The kitchen is often referred to as the beating heart of the home. This should come as no surprise. It is where your meals are prepared, where you and your friends gather together, and where we all spend a significant amount of our time in the home. Because of this, it’s important that your kitchen be designed to suit your lifestyle.
If you are thinking about getting a new kitchen, read on for our guide on the key factors involved:
The Layout
The first thing you should consider when designing your kitchen is the layout. There are several options available to choose from. These options range from U-shaped, to L-shaped, to galley kitchens.
The best of these options, however, will always depend on you and the space you have available. Consider such questions as:
- How large do you want your kitchen to be?
- How much space do you have to build your kitchen in?
- How much storage space do you need?
- How many people will be using the space at any one time?
- What kinds of food will you be preparing – will you need any speciality items?
Consider your needs before considering anything else.
Which Appliances Should Be A Part Of Your Kitchen Design
Your appliances are a cornerstone of your kitchen and its purpose. Think about which appliances you need and how they will fit in the space you have available. Which ones are absolutely necessary and which could you do without if space does not permit everything you want?
If you love to cook, a large-range or double oven may be what you need. On the other hand, if you are living with a large group of people, such as a family or house share, then a large and spacious fridge could be a priority. Aesthetics are an important part of kitchen design, but looks should never triumph over utility. Make sure that your new kitchen has everything you need in it.
Storage
Storage should be another large part of your kitchen design. You could have all of the kitchen appliances you could ever dream of, but what is that going to matter when you have nowhere to store any food, cutlery, crockery, or other kitchen implements?
Consider features such as:
- Pull-out shelves
- Carousel fittings
- Deep drawers
- Folding door corner units
- Slam proof drawers
- High reaching cabinets
These are just a few features on offer to help you maximise and streamline your storage space. If you are designing a kitchen and are worried about available space, speak to one of our industry experts for more information and tips on how to maximise your storage space.
The Kitchen Materials You Want For Your Kitchen Design
Materials are another very important thing to consider. Again, their appearance is important, but so is utility.
Make sure that whatever you choose is durable and easy to clean. Granite, quartz, ceramics, and porcelain are great materials, to begin with. Not only can they look fantastic when installed by a skilled kitchen designer, but they are also very easy to maintain. This makes for a kitchen that looks great and requires little effort to maintain.
Lighting
Consider the lighting of your kitchen to be. It may seem all well and good to deck the room out in cabinets to maximise storage space. However, by doing so you may block out all the natural light.
Consider the positioning of everything we have discussed as you move forward, to avoid any issues.
The problem of lighting does not end with the sun, however. You should also think about how you would like to light your kitchen when there isn’t any natural light. This question doesn’t just extend to ceiling lights either, although those are important.
If you plan on having cabinets resting above your kitchen counters, then consider the value of under-cabinet lighting. Not only is this lighting more cost-effective than keeping the overhead lights on, but it also provides immediate and valuable lighting for the task you are performing on that countertop.
Visit A Showroom To Browse Kitchen Designs
There are many products out there whose function and design can be perfectly communicated through a computer screen.
Unfortunately, kitchen design isn’t one of them.
When making such a serious investment of time and money into transforming such an important part of your home, you need to get a feel for what that new design will look like. Browsing test imagery from the manufacturer is a good way to get a taste for this, but it can also fail to properly communicate what it would be like to live in ‘this’ or ‘that’ kitchen.
For you to get the best idea as to whether a certain kind of kitchen design would suit your home, we recommend you visit a showroom. Showrooms that allow you to walk through the prospective kitchens-to-be give you a real sense of their proportions and spacing in 3-dimensional space. There really is no substitute for seeing it for yourself.
Check out our newly renovated showroom to see all of our top kitchen designs, as well as some of our upcoming products. We are especially proud of our Crown line, who we have partnered with to supply you with bespoke kitchen designs, installed by experts.
Contact Us For High-Quality Bespoke Kitchen Design
At Chameleon Bedrooms & Kitchens, we specialise in kitchen design. We have made it our mission to help create the perfect culinary space for you and your lifestyle. Contact us today for more information or to schedule a free no-obligation consultation. Let us help you design the perfect kitchen for you.
