I put my message/office area just outside the kitchen and am very happy that the clutter doesn't come into the kitchen. If you click on the photo it will take you to more photo's of the set up. The upper cabinet has all office stuff with outlet to charge all my electronics. The first drawer has a plug and tray for all my DH pockets and gear. Second drawer is all the coupons and odds and ends. As you can see basket is for all the shoes as we come in.
good luck...

I have a built in desk in my current kitchen. I hate it and can't wait for it to go when we remodel.
We keep our phones in our pockets, or laptop computers on our laps and have other areas with home office and desks for our desktop computers.
I think the desk makes our kitchen look like 1985.

Yes, ours is a place to pile papers. I think it is a waste of space.

we went from a 36" desk in the old kitchen and all it's clutter to an 18" desk for the phone and my daytimer and I am now ruthless about dealing with the paper when it comes into the house especially flyers (recycling everyday instead of piling up), newspapers don't get saved as there is no where to put them so into recycling at the end of the day etc.

We have a clutter collector (aka desk) in our kitchen in the house I am in now. I finally found a use for it- keeping the dog crates underneath it. The top still collects a mountains of paper and other junk.

In the new house, we will have a desk-like area in the mud room directly next to the door when you come in so everything can be placed there immediately upon entrance to the house. I think it will work much better to file mail etc. right away and hopefully it will keep clutter out of the kitchen!

Poorly drawn desk mock-up:

Mudroom "desk"

Our desk isn't used as a desk, but I like having it. It's the only landing spot for purse,mail etc when coming in the door. It also has phone, cell charger etc. Without it, I'm afraid the junk would go on our island.

Our dog likes to lay underneath. Some day when he's gone :( I would like to make it a "beverage center" with a wine fridge underneath.

Our kitchen desk is command central at our house. (And during parties it is the beverage center.) The lower cabs are regular height instead of desk height, which keeps it from being too desk-ish, I guess. I clear it off every Monday ('cause the cleaning lady comes on Tuesday) so it doesn't get too cluttered. Here's a pic:

So glad to have removed the desk as a part of my kitchen remodel. It was a space that simply colected junk, probbaly due to busy lifestyle/lack of cleaning. I now will use other new cubbies & other ornaziers to stash stuff.

I also nixed the desk in my kitchen remodel and have never regretted my decision. I used the old desk area for much needed pantry space. I have a den next to the kitchen that I never used much before. With the desk now gone in the kitchen, I moved my office stuff into the den where it really should have been in the first place. This works out so much better and leaves my kitchen clutter free. Mail, homework and personal papers do not belong in the kitchen.

So for those people without desks in the kitchen, where does your phone, day planner, papers go? I am afraid they would land on the counter/island/back door bench. We don't have an office on the main floor, but I do not like the desk we have in the kitchen either.

Great commments. I was laughing at the comment about the desk aging the kitchen (to 1985!).

clergychick -your picture with the large desk/buffet area is really pretty. I could see how that would be useful in many ways. We just don't have that much space.

Since we have about 30" to work with, I'm wondering if it makes sense to design it as a "hutch" look so the papers can go behind cupboards up top. There could still be a countertop for the phone, a notepad and misc paperwork. I loved the idea of drawers with outlets so the cellphones can be charged out of sight.

Renov8r- I also worry that if we don't have some space designated as the "junk" space, that it will land on the island, which would drive me nuts.

We don't have a mudroom space to keep the paperwork. My kids come home from school with things that I need to review or send back to school. If they don't put them somewhere in my line of sight then I forget to deal with them.

For those of you that don't have a mudroom, where does that miscellaneous clutter go? Does anyone have any more pics of an alternative to a true desk?

Thank you!

I love my desk and specifically asked for it in the remodel. Ours is under a window that has a beautiful view. So that makes it a great place to sit. To the left, on the wall is the 46" flat screen TV, so I can turn the chair from there and view it too. Our kitchen is long, so the desk space couldn't really have been used for any more kitchen cabinetry. It measures 58" by 24" deep. It seems to be the ideal size. I keep my netbook, phone, and TV remote there. I have a filing cabinet drawer. Under the desk, I have more storage: a simple flip top basket for rapid stashing of stuff. And 3 baskets under the right hand space of the desk that I keep magazines in.

In the old kitchen, we had piles of paper & mail, but they cluttered up the working counter of the kitchen. So, when I wanted to cook, I would have to move everything to the table and so forth, until it was all sorted. Unless you are diligent and make it a priority, the paper accumulates. It still does now (and I go through it every week), but it no longer takes up valuable prep space in the kitchen proper. Plus, it is a nice place to sit in and of itself.

