Design Ideas for Kitchens

As the majority of rooms in a house are square or rectangular, most kitchen designs will fit around the room shape and can fall into pre-defined shapes such as L-shaped, U-shaped, galley-shaped. This will, therefore, be the starting point of your design.

You should rely on your kitchen designer to give you your main kitchen design ideas and to recommend the ultimate kitchen shape, however your designer will need lots of information before they start.

The work centre is the starting point which should lead to the work triangle in the final design. The work centre is the area where most of the activity in a kitchen takes place. This is between the cooking zone, the sink/ dishwasher zone and the preparation zone.

The dishwasher and bin should be close to the sink in any good design and remember your bin should be able to open at the same time as your dishwasher – so watch out for any clashing.

Cooking is an entirely individual requirement with the keener cook perhaps requiring more cooking equipment. However, it is normally good practise to keep your ovens in one area although often the hob may be on the opposite side of the kitchen or in a larger island unit.

Where there is cooking happening in a room there is a need for extraction and there are lots of extraction design ideas out there. From downdraft to island ceiling extraction, the choice is extensive however each design has one item in common. An extractor has to extract to somewhere and planning your extraction route to the outside is an extremely important part of the kitchen design. Of course you can re-circulate into the room, required now in passive houses, however external extraction is always the better choice if feasible.

The third part of your work triangle is your preparation zone. As much prep area as possible is always advisable and consider how that can be achieved. Using an island for extra surface area is common practise but in smaller kitchens you may choose to do without some cabinet storage to create the extra preparation area.

Lastly, design ideas for your dining may not be part of your kitchen design, in that you may have a separate dining space, but it does need to be considered during the kitchen design phase. You may want to include an informal dining area in your kitchen in the form of a breakfast bar with stools. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a large space, a table could be integrated into your kitchen with matching work surfaces.

With lots more kitchen design ideas in-store, Kube would like to invite you to a design consultation at your nearest Kube store. Call and make an appointment with one of our designers and don’t forget the first consultation is absolutely free.