The kitchen is the most important room in your home because it is the centre of your family day-to-day living. Your family and guests often gather in the kitchen to socialise, eat and cook together. Your kitchen is a bonding area that not only ties your home together, it ties your loved ones together. This is why it is important to consider many factors when choosing your kitchen. Here are a few handy tips to consider when choosing a new kitchen for your home.
1. LAYOUT – there are various types of kitchen layouts to work with, so consider different layouts and choose which one works best for YOU. The 6 most popular layouts are:
- The one wall kitchen (great for smaller kitchens)
- The galley kitchen (two rows of cupboards facing each other, creating a ‘galley’ between them)
- The L-shaped kitchen
- The U-shaped kitchen
- The island kitchen (a very popular and trending kitchen layout at the moment)
- A peninsula kitchen (this is basically a connected island, where the ‘peninsula’ acts as room divider from a living or dining area. There are no units above which creates an open plan living area)
2. LIGHTING – both natural and artificial lighting are important in kitchen design. This should be thought of and decided on during your planning stage, as leaving it till later could limit your possibilities.
A very popular choice of natural lighting in modern kitchens, comprises of a roof lantern or a Velux window. These flood the natural light in from above which also helps to make the area feel more spacious.
Artificial light in a kitchen needs to cover food preparation areas, the kitchen sink and the hob. Spotlights work well for this. Feature lighting works better over areas such as the kitchen island, the peninsula or the dining area.
3. APPLIANCES – the positioning of appliances is a key factor, to help optimize your working space.
Planning your appliances into your kitchen design means that electric and gas points can be put in place prior to the kitchen fit. Not just your built-in appliances (sink, hob, oven etc) but your worktop appliances will need electrical sockets too!
Precision Builders Ltd have fitted many kitchens, in and around Gloucestershire. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.
