Martha Stewart Never Designs A Kitchen Without One Useful Feature

There is a lot of work that goes into designing a living space. But while a comfortable living room is a lovely thing to have, the kitchen is really where clever design is key. The kitchen is the production center of the home; where family meals are crafted and where we all naturally congregate. Martha Stewart knows this well, and takes great care in the layout of her kitchens. One of Martha Stewart's all-time best kitchen design tips to steal for your own home, however, is dividing your kitchen into specific zones — including a dedicated area for preparing your coffee or tea every morning. 

In general, Stewart suggests that kitchens should take up as much square footage as possible and be divided into various zones to maximize efficiency and ease of use. These zones include fairly standard things like a cooking area, a washing area, and one or two seating areas — but there is one less common feature that Stewart also swears by: a coffee station.  Simply dedicating a corner of your counter to that sacred morning brew opens the door to both grabbing a quick fix on the way out the door and slow mornings with time for a second cup while you read the morning news — while someone else makes brunch.

In her kitchens, this coffee station is a dedicated area of the kitchen featuring high-end espresso machines capable of producing the best coffee. But Martha Stewart does have a favorite French press as well, and it goes for less than $40 on Amazon. So the concept of a dedicated coffee area doesn't necessarily mean that you need to shell out for an expensive, barista-ready appliance. 

Obviously, when we're talking about Martha Stewart's kitchens, there is a lot of space and a lot of money going into the design and the appliances. But like many of Stewart's best kitchen design tips, this concept can be applied to smaller, budget-friendly kitchens as well. All this design idea really means is that you dedicate some of the space in your kitchen to preparing and presenting your coffee, and ideally it is separated from the other high-use areas. Being able to sneak in and grab a cup while someone else is cooking is a huge win for family dynamics, and it's as simple as detaching everything you need for coffee-making from the rest of the room.

Some tips for designing an at home coffee bar include stocking it with containers for things like coffee, tea, and sugar, as well as plenty of nice mugs. If you set out a small creamer filled with your preferred coffee complement — be it half and half, milk, or whatever else — then everyone can easily fix up their morning cup without hassle. If you want to follow Stewart's layout closely, you can also invest in one of the best espresso machines for beginners. These machines allow you to whip up cafe-quality coffee recipes. As a bonus, once spending the morning in your own kitchen starts to feel like going out to a cafe, your pocketbook might start to feel a bit heavier.