Designing a kitchen can be both exciting and tedious at the same time. But you have to do it with all your heart and mind to make it the perfect cooking and social destination of the house. When you talk about designing, you have to consider its layout. The chances are you may have already sorted out flooring, tiles, cabinetry, appliances, colors, and everything else. But your kitchen can be livable if it provided higher functionality. Before you get deeply involved with aesthetics, you have to worry about its layout to establish the ultimate kitchen design. Here are some suggestions in this context. Let’s go through them once.
Planning and designing a kitchen layout
Kitchen island
You use this space extensively for preparing food. If you include this, you would have to decide on its location. It should not interfere with major appliances, such as dishwashers, refrigerators, wall ovens, etc. There should be adequate space for appliance doors to open, and these should again not interrupt smooth movement when kept open. It doesn’t mean you should place it somewhere far. Maintain an arm’s length between the island and other fixtures.
Primary fixtures
Meal preparations, serving, and cleaning form the main kitchen functions. So when you work on the layout, you have to keep these three tasks in mind. To be precise, you cannot keep your stove too far from the sink and the fridge as it will hamper your productivity and ease of working in the kitchen.
Kitchen traffic
You cannot expect this busy place of the house to avoid traffic. But you can still make it the most functional and accommodating part for varied activities. For example, you can build a space like a mudroom leading to the kitchen to do away with all the mess. It will keep your main walkway free of obstructions. At the same time, make sure oven and refrigerator doors don’t interrupt your path.
Kitchen sinks
One common mistake that most interior designers commit in the kitchen is sink placement. They fix it even without designing the layout. While it is quite a traditional approach, you need to understand that oven and fridge help with food preparations. You spend plenty of time at the sink washing and cleaning stuff. So it should go to a place where you can feel more comfortable even when doing a tiring job, such as scrubbing utensils. The best location for it can be under a window that offers pleasant outside views. Or, your kitchen island can house it.
You can choose a suitable sink for this space based on your daily rituals and habitual pursuits. For instance, if you don’t want to spend time on maintenance, you can be interested in an undermount model with flush edges. These don’t trap food debris and other residues. Similarly, you can find a water fixture that complements it well. Kraus offers groundbreaking faucets. You can browse through the varieties to pick the matching one for your requirement.
Storage
Most homeowners think about adding drawers and cabinets for sufficient storage. Only a few consider the choice of wall storage. If you don’t want to miss out on optimizing your space, you can pick this option. Storage walls are fantastic for storing baking accessories, small cooking fixtures, pantry items, cleaning supplies, etc. You can include simple but most efficient designs such as wall hooks, overhead racks, and open shelving. You can use them to elevate the aesthetic appeal too.
Stove/ oven
The stove or oven location can play a massive role in reducing the cost of your ventilation system. According to expert designers, the best positions for these cooking surfaces can be exterior walls. So if you were considering interior walls or islands for this purpose, you could rethink. A simple design change can ensure a smooth installation of the ventilation system, and that too for a lower price.
Floor plan
You can spend your entire time, energy, and attention on your kitchen design. But the outcome can still be much different than your expectations. You may not feel satisfied. If you don’t want to make any expensive mistakes or face irreversible flaws, you can visualize everything from the beginning. You can train your eyes on this just like professionals or use online design tools. Initially, you may fail while imagining the different elements and their coordination in the space. With continuous practice, you can overcome the challenges. And as you start gaining confidence, you can try assembling your ideas on a virtual tool to understand how successful your imagination is. From appliances, fixtures, cabinets, and shades, you can incorporate all the elements.
Points to consider
A kitchen can have modern, traditional, transitional, Mediterranean, countryside, or some other theme. No matter what, you can infuse any of these vibes effortlessly, even when your full attention is on getting the layout right. Once you sort this area, you can build on other parts to enjoy the real impact of your thought process. In this journey, please take guidance from a well-known interior designer unless you also share the same passion and enthusiasm about details. When you work with them, they will refine your ideas more than you imagined. At the same time, they will take care that your kitchen looks uncluttered yet most efficient.
Whether you go for small- or large-scale upgrades, you have to give your room or space some time to plan it well. Understanding your personality, preferences, and tastes is as crucial as planning the whole layout. When you are clear about your choices, it becomes easy to replicate them. Do you worry that your kitchen can look too old too soon? Even if that is your concern, you should communicate it to the design consultant. They can provide the best solutions. At the same time, you can trust certain things to be timeless, for instance, a stainless steel sink, a high-performing faucet composition, proper lighting, etc.
Are you planning to give your kitchen a facelift? Keep the layout factor in mind and add the elements to make it satisfactory and enjoyable.
