Home Improvement Advice for Kitchens

Do it Yourself Tips for Kitchens

General Advice

It is important that your Kitchen is organised and user friendly as it is one of the most commonly used rooms in the house. Your Kitchen should be unique to you, as you and only you will know what you want from your Kitchen. What looks good in someone else?s kitchen may not necessarily be of any use to you. Think about this when designing or choosing your Kitchen.

Here are some points to consider:-

Your Kitchen should be easy to work in, the fridge, sink and cooker are the main points in the Kitchen and you should be able to reach them and move between them easily.

If you have seating in the kitchen, make sure people sitting down will not be in the way of the oven / hob.

Electrical equipment should be next to a plug socket and kept where they will be used. This will save you time and ensure safety.

It is a good idea to put a cooker on an outside wall, this is for ventilation purposes.

Be realistic with the size of your kitchen. For a small kitchen you will not want cupboards everywhere as it would make it appear smaller and opening doors etc could be a problem. How the doors open and what you store in the cupboards should be taken into consideration. (carousels make good use of corners).

Things should be within your reach, there is no point in having high shelves / cupboards and not being able to reach or use them.

Appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines etc can be hidden behind cupboard doors etc, (this is called integrating).

You can never have enough work surfaces, you will be surprised by what takes up room.( i.e. mugs, kettle, tea, coffee, sugar tins, microwave, breadbin etc).

Side boards/flooring should be hard wearing and easy to keep clean, nothing that stores germs (i.e. grooves) or burns easily.

Make sure you need the appliances before you buy them, for instance, dishwashers etc, if there is only one person living in your home, there may not be enough dishes to make up a load (although smaller ones are available).

You can buy special appliances that are not full size and can fit into smaller areas such as under sinks.

Cupboards above your oven / hob need to be a reasonable height above it for safety reasons.

The height of your worktops is another important factor, the person who is to use the kitchen the most should judge how high they want them to be and clearly state this to the fitter.

The light should be strong and clear. Lights can be fitted into / under cupboards and cooker hoods, this is ideal as with overhead lighting you can get shadows.

Natural light should be taken advantage of, try not to cover windows and doors with curtains / blinds.

Consider an extractor fan, the Kitchen can get hot and steamy when cooking, this way it will help to keep it clear.