The pandemic has brought us to the confines of our homes for more than a year already. Instead of going to offices to work, we bring our work to our homes. I am glad that I have been working at home for several years now. The pandemic didn’t affect my job as much as it did for most. I also don’t have to adjust my routines because I’ve been so used to working at home. With my years of experience, I noticed that the problem most people find hard to deal with is finding a perfect spot in the home for an office space.
My suggestion? Use your kitchen.
The kitchen is one of the busiest places in the house. From food preparations to cooking (and sometimes eating), there’s no doubt that we spend several hours in the kitchen every day. But did you know that you can make free office space in your kitchen? Utilizing your kitchen as an office is an ingenious way to multi-task all your workload. But of course, you still need to remodel your kitchen to accommodate your office area.
5 Resourceful Hacks for a Kitchen Office Space
I read from a blog once that kitchens are considered “as the selling point of any home” by potential buyers. That being said, you don’t want to make a mess out of your kitchen when converting a portion of it to your office space. With these simple hacks, you don’t have to do major renovations that might ruin the beauty of your kitchen. Hence, you can keep the value of your house from a standpoint.
Corner Nook Office Space
One of the most neglected parts of the kitchen is the corner. Most people do not utilize the corners of their kitchens because they don’t know what to do with it. It’s too small for a pantry; it’s too tight for storage space. So, what will you do with it?
Transform the once-useless corner into a workspace, of course! You can always squeeze a desk into a corner. If you cannot find one that is about the same size, then you can opt to get a customized desk that’ll fit the allotted gap. It all boils down to your creativity and how you want your office corner to look like.
Repurpose Kitchen Drawers as Storage
Another kitchen hack that I personally like is to utilize unused kitchen cabinets as office storage. Personally, I have more office materials than I have knives and cookware. Hence, I find my extra cabinets in the kitchen quite extremely useful.
This repurposed idea will be more practical if you have a kitchen office space. Otherwise, you will be like me who would need to go down to the kitchen to get a new stack of fresh bond papers!
Create a Note Area
A kitchen benchtop is okay to leave your notes on. But, it can get confusing at times, especially when you have to prepare food in the same area. It will also risk damaging your notes if you spill something on it, or perhaps contaminating the food you’re preparing. That being said, you need to spare a space on the wall that will serve as your note area.
You may even make use of your fridge and put stick-on notes or fridge magnets. For some who want a more traditional approach to a note area, you can hang a cork board on the kitchen wall right in front or beside your desk. With this idea, you won’t have to jumble around your work since you can simply pin important notes on the board to remind you of what you need to do.
Take Comfort in a Chair
Organizing a kitchen can be daunting. How much more if you need to include a home office in the process? When organizing your kitchen with a workspace, don’t forget to get a comfortable chair. Having a nice and comfortable chair makes the ambiance cozier. Since you have to stand most of the time when you’re doing kitchen work, it is just right to relax on a comfortable chair when you need to focus on desk work.
Make sure that the chair you add to your kitchen desk offers adjustable height and other functions that you can benefit from. Once you get a chair that you are comfortable with, it’ll improve your posture as well as reduce back pain from standing and sitting too long. Hence, a great chair is a must for every kitchen office.
Hideaway in the Pantry
Did you know that pantry does not only hide kitchen ingredients and kitchenware alone? If you have ample pantry space, you can also tuck in a desk for a secret office getaway. Who would have known that behind the closed door is actually a comfortable workspace? One thing about hiding your kitchen office from plain sight means there are fewer distractions as well. Since you are kept away to your little nook, you can do anything you want and not get distracted by any family members who might need to get a glass of water from the fridge.
But if you want to keep things more unique, you can use a glass instead of a wood panel as your pantry door. The addition of a glass door will also add more elegance to your kitchen interior. It is seldom that you can see a pantry converted to a kitchen office with a glass door, after all.
Takeaway
Creating an office at home is a fun yet challenging experience. Given the struggles we have to face during this whole pandemic, we need to hold on and do with what we have. So even if we need to work from home, we need to make a conducive workspace that will allow us to be productive. With kids and pets all around, people will be on their wit’s end. But rest assured that you will be able to get the hang of it as soon as you get yourself settled.
When you de-clutter your kitchen, you will realize that it makes a great space for an office area. All you have to do is generate a space where you can stash a desk, a comfy chair, and other office essentials. Just always remember that your organizing skill is an important weapon to have regardless of what you do in your kitchen. Having a cozy and stress-free work environment will surely help you deal with the pandemic’s work-from-home set-up.