Jul

31

2021

Home Styling, Tips & Tricks

Tips for Designing the Perfect Kitchen

Our kitchens are more than a place to cook. They are our cuppa station, snack provider and entertaining hub. In reality, Australians spend an average of one hour per day on food and drink preparation/service. The need for a functional and pleasant space is incredibly important, no matter if you are making a coffee or entertaining a large crowd.

Designing a kitchen can be a complicated task for those who are new to home building. Finding the balance between functional and aesthetically pleasing can be a real brain teaser. We have compiled some tips (with some from our own experiences) to help design your perfect kitchen that suits all your needs.

1. Kitchen layout to optimise your space
  Choose your kitchen layout
  Allow for wide walkways
  Create a multifunctional kitchen
2. Storage to suit kitchen functionality
  Useful kitchen cabinetry
  Open kitchen shelving and cabinets
  Kitchen bin system
  Hidden electrical cupboard
3. Consider layer lighting
4. Kitchen design to emulate style
  A durable but stylish benchtop
  Colour for your kitchen
  The ideal kitchen sink
  Tapware and hardware to suit a kitchen
  To handle or not to handle
  Kitchen splashback
  Adequate kitchen ventilation

1. Kitchen layout to optimise your space

As the heart of the home, your kitchen space needs to work for the whole family. A practical design for your space is a must. The best part is that our homes are completely custom so we can make all your kitchen dreams come true.

Choose your kitchen layout

The first decision to make is the layout that best suits your needs and styles. There are many different layout options with the most common we see being the island, u-shape or peninsula style.

An island layout, the most common, allows the island to be the centre of attention. The perfect socialising space, incredible convenience to enter the kitchen from any side and also a great obstacle in a game of chasey with the kids.

A u-shape layout maximises storage and bench space. If space allows, you can even go one step further and add an island in the middle to create an incredibly lux kitchen and have that main point for socialising and a spot to sit.

A peninsula layout is essentially a u-shape layout with the peninsula open to the rest of the house, often the spot to pop your bar stools. This layout offers the benefits of an island kitchen while maximising lower storage space.

Peninsula Kitchen Layout, Encounter Bay, South Australia

Allow for wide walkways

We have all tried to cook with someone else and bumped into them. Your dream kitchen doesn’t need to be like this. For your walkways, we allow at least 1.2 metres between counters, this can always be made larger too. This will allow for plenty of room to not feel crowded and help avoid any kitchen accidents.

Don’t forget to allow space for opening fridge doors, the dishwasher and pantry doors. It is always best to leave more room than less. We can help with getting this right, we can’t add extra space once your home is built.

Create a multifunctional kitchen

We no longer see the typical ‘kitchen work triangle’. I don’t have a work triangle in my kitchen, and I absolutely love it. Why? Because it has all the features that I like and use which is the most important part.

What we do know that works well is zoning your space. Let us work through the most common design zone choices:

• situating your dishwasher near your sink and bin. A place to scrape, rinse (if you are the rinsing type) and/or grab the dirty dishes left in the sink (I am looking at the husbands and kids) and fill the dishwasher
• bench space either side of your cooktop to comfortably allow for all your prepped ingredients when cooking a meal, or a space to safely pop hot trays when they come out of the oven
• allowing enough space on your island, if that is part of your layout, to comfortably sit and not bump into a stove or sink

2. Storage to suit kitchen functionality

The smallest of kitchens can be incredibly functional if they are designed correctly. Every homeowner has their own requirements based on cooking habits and how many people in your home. These are our top functional ideas:

Useful kitchen cabinetry

Maximise your kitchen storage with a combination of wide drawers for pots and pans, overhead cabinets for bowls, plates and glassware and thin draws for utensils. A walk-in or butler’s pantry are also the perfect inclusion to a kitchen, to maximise storage and reduce clutter.

Here are some points to consider when deciding on your cabinetry plan:

• allocate enough easy-to-reach cabinets and drawers for your everyday items
• ensure you have cupboard or drawer space near your kettle to store mugs, tea, coffee and sugar
• allow enough glass front cabinets to show off your prized possessions, but don’t allow more than needed as your everyday items don’t need a spotlight
• pick your preferred style. If you like drawers – go for mostly drawers. If you like classic cabinets, rock those. You don’t need to pick something just because everyone else is or you think it is the right choice

Open kitchen shelving and cabinets

Open shelving brings style and function. Using timber brings warmth and texture and the minimalist style makes the space feel lighter and larger. The shelving then becomes the place to display styling items, regularly used plates and glasses or maybe your recipe book collection.

Glass fronted cabinets can add modern or country charm to your space while keeping the open feel. The bonus with cabinets is your items can be shown off without the added layer of dust.

Kitchen bin system

Pull-out bin drawers are a game changer for convenience. They save space on your floor and they look like a standard cupboard – no messiness of bin bags or rubbish that has missed the bin. If you have the space for two bins, use the second as a recycling bin to make the trip to the recycling wheelie bin as simple as possible.

