A kitchen is no more just a cooking area in today’s new style homes. It is increasingly being planned, designed and styled around not just its functional context but also according to home décor, personal comfort and a place where even the guests can be welcomed. When there is so much to accommodate in your cozy space, a kitchen design should be planned well and designed accordingly.
Whether you have the luxury of a grand and spacious kitchen or confused about how you can design anything in that small kitchen space, there are always great options with the ever increasing ready-to-fix products. What you choose should not only depend on your space, but also functionality for your kitchen. That’s because a functionally challenging kitchen can make cooking process cumbersome and wear you out.
Styling your kitchen comes much later, so hang on with those amazing themes that you have planned. First and foremost ensure your basic layouts are clearly laid out and the hardware linked to those sections carefully planned. The following sections are critical in a kitchen design and should be well planned:
1. Floor plan: First and foremost is the floor plan. A floor plan can be U-shape, L-shape, Galley or one with an Island in the middle. Again what plan you select depends on the space. For example, an L-shape and Island would be best for a large kitchen; while for a small kitchen, galleys plan would be suitable.
2. Storage: Second point of focus should be storage. Since storage is of prime concern, it should be efficiently planned out. Try using every inch available for a neat storage space. This would involve not only planning on your base and wall cabinets but also the vertical wall storage like wall organizers, movable trolley storage etc.
A large kitchen can have the luxury of numerous base cabinets and few wall cabinets. But in a small kitchen where every inch counts, you can try equal number of base and wall cabinets (avoid a cramping though). Small kitchens can use more of foldable and ready to mount kind of storage fixtures rather than permanent ones, which can make it cramped. So a vertical plastic shelf with 4-5 drawers can be used instead of extra cabinets to serve the purpose as well as fit in small space.
3. Kitchenware: Mostly people like to keep their appliances like refrigerator, microwave and oven in the kitchen itself. But if space is a constraint, you can keep only the most regularly used appliances like refrigerator while keeping others in dining area or store room etc.
4. Dining: If you wish to dine in the kitchen itself, again you would have to consider your available space (after designing the aforesaid). Large kitchens can accommodate a big stylish dining table but small kitchens will have to make do with foldable tables and chairs. A double fold table (butterfly) saves quite a lot of space.
5. Theme: After setting up the basic kitchenware and tools in place, you can then design it around a particular style or theme. This can be the same as that of your home décor or a different color scheme. With a wide range of kitchen décor accessories, you have numerous places that you can beautify. Kitchen cabinet doors, handles, knobs, backsplash tiles and laminates, flooring tiles, ceiling lights and work area lights, wall accessories like innovative wall organizers, window pull up curtains and other decorative pieces can be arranged suitably to make your kitchen a designer one. However, do not over clutter, whether a small or big kitchen, as there is enough that gets generated through the day while you cook. So keep an organized look for a pleasant cooking experience through the day.
6. Durability: While selecting the above hardware, accessories and materials for your kitchen design, you should keep the durability factor in mind. Cabinets, drawers, backsplash tiles or glass are all high on investment and require time for installation. You would definitely want them to last long as well. Hence a careful selection of durable and easy to maintain materials should be done before the final purchase.
Kitchen designs can be varied – according to space, budget, and family dining requirements. However, designing it on paper or preparing a computer generated layout before you set up the actual is always better… it will help prevent expensive errors and also help estimate costs. So happy designing and happier cooking!
What do you think about all of this?
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Thanks for posting this article and for sharing tips and advices. I learned a lot from it and by planning and doing those tips, my kitchen will be more elegant and better than before.