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Top Kitchen Design Tips To Increase The Value Of Your Property

A well designed kitchen can greatly enhance the appeal and hence value of your property. When developing a property, you need to have a good plan in place. Each room in your property needs to have its own work schedule and budget. This is especially true for the kitchen which in a lot of properties is the most popular room in the house.

When designing your kitchen, you must consider:

1. storage space

How many cabinets are needed for the size of the room? How many shelves are required in the cabinets? What will be the locations of these cabinets?

You must also decide how these cabinets will fit around essential appliances in the kitchen.

2. lighting

The kitchen needs to be bright and airy. A dark and musty kitchen is not only unattractive but can also be unhygienic.

Kitchens need specific lighting for the purposes of food preparation. Ambient lighting serves as general lightning that gives the overall kitchen illumination. The best thing to use here is some sort of fluorescent tubing arrangement.

You can obtain direct lighting, for example aimed at the cooker and kitchen sink, by using conventional recessed lights, surface lights or light fixtures that are on a pendant or chain.

3. appliance space

In addition to the major appliances such as cookers and refrigerators, you also need to design in the locations of microwaves, televisions, telephones etc. These additional items can increase the beauty of your kitchen and help you to sell a lifestyle aimed at the upper end of the market.

4. the work triangle

This connects the three major points of a kitchen: the cooker, refrigerator, and the sink. The longer the distance between these points, the greater the effort required by the potential user.

There are 5 basic shapes to any kitchen design:

1. Single wall

The one-wall or single wall kitchen has all the work centres along one wall, which gives the least efficient plan. This type of kitchen is best for small homes and apartments.

2. L-shaped

The L-shaped kitchen gives a huge amount of continuous counter top space. In this style of kitchen, the work centre is on two adjacent walls, a natural triangle is formed and the traffic bypasses the work area. Space permitting, this design allows for the inclusion of a dining area.

3. U-shaped

In a U-shaped kitchen, a continuous countertop and storage system surrounds the cook on three sides providing maximum efficiency. Traffic flows around the work area not through it and simplifies the cooking process.

4. G-shaped

This is generally a modification of the U-shape but adds an extra wall of cabinets and appliances as a peninsula or fourth partial wall.

5. Corridor/Galley

This plan offers a single cook-efficient workspace with closely grouped work centres on parallel walls.

When designing your kitchen, you should consider the above as a minimum to ensure a quality final product that not only provides a great working environment but also adds value to your property.

Family helps to design their own kitchen

For the O’toole family, converting their existing home into a contemporary dwelling was full of interesting challenges.

The dark and more cramped feeling of the old original property needed to be totally rethought.

With the combination of their own design skills and the sensitive approach of designers at  Kitchen Design Centre, they managed to create their perfect designer kitchen within their perfect cooking, living and dining space.

The kitchen was transformed from a small and relatively dark area into a light, spacious, modern room with lots of personality.

The O’tooles wanted a modern, luxurious kitchen, with helpful appliances to assist them with day-to-day living and entertaining.

Louise O’toole said: “The old kitchen was in desperate need of a makeover. It was a small cottage-like kitchen. So we spoke to one of Kitchen Design Centres designers.

“Roger Astin came up with several draft design ideas which we carefully considered before settling on one scheme which seemed to tick all the boxes. These ideas were then developed in much more detail.

The scale of accuracy and the help his team offered was of very great help. Our building ideas really came to life when we saw their fantastic artwork’

In order to create more space and light, a new area was created – with light pouring through a large glass construction which links the main kitchen area to a large dining area and to a sunny lounge too.

“The walls were knocked through and the whole area came together as one living space” said Louise.

“The overall theme change from dated and cramped to multifunctional, contemporary and roomy’

“Now every time I walk into the room I feel in better mood – instantly.”

The modern kitchen is nothing short of luxurious. There are a multitude of innovative Neff appliances throughout the room – including fridge-freezers which are discreetly concealed side by side within an alcove formed from an old doorway.

There is a Quooker – a permanent boiling water tap – and a coffee machine with its own warming drawer for cups. A multifunction Circotherm oven and separate combination Microwave with another warming drawer for plates or food containers.

Louise said: “Our kitchen and everything I wanted and more. The Kitchen Design Centre craftsmen were extremely professional and arrived on the day they first gave and punctually, they completed the work with diligence and care.”

The couple chose Kitchen Design Centre because of their reputation for design, quality installation and cost effectiveness..

Designer Roger Astin said: “It was a combined effort really because Sean and Louise had some great ideas and a fantastic building for us to work in, they were able to accommodate the best ideas and had a real desire to do so.”

Louise added: “We created more space for the children, while at the same time keeping it safe. Overall it turned out brilliantly.”

“The help and support Kitchen Design Centre offered was fantastic. Every step of the way we were helped with enthusiasm.”

“I’ve already recommended the company to a number of my friends.”

Kitchen Design Centre has showrooms are located in Manchester just off the M60 at junction 22, in Blackburn – positioned on the A666 at Brownhill’s roundabout – and in Colne near the end of the M65.

Kitchens have evolved a lot over the years.  Once found only in the rear of the house, today’s kitchen design takes the kitchen out the background.  The challenge for kitchen design is in creating a more open-faced kitchen, that is part of a dining area, a family room or a great room.