We don't have an office on the first floor, which is why it was so important to me to have this collection area and somewhere to rapidly stash it if need be.

On the other hand, I have seen kitchens that had a desk in the kitchen proper, and I thought it was a waste of cabinet space. I really think it depends on the location of the desk with respect to everything else in the kitchen. If I were more diligent about carrying all the mail and stuff upstairs to the office, I wouldn't need a desk in the kitchen. But I am not. So, we have a desk in the kitchen.

This photo shows how the desk is situated on the far side of our kitchen table. We sometimes use the desk chair for a seventh person at the table.

{{!gwi}}

And here is our desk area proper (the kitchen TV is off on a wall to the left):

{{!gwi}}

I don't miss ours. It was a place to pile up the mail, school papers, clutter, etc. I try to just process this stuff with the "touch once" theory now.

This is the only photo I have available that shows the before and after of the area.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I don't hate my desk, but I don't love it either. We just built our house last year and I insisted on having a desk. I was so naive when designing my kitchen, I think what I meant I wanted was more of a message center. My cabinet maker made a full out desk which I now want to change into a message center/pantry.NOt sure if that will happen any time soon, but something I think about EVERYDAY. I do sit at it every day though, as that is where my computer is.

My current kitchen has a large desk area in the kitchen. While I love having it within reach when I'm working in the kitchen, I loathe the clutter that it creates. Everybody drops their keys, wallets, newspapers, mail, etc on my desk. Whenever we have company, I shove everything into the drawers. And then forget where it is.

So...in our new home currently under construction, we will have a multi-purpose (for lack of a better word) room right off the kitchen with a pocket door. That's where my desk area with lots of shelves will be, and also the freezer, w/d, and storage for larger seldom used appliances from the kitchen. It will be a large, sunny room, and hope it works out.

Purposefully designed a desk in my previous house and rarely used it. I had sooooo much countertop space anyway, I don't know what else I would have used the space for.

We have one in our current house and like so many others, it just grows papers. We're in the process of redesigning our kitchen and the desk will be replaced with a larger pantry. Though we hardly use the pantry we have (2') we realize we have to put something there, so a larger pantry (4') would be better utilized and kept tidier.

I think it was a design idea that seemed good on paper but not in reality.

We removed the desk and have zero regrets-- as others said it was a huge clutter magnet. We carved out a space for phone message pad and designated a cabinet for in boxes and lap top storage.
Before with desk

where our lap top and in boxes are stored in cabinet

We have a desk in the kitchen now, and will keep one in the remuddle.

Three reasons.

First, we want the kids to do their homework and use the Internet on a family computer in plain sight, so that we know what they are viewing and with whom they are chatting. Admittedly, both spawn appear responsible, sensible, and completely uninterested in online porn or cyber scum - but give them time . . .

Second, how else can I check GW between checks on the broiling beast? Or look up a recipe, read my email, see if Mubarak has fallen, keep up with my cyber scumming, etc - without letting my beast broil black? I spend a lot of time cooking, but that doesn't mean dicing and stirring every second, and I don't want to just stare at the sink during the downtime.

Third, because there's nowhere else for it. We have an old four-square. These floor plans are compact and tightly organized. The downstairs has entry room, living room, dining room, kitchen (and a powder room). I'm not going to have a computer in any of the other rooms, so the kitchen it is.

So, yes, my kitchen needs a desk, and not just a ''charging station'' but a full-blown desk with computer, printer, pens and pencils, speakers, etc. I would like to hide all this stuff, so I've been looking into old roll-top desks.

I never sit at my desk, but I love having a designated spot for all the clutter in my kitchen. I'm sure that, as you noted, if I didn't have a desk, the clutter would end up on the island. We have other places where we sit with our laptops, pay bills, and other things, but we still find the kitchen desk quite useful.

Ours is a small desk, and it's tucked away in a sort of inconspicuous spot, so I don't think it detracts from the look of the kitchen. I use it as a place to keep our house phone (the cell phones get charged in a different location), the dogs' cookie jar, pens and pencils, a notepad, and the grocery list. Occasionally, my laptop will rest there as I use it for a recipe. The drawer is a necessity for various non-kitchen gadgets that need a home. Above the desk, I have a shelf for cookbooks, and above that, I have a cabinet where I keep a file box with all my appliance owner's manuals and warranty info. Under the desk, I keep an extra stool that we use when more than three people want to sit at the island (it can be used for sitting at the desk, but it never is). I also built a narrow vertical cabinet under the desk to store my step stool.

I'm glad we have the desk. If I were otherwise short on storage space, I could live without it, but I'm really glad I don't have to.

