Designing a kitchen doesn’t have to be painful or difficult and, to reduce both the headaches and the challenge, here are 20 crucial tips to help you with your kitchen design.
The Layout
1) When you design your kitchen, think about where you are going to put your utilities. The last thing you need is to scramble over other people using the kitchen while you’re trying to use it too.
2) Before you start adding cabinets, cupboards and workstations, think about foot traffic in the kitchen. You’re going to need space that reduces physical collisions, and, worst-case scenario, accidents that lead to injury or worse.
3) The design of your kitchen should make for the least effort required when reaching for ingredients or food preparation, so when you design your kitchen, consider unit and utility proximity.
4) In the design phase of your kitchen, think about what you can do to limit space usage. Do you require a large fridge freezer or can you get away with a worktop fridge? Do you need a full stove inclusive with an oven or can you get by with a worktop hob and a microwave?
5) Save space in your kitchen by having a reclining bin installed in the cupboard. This reduces overall floor space usage and increases the space available for a better layout.
6) Be sure, while designing your kitchen, to not bury clock stops or fuseboxes behind appliances or cabinets. You will need to get to these one day and you don’t want to make access to them harder than necessary.
7) Keep electrical outlets and appliances (kettles, microwaves, etc.) away from water sources such as pipes and sinks. Consider using cable mounts or cable tidys’ to reduce the risk of electrocution.
8) When you design your kitchen, make sure you add enough power points or have enough additional outlets to use.
9) Reduce floor usage by installing overhead cabinets.
10) If you have a large kitchen with plenty of space, invest in an island workstation to reduce time in motion across the kitchen.
The Decor
1) When deciding upon decor in your kitchen design, choose quality over quantity. Low-quality materials are more prone to easy breakage and damage whereas high quality will take greater damage to break and thus, last longer.
2) When you come to paint the walls of your kitchen, choose grease-resistant paint. If you pick any old paint, chances are you’ll be left with ugly grease stains on the paint that is not easily removed and will not be easily painted over next time.
3) To keep your kitchen clutter-free, install section dividers in drawers and shelves in cabinets.
4) If you have a small kitchen with low light, use appliances with metal finishes over ceramic. Metal bounces light around the room making it brighter.
5) Instead of carpet, go with vinyl, linoleum, or wood flooring. This makes cleaning spillages of food and liquid easier and less expensive to replace.
6) When selecting a window covering, go with a non-fabric design as smells stick and linger in fabric. Additionally, fabric, unless fire resistant, is an easy fuel source for fire to catch.
7) If you have your dining table in your kitchen, consider obtaining a table that is collapsable when not in use. It’s a space saver.
8) Free up space in your kitchen by hanging pots and pans from the ceiling – if you have enough room to do so.
9) In preference of using wallpaper or paint in a kitchen design, opt-in for tiles instead. Overall, they are easy to maintain and clean whereas the same cannot be said for wallpaper and paint. Even faux linoleum tiles are a better option than the formerly mentioned choices.
10) Have a wall clock in a kitchen. No explanation needed.
These 20 crucial design tips will help you make and get the most from your kitchen.