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We all want our interior spaces to be beautiful, but when it comes to kitchen design, ensuring that they’re functional is even more critical.
Kitchens are famously the heart of the home, the hub of family activity. But modern family life demands even more from kitchens, with kitchen spaces pivoting from a food-prep-only area to allow for cooking, dining, entertaining, and living - all within one space.
Modern kitchens see a lot of daily activity. They need to work hard and look good doing it. A dinner party or family gathering usually involves food preparation and dining in the kitchen, meaning the space needs to be highly practical for efficient food preparation. Still, it must also be an inviting space for guests to relax and eat dinner in style.
With such intense demands on one room, the pressure is high to achieve a functional kitchen design that makes meal prep, dining, and entertaining a breeze.
In the blog below, we'll explore the seven design components to help you realize a kitchen layout that meets your needs and reflects your style.
The individual needs of the homeowner drive ideal kitchen layouts, so each layout is unique. In some cases, there may be more than one person cooking, so the kitchen layout will need a deeper level of design optimization. However, there are overarching design principles that can help you achieve an optimized kitchen workflow that suits your needs.
Classic, efficient kitchen layouts operate on the "work triangle," in which the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator are located on three separate walls. The kitchen work triangle is the optimal starting point for a functional kitchen. In this example, a kitchen that lacked a functional work triangle is redesigned to build a better workflow, starting with a work triangle.
Kitchen layouts vary. They can be arranged as U-shaped, galley, G-shaped, L-shaped, island, one-wall, and quarter kitchens. But no matter the shape, it's essential to ensure that your kitchen layout includes areas for gathering food, preparing food, cooking, serving, and cleaning up.
The preferred arrangement of these elements will be unique to each cook, so as you design your kitchen, think through how you prefer to work.
Do you like dirty dishes placed to the left or the right of the sink as you wash them? Where do you want to chop your vegetables? Thinking through the details of how you execute each step of food preparation will help you find a kitchen layout that's perfect for your needs.
Cabinetry and its layout is a vital consideration when it comes to efficient kitchen design. Cabinet placement is often dictated by the work triangle and window/door arrangement, with kitchen designers adding cabinets wherever possible. Let's be honest - you can never have too much storage space!
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The type of cabinets and the style of cabinet doors play an essential role in the functionality of your kitchen. Open shelving instead of mounted upper cabinets may look great, but it often limits your storage capabilities and requires tidiness in arranging your dishes. Upper cabinets with doors may be a better choice for your functional kitchen.
Recent kitchen trends have seen lower cabinets replaced with drawers. Large drawers store more items and make accessing heavy pots and pans easier, and a drawer under a wall oven is excellent for storing roasting dishes.
Drawers also remove any storage dead space created where two counters meet. They can be fronted with cabinet doors for a more traditional aesthetic.
Clever design details like pullouts, inserts, and separate pantries can help increase cabinet functionality. Hidden pantries, pullout or retractable counter space, or cutting boards stored in an insert space make even a tight kitchen design ultra-functional.
If you have the space, a separate pantry allows bulk food storage without compromising the kitchen aesthetic. Even a simple slot to store cookie sheets can make your kitchen amazingly functional and a dream to cook in.
Fussy, hard-to-clean light fixtures may look good in kitchen design magazines, but in your own kitchen, you want functional lighting that makes cooking easier.
A well-lit worktop makes food prep, cooking, serving, and cleanup less stressful. It even makes your food taste better, as you'll be able to see how much spice you're adding to that curry or whether your bundt is sufficiently baked.
Your kitchen's general lighting should provide overall illumination. If you have an island, it's attractive to include feature lighting over that countertop space, but you should ensure it's simple to clean and doesn't accumulate dust quickly.
Inefficient kitchen design often overlooks task lighting, such as lights under wall-mounted cabinets or over the cooktop. Ensure the lighting is adequate in every place you prepare food to make your work easier.
Related to lighting is ventilation, another area often overlooked in kitchen design.
Place your cooktop on an exterior wall where it can be vented outside. Like good lighting, proper ventilation makes your kitchen a joy to work in and creates a more pleasant atmosphere, especially if your kitchen is open to a dining room or family room.
No one wants the smell of last night's fish lingering in their kitchen!
Kitchen islands are trendy because they provide extra counter space as well as storage underneath. But it's worth taking a few measurements to determine how much space you have for an island. That way, you can ensure that a kitchen island will add functionality - and not frustration - to your kitchen design.
If your kitchen space is too small for an island, adding one will only create a poor workflow and cause traffic jams. A peninsula may be a better option for providing counter space that also allows for seating. If you plan to eat dinner in your kitchen, you may need to forgo an island or choose an island design that prioritizes seating over storage.
Think about your seating requirements and then explore every option - whether it's a kitchen island, peninsula, or just a well-placed kitchen table - that will give you maximum workspace and meet your seating needs.
No matter what design trends may tell you, the best surface materials for your kitchen countertops, floors, and backsplashes are the ones that make your life easier.
If your kitchen sees heavy cooking and intense traffic, white tiles might not be the best option. If your cabinet doors will be opened more than 20 times per day, choose a style and material that will withstand the usage, be slow to stain/wear, and respond well to cleaning.
Your kitchen functionality needs - from heat resistance to ease of cleaning - are unique, and your materials should be tailored to reflect that.
Kitchens can be expensive, and it's tempting to cut costs wherever possible. However, cheap cabinets, countertops, and floors may require replacement sooner than higher-quality options, meaning that in the long run, you'll spend more money.
Well-made cabinets and durable materials contribute to the longevity and appearance of your kitchen.
Many homeowners are embracing innovative technology.
Water filters that order new cartridges automatically. Ovens that can be turned on via your smartphone. Programmable coffee makers that deliver your daily caffeine hit just as you wake.
There's no end to how smart technology makes your kitchen more efficient.
If privacy isn't a concern, you can embrace smart tech for lighting, appliance control and maintenance, window treatment control, and more. And, when synced with your overall house technology, like smart climate control and security features, you can remotely orchestrate every electrical item in your home from your phone.
We've stated time and again that every kitchen design is unique. That's because we believe in creating kitchens that reflect each homeowner's specific needs so that their kitchens achieve peak functionality for their lifestyle.
Unique features like a hidden pantry or a built-in bench and table can help you maximize the space you have in your kitchen, providing more storage and seating while still achieving smooth traffic and workflow.
Bespoke kitchen features are the type of design choices that benefit the most from an experienced kitchen designer. If you're ready to start designing a functional kitchen that meets your exact needs, schedule a complimentary discovery call.
We welcome the chance to explore your ideas for a practical, beautiful kitchen and how we can help you achieve it.