It depends on where you do all your correspondense and how you live your life. I have two kids with their independent schedule and the only way to access it is through on-line schedule. I am too old to stare at the tiny cell phone screen for stuff like that. I am in the kitchen more than just about any other room and I don't know where I would do the organizing other than the desk area in the kitchen or near the kitchen. If you have the room AND can manage a small organization center to put the computer, printer etc, then go for it. I could not do that in my current house any other way other than put the desk area next to the kitchen.

I do not allow anyone to leave clutter on the island because we eat breakfast there. So to live a real life, there has to be a place where people can drop stuff. So whether you like it or not, the important thing is to create a place where you can place your every day stuff.

Interesting difference of opinions! I echo the last four responses. I suppose if you have a dedicated office space or other area in your home where you can store everything, then perhaps having a desk or some sort of message center in the kitchen isn't necessary. I have a small house and right now, my computer sits in an armoire in the formal dining room. I hate that I don't have a place to file things and I use the armoire right now to contain as much of the "cluttery things" as possible. However, I spend the bulk of my day at home in the kitchen. I open my mail there, go through the paperwork my kids bring home there, etc. I just got a iPad for Christmas and I hate not having a good spot to charge it or leave it open for use, other than the peninsula countertop.

While I'm not sure that I will put a desk in our kitchen, I do plan to have some sort of space that will house my cookbooks, our 13" flat screen TV (I watch the news while I cook), my printer, my files, a charging station, my iPad, etc. It will also have a bulletin board, storage space for my kids' art and school supplies, school info, etc. I have four kids - I need a dedicated space for this. For me personally, the kitchen is the logical spot. I also agree about having the computer my kids use out in the open, so that will go in that space too. While we are a long way from renovating our kitchen, I will be taking a hard look at where best to put this area so that it's not in the main part of my kitchen.

All I know is that I try very hard to keep all this stuff off my peninsula but b/c it's the most accessible, convenient place right now, that's where it all ends up. I HATE having it on my counter and am looking forward to having a dedicated spot, even though that spot will end up being in my kitchen. I hope to design something that will also serve as a bar for when we entertain, so I don't want it to look like a desk, but more counter area with built-in storage designed around our organizational needs.

We took out the desk in the kitchen (just one mini-project in our step-by-baby-step remodel!). I work from home so I have an office just round the corner, and don't want or need another office type space.

Where do the papers go: straight from the mailbox into recycling if appropriate, others into my inbox. At least weekly I do a scan of the house and gather any stray papers into the inbox, then go through all the stuff in there. In theory, anyway: occasionally things get away from me and I have to do a big catchup.

However, my kid is grown so I don't have piles of stuff coming home from school. Those of you with multiple kids must be paragons of organization :)

@cmm6797 - I share the concern that, if we don't have a designated "dumping" space, then all spaces will share that role. We are planning a small (34") desk to use as a mail-sorting, device charging, cordless phone base, etc. area. It is designed to be shallower than counterdepth (21") so as not to intrude into the kitchen space too much, it is currently at desk level (still debating that or counter level) and has 15" deep uppers to hold file boxes for school papers, directories, appliance user manuals, and the like, as well as bill paying supplies/envelopes/notepaper, etc. We have it styled as a hutch, so that it can also be used as an attractive beverage serving area when we have guests. The top shelf is open, to make it look more "furniture-like" and I'll use that to display a colorful tray or other item.

While I would love to think that I can keep every surface clean in the kitchen, we have TONS of paper coming in via three kids and mail, etc. and we need to have a place to handle it, or else it will handle us. We will have a "message center" in the back hall off the kitchen (ok, let's call it what it is -- a huge magnetic whiteboard which will hold a calendar and message space, and any papers that currently get stuck to the fridge.)

Here's the photo of the planned desk area -- let me know what you think! (I'm esp. interested in thoughts on whether it should be desk-height or counter-height.)

I've never had a desk in the kitchen and I am not getting one in our remodel. When our kids were younger they would do HW on the kitchen table or if they needed the computer, in our sunroom where the family computer was located. I always used that computer "location" as my "paperwork" area. Because I am a person who hates clutter, I've always kept our family's computer in a beautiful computer cabinet so that I can close the doors and it just looks like a piece of furniture. These days, we all have laptops (except the hubby who sticks with the desktop in the sunroom.) I bring my laptop right in the kitchen if I'm using it for something. It doesn't "live there" though.

My purse is always hung in the mudroom/backporch when I walk in the back door (along with all of our car/house keys.) I do have a large calendar that hangs next to my kitchen wall phone. I think we are going to move the actual phone (I want to have one NOT cordless phone in our house) to our mudroom/backporch and hang the calendar back there during the remodel.) I personally don't like the looks of a "control center" in my kitchen.

