Your kitchen is one of the most important (if not the most) spaces in your home. It’s important that this space reflects you as well as makes those who enter it comfortable and welcome. Here are just a few small tips to help get those creative juices flowing with regard to planning your kitchen design.
Let’s start with the Don’ts:
- Don’t fill the entire space with cabinets and such. Leave some room to breathe.
- Don’t over design your kitchen! Know when to stop! As with stainless steel for instance. It CAN be overdone. Using cabinet panels to hide some of your appliances can be a great way to keep your warm gathering space from turning into a cold and sterile area. Most people aren’t comfortable in “cold and sterile”.
- Don’t put a wall oven off by itself. It’s necessary to surround it with some sort of counter top! Where do you plan on putting those cookies when they’re done? Where will the turkey go when you take it out to rest? Surround, my friends… surround.
- Don’t position your stove/range directly next to a wall or the fridge… especially if you like to cook. The handles of your pots and pans should be positioned toward the outside edges of the stove top. This is for safety as well as functionality. If the handles are placed toward the outside, bottom of the stove, you risk bumping the handle and a possible disaster in the kitchen. If you place the handle toward the back, and happen to be cooking other items, you risk burning yourself and it’s just not that efficient. If the handle is over burners, well, you can imagine the disadvantage there. Ideally, if space allows, it’s good to have at least 18” on either side of the range.
Now for the Do’s:
- Do have one element that’s fun or creative… wood, stone, glass… etc.
- Do contrast your cabinets with your countertop. Light cabinets with darker counter etc. and vice versa.
- Do bring cabinets up to the ceiling. It eliminates dust and unnecessary accessories. It also gives the illusion of a bigger kitchen as well as maximizes the organizational space.
- Do a lot with a small kitchen! Bigger is not always better. Making a small kitchen work for you is an excellent idea so long as you pay attention to detail and you use high quality materials. Efficiency is key here and small tweaks such as an island on casters among other details here and there can take the design very far into the realm of efficient luxury!
- Do take the time to maximize your budget. Using high quality materials is essential to a long lasting, good looking kitchen. If you’re opening/closing your drawers and cupboards for years on end, wouldn’t you want your kitchen to last as long as possible?
And last but not least… DO feel free to contact us… we’re always up for a kitchen challenge!