Cooking up some good ideas for your dream kitchen
Do's and don'ts of kitchen design
Kitchen design is a combination of logic and art. It has to be the
powerhouse of the home - the room where food is stored and prepared,
families gather and cleaning activities commenced.
A good kitchen design will attract favourable comments from all who use
it as well as making the whole property attractive to potential buyers when
it comes around to selling. But there are so many choices of kitchen units
available nowadays, it is difficult to know where to begin. That said,
kitchen design can be broken down into a number of basic elements:
What sort of kitchen do you require?
The most popular types of kitchen design are:
- Country kitchen design - a large farmhouse style, traditional workspace
- Contemporary kitchen design - a modern kitchen with clean lines and latest equipment
- Outdoor kitchen design - a home from home outdoors for barbeques and garden parties
- Retro kitchen design - a step back in time to how kitchens used to be
The golden triangle
There are a few basic considerations to be taken into account in your
kitchen design.
The generally accepted 'triangle' made up of the sink, oven and refrigerator
should all be located on the vertices of a triangle whose sides are of a
short a length as possible. This will maximise the efficiency of the kitchen
for the cook.
Position the overhead lighting to shine on the triangle - an obvious idea
but one which is so often neglected.
Worktop space is always at a premium - try to create as much free space as
you can in your kitchen design.
While storage space is essential to keep the kitchen tidy and free of
utensils that are not being used, it is also true that too much storage
space encourages hoarding of equipment and crockery that is no longer of any
real service. Why not use your the arrival of your new kitchen to clear out
all these old knick-knacks?
Remember that people will naturally gather informally in the kitchen. No
matter how small a space your kitchen occupies, incorporate some space for
socialising in your final kitchen design.