Creating a new kitchen is a major project, perhaps the most significant and expensive improvement you can make to your house, so it really is worth giving it some very serious thought.
What’s it for? Is it just somewhere to cook, or do you want it be a combination of kitchen and living room, with space for family and friends. Do you have a young family or are you expecting one, in which case you want to be able to keep an eye on the kids while keeping them away from all the dangers cooking presents. Interconnected family rooms with wide sliding or folding doors can be great, especially when the children become teenagers and you want to escape from them!
Once you have figured out what the kitchen is for you need to think about what you want to cook on, as apart from being the most essential aspect of a kitchen this has a major impact on the design. I personally like fast, powerful gas hobs and gas ovens, as you would find in most restaurants. Other people swear by Aga’s, which also have their qualities but aren’t so hot when it comes to frying steaks for twenty guests. If you have the room, and the budget, go for both.
If you plump for a gas or electric set up you are now presented with the choice of a freestanding cooker or range, or separate hobs and ovens. This really is a subjective and maybe mainly aesthetic choice; there’s something nice about a traditional style cooker, and its easier to design a kitchen around them, but eye level ovens do reduce back strain. However if you choose a slot in range cooker any smoke from the forgotten joint in the oven will be captured by the extractor.
The other Big Thing in the kitchen is the fridge, mainly because it is Big Thing to incorporate into a design. The two principal types on the market are integrated, which are concealed behind furniture doors, and freestanding. Of the freestanding type probably the most popular these days is the American style side by side fridge freezer, which generally comes with filtered water and automatic icemaker. I personally prefer what is called a top or bottom mount, with the freezer above or below the fridge section, as you then get a wide fridge (but not chilled water).
There are now lots of other specialist appliances available, such as built in steamers, deep fat fryers, griddles, BBQ’s, icemakers and coffee machines, along with portable machines such as ice-cream makers, bread makers, food processors and blenders. You need to figure out what of these you might like to incorporate in your new kitchen. We often create an “appliance garage”, a cabinet that contains all the small portable appliances that you’d use more often if you didn’t have to get on your knees to drag out of a cupboard. In our appliance garage they are already plugged in and ready to use, and can be swiftly put away when not needed.
Once the appliances have been decided and the basic layout of the kitchen has been worked out, the style of the cabinets, and the materials and surfaces need to be considered.
Painted kitchens are either finished by hand on site, or pre-finished in the factory. The latter gives a more individual feel, though is inevitably more costly. Whereas painted finishes tend to deteriorate over time, kitchen furniture made from quality hardwoods such as oak or maple often improve with age.
Mass produced kitchens generally use laminate faced interiors, which are pretty durable and easy to clean, Bespoke kitchens, such as the ones we make, often have veneered hardwood interiors, which add a degree of quality, and are more durable over time. Kitchens at the budget end of the spectrum feature “lay on” foil wrapped doors, whereas bespoke kitchens would generally feature solid “in frame” doors with traditional hinges.
There are lots of different surfaces on the market, from the common and relatively inexpensive postformed laminates to solid granite and hardwood. Again natural materials tend to improve with age, although they may require more maintenance than man made materials. We like to mix and match different natural materials, for instance using teak for draining boards, granite near cooking areas, where hot pans may be used, and other hardwoods for seating areas.
