Kitchen Trolley

All houses - big or small - have kitchens but, unfortunately, the kitchen is often the most neglected room of the house. Not enough thought is generally ever given to designing a good-looking kitchen and doing away with the regular and staid looking stereotypical kitchen.

But times are changing and slowly more and more people are realizing the fact that kitchens must look as good - if not better - than the other rooms. Here are some tips to help you design your dream kitchen.

1 Plan first

You can find a lot of kitchen designs on the web and in the pages of various home improvement magazines. Go do a Google search for terms like "kitchen designs", "kitchen plans", "dream kitchens" etc. and go over the designs/photos that you come across. Save the ones you like the best in a separate folder. You can also get a lot of inspiration from photos of beautifully done up kitchens in home improvement magazines.

Then go over all the designs you liked and note down what you like the best in each design. You may want to mix and match various design elements from your short-listed designs. You will also need to decide upon a budget. You need not have an exact cost (those will come after discussions with your builder) but you should have a ballpark figure that you are comfortable with.

2 List appliances that need to be in the Kitchen

You may have your heart set on a particular kitchen design but that design might not be able to accommodate the appliances you want in the kitchen. After all, a good-looking kitchen is of no use if it does not let you work as efficiently as you would like to with the help of the right kitchen appliances

So make a list of all the appliances you already have plus all that you would like to include in your dream kitchen. Also, you may want to upgrade the appliances you already have e.g. you may want to switch from a single-door refrigerator to a larger double-door refrigerator.

3 Select the right contractor

You may know what you want in your dream kitchen but unless you get a builder who will correctly translate that vision into reality, you will be no nearer your dream kitchen than when you began. So it is of utmost importance that you select an experienced contractor who will be sensitive to your needs and will work with you in creating your dream kitchen.

A good contractor will be able to guide you in selecting the right material for your kitchen, depending upon your needs. An experienced builder will help you choose materials that come within your budget as well as ensuring that your kitchen design does not clash with the surrounding decor of your house but complements and adds to it.

Remember - building your dream kitchen requires you to start with proper research and planning followed by executing that plan well along with an experienced contractor. To avoid disappointment later, know what you exactly want in your dream kitchen and find a builder who would make it even better in reality.