Knowing the pitfalls to avoid is a vital part of any successful home renovation project. Understanding what “not” to do can often save the day before you get into a sticky situation.
Mapping out the kitchen of your dreams is stressful enough as it is. Don’t make an already challenging job more difficult by committing one of these common kitchen design no-nos.
1. Ignoring standard spacing protocol
From professional restaurants to Grandma’s comfy little galley, the three hotspots in any kitchen are the stove, the fridge and the sink. Both food and chef rotate around these locations in various stages of readiness.
Putting any of these primary locations in a spot that’s inconvenient to reach from one of the others is a huge design mistake. A few steps may not seem like a big deal when you’re planning it out, but after a long day cooking and banging your hip on the piece of the island that juts out between the stove and the sink, you’ll wish your kitchen was a little more accessible.
2. Being too safe
While no one can argue the fact that functionality is key in kitchen design, it’s possible to go a little overboard and ending up with a cold and uninviting kitchen space.
Go top of the range wherever you can, but don’t forget to inject your personality into your kitchen design, making it a warm and inviting place to kick back with family and friends.
3. Stopping halfway up the wall
The sky should be the limit when it comes to cabinetry. If you’re thinking of installing overhead cabinets, consider stretching the budget to include tailor made cabinets that extend up to the ceiling. That way you’ll leave no gap for dust and grime to gather between the cabinet top and the ceiling.
Glass doors on cabinets, particularly overhead, allow you to see what’s in them and helps you resist the temptation to fill them with unnecessary, unused items.
4. Skimping on countertop space…
Shorting yourself on countertop space will almost always lead to clutter. Make sure you’ve got more than enough area to cook, even if it means cutting out an extra luxury or two out of your plans.
Sufficient countertop space is the only way to ensure countertops remain clean and clear of clutter and always ready for your tasty creations.
5. …or electrical outlets…
Another common design flaw is to not include adequate outlets around the kitchen. Plan in advance what appliances you’ll be using, where they’ll go and how many outlets you’ll need. Then add a few more outlets for good measure.
You can rarely have too many outlets in a kitchen.
6. …or lighting
Cooking in the dark is not as much fun as dancing in the dark. Check your lighting, especially over your stovetop and countertops where you’ll be doing all your prep work. While low lighting is arguably more romantic, slicing off a digit because you can’t see what you’re doing properly is a big time fail.
7. Squeezing it in
Always leave enough space for the largest refrigerator on the market. Even if you go with a smaller, more affordable model today, you never know when you’ll be ready to upgrade down the line.
Imagine the disappointment of finally having the cash for the fridge of your dreams and not having adequate room to fit it into the kitchen.
8. Forgetting to add a back-splash
Kitchens can be messy places depending on what you’re preparing. You can’t always control what’s cooked in the kitchen, but you can have a say in how easy it is to clean up.
A big greasy fry up will wipe straight off a glass back-splash. Cleaning guck off a painted wall? Not so much.
9. Settling for bad airflow
Ideally your kitchen will have windows and a ventilator over the stove to extract stale air from the room. Without sufficient ventilation it won’t take long for kitchen smells to permeate your home.
While your Thai coconut curry may have smelled delicious at dinner time, you probably don’t want to be sniffing it in the bedroom when you turn in for the night.
10. Ignoring the flooring
A common mistake is to forego new flooring in order to save a few bucks in the budget. You really should think twice before taking this route, particularly in an older home.
A non-slip, easy to clean, attractive surface is paramount to both safety and comfort in your kitchen. Don’t neglect to update the floor when you redesign your kitchen.
