Planning Your New Kitchen

The starting point when buying a new kitchen is planning it.

Unless you are building a new house or carrying out major renovations, there are some things you cannot change. For instance: the shape and the space available. Your aim is to make the best use of the available space for a kitchen that is easy to work in and meets the needs of your particular lifestyle. Obviously a small space will not accommodate a large seating area or an island. A small breakfast bar or table might just fit though. In a big space, the island and/or seating area could take a big part of the space.

 Every kitchen, no matter how small must accommodate a sink; a hob, an oven and a refrigerator so plan your kitchen around those.

Who will use your kitchen?

Your lifestyle will dictate the kitchen planning. Families with growing children have different needs to those whose children have flown the nest. Do you all sit down as a family in the evenings? Do you eat out most of the time? Do you do a lot of entertaining? Do you store a lot of food and/or appliances? What size of oven and hob do you need? How many sinks?

The Family Kitchen

With growing children you might want a breakfast bar. This is an ideal way to supervise youngsters whilst they eat and you work in the kitchen at busy times of the day. If you have enough space, an island is the obvious place to put it, with easy access to the fridge so the kids can help themselves.

If you sit down together for your evening meal you will want to make sure that it is easy to serve food to the dining area. Placement of suitable bench space for plating and serving is an important consideration.

Safety considerations are important. Storage of dangerous items and liquids has to be taken into account. Trailing kettle and toaster leads are to be avoided. Consider the water temperature at the tap, storage of knives, pots of boiling water on the hob, etc.

The Entertainers Kitchen

If you entertain you will wish to consider the circulation and flow of your guests; a suitable place for filled platters; where you store drinks, maybe a bar fridge built in; storage of glasses so that guests can easily help themselves. If you have formal dinners at the dining table you will need suitable plating and serving areas. Where will the dirty dishes be stacked prior to rinsing for the dishwasher?

The Compact Kitchen

The major issue in a compact kitchen is storage space. It is important to get the balance right between storage and work surfaces. It’s no good having fantastic storage space if you have nowhere to roll out your pastry. There is a great choice of compact appliances, which can free up work and storage space in the smaller kitchen. Careful thought and clever design can make the most of smaller spaces.

Kitchen furniture

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