Good Kitchen Design
Good Kitchen Design
Having designed thousands of kitchens in my 37 years in this business I have seen a lot of good and bad designs. Many times when I go to a client's home and I see their existing kitchen I often wonder what the designer was smoking when they designed the kitchen. Too often I see designs that are totally impractical functionally. And very often the designer seemed more concerned with putting a lot of fancy frills that may have worked fine in a living room but made no sense in a kitchen.
Elements of a good kitchen design
> First and foremost it should be practical and functional - "Form Follows Function" meaning that the designer should make sure the layout is very practical and only after they have done that should they make it "pretty." Many designs may be stunning but turn out to be difficult to work in and maintain. Two that come immediately to mind are massive, overly ornate range hoods that do a great job of collecting grease on the wood work and poorly designed and positioned islands that just get in the way.
> Plenty of storage space strategically placed where items can be easily reached from the point of first usage
> Adequate counter space at each of the primary work areas
> The kitchen should be designed around the individual work areas which are: 1) clean up area, 2) food preparation area, 3) cooking area, 4) storage area, 5) serving area
> Lots of drawers - 80% of what you store in your kitchen will fit better in a drawer than behind a door
> Plenty of clearance for appliance access (dishwasher, refrigerator, stove)
> Consider the traffic flow in, out and through the kitchen and assure that there will be no "traffic jambs"
> The kitchen should reflect the household makeup. A kitchen designed for a young family with 3 children will be different from one for "empty-nesters" or a single parent with 2 children
The kitchen is a constantly used central point for daily activities and should be a very comfortable environment to work and play in. The designer should listen carefully to what you want and design the kitchen for you leaving their own personal preferences and prejudices aside. (After all you have to live in this kitchen for many years not them).
If I can help you in anyway with a design question please feel free to contact me, Geoff Dunn, at gdunn@thecabinetguy.net (even if you live somewhere else in the world outside of our trade area and wouldn't be purchasing our products).