The In-Law Kitchen
We’ve all heard it before, probably hundreds of times: “kitchens and bathrooms sell houses.” Usually a home has a few bathrooms, but only one kitchen. After all, how many kitchens does one family need? Well… if you plan on creating an in-law apartment within your home, you might need two!
We don’t recommend creating a grand culinary workspace upstairs and leaving your in-laws with a mini fridge and a hot plate. If you have a beautiful kitchen in the main part of your home, it will be important to keep that aesthetic in the in-law apartment. While you don’t need to splurge on expensive marble countertops or hand painted tile, the in-law kitchen should be both functional (big enough to cook in) and visually appealing.
If you don’t want to add a large addition to your home or worry about bringing plumbing/electrical/HVAC to a space without these already close by, building an in-law apartment in your basement might be the best option.
Basement in-law apartments should be as bright and cheerful as the remainder of your house. Here’s an amazing example of a beautiful basement in-law kitchen.
The homeowners made some really great choices with this space. First, they chose neutral colors. Since basements don’t get a ton of light, sticking to a relatively bright color pallet will make the space feel bigger and more open. Second, the homeowners chose clean looking features. The cabinets are not embellished, the appliances are basic stainless, everything looks clean- but not overly high end.
For basement kitchens, you probably don’t need hang crystal light fixtures or spend too much time designing the perfectly shaped island. Keep the space simple, clean, and bright.
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