The only issue I have with clutter in my kitchen right now is my husband and his habit of dropping all of his "stuff" right on the kitchen counter as soon as he walks in. He is a police office so that includes his handcuffs and radio!!! Very lovely on the counter, don't you think? I've already thought about how I will remedy this in the new kitchen. We are planning a bit of a cabinet/bookshelf right when you walk into the kitchen (which is his current "drop-zone") so I'm thinking some type of basket or attractive container that can "hide" his junk...which he will probably continue to drop!!

For me, the sight of a desk in my kitchen just wouldn't work.

We are putting a desk in our new kitchen - for some of the same reasons sited above...

Keep the kids computer in plain sight and to keep the mail etc in one place.

Our plans are, when the kids are grown and no longer need supervision on the internet - we'll turn the desk area into a pantry. Very easy since my hubby is the cabinet maker :)

~ D ~

I really wanted a desk in my kitchen as right now we have no landing space for mail---it goes onto the kitchen table or on the (tiny) counter. It drives me bonkers when DH comes home for lunch and dumps the mail right in my only 3ft prep space. I knew I wanted a desk with doors and I was having a hard time with this since we are using stock cabinets.

A thousand and one floorplans later my desk has moved out of my kitchen. It's freeing up valuable kitchen space. We're doing a built in desk in the space that is now occupied by a dinky linen closet and the closet by our front door (which now houses small appliances and cleaning supplies). We only use the front door at Halloween so we don't need it for coats---lots of closets at the back door. The plan is to get barn door hardware and have a sliding door that can easily be closed. It's close to the kitchen but not in a high traffic area. I know the laptop will still often be on the kitchen table or island when I'm cooking or when the kids are playing games together but at least now it will have a place to 'live'. My large calender, the charging center and my filing cabinet and shredder will all be there too. I know from my own experience that I never get down to the basement to the filing cabinets and I get overwhelmed with the stacks of papers that I need to keep.

The cabinet above the 48" wide desk (sandwiched between the fireplace and an outside wall) in the kitchen eating area which is separated from the kitchen by the peninsula, houses my cookbooks, future birthday and other cards, medical and financial statements till they get moved downstairs, office odds & ends (stamps, checkbook, tape, etc.) current activity fliers, etc.

The cabinet below the desk has a file drawer with current activity/group folders, manuals for kitchen appliances and other household appliances & mechanicals, a small top drawer for more office odds & ends, and one of the kitchen table chairs and a waste basket fits under it.

The surface of the desk has the auto pencil sharpener, a phone, Kleenex, dictionary, and the piles of papers/folders/mail/books that I quickly remove from the table whenever I need to have 7 of us (instead of the usual 2) eat there. The desk piles only get sorted intermittently. ;o) It's all my stuff, since DH drops his stuff on the peninsula. :(

If I had young kids, the computer would go on the desk.

We have a 36" wide mail sorting cabinet/counter setup in the mudroom, my desk is in the LL guest bedroom, and DH has an office on the 2nd floor. So, basically, we have a lot of PAPERS and are not as well organized as we need to be!

I just went down and looked at the desk and thought about it in light of all of your comments above. I guess I'd rather have it there than not--it's convenient. It has most things that DH and I need/want to discuss when we're eating/sitting reading the paper at the table. It's off the beaten track, and guests normally wouldn't see it from the other rooms. It doesn't take up needed space from some other function. Now if it were in the kitchen proper which was the original question, I might feel differently.

Anne

**Since we have about 30" to work with, I'm wondering if it makes sense to design it as a "hutch" look so the papers can go behind cupboards up top. There could still be a countertop for the phone, a notepad and misc paperwork. I loved the idea of drawers with outlets so the cellphones can be charged out of sight.**

That totally makes sense. We're actually ripping out a small closet that's in the passageway between foyer and kitchen and turning the closet space into a built-in hutch that will be about 36" wide, so that there's a surface to drop things on (like mail) and a place to charge phones, etc., that isn't in the way of anything. I think a hutch style works really well for this purpose because it's versatile (it could also be used to store dishes and such), it can fit in a smaller space since no chair is required, and unlike a desk it can store things underneath.

**So for those people without desks in the kitchen, where does your phone, day planner, papers go?**

Phone: we only have cell phones. If we had a phone, it would live on the hutch described above. Day planner: when we have one (I'm sure we'll need one with older kids), it will either hang on the wall like a calendar or it will live on the hutch; we'll see what works best.

