The kitchen is the hub of most homes, regardless of family or individual circumstances.  Very few of us do not spend significant amounts of time in the kitchen, and as building trends change towards open plan living areas, kitchens are always a major consideration.

The kitchen has become a social area, and modern living spaces tend to be an integration of eating, relaxation and cooking spaces.  Even in older properties there is a trend towards opening kitchens through into adjacent rooms to form a bigger, more sociable area.

Whether your kitchen is part of an open plan area, or simply a kitchen, there are certain things which we must be able to do there efficiently and safely.  In fact the kitchen is an intensive work area, and much of the work involves potential hazards, so all the elements need to be in the right place, must provide the functionality to meet your individual needs, and must allow you to go about your kitchen work in safety.

Just think for a moment about what you actually do in the kitchen, and consider the vast range of cupboards, appliances and fittings which are available.  The choices are mind-blowing!  But that also means there is plenty of scope to get things wrong.

The same hold true for your choices of materials, finishes and colours.  You certainly are faced with enough variety to find exactly what you need and like, but equally it’s very easy to make a bad choice.

So it’s not really difficult to see why a good kitchen design is so important.

Kitchen design is about finding the products and fittings which suit your taste and requirements, arranging them in a way which will allow you to work easily and safely, and of course providing a good looking feature within your home.  This needs to be achieved within your financial limits, and must be sturdy enough to take whatever your family throws at it.  A good design will provide you with a real asset to your home and your lifestyle.

Kitchen design is not a simple matter of placing boxes in a “working triangle”.  While that principal still holds true, it is way too basic for modern requirements and thinking.  There are so many options now, and appliance varieties which we take as essential requirements rather than ultimate luxuries, that the triangle has gained several extra points, and now we have the “working polygon”.  

This offers so much more opportunity to get things wrong.

So if you are looking for a new kitchen, please think very carefully about design.  To be blunt, don’t take it on yourself, consult a professional.  Getting it wrong can be painful and expensive.