Consider These Things When You Are Designing Kitchen
Generally, the kitchen is the most important room in your home because it is the center of your family's day-to-day living. Kitchens are where memories are made. Family, friends, and guests at a party tend to congregate around the kitchen.
When people think about renovating a home, designing a dream kitchen is probably pretty high on the priority list. Being the heart of the home, the kitchen is an important place where we tend to spend a lot of our time. For many families, we don’t just cook in the kitchen, it’s also a place to socialize and entertain, and to work or do homework. The role of the kitchen has changed dramatically over the years and it is now a hub where family life plays out.
Consider these 5 things to consider when designing your dream kitchen, to make the process more manageable.
1) Consider Your Workspace
image source Ideal Home
The ‘work triangle is a principle that is used by kitchen designers and architects when designing residential kitchens and is made up of your cooker/stove, your sink, and your fridge freezer. According to this concept, they should be positioned close enough together to make cooking as convenient as possible, but far enough apart that you aren’t bumping into everything as you go. However, with the growing popularity of open plan kitchens, the layout of the kitchen workspace has come under discussion, with many people asking whether the traditional ‘work triangle’ is still relevant today. As open-plan kitchens have become more popular, kitchen zones such as preparation, cooking, food storage, non-consumables storage, washing/cleaning, have become prevalent.
2) Make It Sociable
So it’s important that your kitchen works for you and is functional but it’s also important to make sure it works as a sociable space too. Having an entertaining space not only makes it a more welcoming area, but it also makes hosting much easier as people can still enjoy your company while you’re cooking and preparing food. Do bear in mind, however, that the workspace and entertaining areas must be totally independent and not in the way of each other.
3) Think About the Flow
This may sound like an obvious tip but if we had a penny for every time someone installed an island in their kitchen only to find a door opens out directly onto it, we’d be pretty rich. You should also include the swing of the fridge freezer doors and where they may be when fully open. Does it obstruct the free flow of the kitchen too much? Does it block a door to another room? Does your oven door obstruct the doorway into your hallway when open? These are all important questions you need to factor into your design.
4) Consider the Cleanup
image source cleanup
The bin isn’t always something you want to think about but it has a very important relationship with your sink and your dishwasher. Therefore ensuring all three of these essential items are within easy reach of each other is incredibly important to make cleaning up after meal times as simple as possible. If you can’t conceal the bin or hide it away completely, consider getting a good-looking bin like this one or this one.
5) Plan for the Weekly Shop
image source iStock
Probably not something that many of us would take into account when planning a kitchen layout, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve lost my rag when unpacking all the food that needs to go into the fridge and there isn’t enough workspace to do this. The kitchen layout really should address more than just cooking. We spend significant time putting away our food shopping so this must be considered. Is there ample worktop space around the fridge, freezer, and pantry? If not, you’ll need to consider making some, otherwise, you face never-ending runs from the worktop to the fridge and beyond, and no one has time for that. I’m all for making chores as simple as possible.
