Whether you simply can’t begin your day without a cup or you are more of an occasional or social coffee drinker, you likely own a coffee maker. You may have even dreamed of a coffee bar in your home and wondered, “Where is the best place for a coffee maker in my kitchen?”
You want it to be accessible and convenient. After all, you need to be able to find and run it after waking up in the morning and still in your pre-caffeinated state. Plus, when you’re running late for work, the last thing you need is to have to dig all your coffee necessities out of random places around your kitchen.
Having a nicely organized coffee station in your kitchen can certainly make your mornings go more smoothly and make entertaining guests a lot simpler. Not to mention you can take advantage of the health benefits.
If you’re ready to make that coveted home coffee center a reality, keep reading for some ideas and things to consider when creating your caffeination station.
Safety isn’t usually the first thing you consider when thinking about where to put your coffee maker, but you need to be sure both it and its power cord are out of reach of kids and pets who could accidentally pull a hot pot of coffee down on themselves and cause dangerous burns or scalds.
You don’t have to worry much about what is above, below, or around your coffee maker, as they usually don’t become overly hot. It’s fine to set it directly on your kitchen counter and even underneath a cabinet. However, know your individual machine and how much of a buffer it needs.
You should probably not have any items on your counter touching the coffee pot itself, so try to avoid placing your coffee station in a cluttered area, but beyond that, you don’t need to take any extraordinary measures to keep your kitchen surfaces safe from the heat.
If you’re accident-prone and tend to spill coffee, maybe just avoid decorating your coffee area with any heirloom tablecloths and keep some kitchen towels nearby to wipe up.
Put Your Coffee Maker Somewhere That it is Less Likely to Get in the Way
After safety, the first item you’ll need to consider is how often you make coffee at home.
Fun fact: 75% of the U.S. population over the age of 20 drinks coffee, and 49% drink it daily. You may be one of these Mr. Coffee constituents, but if you’re grabbing it at your local coffee shop on the way to work instead of making it at home, your coffee maker may not require a permanent location on your countertop.
On the other hand, if you are a dedicated home coffee drinker, your coffee station deserves some valuable real estate in your kitchen.
Or maybe you fall somewhere in the middle and make coffee at home on a somewhat regular basis, but it’s not an everyday occurrence. In that case, maybe the best option for you is tucking your coffee maker away in a corner where it’s out of the way, but still easily accessible. Inside a cupboard beneath an area with an outlet and easily-cleared counter space works best.
And remember, you can always adjust. If you hide your coffee pot now because you don’t use it daily, but in six months, life gets crazy, and you find yourself drinking coffee on a more regular basis, you can always rearrange your kitchen a bit to fit your lifestyle changes.
A subset of the question about how often you make coffee is how much space you have in your kitchen. If you have all the space in the world, you can dedicate a section for your coffee needs, even if you don’t drink it daily.
On the other hand, if your kitchen is a bit more cramped, you may not want to give the coffee pot a prominent space, even if you use it every day. In this case, you may find it more convenient to be able to tuck it away when not in use.
Consider Putting Your Coffee Maker Away When it is Not in Use
Making your coffee will be much easier if your coffee bar is near some vital features in your kitchen.
Make sure there is an electrical outlet near your coffee station and that it’s sufficient for handling whatever coffee machines you may have, including:
Whatever gadgets will be there, you can’t use them unless you can power them, and you probably don’t want to run extension cords to your coffee corner, so make sure there’s an outlet nearby.
Besides coffee beans, water is the other essential element in making coffee. Consider the distance you will have to carry water and how often when choosing a location for your coffee maker.
If you’re making coffee daily or even multiple times a day, it might be worth your effort to find a place close to the sink to put your coffee maker.
If coffee is only an occasional enjoyment in your home, you can set up that cute coffee bar in the far corner of your kitchen because it won’t be such an imposition to carry water to it once in a while. It might even be the perfect way to fill that little-used corner.
Who said a coffee station can’t be the perfect way to spruce up your home?
If you lack counter space in a convenient location near a power outlet and water source, a coffee cart might be the solution you need. Store your coffee maker, cups, and grounds on the cart, and roll it to where you need it while brewing. When you finish, simply roll it back to the corner and out of the way until the next coffee craving hits.
Or maybe you’ve got some bare wall space near the perfect location for your coffee maker. In that case, a shelf with some mug hooks underneath can be the perfect way to have your coffee pot there and still have storage for mugs and other coffee necessities.
The same goes for if you lack counter space but have unused space in a drawer or cupboard near where you place your coffee maker.
If you like milk or other coffee enhancers that must be refrigerated, it might be worthwhile to consider the location of your fridge when planning your coffee bar’s ideal spot. After all, if you’re a serious coffee drinker, you won’t want to walk across the room for every cup.
You may envision a Pinterest-worthy coffee corner with the best coffee maker and teapot arrangement surrounded by all the accessories. If so, you may want it to have a prominent place where guests can see it.
Or you may be someone who feels coffee makers aren’t necessarily the most attractive of kitchen appliances. In this case, you might prefer to hide your coffee pot away in an appliance garage or cupboard when not in use.
If you hide your coffee pot away, you can still make an attractive arrangement of coffee cups and other supplies nearby, or you can hide these away in a cupboard or drawer as well.
Coffee comes along with various accessories, which you will need to include space for in your coffee set-up.
You’ve got to have coffee cups, for one thing. You can set up your coffee station near the cupboard where you keep your cups, set them out on the counter if you want to show them off, or even make use of little-used space and hang them below your kitchen cupboards near your coffee area.
Also, keep in mind anything you add to spice up your coffee. Make sure your coffee bar has room for any sugar, creamers, or other flavor enhancers.
If you’re into tea also, it’s easy to incorporate your tea bags or loose leaf, along with your teapot and anything else you may need right into your coffee area.
It Can Be Convenient to Store All of Your Coffee Essentials in the Same Location
While drip coffee is usually pretty straightforward, if your coffee tastes run toward slightly more complicated brews, you will need to choose a place in your kitchen that can accommodate whatever necessities are required for your chosen method of coffee making.
If you’ve got a coffee maker that uses pods, you will need coffee pod storage. You can set up your coffee area near a drawer and organize your coffee pods out of sight in the drawer. Another option is to have a bowl or basket or even a storage system designed just for coffee pods and place it near your coffee maker.
If you like freshly ground coffee, make sure you’ve got the space in your coffee area for your grinding equipment. Make sure you’ve also got some coffee ground storage, so you can grind extra and have it ready for the next week or however long in advance you like to grind it.
If cold brew coffee is more your thing, make sure to have sufficient space in your coffee area to steep your cold brew somewhere it won’t be in the way during the day.
While the kitchen is likely to be the most convenient spot to place your coffee bar, there is no rule that it has to be there. Your dining room or even your office may be better locations for your lifestyle.
Other locations offer other potential solutions for the best place to place your coffee maker. You can maybe incorporate that antique buffet in your living room that you don’t want to get rid of but don’t otherwise use. Or if you work from home and require constant coffee access to get through the day, maybe you just want a pot on the corner of your desk.
Just keep in mind the issues of a water source and access to a power outlet and the other factors that have been discussed. Beyond that, do whatever works for you.
