4 Key Principles Of Planning A Kitchen
Are you planning your first kitchen but don’t know where to start yet? Read what shouldn’t escape your attention.
Measure the kitchen well
Start with the basics, think about the layout of the whole house, and choose a place that will be suitable for the kitchen. Pay attention to whether the chosen space will allow you to the planned size of the kitchen run. Take into account all the bends of walls, chimneys, visible pipes, radiators, or the height of the adjacent window.
While analyzing the individual dimensions of the kitchen, take into account the additional space needed for its proper functioning. Here, remember about the appropriate distance of the cabinets from the wall to ensure a comfortable opening of the door. And in the case of a corner kitchen, its total length of cabinets is less than the sum of the lengths of both walls by the depth of the worktop. Additionally, in the corner of the cabinets, there should be a distance of several centimeters between the fronts to avoid the conflict of opening the door. Some free-standing household appliances will also need sufficient space. Just like a few centimeters for the panels that mask the sides of the cabinets.
In our opinion, the size of the kitchen is not everything. Even the smallest kitchen, if well planned, can be comfortable.
Choose the type of kitchen
With an island, corner, parallel, or on one wall – depending on the planned development, take into account different solutions when planning the arrangement of cabinets. In the case of a corner kitchen, consider planning the kitchen on one wall only, leaving the other free of hanging cabinets. Perhaps this is where open shelves or a bookcase will be a better solution. Thanks to this, you will gain convenient access to items that you often use, and additionally give lightness to the entire room.
Plan the layout of the cabinets
When planning the layout of individual cabinets, remember the convenience of their use. Stick to the basic rule of cooking sequence, where the kitchen should be laid out in the following order: refrigerator (taking out food), sink (washing), workflow (preparation) and hob (cooking). If you place the oven in a post above the countertop and arrange the space below its level well, you will have a comfortable space for kitchen accessories that you need to have at your fingertips. Additionally, if you replace cabinets with doors, you will ensure easy access to their contents.
Decide on household appliances at the design stage
Even at the design stage, choose your household appliances. Built-in equipment is most often available in standardized sizes. No matter if you choose a free-standing or the built-in one also carefully consider all dimensions in the design.
Tip: If your under-counter hardware ends your kitchen run and is not mounted in a cupboard, you will probably need an additional closing panel to support the worktop.
The size of the equipment should be adapted to the dimensions of the development, which consequently determines the dimensions of individual fronts and masking panels. Note that the advantage of built-in appliances is consistency at the level of the kitchen design, but you must take into account, for example, a smaller refrigerator capacity compared to a free-standing on.
The kitchen should be functional and suited to your lifestyle and needs, also in terms of aesthetics. That’s why we’ll tell you more about materials and colors in the next article.
