Creating a Kitchen Thats Fits Your Lifestyle Tips and Ideas
Making the kitchen of your dreams takes careful planning and design professionals will work closely with you to ensure all decisions made reflect both practical and lifestyle needs.
Separating stages of cooking onto different counters can make your kitchen more efficient, as this ensures cooked food won’t crowd out space intended for raw ingredients.
Kitchen layout
Kitchen layout is an integral component of design, and should reflect your family’s needs and lifestyle. Take into consideration how often and for what purposes you use the space – be it just warming takeout up, or creating elaborate meals from scratch – this will allow you to choose a layout that works efficiently while meeting all your lifestyle demands.
Ergonomics in a kitchen are critical, and your floor plan can be designed to minimize how far you must travel for tasks. A good rule of thumb would be keeping the sink, oven, and refrigerator all within easy reach of each other so prep work can proceed more quickly.
Add a breakfast bar or dining area for quick meals, pre-dinner drinks, and casual gatherings. If your kitchen is located within an open-plan living area, proper ventilation may be required to reduce cooking odors that permeate through and noise that disturb guests. Furthermore, adding a backsplash protects surfaces from splashes and spills while simultaneously adding visual interest.
Appliances
Your appliances set the tone for your kitchen in terms of both functionality and aesthetics, making a statement both visually and functionally. Thanks to today’s advances in technology, many appliances now can be tailored specifically to both style and features. For instance, remote preheat capability now makes life much simpler – an app even allows you to remotely preheating an oven!
Design professionals can assist in crafting a kitchen that’s both practical and beautiful, meeting both everyday needs as well as entertaining styles. Additionally, they can assist with choosing specialty appliances like wine refrigerators or warming drawers that offer distinct functionality but still blend in beautifully with the design scheme of the overall room.
Reynal reports that her clients are increasingly interested in making their kitchens feel more homey and less “kitchen-like.” To accomplish this, they’re adding built-ins resembling furniture as well as splashes of color with wallpaper or paint; warmer toned metals like brass provide more intentional feel to their spaces.
Lighting
An intelligent kitchen lighting plan can enhance both functionality and design of any room, with layers of ambient, task, and mood lighting creating the desired ambience in every setting.
Ambient lighting refers to soft overhead illumination that provides general illumination. It can be achieved using any fixture type from recessed lights, flush-mount fixtures and pendants – as long as their placement provides adequate illumination without casting shadows on countertops, yet still won’t interfere with walkways or tables.
Beam pendant lights into your kitchen as a dramatic focal point with adjustable sizes and heights for a striking visual display. Use multiple fixtures in multiple spots for an eye-catching effect!
Mirrored ceiling lights can help illuminate an otherwise dim space, adding both style and function in one go. Combine one with a chandelier above your sink for an eye-catching combination that marries function with fashion.
Storage
Kitchen organization can be difficult. Home to pots, pans and all manner of specialty gadgets, it’s easy for clutter to become an issue. Thankfully, there are various methods available for customizing storage to maintain an orderly and uncluttered kitchen environment.
If your china or tableware is too nice to hide away in cabinets, open shelving provides the illusion of more space while adding visual interest and texture to your kitchen. Designer Kate Lester did just this here.
Hang your dishes and mugs on a custom peg board for easy access while freeing up storage space underneath the sink. Incorporating pull-out shelves and custom inserts will also maximize cabinet capacity; while adding seating like an island bench or banquette creates a gathering spot while simultaneously helping declutter counters by limiting what items are displayed at once.