Designing a practical and functional kitchen is often a real headache. Respecting the rules, optimising space, choosing kitchen furniture, not everything fits together as easily as you would like. To cook good food for your family or friends, you dream of a huge work surface and perfect storage units. In reality, your desires are limited by space constraints and a limited budget.
To help you with the challenge of designing a complete kitchen, here are a few tips for designing your kitchen.
How should your kitchen be designed?
Before buying a new kitchen, consider the type of layout required by the shape of the room or the location of the kitchen area in your home. You should reach out to a leading supplier and installer of custom kitchens in Centurion South Africa to know about your requirements and what suits you best.
Depending on the size and surface area of your kitchen area, you can consider a more precise kitchen design in an L-shaped, long, parallel or U-shaped layout.
L-shaped kitchen layout
An L-shaped kitchen gives you two walls on which you can install appliances and storage units. In an open kitchen, a central island can be added to provide additional worktop and furniture. It can also be used as a counter for drinks and meals.
Linear kitchen layout
An I-shaped kitchen offers a fairly simple layout. In order to have enough kitchen furniture, you have no choice but to use height and install wall units to complement the lower furnishings.
A kitchen unit is ideal for this type of space, as it offers all the necessary kitchen furniture, including worktops.
Parallel arrangement
This parallel arrangement requires special attention to the distance between the kitchen units. In order to maintain a comfortable flow of traffic and to be able to open a dishwasher door without colliding with the adjacent kitchen unit, strict layout rules must be observed.
The layout of a U-shaped kitchen
The U-shaped kitchen is probably the most popular type of kitchen. With furniture installed on three full walls, you have the necessary space to move around or to install built-in appliances. However, fitting out a large kitchen is not easy. It is advisable to call on a kitchen designer who will offer you a new kitchen made to measure.
Optimised storage
Your kitchen storage units must be able to accommodate your kitchen utensils and small appliances, in order to free up as much space as possible on the work surfaces. Cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, shelves, pedestals, opt for practical furniture. Optimise this storage with accessories such as drawer organisers, baskets, etc.
Materials that are easy to clean
A kitchen is a lively place: between the splashes and the many passages, dirt tends to accumulate. To make your daily life easier and to spend time in the kitchen only for preparing meals and not for cleaning, choose materials that are easy to live with.
- For kitchen furniture: choose smooth fronts. Lacquered fronts are very aesthetic but very messy.
- Installing a credenza around the hob to protect the wall from splashes is always clever.
- The sink: forget stainless steel if your water is particularly hard.
- For the worktop: choose laminated wood, granite or quartz. Solid wood or varnished worktops suffer and require daily attention.
- For the floor: tiles are the best solution, but a vinyl floor can also make your life easier.
Thinking about the lighting in your kitchen
Your kitchen is a living space that needs light. You can’t cook in the dark! So, the layout of the lighting is essential. Opt for spotlights built into the furniture, or for a hanging lamp with multiple bulbs… Be careful, you don’t need to light the bin area here, but the worktop, the hob, the sink, the strategic areas of the kitchen.
What you need to know about designing a kitchen
The layout of a kitchen depends on three essential criteria:
- the layout of the room or kitchen area
- your budget;
- your love of cooking or preparing food.
Depending on these criteria, you can choose between a kit kitchen, which you assemble yourself, or a made-to-measure kitchen, which is designed by a professional kitchen designer and delivered turnkey.
After the practical and functional aspect, it’s time for the pleasure of decoration! Opt for furniture, fronts and worktops with a meticulous finish. To embellish your interior, all you have to do is choose from the different ranges of fitted kitchens or kitchen units to create a contemporary or more rustic kitchen.
