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The kitchen is the hub of every home. When we think about renovating our kitchen most people care about "the look" rather than the actual workability of the space. you then find yourself wondering - "Just why did i put the dishwasher so far from the sink"! Well here are a few tips to get you started.

Considering a breakfast bar? one word! Overhang!

Breakfast bars or kitchen islands are very much on trend at the moment as people want to move away from the traditional dining room and integrate their kitchen into the rest of the house. These breakfast bars are the perfect way to separate the living area from the kitchen, while maintaining an open living environment.

The perfect length of overhang to go for is about 300mm to 500mm, any less and you'll struggle to utilise it comfortably. Any more and you've just created an abyss in your lovely new kitchen.

Your sink and dishwasher should be close friends!

It's rather important if your having a dishwasher, now we ll know they do most of the work when it comes to cleaning your crockery and utensils, but rinsing first will always add years to the life of your dish washer. Placing them properly will ensure you don’t have to traipse from one side of the kitchen to the other with wet plates and greasy trays. Another good thing about having sink and dishwasher close by is simply the fact that it just keeps all of your wet appliances in one place, and this also helps when it comes to fitting.

Keeping power points out of sight

Sockets aren't as ugly as they used to be and you can get some really nice looking electric furniture these days, but the industry is moving away from this bit by bit. With worktop pop sockets being ever more popular, albeit they can add a significant dent to your budget should you choose this option. Planning where your juicer, toaster and toasty maker (we all have one somewhere) will be used can help make a decision as to where to hide your sockets! Also consider food prep, we all use electric whisks, pulsars etc so make sure you have adequate power where you will use these items the most.

Light it up

Lighting is always a tricky subject, if it isn’t given enough thought. Too much and you can end up in L.E.D land and too little and you'll find in a cave like kitchen. Your ambient lighting (Ceiling) should give you enough light to operate in your kitchen without bumping into anything and everything but it doesn’t have to light up all the areas of your kitchen, just enough to create a "vibe". Spot lighting can be chosen depending on your workspaces, your extractor lighting will deal with the hob, but use spots to pick out the areas where you will prepare food, this can be done under cabinet and using light rails, under cabinet lights will hit the area you are using and not cast a shadow over what you are doing, so keep this in mind. Under cabinet light strips should be used in tandem with your ambient lighting, to create the right aesthetic look. Are you having a breakfast bar overhang? Use under cabinet strip lighting, i mean we don’t want to look at our feet as we eat but you don’t want a dark space on show either. 

Combine all the above correctly and your kitchen will look amazing and work perfectly, a mixture of warm and white light works well. A good CAD designer will always be able to show how your lighting will look in real time.

Galley Kitchens - ARRRRRR

We have all seen them and some people prefer them, two runs of kitchen cabinets adjacent to each other (usually with little space between) but this does not have to be the case, a good kitchen designer working with a good company can make cabinets to any bespoke depth, which you won’t get from "off the shelf" kitchens at your B&Qs, homebase, wren etc. Knocking 100mm off each cabinet either side can be the difference between loving your kitchen and wanting to move house! "But i'll lose cupboard space" i hear you say! Not necessarily! A standard base unit comes with one shelf, mounted approx 350mm - 370mm from the floor of the cabinet, a standard food tin is approx. 110mm, why stack!? specify your shelf heights, have 3 shelves instead of one! It’s a very simple idea but it makes so much difference in what space you use up. Thus creating you a wider, more easy to use galley kitchen! You want to be aiming for a space of around 1200mm between units in a galley kitchen. Again i can not specify enough how important it is to have a good kitchen designer "sign off" on what you have pre-planned, it’s worth every penny! 

Pop in, a bin!

Stop using carrier bags hung of the back of your back door or kitchen door, it looks awful, it really does and with bags being 5p its probably costing you a bit over the years too! With an ever increasing push on recycling (which we should all be taking a bit more seriously by now) there are bins for everything, one for card and paper, one for food, one for plastic etc etc Now I’m not saying have 8 bins in your kitchen, but at least have two, one for recycling or a "dry bin" (paper, plastic, glass etc) and one for food waste or a "wet bin"! You don’t have to stop there either, there are some great multi bins that can be easily installed into base units and still give you space in the cabinet for a shelf. Have a good look around, and before you go out and buy a peddle bin for your kitchen..... don’t! Just don’t!