Choosing a kitchen design can be a fun and rewarding process, but it also requires careful planning and consideration. Make sure you have your wish list handy, we both love cooking in our house, and love entertaining, was so important for us both to be able to see our guests while in the kitchen if we had a dinner party, so to do this we had to remove a wall, was actually quite a process, but we are so happy with the results.
Here are five things you need to know when designing your kitchen:
- Your budget and space limitations. Before you start dreaming of your ideal kitchen, you need to have a realistic idea of how much money and space you have to work with. This will help you narrow down your options and prioritize your needs and wants.
- Your lifestyle and needs. How you use your kitchen will influence the design choices you make. i.e. do you want to be able to chat & cook, like have a kitchen bench people can sit around.
- Your layout and work triangle. The layout of your kitchen determines how efficient and comfortable it is to move around and perform tasks. One of the most important aspects of the layout is the work triangle, which is the imaginary line that connects the sink, stove, and refrigerator. These are the three main areas where you prepare, cook, and store food, so they should be easily accessible and not too far or too close to each other.
- Your colour scheme and materials. The colour scheme and materials of your kitchen affect the mood and atmosphere of the space, as well as its durability and maintenance. Generally, most kitchens are kept in lighter tones, such as white, beige, grey, or pastel colours, to create a bright and spacious feel. For the materials, you need to consider the quality, functionality, and aesthetics of the cabinets, bench tops, backsplash, flooring, and appliances.
- Your lighting and ventilation. Lighting and ventilation are essential for creating a comfortable and healthy kitchen environment. You need to have a combination of natural and artificial lighting sources to provide adequate illumination for different tasks and times of the day. For ventilation, you need to have a range hood that can remove smoke, steam, grease, and odours from the air.
Make sure you do a lot of research, think about all the possibilities write a list of everything you want in your kitchen and see what your budget and space allows you to have, and work your way through it. I would have loved a walk in pantry in ours but the space didn't allow it, we ended up with a butlers pantry with a large pantry, which works perfectly.