Plan Your Ideal Kitchen
How to make the kitchen of your dreams a reality and avoid any costly mistakes.
The list
Avoid making the same mistakes as in your old kitchen by writing down what works and what doesn’t. Consult this list before making decisions.
The budget
Be clear about what you can afford. Just replacing unit doors and installing new floor tiles can really change the look of your kitchen and will cost an affordable £1,500 or so. For around the £4,000 mark you could get new units and appliances from a DIY shed. But if you want a bespoke kitchen you may well have to re-mortgage your house to pay for it because it will cost between £25,000 and £40,000. On top of that making structural changes will eat into your funds and bear in mind that fitting costs for the average kitchen will be upward of £1,500.
The triangle
Your new kitchen must function as a working space. Ideally you need a working triangle between the sink, cooker and fridge. To ensure that your work space either side of the three appliances is not cramped, the sides of the triangle when added together should ideally be 3.6m or more.
The walls
Tiled splashbacks are a popular choice as they offer versatility, practicality and style. Thanks to advances in printing technology, ceramic and porcelain tiles can be produced to resemble natural wood and stone, but with none of the associated performance challenges. The tiles are scratch-, heat- and water-resistant, and reasonably cheap and easy to install. And while they are durable, should a tile become chipped or damaged, you simply need to remove it and lay another.
The open-plan space
With fewer families having their meals in a formal dining room, kitchens are multipurpose rooms nowadays. How do you pull it off without the two parts looking mismatched? The best method is to choose units that look equally at home in living and dining areas as well as the kitchen, and try curved units to help the areas flow into one another. Again, tiles can play a massive part in an open-plan space. Consider using the same floor tile right the way through, this way it will not only make it easier when it comes to redecorating in future but also give the space a certain flow and cohesion.