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Guide on How to Design Your Kitchen

This awesome guide on how to design your kitchen will help you get started. The kitchen is probably the most popular room of any home. It is the hub for most home activities, whether it is preparing food or entertaining guests. In this article, we take a look at some simple design tips you can follow which should put you on the right path to your dream kitchen. We recommend you design your kitchen using free design software available on the internet, or hand draw you plan using pencil and paper. It is important to design your kitchen to scale, and you measure up accurately.

Step 1. Kitchen Location

Designing your kitchen starts by identifying the room in the house to use as a kitchen. It is advised that when making this decision, you should strive to orient the kitchen to face either the southeast or east where the morning sunlight will fill the room. Your kitchen could be relocated where there is a better view from the window. A kitchen with a beautiful view of a garden can make a kitchen extra special. Or maybe you could relocate your kitchen near the front or back door, to make transporting rubbish and groceries easier.

Step 2. Kitchen Theme

When thinking of how to design your kitchen, the theme should be your first consideration. The theme you decide to work with influences your choice of lighting, floor type, kitchen units and numerous other factors. Kitchens could probably be considered the main room of a house. For this reason you should consider designs that connect the kitchen to the adjacent rooms to make them harmonious. There are several other factors that you may consider in your quest of how to design your kitchen. The list below is not conclusive but will take you a long way in realizing your desired kitchen design.

Modern theme:

Stainless steel fittings.
Curved glossy units.
Granite work tops.
Down lighting and cabinet lighting.
Granite floor tiles.

Wooden theme:

Wooden kitchen units.
Wooden work tops.
Wooden interior doors.
Wooden flooring.
Wooden picture frames.

Step 3. Kitchen Traffic

Kitchens are one of the busiest rooms in the house. It is important to ensure people can travel through your kitchen with ease, especially if you enjoy hosting parties and gatherings. Below are ideas of how traffic can be improved through your kitchen area.

Large kitchens could be divided so there is a utility room for kitchen appliances such as washing machines and tumble dryers. It would also create an excellent storage space for boots, coats, hats. This area will help to divert activity away from your kitchen, so you have more space for eating and cooking.
Will your new kitchen design have adequate space to move around? Mark out an imaginary area before hand by placing objects on the floor, using dimensions from your plan.

Step 4. Kitchen Practicality

In the past, kitchen designs were done around a work triangle; it determined the position of the sink, refrigerator, and the oven. A good kitchen design should make the distance between these three appliances comfortable because most kitchen work revolves around them. If the distance is too much, the cook will become tired trotting between them. If too close the work area will be cramped.

There are three major layouts for the work triangle being the galley, i-shap and the u-shape. The u-shaped layout places the three appliances on three different walls. In the i-shaped layout, one appliance is placed on one wall while the other two are placed on another. If you are working on very tight spaces, you can have all the appliances arranged along the same wall thus the name galley.

Step 5. Electrical socket locations

Socket location is very important when designing your kitchen, especially if you are redesigning an old kitchen. Ensure the new design will have appropriate socket outlets for all kitchen appliances, wired to the latest safety regulations. Sockets for large appliances such as fridge freezers, tumble dryers and washing machines can be installed in the kitchen unit adjacent to it. I hole can then be drilled towards the back so the appliance can be plugged in.

Step 6. Extraction

Kitchen environments create lots of moisture which needs to be extracted. Chimney extractor hoods that vent to the outside are best. Use free online calculators to determine how much flow rate your extractor will need in m³/hr. You can then select an extractor based on your calculated flow rate. Extractors help reduce condensation build up in the home, plus remove airborne grease particles.

Step 7. Kitchen Lighting

If you have been wondering how to design your kitchen, lighting falls among the top considerations. Having good lighting in the kitchen helps bring out your work top, food, cabinets and lastly you. Below are some lighting designs you may adopt:

• Recessed lighting to help you get rid of shadows in the room as you work. You can do this by having different task lights on worktops, sinks, cabinets, built-in pantries and kitchen islands.

• Over-cabinet lights. Such lights are more inclined to mood than function. When mounted on top of cabinets, they create displays that illuminate your ceiling and walls.

• Under cabinet lights. These lights are used for bathing counter tops with their bright light.

Step 8. Kitchen Flooring

When choosing a floor design for your kitchen, ease of cleaning and durability should top your list of considerations. The best choices to work with include wood, ceramic tile or linoleum. They are all easy to clean, last long and come in numerous designs.

Another factor to consider is safety especially if you have children; you should consider installing textured tiles since smooth once become slippery when wet. Wooden floors, on the other hand, are a perfect option if you have high traffic in your kitchen.