Hidden electrical cupboard

If you are like me and feel like you are constantly charging something in your home, a cupboard or drawer is the perfect place for a discreet charging station. Hide away the phones, TV remotes, gaming controllers, portable speakers, laptops and tablets while they come back to life. This saves your benchtop from clutter of cords and electronics and keeps them all in one place.

3. Consider layer lighting and power points

Layer Lighting, Murray Bridge, South Australia

With our kitchens being a space for multiple purposes, consider layer lighting when designing your lighting combinations. The experts at TDR Electrical will walk you through these options when you sit down for your electrical consultation.

Gone are the days of one light servicing the whole area and casting shadows over your benches. Technology has come a long way to ensure we can use this space the way we like. Here are the most common lighting choices:

• General – provides adequate lighting over the whole space
• Task – similar to general except they have a stronger wattage to complete tasks, like food preparation
• Accent – highlights a particular feature in the room. This could be the island, feature shelving or glass cabinets with display pieces.
• Ambient – primarily connected to a dimmable system to control lighting based on the mood. Perfect for those cosy couch nights where you still want a little bit of lighting in the background whilst watching a movie

Appliance heavy areas require adequate power points for your kettle, toaster and any other high use items that live on your benchtop. Take into consideration where you will be using your other appliances – slow cookers, air fryers, waffle makers (are they still a thing?) etc. Island benches are often the ideal place, so don’t forget to include some power points there.

4. Kitchen design to emulate style

Although functionality is essential, aesthetics are just as important. You need to be happy to be in your kitchen, daily. A beautiful kitchen also adds value to your home – not that we want you selling your beautiful Kookaburra Home.

A durable but stylish benchtop

The most popular benchtop choices are laminate, stone and concrete. All have their pros and cons, most coming down to your personal preference and budget.

On the affordable side, we love the polytec range for laminate. It provides a superior product for a fraction of the price. There are plenty of colours and textures to choose from (including lots of timber looks) without breaking the budget.

For a boujeer look, Caesarstone is our go-to for stone and concrete options. This style may be a requirement pending your sink choice. More details on that below.

Colour for your kitchen

Light, dark and timber contrast kitchen, Mannum Waters, South Australia

Selecting neutral colours, like whites and greys, is a timeless option. This allows the addition of a colourful feature piece, whether that be through the tapware, splashback, styling pieces or all three.

A smaller space is well suited to light and bright colours to make the space feel bigger. Don’t be fooled into thinking that light and bright equals boring. There are so many ways to allow style to shine – keep reading below.

On the contrary, dark cabinets can make a large kitchen look cosy and elegant. This doesn’t necessarily mean making all your cabinets dark, they can be combined with lighter colours and textures. The kitchen above has used the light, dark and contrast style to create their stunning kitchen.

The ideal kitchen sink

This is a lengthy subject. So much so that we created a full blog post to help with this selection. Read The Kitchen Debate – Overmount or Undermount Sink? blog post here.

Tapware and hardware to suit a kitchen

It is surprising how much a tap or handle choice can change the look of your kitchen. If you have gone with a neutral palette, this is the space to incorporate some colour. Think matt black, gold or brushed brass to create a pop against your neutral tiles or cabinetry.

Hot tip: tapware and hardware can be simple budget saving items. The Kookaburra Homes standard range includes chrome or matt black tapware and lots of handle options which saves an extra upgrade.

To handle or not to handle

On the contrary, if you prefer to go handle-less, this creates a completely different look again. I will warn you now, just because you aren’t selecting handles doesn’t make this a cheaper option. Finger-pull doors and drawers require a different manufacturing process which is more time consuming.

On the positive side, handle-free is safer as there is nothing to get caught on, little heads to hit or pet collars to catch (an actual risk, I am speaking from experience here). They give the impression of a bigger and more open space.

Finger-pulls can be an annoying spot for drips and crumbs to catch, however, so can some handles that have flat tops (also speaking from experience here). However, I would suggest not selecting these for 2pac gloss cabinets – fingerprints will be your worst enemy.

Kitchen splashback

A splashback is more than just a space to have some fun and show off your style. What you choose for this space is also what will protect your walls from food and liquid splashes. Tiles are the most popular choice, however, you also have the option of a window, stone, granite, glass or mirrors.

A reflective splashback will bring more light into your kitchen, making them the ideal choice to pair with dark selections or in a smaller kitchen.

This is your chance to bring some texture and style into this space, without compromising on space or selecting a colour that will go out of date too soon. Given that you will look at this every day, this is also your chance to splash out on that pricy feature you have always wanted.

Adequate kitchen ventilation

On the technical side (maybe boring for some), an adequate rangehood for the space is a must. I can promise you it won’t be boring when your house is filled with smoke and you can still smell last night’s dinner while you are eating breakfast (yes, happened to me). Plus, all the other pollutant issues that come with cooking without appropriate ventilation – I will let you Google these.

There are plenty of clearance requirements which will be worked into your kitchen plan – we make this part simple for you. Our Sales and Selections Teams will walk you through the different rangehood options to suit your stovetop too.

Find plenty more of inspiration from our past projects here.

Kitchen Island Details, Flagstaff Hill, South Australia

Last updated 19 October 2023 at 3:21pm

By Amy Rosendale