How to Plan for a New Kitchen

Photo by: theborrowedabode || Jane

Remodeling your kitchen can improve your home, as well as dramatically adding to its value. Before looking through catalogues and magazines for inspiration, decide what is achievable with the kitchen you already have.

If a complete renovation is in order, then draw up a plan or search on-line for free kitchen planners. Consider the amount of people using the kitchen as well as the actual space. You need food preparation, serving, cooking and washing up zones, ideally each with their own worktop section. Lining up the cooker, sink and fridge into a triangle formation creates the most comfortable layout. Keep the oven and sink 40 cm from the corners, and don't put them behind a door.

In a small kitchen, magic corners, drawers and hanging racks will create more storage space and glass fronted units make a kitchen look larger, especially if they are lit from the inside. Extra tall units, placed away from the windows where they can obstruct daylight, will maximize storage without taking up valuable space. In a very small kitchen, a corner sink can free up a lot of worktop space.

Busy designs will only make a small kitchen look smaller so use just one block of color and pale colors on the walls and ceilings. Your most important color consideration will be the color of your worktops. They hold the focus of the room. They can contrast or compliment the color of your units, but you never want your units and worktops to be the same color or shade. This can either make the room look too small or too washed-out.

   
In a large kitchen, consider installing a built-in oven, microwave, coffee-machine in a smart column. L-shaped kitchens normally have a tall bank of units that can be used for this purpose and can look very dramatic, especially if you have a tall window to mirror it on the opposite wall. An L-shaped kitchen makes the ideal working triangle achievable as you can have the fridge at one end of the L, the hob on the other and the sink in between.

Good lighting is essential, especially over task-based areas. Many galley kitchens have a window at one end, but if yours doesn't, you need to be clever with artificial lighting. Try putting plinth or spotlights under units to illuminate work areas. A galley kitchen can look very sleek if you choose streamlined units, handle-free doors, high gloss finishes and hide appliances behind unit doors. The corridor needs to be wide enough for unit and appliance doors to open and for two people to move past each other and cook at the same time. Less than 1.4 meters wide could be very problematic. Grouping tall units at the end of the run should leave you with sufficient work-space.

In large or U-shaped kitchens, fashionable island units use the space practically and give extra room for prepping, cooking or washing. You will need to decide whether your island is going to have a hob or a sink since any electrics or plumbing will need to run under the floor, and an extractor hood might be necessary. You can make the island an interesting focal point by using contrasting colors and materials to the rest of the kitchen.

To complete your kitchen's new look, match your unit doors to your kitchen furniture in either style or color.

Planning your kitchen takes time, but by having a look at an upscale kitchen showroom you will be able to get great ideas. Plenty of consideration topped off with high end kitchen appliances is the best way to get the look you've always wanted.