Kitchen Ideas - Design Layouts

A contemporary kitchen. (Image by forepj @ flickr.com)

Consider the overall impression of your house when designing your kitchen. Do you want your kitchen to form an integral part of your home or do you want your kitchen to stand out as a special feature from the other aspects of your home?

Colour scheme of this kitchen continues into the dining area with matching cabinets. (Image by: B. Wolska)

An open-plan kitchen is the hearth of a home, seen as a place of comfort and where family and friends gather around to share food and love. On the other hand, a separate enclosed kitchen is mainly designed to be used by the cooks and keeps food preparation (and mess) away from view.

An open-plan kitchen is where your family and friends gather around (Image by: splatgirl @ moderninmn.blogspot.com ).

Think about the kind of atmosphere you want to create in your kitchen. Bold modern colours make a strong statement and can reflect your bright personality, whilst timber and earthy tones create a cosy and homely atmosphere. Stainless steel surfaces and open shelves combined with freestanding units and trolleys re-create the feel of a commercial kitchen.

If you are thinking of selling your property in the near future, safe colours and finishes such as neutral colours and tones attrack and appeal to broader range of buyers.

A modern kitchen with a stainless steel breakfast bar and a red cabinet feature.

A commercially-inspired stainless steel kitchen

Take into account any other activities you and your family perform in the kitchen. Do you organize your house keeping affairs in the kitchen? If so, you may want to incorporate a home office in the kitchen. Do the children do their homework in the kitchen while you cook? Then a breakfast bar at a lower height may be ideal for meals as well as children doing their homework.

A cleverly-designed space saver featuring a breakfast bar / home office in a kitchen: The wall-mounted computer monitor maximizes bench space and the roller cabinet keeps the CPU and keyboard out of sight when not needed (Image by: Lass aka las @ ikeafans.com).

Lower-height counters are perfect for meals and children doing their homework.

A breakfast bar on legs creates a spacious feeling and provides extra work space.

Mixing and matching different colours and materials of doors and benchtops in your kitchen can create an interesting result. For example, glass doors and stainless steel doors can be used sparingly to accentuate a rather plain white kitchen. Or try combining coloured doors with timber doors to create a unique design.

Make your kitchen a design feature of your home by using bold bright colours.

White glass fronted drawers with timber veneered doors.

Different colours and materials blended to create this state-of-the-art kitchen.

Frosted glass doors add interest in this high gloss red kitchen (Image by: lipstickface @ flickr.com).

An efficient kitchen layout relies on the working triangle , which is based on 3 main elements: sink, stove and fridge (food storage). To make a kitchen work efficiently, these 3 elements should be within comfortable distance (total distance should not be more than 8 metres) whilst still allowing enough work space between them. If the three main elements are too close to each other, you will be struggling for comfortable work space. If they are too far apart, you will find yourself walking around the kitchen most of the time.

Single-line kitchens.

Single line kitchen with island.

L-shaped kitchen is easy to work in as the working triangle is well established, making food preparation easier even with two people working at the same time. It provides plenty of work space and storage space and can work well in either small or large kitchens. A large L-shaped kitchen can also be combined with an island or a dining table.

A large L-shaped kitchen with plenty of work space (Image by: Joanne Wright aka jwright @ ikeafans.com).

A simple minimalist white L-shaped kitchen and charcoal wall colour create a strong contrast (Image by Lisa D aka lilou_2006 @ flickr.com)

An eat-in L-shaped kitchen with dining table.