In deciding on how to design your kitchen, you must take into consideration such things as: will your kitchen have an island?  Will it be of a modern or traditional design?  What kinds of appliances will you need for your new kitchen design?   What kind of lighting design?

1. Kitchen as ‘Great Room’

Whether you are redesigning an existing kitchen or planning a new kitchen in a new home there are some design considerations to keep in mind, such as including in an island or peninsula as part of the kitchen design.  These can be used to connect the kitchen to a nearby dining area or family room thereby creating a ‘great room’.   A kitchen island or peninsula will allow the cook to keep in visual and conversational contact with family members or guests in the adjoining family or dining room.

2. Create a Kitchen Canopy

To give the kitchen some visible borders without blocking views create a kitchen canopy.  Also a high ceiling in the kitchen can create the perception of spaciousness.

3. Using Kitchen Cabinet Color to Set Tone of Kitchen Design

Kitchen cabinets will help set the tone for the whole room.  The choice of wood will influence the overall look of your cabinets.  To create a light look, use a light wood such as ash, beech, birch, oak, maple, or chestnut.  For medium range, select cherry.  To darker kitchens, choose wood that has some color to it.

4.  Plan Out Use of Cabinets and Drawers in The New Kitchen Design

Plan out in the kitchen design blueprint just how your cabinets and drawers will be used and how much space and storage you will need before you start your new kitchen design.  The first thing to examine is the counter surface area.  Look at where you put everything in your existing kitchen and where in your new kitchen design will these things will go in the new space.  Will there be more than one person cooking at a time.  If so, will there be enough room for two cooks in the kitchen to work together?

5. Use The Galley-Type Kitchen Design

As for counter arrangements, many kitchen designers agree the galley-type design to be the best in terms of efficiency with it’s single aisle and counters to either side, making it easy to turn around to go from sink to cooking range.

6.   Under-Cabinet Kitchen Lighting

Kitchen lighting can be an overlooked area of kitchen design.  Even if the kitchen has generally good lighting, the counter areas can be somewhat dark.  For these areas under-cabinet lighting can help provide more light to work in.  By using simple spots or fluorescent lights a smaller kitchen can be made to look larger.

7.   Looking at Countertops

Granite, marble, and limestone are all popular natural materials for use in countertops are available in many colors.  Ceramic tile kitchen countertops are versatile, practical, and also available in many colors, as well as many shapes, patterns, and finishes.  Solid surface countertops provide seamless acrylic faces.  Solid surfaces also come in almost limitless colors, patterns, and styles, and are stain and heat resistant.  Laminate countertops are more affordable but not built to last.  Concrete countertops are known for versatility, as well as strength.  Wood countertops are long lasting and easy to clean and repair but the wood will not withstand exposure to water and household chemicals.  Stainless steel countertops lack the elegance of granite or tile.   These countertops do not absorb stains, but tends to scratch easily.

Have you recently made the decision to remodel your kitchen?  If so, what would you like to have remodeled?  There are some homeowners who only choose to have a specific part of their kitchen remodeled, but then there are others who want everything changed.

Whether you want to only improve a small part of your kitchen or if you want a completely different kitchen, there is a good chance that you may be looking for a new kitchen countertop.  If so, have you decided on which type of countertop you would like?

When it comes to choosing new kitchen countertops, for your kitchen remodeling project, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration.  One of the most important things to keep in mind is your kitchen cabinets.  Kitchen countertops are almost always placed on top of kitchen cabinets or cupboards.  If you are looking to remodel your cabinets as well, it may be a good idea to pick out all of your supplies and materials at the same time. This will help to ensure that your new kitchen countertop not only looks nice, but that it also compliments the kitchen cabinets that you will have installed.

Perhaps, the most important thing to keep in mind, when choosing your new kitchen countertops is the cost.  Laminate countertops are often considered the most affordable of all countertops. Despite being the most affordable, they are often considered plain. If you are looking to not only change your kitchen around, but improve the appearance of it, you may be looking for something better.  A large number of homeowners choose to make their new kitchen countertops out of wood materials or marble.

Although it is important to focus on the beauty and overall appearance of a countertop, it is also important to make sure that you can afford it.  If you are remodeling your entire kitchen, it may be a good idea to make a list of materials that you will need or wish to have, in addition to a budget.  If you mistakenly spend too much money on kitchen countertop materials, you may find it difficult to afford to remodel the rest of your kitchen.

While there is a chance that you may already know what type of new kitchen countertop you would like to have installed, there is also a chance that you may not.  If this is the case, you are advised to start shopping.  Whether you look for kitchen countertop materials online or in one of your local home improvement stores, there is a good chance that you will come across a wide selection of materials, all with different designs and styles.

Shopping or at least browsing is one of the best ways to get ideas.  In fact, doing your shopping and browsing at the place where you plan on buying your remodeling supplies from is a great way to get price estimates, which are essential when kitchen remodeling is being done a budget.

Once you have decided which type of materials you would like to use for your kitchen countertops, whether they be a traditional green laminate color or a beautiful marble color, you will need to decide how your kitchen countertop will be installed. If you desire, you can seek assistance from a professional kitchen remodeling expert or a general contractor; however, you may want to do your own countertop installation. With a set of directions, you will find that it is relative easy to install your own kitchen countertop, even if you do not have any home improvement experience.  Many kitchen countertop materials come with directions, but if not, you could easily purchase a how-to book for a relatively affordable price.