Papers: mail goes into baskets that live out of sight in a corner beside the couch. One basket for each of us. We deal with mail in the living room, like so: junk mail is recycled or shredded (e.g., credit card applications are shredded), so we toss it into either the "recycle" or "shred" basket--those are fairly flat baskets about 4" high that live under the couch--and then deal with it (put it out for recycling or shred it) every couple of weeks.

Non-junk mail gets opened, with envelopes and other throwaway bits tossed into the recycling basket and the important bits either dealt with immediately or put into folders that live in our mail baskets. This is hard to explain without a photo, but our mail baskets are just wide enough and tall enough for a manila folder to stand up in them, so there are a few folders standing up at the back of each basket, behind where the mail goes. I have a red folder for bills and anything else that needs to be dealt with urgently, a green one for financial stuff other than bills (e.g. bank statements), and so on. I suppose there will be a folder for mailings related to each child's education when the time comes. Periodically we take the mail baskets to our office filing cabinets and put away the papers that have collected in each folder, and then the whole process begins again.

It works for us and all these baskets let us deal with stuff downstairs without taking up much space, and then carry stuff up to the office for filing. It also keeps our kitchen recycling from filling up too quickly, since all the paper from junk mail, flyers etc. is put in a recycling basket that hides under the living room couch, instead of into the kitchen recycling.

We had a desk built-in in our previous home. It was next to the fridge and right near the back door. It wasn't a comfortable spot for sitting because of that, but apparently it was quite comfortable for the cr@p my family constantly laid upon it! The drawers below it, and the cabinets above it WERE useful, though.

In our new house, there are two cased openings on either side of the range wall...one leads to the "butlery" (fancy-nancy word that my KD uses for butler's pantry) and the other side leads to an area with a two windows and a small "L" of counter and drawers, with the door to the pantry on the other side of this small room. It is separate from my kitchen, and fairly private, so I believe my husband and children will leave it alone!!

I have already posted once in this thread, but wanted to comment on someone suggesting to make it like a hutch. That was what I attempted with mine, and I like it a lot better. We put a bead board back splash with a couple corbels on the sides. At some point (after our border collie leaves this world :( ) I want to put in a wine cooler or beverage fridge in the spot he lays.

This before pic is with a ton of clutter, and that's after we got rid of the big monster desk top computer...

and now (still cluttered with iphone dock, purse, regular phone etc)...

I had a desk in the very large kitchen in my last house, and never used it --- its location wasn't the best for traffic flow, and I really didn't like friends being able to see what was on my desk...and the kitchen was the gathering spot whenever anyone came over. So in this house, when I remodeled the kitchen, I never considered putting a desk in there. It's off in another part of the house where there is privacy and no peeping eyes.

I'm sitting at it right now, so yes I do like mine. I agree with clergychick about ours being Command Central. Mine is also about the same size as hers. Minus the french memo board (I love that, btw!!!). I also agree with johnliu that we wanted the kids on the internet in plain sight. Mine actually is not in my kitchen, but in my dinette - perhaps that makes a difference. It does get cluttered, but I'm not giving up the convenience of having it just to de-clutter. I also think that if I didn't have it more things would start landing on the kitchen counter! We are considering a vacation home and yes, I would build one in that kitchen as well.

Cmm, I think a lot of those old desks weren't used, not because they were in the kitchen, but because they were poorly placed. Used to fill in leftover space after everything else was placed, often on a back wall, facing away from anything of interest, chair in the way of traffic, etc. Place your desk where you want to hang out, relax, browse, sip coffee, retire to for a break after you get the kids out the door, have a view of a TV, etc., and you'll use it.

Mine is an antique desk that would be in the kitchen if it weren't through a doorway and thus technically in another room. Like Doonie, it has a pretty view out a window where I can see visitors approach and watch the birds take a bath.

Doonie,
Your kitchen looks lovely. Could you share the model/brand of the chandelier over the kitchen table? Thanks

Im also gulity of walking in from work and needing a place to drop my stuff! Thats the reason I put this desk in. We had the empty wall space and who doesnt need more cabinets.

Most kitchen desks are sorry little affairs that stare at walls. No one wants to be there, especially since we are all wireless todAy.

The concerns you have are ones we are addressing in our mudroom. We will have a corkboard and a "mail slot" marked "papers" that has a built-in trash can behind it.

Next to the mudroom in the breakfast area, the table is flanked by two cabinets. The left one hs is a legal size pendaflex file drawer, which will be color coded by child for all the different types of school stuff (I have a 2nd, 3rd and 5th grader.) the top of that cabinet will have school supplies.

I am soo happy that I have a desk in my kitchen. On the backwall of it is a custom framed in corkboard and then on the left wall is a custom magnet board that was painted the same colors as my wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: