We are flooded with choice. There are so many Kitchen designs and styles out there. When designing your kitchen, knowing what you need to do first and in what order can be daunting, if not challenging. So here’s our short guide on how to create your much dreamed about kitchen.
How to plan your perfect kitchen
Start by determining your space – What do you need the space to do for you? How do you want the space to make you think and feel? Next, think about the layout. Where will you put your appliances, countertops, and cabinets? Do you like things to be on display or discreetly hidden but easy to access? Do you have mobility challenges? How can you make the kitchen work better for you? It can be so tempting to rush ahead and choose colours and materials first, but it is good to stop and ponder on how this space will affect you, and also wiser to embark on the more practical side of things first. Ensuring you have enough room for everything you need before delving into the more personal/aesthetic side of the design will reduce the amount of changes you will need to make to your project.
Once you have a clear idea of the layout
(This is where your kitchen planner/designer comes in). You can then begin to narrow down the style, materials and colours that best fit your home and kitchen design. For example, if you want to customise your kitchen doors, you may want to experiment with different materials like wood or coloured laminates; what about textures? Do you prefer matt surfaces with a smooth finish or do you have more of an affinity with natural materials such as rough-sawn oak? Perhaps you're a lover of colour? Do you go big and bold or more gentle and subtle? Are the surface colours matching, or are you deliberately creating a carefully selected mismatched colour scheme?
Moodboards
Thankfully there are plenty of online tools to help you with this. Platforms such as Pinterest and Milanote have become instrumental and a much needed resource in helping you to formulate your style. With these sites, you can easily create, find and share ideas to help you pinpoint your tastes, wishes and loves.
Having a plan in place before you start shopping will help keep your design on track, save you time and money and give you a better sense of direction as you get closer to completing your kitchen.
Next Stage
You have your moodboard, and the floor plan is complete; this is where you can start your second moodboard adding more accessories like lighting fixtures, cabinet handles, and window treatments, paintings, plants etc: bringing all the elements together for a more polished look. Make sure the colours and textures relate. Decide if you want to keep it simple with the backsplash tiles or paint colours, bringing everything together, or if you want to create an interesting eclectic mix of colours and items. Free yourself up, and get creative.
Final thoughts