Being the heart of the home, the kitchen is an important place where we tend to spend a lot of our time. For many families, we don’t just cook in the kitchen, it’s also a place to socialise and entertain, and to work or do homework. The role a kitchen plays in our lives has changed dramatically especially over the past few years to the extent that it is now pretty much the main hub where family life plays out. So, if you do renovate your kitchen, getting the design just right for your family and how you intend to use the space is quite important.
The following ideas are what we would consider to be essential to creating the kitchen flow.
Consider Your Workspace
The triangle is a principle that is used by kitchen designers and architects when custom designing kitchens and this triangle is made up of your cooker/stove, your sink and your fridge freezer. If you follow this method, they should be positioned close enough together to make cooking as convenient as possible, but far enough apart so that you aren’t bumping into everything as you move around.
As open-plan kitchens have become more popular, kitchen zones such as preparation, cooking, food storage, non-consumables storage, washing/cleaning, have become of greater importance, leading some to ask whether the old triangle idea is still relevant.
Whether you design your kitchen around the work triangle or kitchen zones, the most important thing to remember is that your kitchen needs to work for you and your lifestyle, so make sure you know how you plan to use the space and design for that.
Make It Sociable
As important as it is for a kitchen to have great function it is equally important to make sure it works as a sociable space too. Having an entertaining space not only makes it a more welcoming area, but it also makes hosting much easier as people can still enjoy your company while you’re cooking and preparing food.
Think About the Flow
This may sound obvious, and I guess the clue is in the title but if we had a penny for every time customers have come to us either after they have tried to DIY their idea, or someone installed an island in their kitchen only to find a door opens out directly onto it, we’d be pretty rich.
The key thing to remember is that design and function must work together in order to get ‘the kitchen flow’.
Have a great weekend
Clinton and Fiona