Kitchen Design – How to Get It Right

In 2014 we redesigned our kitchen and made our dreams a reality. We’d been saving up for this part of our home renovation and refurbishment for a few years and we were keen to get our kitchen design right. We’d previously had a kitchen refitted at our old house and we’d picked up a few pointers along the way, so we tried to use what worked well and change what didn’t.

Get Plenty of Ideas

Even if you have a good image in your head of what you want go out and see as many kitchens as possible. Look in magazines, online and get the opinions of friends. We got a few firms to draw up plans for us before settling on our final version of our layout. Kitchen design is changing and there are always new ideas and improvements out there to consider.

Consider Current and Future Needs

A kitchen is a room that is too expensive to refit very often. Consider your current storage needs and try to add in a bit of scope for the future if your space allows. If your children are small, mind they are likely to have bigger appetites at teens for example, and you will need to be able to store more food.  I’d say go for more cupboard space than you think you need rather than less.  It’s unlikely that you will regret that extra space.

Get a Designer to Come Round to Your House

Some kitchen suppliers are reluctant to send someone round in the early stages of a working on a kitchen design, if at all because it takes up a lot of staff time. We found it very useful to have an expert on the ground in our house looking at our room shape, window placement, sunlight, etc. and making recommendations.  For us it was a key thing and the difference between using a kitchen company and going elsewhere.  If you have a few kitchen designers round, you’re likely to get some different ideas and you can look to incorporate them into your final design.

Get a Reliable Firm to Fit Your Kitchen

We were lucky here as we knew we were likely to go with the company that did our previous kitchen. They had done a good job the previous time and had a good range of products to offer. Another way to source a good kitchen firm is to ask for recommendations from other local people.  As we were returning customers we even got a discount on the price which came in useful.  We also went with the builders and the structural engineer that they recommended and the whole process was very seamless.  It might have cost a little more to use all their people, but we didn’t have to get involved with scheduling and the interplay between the various trades.  Doing a kitchen up is stressful enough and you need to cut down the potential stresses and strains when you can.

This post has been produced in collaboration with homify.