Diana Louise Carter
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Terry and Antoinette Glasbergen’s house felt cramped when the relatives came over for holiday meals.

There just didn’t seem to be enough space to handle 10 or 12 people sitting down to eat together.

The two-bedroom house in Irondequoit had a kitchen too small for more than a couple of people to eat in, and a bedroom-turned-dining room next to the kitchen had a boxed-in feeling, too.

Antoinette knew she wanted to take down a wall to get more space, but the couple wasn’t sure what else they needed to solve their space issues.

That’s where Brent Mackey came in. Mackey, president of Capstone Renovation and Construction in Chili, is a certified remodeler with lots of experience working in kitchens. He gave the Glasbergens several plans to consider. By removing a wall and changing the layout of the old kitchen, they ended up with a much roomier and more pleasing kitchen-dining room combination. Mackey also moved a door leading to a three-season porch.

The Glasbergens had room to add cabinets, a peninsula and countertops.

“It has changed my life in a way,” said Antoinette. Now when the family gathers, they can stay in the kitchen while she cooks. Even if guests are in the dining room, the open layout allows her to be part of the party. And when she watches her 4-year-old grandson, he can play with his cars on the kitchen floor nearby without being underfoot.

“By removing that wall, it seems like we doubled our space,” said Terry. “We didn’t actually, but there’s a freedom of walking between the two rooms.”

Creating sight lines between two rooms can add the feeling of space without a costly addition, say kitchen designers. But there are lots of other options — moving appliances, cabinets, doors and windows — that actually add space to the kitchen work area without changing the size of your house.

“Just because your space isn’t working doesn’t mean you need more of it,” said Sara Ann Busby, a certified kitchen designer in Elk Rapids, Mich., and president of the National Kitchen and Bath Association.

It all starts with understanding how people use their kitchens and how they’d like to use them.

“What you’re trying to do is take what they usually do and make it more meaningful and convenient,” said Mackey.

“A kitchen is a little mini-factory,” added Busby. “You are making a product there and you need to have a reason for everything that’s there.” Pulling out space-wasters can help how these factories work.

But kitchens are more than just functional. Older homes often have tiny kitchens tucked in the back of the house, reflecting a time when kitchen work was considered dirty duty, Busby said. “Now the kitchen is so much of a social center and a family center, you want to make sure it’s an inviting space.”

And while once kitchens were designed to accommodate one woman cooking, today they frequently have to be designed with two cooks in mind: male and female.

One of the easiest ways to make a kitchen roomier is to move the refrigerator, the designers said. People often stand them next to entrances, where the bulky appliance crowds the passageway. Or, when someone has the refrigerator door open, it blocks the entrance entirely.

Busby said she likes to place tall appliances, such as the refrigerator and wall oven on the same wall so their mass is concentrated.

She’ll also break up the standard U-shaped kitchen into an L with an island, allowing more ways to get into and out of the work area, she said.

Homeowners often assume they must leave their appliances and fixtures where they are, but Mackey said moving them may not be as expensive as they assume. Sometimes moving a sink a few feet actually shortens the distance pipes have to carry water from the main source in the basement. The same can be true of gas lines for a stove. A trip to the basement to study these pipes can give you a clue. Moving an electric stove, though, will probably mean installing a new outlet for the higher voltage required by that appliance.

Mackey said he often gets requests from people asking him to organize what goes in the cupboards for more efficiency. Busby said do-it-yourselfers can get inserts from home stores that customize the cabinets without the cost of specialized cabinets. In terms of those special-use cabinets, Busby recommended the double waste basket cabinet, which allows you to not only keep a trash basket out of sight but add a second one for recyclables. The double cabinet is only three inches deeper than a single one, she said.

“We put in double waste baskets cabinets every day,” Busby said.

Both designers said they come across safety hazards presented by existing kitchen layouts. Mackey said he often sees appliances too close to the range, allowing cords to melt from the heat. The heat from a stove can also cause a refrigerator next to it to heat up, causing it to work too hard to cool food.

Busby said she often pulls out microwaves mounted over ranges, as they are dangerous — especially for children — to operate while the range is in use. As an alternative, she recommends a base cabinet microwave that operates like a warming drawer.

Whatever layout the homeowners choose, designers say the effort is well worth the expense

The Glasbergens spent about $15,000 to redo their kitchen.

Mackey estimated that the cost of a kitchen remodeling can triple if it also involves adding on to the house.

It’s often not about the money, but the enjoyment the family gets out of a kitchen, Busby said. But improving a kitchen is an investment nevertheless.

“Remodeling a kitchen or having an updated kitchen is the best investment you can have in your house,” Busby said. In a slack real estate market, “it really gives you a competitive edge if you have a more current, updated kitchen.”