there, maybe less. But yeah, we do kitchen attic for that.
Taylor Davis (06:39):
Working in Birmingham, there's a sort of “southern formal” way of doing things and people don't like having stuff on their countertops. So, paper towels are the conversation that we have all the time. Nobody wants paper towels sitting on their countertop. They want them stuck away, tucked away.
So, we've started to do it kind of standard over our trash. We a lot of times make a little built-in paper towel holder so it's on a little rod so that it's sits next to the sink and you can use it right there, and there may be some room for extra storage behind it and then our trash goes underneath it.
So, nobody has to worry about their pretty countertops and the whole view with your beautiful lights on your island with your sink getting marred by the grimy paper towels that your kids have been tugging at with their chocolate popsicle covered hands. And I have had children with chocolate popsicle covered hands. So, I speak from experience.
But all that said, making sure that … based on kind of what the vibe is regionally, people might want to have things exposed and usable, but they also may want to have them kind of tucked away where you can't see things.
Marilyn Moedinger (07:54):
Yeah. I think another thing that comes up is whether we're working with someone who really loves to cook or just likes to entertain because those are different things.
So, we just wrapped up a kitchen for folks who really love to cook. So, one thing we did for them was make a list of all of the different equipment that they needed, like the Sous Vide machine and the dehydrator and the whatever.
Taylor Davis (08:17):
The Vitamix, always the Vitamix.
Marilyn Moedinger (08:21):
Oh, we're making a Vitamix garage for someone right now. So, you open the door-
Taylor Davis (08:26):
KitchenAid.
Marilyn Moedinger (08:27):
Yep, and you roll it out on a little rolling thing because those Vitamixes are heavy and kind of picking them up and moving them around. But what I learned from kind of helping folks think through the small appliance inventory is you really get to know someone. It's really fun, because they say, “Well, we Sous Vide once a week.” I'm like wow, I don't-
Taylor Davis (08:47):
Sous Vide once a week.
Marilyn Moedinger (08:48):
I know, I'm amazed (laughs). Or we make ice cream once a week. I'm like whoa, can we be friends (laughs).
So, it's a cool way. We're always trying to get to know our clients as well as we can to help create their homes for them. And I find the kitchen is just such that area where you can say, “Oh yeah, let's have this be an ice cream focused moment (laughs).”
Taylor Davis (09:11):
Okay, so I have another southern kitchen specialty that I suspect y'all don't have to work on very often.
Marilyn Moedinger (09:16):
Oh, let's hear.
Taylor Davis (09:17):
Which is silver storage.
Marilyn Moedinger (09:19):
No, never done that.
Sheri Scott (09:19):
Oh my gosh.
Marilyn Moedinger (09:21):
Never done that.
Taylor Davis (09:21):
So (laughs), we line drawers and shelves with pacific cloth so they don't tarnish so that people can put their silver somewhere and lock it up.
So, it is funny because — and that's an age, sometimes that's an age thing, and so we get some of that. But there are plenty of folks who they want to use their silver all the time. They got it, it's their grandmother’s or whatever and they need a place to store it.
And so, we come up with all sorts of fun ways to keep it from tarnishing because even if you do use silver, it doesn't mean you want to polish it all the time. So, I guarantee that's something that probably only happens here (laughs).
Marilyn Moedinger (09:57):
Definitely never do that.
Sheri Scott (09:58):
I think it'll come back like everything, everythingmetro, I think it'll come back again. I was just on Facebook marketplace of course, and a whole set of silver for $75, it was insane. I'm like, “I should just start buying up silver sets.”
Taylor Davis (10:14):
What pattern was it (laughs)?
Sheri Scott (10:16):
I don’t know. I'll send it to you.
Taylor Davis (10:18):
Mine's Francis the First. You can send it to me.
[Laughter]
Marilyn Moedinger (10:21):
I love that. Well, that's a fun thing to think about, like regional differences. I mean, in the Boston area, New England, we're always thinking about, I mentioned mudroom stuff. So, there's always like coats and boots all over the place.
So, when you come in from wherever and you're covered in salt from the street when it snows and everyone's wet and everyone's backpack is soaking wet and everything. So, we're actually doing projects where we have mini lockers.
I know this isn't kitchen specific, but it's adjacent. So, we're actually doing one where we're putting decorative mesh on the doors of the lockers. So, when there's probably stinky stuff in there like hockey equipment or other New England things that are very stinky. So, they go in there and then they're out of sight, but then they're also quick to grab and head out to practice or whatever. So, we do a lot of that.
I'm curious to know from you guys, from a design aesthetic standpoint. Right now, are you doing mostly painted or mostly wood cabinets, or both, or mix and match? Or what are you seeing right now?
