Dishwashers with drawers are the trend in modern kitchens.

Queen Anne especially, but Magnolia as well, is replete with older houses built in the days when

kitchens were small and tucked away from the rest of the house. In some houses, meals appeared as if miraculously conjured out of nowhere.

The family-owned Albert Lee Appliance, on Elliott Avenue West for 73 years, has been part of the evolution in the world of kitchens.

Today’s kitchens trend toward the spacious; guests often help out with the slicing and dicing, if not the cooking.

The kitchen as entertainment center is a mirror of our times.

“What I’m seeing is, where people are doing full remodels, they’re focusing on the kitchen, said Albert Lee store manager Joe Maltase, who has been with the company for 29 years. “Walls that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house are coming down,” he said.

In fact, Maltase has a word for the new world of the kitchen: “eater-taining.”

“I’m seeing a lot more people busting their budgets for a high-powered range,” he said. “Ranges with visually pleasing hoods.”

On average, the bare, essential kitchen renovation costs $20,000; larger projects cost $40,000 to $60,000. Overall, homeowners should expect to pay $20,000 to $100,000 when remodeling a kitchen.

The top reasons why kitchens need remodeling include appliances giving out (such as dishwashers), updating a kitchen when selling a home; the desire for different countertops or other, newer kitchen technologies; or not having enough space.

Yes, times have changed. Maltase said his kitchen at home has a photograph of Julie Child standing over “a tiny stove making these amazing meals.”

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