Creating your Dream Kitchen

The kitchen can be both a public and private place, and is often the centrepiece of the home as a place for not only food preparation but meals and all manner of family meetings. Every kitchen is different, but there are some basic guidelines that should be adhered to, to maximise the ease and functionality of the space.

Dream Your Dream

It's your kitchen, so think about how you would like to use it. Will it be used to cook for parties and entertaining? If so, chances are you're going to need a lot of bench space to rest trays on and prepare meals. Is the kitchen going to be an extension of the living room and a meeting place for house members and guests alike? If so, a row of bar stools and a floating bench might be the way to go.

Do you want to have a view of living areas or a window overlooking a certain spot in the garden? If so, plan accordingly. Write yourself a list of everything you'd like the kitchen to be useful for during your planning process so that you can consistently check back against your list to make sure your design is going to meet your demands.

Obey the Golden Triangle

The golden triangle rule of kitchen designing is to make sure that your sink, stove and fridge are all more than 1.2m away from each other. It's not a hard and fast rule that must be adhered to in every single kitchen but it is a good way to ensure that there is adequate room for several people to work in and around the kitchen at one time. There should be enough room for one person to cook while another cleans dishes and for someone else to access the fridge for a snack or cold beverage. If you have other kitchen workstations that are likely to require significant attention, consider whether their use is going to make another part of the kitchen unusable.

Maximise Storage

Regardless of what size family you have or kitchen you are building there is never too much storage that can be incorporated into a kitchen. Pots, pans and particularly woks are often incongruous to store together and efficiently organising a kitchen is a mammoth task. Racks, hooks, cupboards, pantries, you name it, your future self will thank you.

Minimise Fuss to Maximise Utility and Enjoyment

Kitchens can be complicated places to maintain. Incorporating a good view of the garden or external environment can help reduce the feeling of being trapped. But with your hands covered in cake batter or oil it can be tricky to lower the blinds and keep the sun out of your eyes.

Motorised awnings and blinds can be a useful way to maximise the functionality of your kitchen. With sun and temperature sensors or even by setting schedules for your window coverings, the whole process can be automatic and hands-free to help you enjoy the last hour of sunlight in the kitchen without spreading mess everywhere.

Talk to Somfy about Home Automation

If automatic home features appeal to you then speak to your local Somfy Expert about having Somfy in your home today!