Aesthetically interesting kitchens are the focal point of any construction or remodel, and originality can be achieved through the use of new materials, luxury surface treatments, custom cabinets, and fantastic islands, to name but a few. Nevertheless, designing a kitchen requires the integration of functional requirements, so it’s helpful to articulate and clarify the different activities needed to prepare meals – and understand how modern technology can reduce both the space and the labor needed to achieve this.
Figure out how the kitchen will be used and by whom. Whenever you cook for your loved ones, you become a practical chemist, drawing on the accumulated knowledge of generations and transforming what Mother Nature offers into nourishment.
What are your requirements, if any? Bear in mind that the basic layout of the kitchen will last considerably longer than the present occupiers of the home and, consequently, shouldn’t devalue the property. The disposition of the entrance door and main window or the position of the sink and cooker will determine future layouts.
At times, crafting a functional kitchen means breaking the rules, so think about taking a different approach and exploring new possibilities in design. Ensuring the kitchen works for your daily needs requires more than selecting beautiful finishes, which means you need to make smart design decisions to create a safe and accessible space. If you’re not quite sure where to start, here are some suggestions to consider:
Understand That Kitchens Aren’t Just For Cooking
The kitchen is the most important room of the home, as it deals not only with cooking and eating but also with supervising kids, whether it’s toddlers playing on the floor or school-age children doing homework. Where there’s a garden or a sheltered paved area, it’s possible to invite friends over for dinner.
The kitchen shouldn’t be too far to reduce the distance needed to carry the dishes. If you’re like most people, you fail to estimate how much time you spend in the kitchen and may want to tuck the kitchen away in a dull room.
Kitchens are lively spaces that allow for conversation while preparing meals. They’re rarely quiet, impersonal rooms. In interior design, this transition is referred to as living kitchens, and it illustrates the boundaries between cooking spaces and living rooms have disappeared, establishing an integrated hub that calls to mind warmth, comfort, and versatility.
For some, kitchens work as wardrobe extensions, providing just the right place for storing cooling eye masks, while others repurpose kitchens as offices, with the kettle doing most of the work.
There’s No Such Thing As Too Many Drawers
Spacious, fully extendable drawers in the base cabinets are perfect for cutlery and serving bowls and plates, and you can access the contents of the kitchen units with less bending and quickly, simplifying home storage. You should use the wall cabinets for lighter things like mugs, glasses, and jars. You should keep this area close to the dishwasher to make putting clean dishes back in place less complicated.
The top drawer can accommodate whisks, knives, and other cooking utensils. High drawers underneath are the ultimate solution for frying pans, pots, and stainers. You can open drawers without any knobs or pulls. Incorporate rails, J-pulls, or push-to-open systems.
Drawers are more efficient and family-friendly, so you can never have too many. There are multiple tools you can use to keep your kitchen tidy and neat to save time and make the cooking process smoother. As a way of illustration, you can use a spice liner to store and organize spice bottles; the soft foam will keep the bottles in place when opening/closing drawers and will also keep the labels upright.
When choosing “homes” for different items, think about their use and arrange them accordingly. You can place spices and spoons together since they’re often used at the same time.
The Kitchen Triangle Is No Longer Seen As The Golden Rule
A lot of cross circulation is inevitable, so the worktop between the wet part of the kitchen and the dry one should be intact for ease of transferring heavy pans from the sink to the hob. There are three activities that relate to the three main appliances (the refrigerator, the sink, and the cooker), and this relationship is commonly referred to as the work triangle, which is easier to work in than in a nostalgic, been-around-forever farmhouse kitchen.
The kitchen island, largely regarded as a state-of-the-art gadget, is the least satisfactory arrangement because it entails an excessive amount of walking, requires a large area of circulation, and has an inadequate amount of work surface.
The experts strongly recommend ignoring this time-tested guideline of the kitchen design because modern kitchens are versatile and multipurpose spaces that can accommodate various activities, so don’t focus solely on this option, especially if it doesn’t align with the functional use of your kitchen. A good way to test the efficiency of the kitchen is to try to make a pot of tea. This simple task is, in reality, a complex maneuver that involves most parts of the kitchen.
More specifically, you have to:
- Fill the kettle with water from the sink
- Boil water on an electric socket
- Pour boiling water onto the tea leaves
- Get the cups and saucers on a tray
- Fill the jug with milk from the refrigerator
Maximize Every Bit Of The Kitchen Space
Limited space doesn’t have to limit your creativity, so resort to clever planning and groundbreaking solutions to transform your compact space into a functional one. For example, waist-high mounted appliances can be fit into tall cabinets, therefore reducing the worktop surface, so they’re not suitable for smaller kitchens.
To make the most of the available space, you can create niches in the wall to squeeze in some extra storage for olive oils, spices, or utensils, keeping your most used items within immediate reach. The niche will need at least two coats of joint compound.
If your elderly parents will move in with you one day, bear in mind they’re not fully mobile and will likely sit on a chair with castors while whipping something up, so ensure the worktops, appliances, and socket outlets are set lower (hip height).
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