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The Most Important Things To Consider When Designing A New Kitchen
There are lots of important things to consider when designing a new kitchen. This includes making sure that your new kitchen has good functionality and incorporates your own style and taste. And finally, you have to make sure that you can do all of these things whilst staying within your budget.
In this blog we will provide you with all of the information that you should consider when designing your new kitchen.
Functionality
Making sure that you design a well functioning kitchen should be your top priority. At the end of the day, the purpose of a kitchen is to provide a space to perform specific tasks. Below we’ll go through the 4 different aspects of a kitchen that give it that functionality.
Flow of the Kitchen
The first thing you need to consider is the flow of your kitchen. This includes traffic patterns and the placement of your appliances and sink.
Think about where people are most likely to enter and leave the kitchen. These areas are going to be the highest traffic areas. You’ll want to avoid placing things that require you to stand there for prolonged periods of time in these areas. For example, a hob or prep space. Otherwise, you may find that people get in your way, or you’re forced to move out of the way yourself.
On the other hand, placing your fridge in this space may be beneficial. Typically you don’t spend a lot of time at your fridge, and so the flow of traffic is less likely to interfere with getting things from the fridge. It will also allow guests or other household members to quickly come in and grab a drink or snack without interrupting the flow of cooking.
Consider the kitchen triangle, or working zones, when deciding on where to place your appliances. This means placing your sink, stove and refrigerator close enough to be within easy walking distance, but far enough away to not be on top of each other.
Storage Needs
The next thing to consider is your storage needs. This means providing yourself with enough space to organise your kitchen belongings so that your kitchen doesn’t become too cluttered. A cluttered kitchen means less room to prepare meals or perform other tasks.
Your storage space can include a pantry, cabinets, drawers, or even open shelving. Whatever you choose to include, you should once again consider the flow of your kitchen. Here are some ideas to consider when deciding on your storage locations:
Prep and Cooking Areas
As mentioned above, you should ensure that you have plenty of space for your prep and cooking areas. This means making sure you’re not putting them in high traffic areas, such as right next to the entrance.
It’s also a good idea to not locate your main prep space in the same corner as your sink. Although this could be useful if there’s only ever one person in the kitchen, it will quickly become a problem when there’s two. For example, it would become an issue if someone needs to get to the sink to fill their drink whilst you’re trying to chop some vegetables.
A workspace next to a hob or oven is always a good idea. This will give you an area to place hot items without needing to travel far.
Appliance Functions
Finally, consider the functions of the appliances that you buy. There are many appliances that offer extra functionality that will be beneficial for your kitchen design and everyday needs.
Here are a few examples of fantastic appliance functions that will take your kitchen to the next level:
Smart Fridges
There are a few smart fridges available to buy now, including Samsung’s Family Hub fridge freezers. These comes with a Touch Screen system for entertainment and food management.
Air Venting Induction Hobs
Air venting induction hobs are inductions hobs with extractor fan capabilities. Smoke and steam are whisked away right at the source, taking with it odours and impurities.
Smart Ovens
There are lots of smart features available for ovens now. This includes easy to read touch displays, smart cleaning functions, remote controls, automatic settings, and voice control.
Washing Machine Functions
Some new washing machines have lots of innovative features. For example, the above Miele washing machine has pre-ironing, AddLoad for forgotten items, automatic detergent dispensing, and loads more.
Boiling Water Taps
Boiling water taps dispense boiling water in an instant! They completely eliminate the need for kettles, freeing up counter space. You can also upgrade some taps for filtered water, chilled water or sparkling water.
Dishwasher Functions
Dishwashers are becoming better and better. Take this AEG dishwasher as an example. Satellite cleaning provides 3x better spray coverage without using extra water. And it’s beam-on-floor technology shows a red or green light depending on a cycles progress.
Come Visit Our Showroom!
Our showroom is bursting full of innovative appliances. View our range of American style fridge freezers, range cookers, air venting induction hobs, boiling water taps, and so much more. Our appliance experts will be happy to show you around, and offer their professional advice.
Style and Aesthetics
Designing your new kitchen without your own personal style and aesthetics taken into consideration wouldn’t be right!
On average, you’ll spend about an hour a day in the kitchen. Even more if you don’t have a dishwasher, or you use it as an entertainment or work space. Therefore, it’s important to create a space that feels like home, and that you actually enjoy being in. That won’t happen if you hate how it looks! There’s even more importance in this when you’re living in an open plan home.
There are lots of elements in your kitchen. That means lots of opportunities to add your own personal touches!
Personal Style and
Taste
We’ve established how important it is to include your own personal style and taste. However, do you know what that is? It’s okay if you don’t! Finding your own style and taste in kitchen designs can take some time.
We suggest exploring lots of different options. Try browsing Pinterest or Instagram, or visiting some kitchen showrooms.
Cabinets, Countertops, and Splashbacks
Probably the most obvious places to personalise to your taste are your cabinets, countertops, and splashbacks. Explore different style options, colours, and materials.
If you’re designing a kitchen together with your partner or someone else, it’s important to find some options that you’d both be happy with. Consider talking to a kitchen designer if you find it difficult to agree.
Lighting
Kitchen lighting is another aspect that you can add your personality to! Kitchen lighting should of course be functional; you need to see what you’re doing! But they can also be bright, dramatic, or subtle.
Here are some ideas on how you can experiment with kitchen lighting:
Hardware and Fixtures
Finally, think about the style of your hardware and fixtures. This includes things like your door handles, cabinet handles, hinges, faucet and sink. There are lots of different finishes available that can compliment the style of the rest of your kitchen.
Budget
Keeping within budget is an essential part of kitchen design. Below are some tips for budgeting your dream kitchen:
Setting a Budget
Step one, set a budget! It’s a bad idea to begin designing or even purchasing anything kitchen related before you’ve set your budget.
We recommend setting a budget for each part of your renovation. That could be walls and flooring, cabinets and countertops, appliances, and so on. Once you’ve set your budget, make sure you stick to it!
Prioritising Expenses
Make a list of all of the most important things for your kitchen. What’s most important to you, may not be the most important thing to somebody else.
Regardless of what it is, be sure to research the costs of the elements that are most important to you, and begin by working around that.
Identifying Areas Where Cost Can be Saved
Whether you think you’re about to go over budget, you want to spend more of your budget on a particular area, or you just want to save a few pennies whilst designing your new kitchen, there will be somewhere you can cut costs.
Maybe there’s an alternative material that you could opt for. Or maybe you haven’t explored all of the best prices. Alternatively, you may find that there’s something you could do yourself, instead of hiring someone else to do it for you.
Conclusion
Think you’re ready to get started? Designing a new kitchen can be stressful, but it should be fun too! Hopefully with our advice, you’re able to simplify the experience a little. Just remember to consider the functionality, your own style and aesthetics, and stick to your budget. By doing all of this, we’re sure you’ll come up with something amazing.
For personalised advice, our friendly appliance experts are ready to assist on