Sheri Scott (11:33):
It really depends on the client. We're getting much more into natural woods. Just as a trend, it's coming back. But when people do natural wood here and we're usually a little bit behind here in Ohio, they're still mixing natural wood either on the island or the back counter or opposite. So, we're mixing and matching. I love an all-wood kitchen though.
Marilyn Moedinger (12:02):
Are you saying that mixing painted and wood is behind Sheri? Because we're doing that all the time still (laughs).
Sheri Scott (12:09):
Well, I did mean that, but I guess I'm wrong.
(Laughter).
Marilyn Moedinger (12:16):
It's a good point. What is behind or ahead or whatever, people really worry about that. But ultimately, what do you like, and what are you into? And that's what matters most.
Taylor Davis (12:26):
Oh yeah. Y'all stop paying attention to what the latest Instagram feed is; the kitchen needs to work for you, and it has to be beautiful for you and that's our job. And we want you to get inspired by certain things, but it doesn't have to … if it's on Instagram 50,000 times, it probably means it's passe at this point, it's already hit peak. You want to be designing for you, not what was peak a little while ago.
Sheri Scott (12:53):
That's what we say about flippers. If you see a flipped house and whatever it has in there, that trend is over. It's done.
Marilyn Moedinger (13:02):
Yeah. So, no more gray and white everybody. Even though gray is awesome and white is awesome and gray and white is cool, but you guys know what I mean, like gray LVT-
Sheri Scott (13:11):
Yeah. The gray wood LVT.
Marilyn Moedinger (13:13):
Gray wood everywhere, yeah.
Sheri Scott (13:16):
With all of the open floor plans these days, how do you guys feel about seeing the kitchen and where you can see it from and hear it from? How are you handling those things?
Marilyn Moedinger (13:26):
Ooh, that's a big one. I mean, first of all, kitchens are really nice and they're the most expensive room in the house. So, I think from an open floor plan standpoint, people are fine with seeing them because they're really beautiful.
I think some things that we're doing though — I think during the pandemic, something that came out is, huh, maybe rooms are actually good (laughs). Having a whole entire floor completely open, turns out when everyone was home, they realized it was not great.
I'm a big proponent of old school over here, dining rooms. I think if you've got space for it, dining room is great. There should be a space with a table that's dedicated for eating that has doors. So, when it's not being used for dinner, it can be used for homework on the big table or whatever. It doesn't have to always be a formal dining room, and it's set up that way.
So, I would say that. And then I would say the other thing when kitchens are exposed to the rest of the house, is at least making sure you're not staring at the fridge unless it's-
Taylor Davis (14:26):
Unless a beautiful fridge.
Marilyn Moedinger (14:28):
Unless it's a beautiful fridge. And by that, I think we probably mean like paneled so that it isn't like stainless steel staring you in the face and sticking out beyond the edge of the cabinets and stuff like that. So, generally, I'm trying to at least hide the fridge.
Sheri Scott (14:43):
I disagree about the dining room. We haven't done a dining room in 10 years — well, that's not true. Depends on the client, maybe 20% of my people do dining rooms, and when they want it, they love it. Absolutely.
Marilyn Moedinger (14:58):
Yes. I would say it's a minority of my clients who want it, but I think it's important to think about it. So, yes.
Taylor Davis (15:04):
We have to have some place to use the silver.
Marilyn Moedinger (15:06):
I was going to say Taylor and the silver that they've got. They got dining rooms down there in Alabama.
[Laughter]
Sheri Scott (15:11):
What we're seeing more about different rooms is a den. A lot of people are doing like a TV den or something. It's nice little cozy spot. But in relation to seeing a kitchen, we just always try to make it so you don't see the kitchen when you walk in the front door.
You have to have some privacy (laughs) for guests coming in or whoever's coming to the front door. Let's try not to see all of your pots and pans from there.
Taylor Davis (15:37):
We do them both and it depends on the house and the client. But I think what's really interesting to me is how it kind of runs sort of generationally. So, people who are young parents want an open kitchen so they can keep eyes on their kids all the time.
And then as the kids get older and they don't want them anywhere near them and they smell bad or whatever, they want a totally separate cutoff space. And then as they’re grandparents, then they want another big open kitchen again so they can see their grand babies and cook with them and do all the fun.
So, we watch this little wave generationally of how people feel about their kitchens relative to how their family uses the space, which I think is really fun to watch.
Marilyn Moedinger (16:19):
Yeah, I agree. We see that a lot too. And we do a lot of multi-generational houses which has all of these people in there at once. So, yeah that's a big deal for us too.
Sheri Scott (16:31):
Thanks for joining us today on Home: The Second Story for a quick snack. Questions for us, or interested in being a guest? Reach out to admin@htsspodcast.com. See you next time.
Voiceover (16:45):
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