Fortunately, kitchens have evolved a lot over the years! Once found only in the rear of the house in the smallest part of the house, today's kitchen design takes the kitchen out the background and makes it THE place to be in your house! 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 will want to take a few things into consideration such as:
- Will your kitchen have an island?
- Will it be of a modern, contemporary, or traditional design?
- What kinds of appliances will you need for your new kitchen design?
- What kind of lighting design will you need?
So lets look into a few of these considerations a little more in depth...
1. Kitchen as a '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 stay in visual and conversational contact with family members or guests in the adjoining family or dining room. And provides a great staging area for things to come.
2. Create a Kitchen Canopy
To give the kitchen some visible borders without blocking views add a kitchen canopy. You know, those things that hang down from the ceiling? These are great for making a statement about your kitchen. Also a high ceiling in the kitchen can create the perception of spaciousness as well.
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. For 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 and is called task lighting. By using simple spots or fluorescent lights a smaller kitchen can be made to look larger. Your local hardware store will have a great selection that are easy to install. Just head over to the lighting section.
7. Looking at Countertops
There are so many different counter tops out there now that you can get lost in what you need and should buy. An interior designer can really help you decide on what would look best. Also, when buying counter tops, unfortunately you need to consider what your neighbors are buying as well, because, if you go out an buy really expensive Granite tops, and the rest of your neighborhood isn't, then you may hurt the resale value of your house. So, just a word of caution...chose carefully!
Here are a few of the counter tops you can consider:
- 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, the new fade, 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.
So there you have it, a few ideas to think about when designing your dream kitchen. Something that really makes all this easy is some software you can buy to help you design your kitchen, hope over to www.Plan3D.com to help you design your kitchen.