Kitchen Design Tips by ABC Kitchens Beckenham
There is an obvious reason why the kitchen is called the heart of the home. It’s where you, your family and friends can gather to cook, eat, socialise and reflect. Most times the kitchen space can evolve from mere appliances and it can become one of the greatest features of the house. Anyone can achieve this transformation with some simple modern kitchen design, as it only takes a few kitchen design tweaks to turn your kitchen into a friendly hub for your home.
ABC offers a full design, supply and installation of clean, functional and modern kitchens to the homes of Beckenham. Call us today on 0208 650 7977
Modern kitchens should always be practical, but also welcoming and fun. The days of flat pack kitchens are over, as no one wants to have a drab kitchen design with exposed wiring, un-coordinated appliances and mix and match colouring. Modern kitchen design consists of different elements that make up the overall aesthetic and functional values the kitchen holds. Using simple interior design steps, you can make your dream kitchen a reality. We’ll go through these steps in this post so you can hopefully learn something, and create your perfect kitchen.
Style of your kitchen design
Your kitchen design could take influences from all types of kitchens, whether that is classic, contemporary, casual, formal, modern or homey. This aspect comes down to your own preferences as you’re going to be catering for your likes and needs. The majority of the kitchen is going to consist of cabinets, worktops and appliances so anything else you want to incorporate into your kitchen will have to be placed around these base elements. These things will most likely make up your overall aesthetic unless you’re planning on a built-in kitchen with covers for your appliances. This could be a possibility if you don’t mind spending more money, as built-in appliances are somewhat pricier than their freestanding counterpart. This does give you a chance to very easily match the rest of your kitchen, helping you on your visual design much easier than co-ordinating different appliances is.
Layout and design of your kitchen
The layout of the kitchen is usually based on the principle of a “work triangle”, with each point being the sink, the fridge and the cooking station/hobs. We look at the layout as a triangle because we want to make the interaction between these three as efficient as possible to reduce the steps a cook will take to use the space effectively. A good layout should increase workflow and not hinder it, as we still want functionality in your kitchen. There are obviously more elements to consider with modern appliances, as we tend to use much more than three steps to cook food, but it’s a good foundation concept to start from so you can work up and integrate any other appliances in the future you find yourself using frequently.
Cabinets in your kitchen design
If you’re starting from a fresh canvas, then you’re obviously going to have to start with new cabinets/cupboards, which you can purchase to your preference. Most people are replacing their older kitchen so a choice arises from this, which is either replacing or refinishing the pre-existing cabinets. If they match the current style you were going for, then refinishing/refurbishing the older cabinets may be the way forward. Although if you’re going for a modern aesthetic and you have the 1930’s wooden cottage cabinets installed, then you may have to opt to rip the old cupboards out and have new and more suitable storage fitted. New cabinets have a large amount of variety, as most come from laminated wood that can be coloured in anything you like. There are also a bunch of choices in the storage facilities in your kitchen, items like slow closing doors, child safe cabinets and multi-door cabinets are open to your consideration.
Countertops in your kitchen
People underestimate how important countertops/worktops are but they literally make up the surface you work on when you use the kitchen. Unless you’re going to balance a cutting board on top of your fridge then you have to think about the space you want to dedicate to your kitchen worktops. There are a plethora of different kitchen worktop surfaces you can incorporate into your kitchen design, so have a browse on how durable you want your worktops, what material you’d like them in and how much budget you want to allocate towards that. Ideally you would want a non-porous surface that can be easily cleaned so nothing too high maintenance
Appliances for your kitchen design
This is one of the more important aspects, as your choice in appliances will not only dictate the look of your kitchen, but the overall functionality of your kitchen too. Your basic appliances are going to be your sink, refrigerator, washing machine and a cooker/hob station. When you’ve planned for these base appliances, you can then add things like dishwashers, wine coolers, fryers, and everything else you may consider. Think of the “work triangle” when you plan for the placement for these appliance, as this is going to dictate your workflow and the overall usability of the kitchen.
ABC offers a full design, supply and installation of clean, functional and modern kitchens in Beckenham. Call us today on 0208 650 7977