Kitchen Layout And Design Useability

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The kitchen is the nerve center of most homes, with a number of appliances, fixtures, work areas, storage spaces, and traffic corridors concentrated in one room. This focus of activity, combined with a bewildering choice of available finishes, materials, and styles, makes the kitchen the most complex room to plan.

Another way to experiment is to use templates, drawn to scale. There is a number of websites that offer free kitchen planning software as well as local home stores, which will even help you through the design process. Just keep in mind, the design that works best depends on a combination of your needs, budget, the available space, and the desired effect.

Preliminary considerations. First clarify why you need a new kitchen. Do you desire: a different stove, a different sink, more counter space, a nice window, more storage? Be as specific as possible about your needs. Some are clear because of nagging irritations or they are ideas that you got from magazines or other kitchens. Other needs may be less obvious because they are dictated by habits and patterns, but they are equally important.

Ways to add space. Even if you are unsure if your budget will allow them, identify all possible structural changes. You may find that moving a doorway, opening up a closet, or bumping out a bay window is feasible and that it will enable you to have your dream kitchen.

Whether the design involves your present floor plan or a proposed addition, develop your own kitchen layout by starting with an accurate floor plan.

Then through testing and revision, try various layouts until you find the most satisfying arrangement of appliances, furniture, and space.

You will have to try many arrangements; layouts are easier to do if you sketch on tracing paper over the floor plan.

First ask:
    - What assets and limitations does the existing space have?
    - Can you move non-bearing walls?
    - Which doorways and windows could you move?
    - Which design features (moldings, finish coverings, cabinets, or fixtures) do you want to preserve?
    - What are the dominate traffic patterns?

If these solutions are too drastic, consider moving or closing off a doorway to create more wall space, or converting an existing window to a bay window. Built-in benches and tables, compact laundry equipment, and under-the-counter water heaters can free up valuable space.

To create the impression of space, enlarge windows, add a skylight, use light colored cabinets, and replace some cabinets with open shelves (and keep them uncluttered).

Remember: some decisions involve functional considerations and others involve matters of taste and style, but the key to the entire process is the development of an efficient floor plan.