Kitchen Designs: How to design a kitchen and incorporate your own ideas
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Where to Start with Kitchen Designs
There are a variety of ways to get started when you decide you're going to design a kitchen. Here, you'll find some of those ways, and maybe get some new ideas for the design of your very own new kitchen.
The Kitchen Floor Plan
For people who care most about how their kitchen works
If you're someone to whom function is most important, then you may start by laying out a floor plan. To begin with, you don't need to make this a carefully-measured scale drawing - indeed, it's better if you don't. A sketch plan of your room with the doors and windows and the existing positions of gas, water and power lines is a great starting point.
The first items to place are the points of the classic work triangle: the fridge, cooktop (or range or stove) and sink. These correspond with today's idea of "work centers": the food-storage center, cooking center, and cleanup center.
Try making paper cutouts of these (or use one of the many planning kits which provide them) and move them around on your floor plan to make different arrangements. Make sketches of arrangements you think might be useful, or take a quick photo with a digital camera.
Some questions to think about as you play:
Where do we eat? Which work center should be closest? Should it be the fridge for quick snacks and drinks, the range to serve cooked meals, or the sink to gather dirty dishes?
How much fresh food do we use? What path does it take through the kitchen?
What else happens in the kitchen as well as cooking? Where should it happen, and who is involved?
What's the main traffic flow through the kitchen, and can we re-route it outside the main work triangle?
How many people cook together? Do we need two work triangles? Two sinks?
Does any one with special needs use the kitchen? Kids? Seniors? People with disabilities?
The first items to place are the points of the classic work triangle: the fridge, cooktop (or range or stove) and sink. These correspond with today's idea of "work centers": the food-storage center, cooking center, and cleanup center.
Try making paper cutouts of these (or use one of the many planning kits which provide them) and move them around on your floor plan to make different arrangements. Make sketches of arrangements you think might be useful, or take a quick photo with a digital camera.
Some questions to think about as you play:
Where do we eat? Which work center should be closest? Should it be the fridge for quick snacks and drinks, the range to serve cooked meals, or the sink to gather dirty dishes?
How much fresh food do we use? What path does it take through the kitchen?
What else happens in the kitchen as well as cooking? Where should it happen, and who is involved?
What's the main traffic flow through the kitchen, and can we re-route it outside the main work triangle?
How many people cook together? Do we need two work triangles? Two sinks?
Does any one with special needs use the kitchen? Kids? Seniors? People with disabilities?
Kitchen planning books on Amazon
to jump-start your layout ideas!
Sample kitchens
Kitchen Decorating
For people who care most about how the kitchen looks
Another way to begin your kitchen designs - yes, it's better to come up with more than one at the beginning! - is to start with how it looks. What's your favorite style?
Professional: huge stainless-steel gas range; open shelving racks; array of shining pans and utensils; super-hardwearing and cleanable surfaces ...
Country: wood everywhere; open shelving, buffets and hutches; rough finishes and natural materials; round handles...
Euro: smooth cabinet-fronts, closed storage, minimalist color schemes, integrated appliances, stainless steel, tile floors ...
Traditional: Dark wood paneled cabinets; patterned fabrics; wood floors; discreet appliances in plain colors ...
Retro: pick your decade and go wild with laminate patterns, dinette sets, rounded appliances, and metal edgings ...
Historic: Cabinets with face frames and inset doors, freestanding furniture, old-fashioned (but new featured!) appliances, porcelain sinks, bin pull handles, wooden counter tops ...
Contemporary: Clean lines; stainless-steel appliances; glass tile backsplash; granite counters; undermount sinks ...
Of course, all of these styles have sub-styles within them, and you can also mix together styles for your very own eclectic style.
Professional: huge stainless-steel gas range; open shelving racks; array of shining pans and utensils; super-hardwearing and cleanable surfaces ...
Country: wood everywhere; open shelving, buffets and hutches; rough finishes and natural materials; round handles...
Euro: smooth cabinet-fronts, closed storage, minimalist color schemes, integrated appliances, stainless steel, tile floors ...
Traditional: Dark wood paneled cabinets; patterned fabrics; wood floors; discreet appliances in plain colors ...
Retro: pick your decade and go wild with laminate patterns, dinette sets, rounded appliances, and metal edgings ...
Historic: Cabinets with face frames and inset doors, freestanding furniture, old-fashioned (but new featured!) appliances, porcelain sinks, bin pull handles, wooden counter tops ...
Contemporary: Clean lines; stainless-steel appliances; glass tile backsplash; granite counters; undermount sinks ...
Of course, all of these styles have sub-styles within them, and you can also mix together styles for your very own eclectic style.
Kitchen decorating books on Amazon
Country French Kitchens by Carolina Fernandez
Country French continues to be one of the most pop more...0 points
Good Green Kitchens: Ultimate Resource for Creating a Beautiful, Healthy, Eco-Friendly Kitchen by Jennifer Roberts
With more than 150 color photographs, comprehensiv more...0 points
House Beautiful Design & Decorate: Kitchens: Creating Beautiful Rooms from Start to Finish (House Beautiful Design & Decorate) by Emma Callery
Creating the perfect kitchen is like cooking a spe more...0 points
Victorian Kitchens & Baths
Romance is in and Victorian design and architectur more...0 points
Contemporary Kitchens by Beta Plus
This is the first book in Beta-Plus' thematic seri more...0 points
Classic Kitchens by Beta Plus
Thirty classically inspired kitchen designs in a c more...0 points
Contemporary Asian Kitchens and Dining Rooms (Contemporary Asian Home Series) by Chamsai Jotisalikorn, Karina Zabihi, Luca Invernizzi Tettoni
With over one hundred full-color photographs, Cont more...0 points
Trends Very Best Kitchens & Bathrooms (Trends Very Best) by Editors of Trends Magazine
Your kitchen and bathroom are the most hardworking more...0 points
Southern Kitchens and Dining Spaces: Design, Inspiration, and Hospitality from the American South by Alicia K Clavell
Gracious living, southern styleA home is more than more...0 points
More kitchen layout and design information
Visit my main website for more kitchen layout and planning help.Island Kitchen Layouts
Galley Kitchens
Kitchen Design Online
Custom Kitchen Islands
Kitchen Makeovers
Kitchen Design and Building News
Green Kitchens Blog
Kitchen Layouts Blog
The Kitchen Curmudgeon Blog
Kitchen Layouts and Floor Plans Lens
What do you Hate Most About Your Kitchen
Tools for Interactive Kitchen Design
Quick, Easy Recipes
Kitchen floor plans for real working kitchens
Posts from the green Kitchen blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byPosts from the Kitchen Makeovers blog
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- Choosing kitchen paint colors seems an easy enough task, but once you start looking at the vast area of colors available, it can be a little overwhelming. The kitchen tends to be one of those rooms where people gather for conversation, ...
- New Kitchen Cabinet Handles - Quick Makeover Potential!
- Many people are frustrated with their out of date kitchen cabinets. The prospect of purchasing new kitchen cabinets can be an expensive and an intimidating thought. However, it is possible to completely update a kitchen's look by ...
- Kitchen Before and After pics from petit hiboux
- before Originally uploaded by petit hiboux. I rather like the buttery yellow cabinet color myself, but petit hiboux is right that color just doesn't go with the newer bright colors in the other rooms.
by kevinw1
I help people design and redesign kitchens, create and evaluate home business ideas, provide custom LEGO building instructions and models, and I'm a r... (more)
