Kitchen Design & Layout
Introduction
The kitchen is often thought to be the heart of the home and one that’s well presented is often the ‘make or break’ factor in selling a property.
Kitchens are also expensive to completely remodel, and even a large kitchen can be impractical and inefficient if it is laid out poorly. Therefore good kitchen planning is crucial to getting the best out of this key room in the home.
A free standing kitchen is made of individual pieces of furniture such as welsh dressers and shelves, giving the room a traditional and cosy feel. This type of furniture, however, is rarely used these days as such kitchens don’t utilise the full space available in the room.
Fully fitted kitchens are more commonplace, wherein cupboards completely filling the available space are arranged around the appliances to provide both storage and support for the worktop. Wall cupboards are then hung to add further storage, again optimising the full width or length of the room.
- Fitting a kitchen is an advanced DIY project, but with the right tools and some knowledge of electrics and plumbing, it is achievable. However, you should not aim to move any gas pipes or gas connections, or electrical connections unless you are qualified to do so.
- Find a CORGI Gas Engineer near you
Kitchen Floor Plans
There are three key zones to a kitchen which professional kitchen planners aim to link together by creating a ‘working triangle’. These areas are;
- Food storage & preparation – fridge and worktop
- Cooking – oven and hob
- Cleaning up – sink and dishwasher
Designing A Safe Kitchen Environment
When considering your own kitchen floorplan, for safety reasons you should adhere to a number of guidelines. On the whole these are mostly common sense, however a few, such as the requirement to install some form of ventilation, are derived from the building regulations. use the link below for the full list:
How to design your kitchen
To ensure everything you require fits into the space you have, it's a good idea to start at the bottom with the base units, plan these around the appliances you want to install, and then assign wall units to the walls to provide additional storage space.
This is much easier said than done however. Use the link below for our full guide to designing your new kitchen, and hopefully this will make the process a little easier.
Further information and useful links
- Find a Kitchen Planner near you
- Find a Kitchen Worktop supplier near you
- Find a Kitchen Units supplier near you
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