Interior design tips for kitchens

Are you planning to install a new kitchen or refurbish your existing one but don’t know where to start? Then get some expert tips here.

Planning your new kitchen

Plan your kitchen design carefully

When it comes to any home improvement project, plan the work carefully before you get started. As interior designer Julia Kendell suggests: “When designing your kitchen, write a brief and think of how your kitchen gets used.” It’s a good idea to make a list of your practical requirements, so ask yourself questions such as:

• How much is your budget?
• How big is the kitchen and can the area be increased by extending, knocking through walls or converting other rooms?
• Do you need a lot of space for cooking and a lot of preparation space?
• If you have kids perhaps you need child-friendly fittings and floorings or an area for them to do their homework in?
• How much storage do you need?
• What kinds of colours, materials and textures do you like?

Once you have a list of your practical needs you can get started on the fun part – the design. It can be useful to make a mood board to help establish what kinds of colours and materials you want to use in your kitchen, experiment with different combinations to see what works best for you: “Mood boards are great, you can make all your mistakes on them before you even start,” says Julia.

If you need extra help and want to hire an interior designer to plan your kitchen design or leave it up to a kitchen installation company, they will still need you to give them an idea of what kind of look you’re going for. Property expert Michael Holmes advises: “Collect together designs in a scrapbook to give the designer direction. Analyse what it is about each picture you really like and find someone who is specialised in your kind of project.”

Kitchen units and layout

Revamp your kitchen cupboards by
replacing doors or handles

The layout of your kitchen will most probably be determined by its size, which you can normally increase a bit simply by de-cluttering, as Julia explains: “We fill our kitchens with all kinds of rubbish, so liberate yours by just having a bit of a cull to start with.” If you’re kitchen is still small and you can’t increase the space by knocking through a wall or extending, you can still make the space work well with some clever design. Buy units with built-in appliances, tall cupboards to utilise wall space and deep drawers for storage. Choose a simple colour scheme to avoid cluttering the space.

If you’re lucky enough to have a large kitchen then there are certainly more possibilities. Kitchens were traditionally laid out with key appliances (the oven, fridge and worktops) in a triangular formation for ease of movement within the kitchen but people are now choosing more innovative kitchen layouts, especially in a large space: “Most people are going for open plan designs now and in my experience everyone wants an island but you have to be realistic about how much space you have and whether you can really accommodate one,” says Julia.

Quick kitchen design tips

Personalise your kitchen using
colour

• Consider curved units for an unusual twist on your kitchen design
• Look for units with built-in appliances to save space
• To refresh your kitchen on a budget simply repaint units or walls or install new door handles
• Make sure your kitchen design complements the rest of your home’s decor
• While unusual and normally used in industrial kitchens, stainless steel can also look modern and is relatively inexpensive
• Skylights can provide natural light if there’s not much natural light available
• Make sure you have enough ventilation to meet building regulations
• Choose only one or two iconic pieces (a cooker or framed picture) to design the rest of your kitchen around

Kitchen worktops and flooring

Kitchen flooring and worktop materials need to be hygienic, easy to clean and durable. Wood may look great but can be expensive and requires regular maintenance to prevent damage from damp and humidity. Stone flooring is also pricey and can be cold, but coupled with underfloor heating, stone could be perfect for your kitchen. In terms of worktops, granite is traditionally the most popular choice as long as you don’t mind resealing it every so often. If this is too much hassle; “Try going for composite worktops, they are brilliant and much cheaper,” says Julia. The same goes for composite flooring although linoleum has become one of the more fashionable flooring choices due to its eco-friendly credentials (it’s made of natural materials like linseed oil). Laminate and uPVC are other options.

Kitchen lighting

An island can work well in an open
plan kitchen

Michael says: “Look at every opportunity to use as much natural light as possible, introduce light from more than one direction if you can, which could mean removing existing walls. ” So utilise any natural light in your kitchen before you do anything else, then you can move onto installing overhead or LED down lights to ensure that there is a safe and attractive level of light in the areas of your kitchen where you need it most.

Cost of kitchen refurbishment/fitting

Prices for kitchen refurbishment will vary depending on the scale of the project and the materials you choose, the most important thing is to hire competent, insured contractors and compare quotes for the work before you hire.