That's entertaining

Published December 17, 2005 at midnight

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What design features make a house perfect for parties? When thinking about the floor plan of your own home, here are ideas to entertain from experts:

* Big kitchens: "I think it's a scientifically proven fact that people at parties wind up in the kitchen," says Jerry Gloss of Boulder's Knudson Gloss Architects. Besides the obvious appeal of the food being prepared there, kitchen countertops provide what he calls "leaning area." Ideally, the kitchen is centrally located in the home, says John Tobey of Denver's Epicurean Catering and his own event-planning firm, Eventeur. "I'm seeing people build banquettes into a conversation area in the kitchen, too," Tobey says. "It almost becomes the living room."

Other kitchen features to keep the party going: new quieter appliances with sound insulation; water spigots located at the stove, making for easy fill-up of pots.

* Size matters: "You want big rooms, but bigger is not necessarily better," Gloss says. "You can't have a conversation when someone is 20 feet away from you." The house itself need not be big, Tobey says. "But open rooms make for an easier flow to an event," he says. "Houses with tiny rooms that are all broken up don't work as well."

* Great outdoors: Create an outdoor space that blends into an indoor space. "Colorado is a great place to entertain outside," Gloss says. Try a patio right off of the kitchen, at a similar elevation, and watch your party guests enjoy moving between the two spaces. Covered patios and fire pits are gaining popularity in back yards, Tobey says. "There are gas grills where you can control the temperature, just like on an indoor oven," he says. "You can really re-create your kitchen in an outdoor setting if you want to."

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