The kitchen is the heart of the home and it should be treated as such when it comes to designing it. As much as the kitchen is the heart of the home, the cooker is the heart of the kitchen, so always make that the starting point in your design ideas.

Choose your cooker bearing in mind the size of your kitchen, the colour scheme you intend to have and the general aesthetics of your home in general. If you have a modern home, you’ll want a cooker to match, such as a stainless steel range cooker. If, however, your home is more traditional, more rustic house then, budget allowing, an Aga would be the way to go.

Once you have chosen your cooker you can begin designing your kitchen around it. It’s a good idea to use kitchen planning software to do this as it will save you a lot of time and money in the long run. Investing time now using kitchen design software means there will be no regrets later on and no expensive changing of things.

Placement of your cooker should be central as much as possible, though you need to consider ventilation. Good ventilation through an extractor or hood will keep your kitchen cleaner and prevent the smells of food and cooking spreading to other rooms in the house. You want your extractor or hood to be ducted to the outside of your home for the best ventilation, so place your cooker against an exterior wall.

Next you need to consider the placement of the fridge and / or freezer and the sink in relation to the cooker. Again, this will be determined by the size and shape of your kitchen, but what you want to achieve is a triangle between your cooker, fridge and sink for total efficiency and safety. This is known in the kitchen fitter trade as the “Golden Triangle”. Experiment with the placement of each of these until you are happy that it will suit your needs, as well as look like you want it to.

Work surfaces are the next thing you need to consider. You obviously need enough to make your kitchen usable and it needs to be in the right places. Ensure you have enough work surface either side of your cooker to allow you to put things to down and to safely move hot pots, pans and dishes from the hob and the oven to a surface without having to walk any distance.

It is essential to have sufficient workspace around the sink as well as a place to put food and dishes when washing and washing up. This addition of work surfaces may mean you need to rethink the placement of your main items but try to keep the “Golden Triangle” in place. Again, using kitchen planning software to do this will save you both time and money at this stage.

That same kitchen design software can now be used to double check your choice of colour scheme. With your appliances and fittings in place you can view your cupboard doors, drawer fronts, walls and floors, apply your scheme and see what you think – without spending a penny! And if you find you don’t like it, simply experiment with the software until you get a colour scheme you do like.

Modern kitchens will no doubt feature a lot of white (or off-white – white is hard to keep clean!), while the more rustic kitchens will lean towards wood effects and darker, earthier tones.

Whichever route you are going down you want to end up with a room that is warm and welcoming, bright and cheerful and functional and efficient. No mean feat, but with these tips you’ll be well on your way.

Author Bio: Ian Grainger is writing on behalf of Nexus Design Software, developers of kitchen planning software and other interior design software.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: kitchen design, kitchen planning software, kitchen layouts, kitchen planning