Kitchens Designed With Pets in Mind

The first of three stories on this week's topic: Kitchen Design

It’s canines over cabernet for many Americans when it comes to designing a new kitchen. In fact, 22 percent of homeowners rate "a place for feeding pets" as a top-three kitchen extra, compared with only 10 percent who feel they need a place for wine storage.

Fido and Puff rein supreme in today's home designs, according to Ann Arbor-based Masco Cabinetry‘s GenShift 2011 study, which focuses on  generational and societal influences on kitchen design. Masco Cabinetry owns Merillat, KraftMaid and Quality Cabinets.

“Pets are often considered members of the family,” said Glenda Meads, who runs Glenda Meads Architects in Bloomfield Township.

Take for example, Meads’ task of making Leslie Luciani’s Birmingham kitchen 100 percent family — and dog — friendly. While maintaining its 1920s-era charm, Meads and Luciani designed and created a wonderful hangout/kitchen area for the Luciani boys, Dad, and their dog.

The architect and homeowners managed to eek out a special spot in the kitchen for their dog’s food dish, which slides out from beneath some cabinetry.

Pets play a major role while kids are growing up and in later years, reported the GenShift survey. As the “nest” becomes empty, homeowners often increase the focus on a pet’s needs even more. Homeowners with pets are focusing more on space needs for a pet-feeding station and pet-food storage, like the Luciani design.

Integrated cabinetry or storage for pet food, supplies, even pet washing stations, may become more commonplace and may even replace the traditional kitchen desk so popular in the mid 1990s and beyond.

“Designing an area in the kitchen for pets and their supplies doesn’t necessarily require ordering custom cabinetry,” noted Masco publicist Samantha Grosz.

“Removing a single base cabinet, with a narrow base cabinet next to it, could allow room for a food/water bowl at floor level, with nearby storage for extra food and supplies.”

Come back on Thursday and Friday for more information on today's kitchen designs. There's more cooking than food in today's efficient kitchen — we'll cover everything from technology needs to how Grandma gets her cereal.