Style Ideas for my kitchen
You’re sat at your laptop right now searching through Google for ‘Style Ideas for my kitchen’, you’re inundated with style blogs, Pinterest boards and images from numerous kitchen design companies, and kitchen fitters. You’re feeling excited about getting started, you may have already even booked your initial consultation with a kitchen design and installation company, but it now starts to feel overwhelming! You’ve been thinking for a while about starting your new renovation project but now you have to start making those big decisions; what colours to have, what style of door to choose, which worktops would suit best, and the list goes on and on.
Just remember current trends and styles shouldn’t be the sole focus when thinking about the design of your kitchen, the functionality of the room is equally as important and goes hand in hand with the look and feel.
“The design is not just what it looks like and feels like. The design is how it works” — Steve Jobs
When undertaking a project like this, it’s an investment in your home so it’s important not to rush into any decisions, and to make sure you’re creating a space to suit your personality and what you want/need from the room. One of the aims of renovating your property is to increase the value; according to an article written by Nationwide, kitchen renovations can improve the value of your property by around 6%. With this in mind you need to make sure you get the right contractors for the job. The cheapest isn’t always best and can result in extra costs later down the line rectifying issues with poor work.
Think about whether you have the expertise to project manage this yourself, and if not, consider looking for a company that can provide the full design and build service. This will minimise the stress and any complications, as they’ll understand what engineers are required, and at what point in the process.
Get Yourself Comfy
Now is the time to step away from your screen, put the kettle on and pick up a pen and paper, I’m going to guide you through making a brief for your designer that’s focused enough to direct them, but also gives them enough inspiration to surpass your expectations.
Here are several areas to consider when creating a brief for your Kitchen designer.
1. What is your motivation?
This is really important as it helps your designer to understand your needs and develop ideas to address the issue. Why do you want a new kitchen?
Our kitchen just feels too small.
The kitchen hasn’t been updated since we moved in, so the space feels really outdated.
We love entertaining but the current design doesn’t allow this.
We want to sell our home and know that having a new kitchen will increase the value of our property.
2. Spring Clean
This might seem like an odd concept, why would you spring clean if you’re planning on having everything ripped out for a fresh new, beautiful room? The idea is to look at your kitchen with fresh eyes to really understand what you need, what you’d want, and what would make your life easier based on how you currently use your kitchen. Consider the following points when looking round your old room:
Having a clear out of items you don’t use will allow you to factor in what space you actually need.
Do you have appliances that need replacing or just upgrading - for example, do you want to replace your stand alone coffee machine for an integrated one?
Do have particular cupboards/spaces that just don't work. For example spices that don’t currently have a home, a free standing dishwasher which you’d prefer to hide away?
Do you have any unused space in the kitchen, for example a corner cupboard that’s hard to get to, or store items in?
All these questions need to be thought about in advance, they’ll help shape the design of your new space. Making alterations or adjustments to make things ‘just fit’ later down the line will change the vision and effectiveness of your room and can also add unexpected cost.
3. Be honest with yourselves
The kitchen is the heart of the home and will carry many memories, there will be things you love about this space and things you don’t. Now is the time to put your mark on your home and make this room work for you; not the other way round. Make a list of what you love about your kitchen and what currently doesn’t work.
Do you have enough counter space to prep and serve food?
Are you an avid baker, do you want appliances that make doing what you love even easier, like a proving drawer?
Do you need more space – do you have the option to open up the room or look at extending the property?
Do you often use this room as a workspace?
Do you want a place where you can entertain?
4. The importance of light
Lighting a room is often overlooked and considered an afterthought. The right lighting adds to the functionality, it could be that you need down lighting to illuminate darker spaces, using feature lights to accentuate a specific part of the room or even just knowing how to make the best use of natural light. Be sure to discuss this with your designer and tell them where you mostly spend your time and where you want/need the focus to be.
5. Create a priority list
If you’re fortunate enough to have a money tree growing in your back garden then this is an easy process, but in reality, most people have a budget, which means you’ll have to make compromises to make sure you get the vision you want, at the price range you’ve set. Think about everything you need/want, then list these in order of what’s most important. This way the designer can look at how to incorporate this into your final plan and suggest alternatives to items that you’re happier to compromise on in order to fit your budget.
If You don't Read Anything Else, Read This!
Even if you’ve just had a skim read over this article, the most important takeaway is to understand that letting your designer create a space without a brief or budget, will result in one of two outcomes; you’ll either be really underwhelmed with the plan, as it’ doesn’t incorporate the features and personal touches that you envisioned, or the design will be everything you hoped for and much more, but way out of your budget. Either way you’ll become disheartened, disappointed, and most of all you’ve wasted your time. Give them enough information to shape the vision you have in your head, but enough wiggle room to inspire you!
If you have any questions, comment below, or drop me a message at: haley@thehomedesignstudio.co.uk