Choosing the Right Kitchen Styles for Your Needs

The kitchen area is widely considered the heart of the home. Today's expressive design culture helps evoke the best in taste and style variation. Don't be afraid to embrace those ideas you've held all these years, after all – the kitchen's where the magic happens! A modern open-plan design opens the house up, immediately reflecting our desires for the kitchen to become more just some place for cooking and eating. From smaller, cosier spaces, to tricked-out grander plans, you need to ensure the kitchen is among the highlights of your home, and more importantly, a joy to spend your precious hours. When choosing the RIGHT design, make sure you question:

Space Requirements

Sure, everybody would love to own an enormously spacious kitchen area, but seriously question this, because, yes, size matters. Consider the fact that by designing your kitchen to be huge in space, that you're automatically detracting space from adjacent rooms. Space can also be highly dependant on which kitchen appliances you're filling your kitchen with. Look at what you have now, and consider whether you'll be adding anything to your collection. Items such as a fridge, dishwasher, kitchen stove and alike can quickly become mass space consumers.

Budget

Not overly ecstatic about bringing this up – but you must design your kitchen within the bounds of your budget. Homeowners new and old need to be weary of this, the most vital facet of the design process. Your new kitchen budget can be through the roof, but it will appear even higher if you don't plan and map things out in accordance with your project's budget. Consult others who have undertaken similar, acquire professionals to explain to you how to stretch your savings. Come to terms on a maximum budget for your design and factor in all the crucial elements. Ensure this is done in the extremely early stages to avoid blowing your budget and allowing things to get out of hand!

Flooring

Consider what your floors will endure on a daily basis – stomping around, tracking our dirty feet throughout, spilling the odd condiment – the surface will get dirty every so often, that I can guarantee. Choosing your flooring plays a vital role in your kitchen design; the big three to consider here are durability, appearance and comfort when picking a surface material. Again, ask around, conduct your own desktop research – make considerations, re-considerations, question yourself, asking “what if?”. Playing around and providing yourself with a high level of understanding is paramount here. Is what you've chosen long-lasting, easy to clean, what colours, sizes and patterns are available? Will you be spending copious time standing or walking in the kitchen – what's best for your feet? Do they look appealing in my kitchen space?

Layout

For this, it may be a good idea to write down a list of needs - or more specifically, what you plan to do in the space. While, yes, cooking would appear a primary focus, consider what else you would be doing in there. A common layout focus in modern kitchen designs is the triangle theory. This theory rules that every kitchen, no matter the scale, should be designed with an easy, convenient path between the sink, stove top/oven and fridge. Following this will allow maximum efficiency within a kitchen, providing ease of navigation when locating all essentials. Have you considered adding some indoor plants to your kitchen? Avoid that dreaded “boxed in” feel within your kitchen (a warning for all claustrophobia sufferers!) by ensuring there's a healthy distance between all layout points.