3 Tips For Kitchen Design

If you’re thinking of redesigning your kitchen, read this article to learn about 5 professional tips for kitchen design.

Most people will start the planning stage by thinking about appliances or the colour scheme but the first thing any professional kitchen designer considers is the kitchen layout. A great resource for kitchen design layouts can be found on the Kitchen Fitters In Birmingham website. In the resources section of the website you’ll find many great articles about different layouts and which one would suit your kitchen.

The layout of your kitchen matters more than the layout for any other room of your home. This is because the kitchen is a functional area. It’s very important how easily you can move around the kitchen. A kitchen that has been expertly designed will increase the ease of use of your kitchen by allowing you to move easily around the space.

To make your kitchen as functional as possible, take a look at some of these expert tips.

The Kitchen Work Triangle


The 3 key items of your kitchen design are the fridge, cooker, and the sink. Cleaning and cooking in your kitchen can rapidly become an unnecessarily difficult and miserable experience if you need to circle around a badly designed kitchen layout.

A great kitchen layout will let you travel effortlessly between the three key elements of your kitchen while preparing meals. It should also allow for enough space so that if you are using the kitchen with another person, you will not regularly be bashing into each other. To create this ideal design, a kitchen designer will construct a “work triangle” between the cooker, refrigerator, and sink that is usually angled between 15° and 25°.

Think Carefully About Your Cupboards

A lot of people will neglect proper planning of where to place their kitchen cupboards but this is one of the main characteristics of a professional kitchen design. The layout of the cupboards should be planned depending on how the kitchen space is used. You should place items that you use frequently next to each other to allow for optimal workflow.

Aim to put regularly used items in a place that is easily accessible so you won’t have to constantly bend down to find what you’re looking for. Things like raising your spice rack can contribute to a functional design by making it easier for you to see and reach for particular spices.

An expert designer could possibly even fit a customer-designed kitchen cupboard unit that lets you to utilise your space most effectively. It’s never a bad thing to get creative with your cupboards if it can help to make your kitchen more usable.

Aim For Multifunctional

The function of the kitchen has changed over the years. Instead of being just a room for preparing food, the kitchen has become a lot more versatile and is not commonly a place for cooking, entertaining guests and dining. A professional kitchen designer will be looking to come up with a kitchen design that is open and optimised to be used for entertaining and dining, as well as food preparation.

The inclusion of an island in your kitchen is a great way to make the room a comfortable place to host guests. This can be the central area of the house where family and friends can gather without getting in the way of the food preparation area.

Eco Friendly House: 5 Key Features

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Constructing an eco friendly house is something everyone should pursue. Regardless if you are designing a self build project or just looking to modernise your existing house, smart investment in eco friendly features can give you excellent advantages in the present as well as the future. Check out these 5 key features that every eco friendly house should have.

Renewable Energy

Converting to renewable energy sources is extremely important and it is something we should all be working towards. Over the years, we have become dependent on fossil fuels and this is having a severe effect on our environment. There are a number of great renewable energy sources available that you can incorporate into your eco friendly house:

These renewable energy sources enable you to provide your own energy cheaply while lowering your dependence on traditional energy sources. However, the installation cost of these renewable sources are more expensive, but the cost will be recovered in the long run by the savings made on energy bills.

Insulation

Insulation is an important element of sustainable construction and making a more eco friendly house. If you want to substantially lower your energy bills, while cutting back on your use of conventional energy sources, you should definitely concentrate on upgrading the insulation of your home. Rather than going for traditional insulation, which can often contain unwanted chemicals, it is wise to opt for natural options instead. The following materials make for great eco friendly alternatives to conventional insulation materials:

Natural Ventilation and Lighting

A great way of reducing the amount of electricity you use is by creating a home that has excellent natural ventilation and lighting solutions. You want to make the most of the natural light by allowing it to come through large windows and light up your eco friendly house. You also want to use natural ventilation to keep fresh air flowing into your home all year round. Not only do these natural sources make your home more eco friendly, they also improve your mood and health.

Smart Appliances

You can significantly lower the energy consumption of your house by converting it to a smart home. Smart technology is now cheaper and easier to install than it has ever been. Smart thermostats can control and maintain the temperature in your house and change this depending on your habits. For example, the central heating can automatically be turned off while you are away from the house and be switched back on before you arrive back home. The same thing can be done for lighting.

Reclaimed wood

Incorporating reclaimed wood into your house contributes to the preservation of our forests. Rather than cutting down more trees, you can use recycled wood, which often has a lot of character, to build and decorate your home.Reclaimed wood from old buildings and aged furniture is usually from older trees, which makes it more durable, sturdier and less likely to distort than younger wood.