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| Location: HomestyleKitchens.co.uk / Planning guide | |
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A Guide to Planning and Designing your Kitchen Quick jump links: To follow is a simple
step-by-step guide to measuring and designing your kitchen: First you will need to make an accurate measurement of your kitchen walls, for this you will need: - A pen and paper Starting from the door that you enter the kitchen and working clockwise around the room, measure every wall, door and window (follow our example for guidance). Please note all measurements should be in millimetres.
Measure and keep a note of all appliances that you wish to keep in your kitchen. Remember to mark off on your plan the exact position of your stop tap (the tap that turns off the water supply to the house in an emergency) if it is in your kitchen; if you try to put an appliance in front of it, the appliance will not go all the way back to the wall and should you need to turn off the water supply in a hurry, you will be struggling. It will also make designing your kitchen easier if at this stage you make a note of the position of the hot and cold water supply (to ease positioning of your sink/washing machine) and the gas/electricity supply for your cooker.
Now you are ready to design your kitchen, in order to do this you will need: - An A4 sheet of 1:20
graph paper (print
this sheet off our website if you don't have any) Before you begin to design the kitchen, you have a number of things to consider: - The Working Triangle
Something you may have already heard about. Good kitchen design dictates that there should be separate areas for cooking, food preparation and wet area.
You will also need to consider just how much storage space you will need; spice racks, plate cots and dresser units all look beautiful but can you afford them at the expense of having to leave tins of beans or packets of cornflakes on your worktop? Take a good look at your kitchen now and apart from the obvious signs of wear and tear, what is it that you particularly like and dislike about your existing kitchen - had you always wanted the sink in a different place, or do you need more worktop space at either side of your hob? Remember you are starting with a totally blank canvas, so it is up to you to design in the things that you really want. More and more families are using the kitchen as a drop in centre where you can cook, eat, chat, watch TV and any other form of family activity - so if that is the case, consider this in your design. Will you need a dining table or would you prefer a breakfast bar? Most appliance manufacturers have standardised the size of appliances to 600mm wide, so designing them into your kitchen is now so much easier. If you are wishing to use existing appliances, just measure the width and place into the design. If you want new appliances are they going to be built-in or free-standing, maybe even integrated behind kitchen doors? Remember a few simple rules: - Always try to put
a fridge freezer at the end of a run of units so as not to break up a
length of worktop
Now all the spadework has been done, it is time to start putting pen to paper. Always start your design in the corner (assuming that you have one in your kitchen!) and work your way outwards. Also start with base and tall units and place wall units at the end. There are two main ways of tackling a corner: a standard corner base/wall unit or an "L" shaped corner base/wall unit. Once the corners have been filled it is just a matter of placing base units and appliances where you want them. Units are made in a variety of widths. As a bespoke kitchen manufacturer, we can manufacture almost any combination of units to suit any design, but to keep things simple keep to these basic width sizes for base and wall units: - 300mm Tall units such as larder cupboards come in these general sizes: - 300mm Once the base and tall units are in place, all you need to do is match up (as best possible) the wall units to the base units, so for example if you have a 500mm wide drawer pack as a base unit, why not put a 500mm wide glazed wall unit above it. Remember if you need some help with this any of the above, just email or telephone 01942826323. We are just a phone call away and are here to help. Once you have completed your design, why not fax (01942 231511) or email (net@homestylekitchens.co.uk) it over to Rob so that he can suggest any alternative designs or help you with pricing your kitchen. Once again this is a totally FREE service and you are under absolutely no obligation. 
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