Things To Consider When Designing Your Kitchen
When you get the chance to design your kitchen, you’ll want to make the most of it and get everything just the way you like it! No longer will you have to put up with cupboards that don’t match your taste or a quirky space that nothing seems to fill.
Your kitchen is the heart of your home and before you start whipping up delicious meals there, you’ll want to be sure it’s the coziest and most compatible with both your style and design as well as your needs. Time to design your home within your home!
Think In Terms of Steps
Before you layout, a floor plan with plenty of space from here to there, take time to think about where you use and store everyday items in your kitchen. Then start thinking in terms of steps. If you plan to store your bowls across the kitchen from your prep area, you’ll end up wasting steps. Design spaces close together that go together to save yourself some steps throughout the day.
Develop Walkways that Stay Wide
You’ll probably install some sort of island in your new kitchen so make sure that your walkways are plenty wide enough to move between cabinets and the island. A good rule of thumb between your shiny new quartz countertops and the cabinets is 36 inches and walkways within a cooking zone should be 42 inches. If you want to make sure there’s always room for a second cook, widen the walkways to 48 inches in cooking areas!
Watch the Corners
Everyone has seen the “kitchen fails” pages with doors that don’t open or ovens that won’t quite close. Keep those corners in mind when laying the cabinets and setting up your counters! Make sure your cabinet doors will open and your microwave door won’t smack anyone in the head each time it’s opened. These may seem like little annoyances but when they’re in your forever kitchen, they can drive you crazy in no time.
What’s the Purpose of the Island
Kitchen islands have a wide range of uses and when you determine how they will be used you can adequately design them for maximum function. If you’re planning to cook and eat on the same countertop and island, you’ll need to make sure you plan for plenty of space between the two functions. Determine if you want a sink or dishwasher on your island and where the doors will open around it and how it will interrupt the flow of traffic through your kitchen.
Countertop Consideration
Countertops stand out in every kitchen and choosing one that fits not just your aesthetic but your needs for cooking and preparation is crucial. The material you use has lots of pros and cons and you can get any type of material from quartz to marble to butcher blocks to cover the areas of your kitchen counters. You may also want to incorporate different counter heights to make certain functions easier and even get the kids involved.
Pantry Space
Your pantry and cabinets make up the most storage space in your home. But if you can’t store your large pots in there and they end up out in the garage where you won’t think to use them, they don’t end up doing you much good. When you design your kitchen, make sure your cupboards and cabinets afford you plenty of space to store everything you need on a day-to-day basis. This may mean getting a little creative with the design and layout but in your dream kitchen, you can afford to get a little creative!
Outlets
There’s a good chance you won’t think about how convenient it would be to have an outlet here until you realize you need an outlet. Take time to think through where in your kitchen design would be the most effective and efficient to have an electrical outlet. If you need several along the same wall, your contractor and builder can consider that when setting up your outlets. But rather than wait until you realize you need one, set them up during the building stage!
Cleaning is a Breeze
With a new kitchen, you’ll want to keep it shiny and looking as nice as possible for as long as possible. When you’re thinking through your kitchen design, you’ll be able to keep things clean if you make some careful design decisions. Choose matt finishes for your cabinets or specific types of countertops that make cleaning every day a breeze! With these design decisions, you’ll be able to keep your kitchen looking fabulous for years!