Kitchen Design Mistakes
How to Avoid Them
A kitchen renovation is a significant investment in your home so it’s important to avoid making costly kitchen design mistakes that could have been avoided. Imperial Kitchens has designed and installed more than 30,000 new kitchens over the last 20 years. We’ve seen and heard many examples of kitchen design mistakes that could have been avoided if the homeowner had been properly informed.
We hate hearing about people wasting time and money. So to help you avoid making a costly kitchen design mistakes, here’s our list of common pitfalls associated with poor kitchen designs.
The Kitchen Triangle
The area between your sink, refrigerator and cooktop/oven is often referred to in the industry as the kitchen triangle. Put simply, this area should be preserved to enable free movement between these critical elements in your kitchen. You need to be able to move freely in this area, with unhindered access.
The distance between the three elements should be given due consideration in your kitchen design. If this area is too small it will feel cramped, and you risk tripping over other people. A kitchen triangle that is too big will quickly become annoying, as you will be walking further than you need to. There’s no firm rule about the ideal distance; however, you should make sure you’re comfortable with the design of this area before signing-off on your kitchen design and avoid kitchen design mistakes.
Forgetting Your Budget
It’s easy to get carried away when undertaking any home renovation, let alone a kitchen renovation where costs can blow out quickly. We strongly recommend you have a firm budget in mind and your kitchen design should fit within your budget.
The idea of installing a new kitchen is to improve the value of your home and provide you with a space that will give you years of enjoyment, not years of debt. To avoid unnecessary financial strain, we strongly suggest you stick to your budget and ask for a fixed price quote.
Wasting Storage Space
Proper kitchen design must cater for all of your anticipated storage needs. Identifying that the storage capacity in your new kitchen is deficient after it’s been installed is bound to leave you disappointed with the result. While it may be possible to re-design the finished kitchen or have kitchen renovation, this will prove a costly exercise that can be avoided with proper planning at the beginning.
There are a multitude of modern storage solutions available that optimise the storage opportunities in any kitchen design. We’ve never had a client complain that their new kitchen has too much storage! In our experience, storage is one of the most important considerations you need to be aware of to avoid kitchen design mistakes.
Inadequate Space
While modern kitchens have evolved to become places for socialising and casual dining, their primary function remains a place for meal preparation. Cluttered and inadequate bench space will quickly become frustrating, particularly when clever kitchen design can generally give you more bench space than you may have considered possible. Naturally, your design is limited by the space you have available and the design you choose (e.g. galley, U-shaped, L-shaped, or straight line). A design that provides sufficient storage will also give you the best opportunity of maximising usable bench space.
Being Too Trendy
While the burnt orange and lime green kitchens of the 1960s and ‘70s were the height of fashion at the time, the novelty of being ‘on trend’ can become a choice you’ll live to regret after the fad has passed.
By all means indulge your sense of personal style. However, we suggest classic, neutral colours will be more timeless than opting for the latest trends. If you insist on bold colours, consider achieving the look you desire with accessories such as curtains, lighting, crockery and splashbacks rather than locking yourself into kitchen cabinets that will become unfashionable almost as quickly as they became popular.
The trick here is to indulge yourself with trendy elements that are easily altered rather than with fixtures that you’ll be living with for years to come.
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Logan City, QLD 4131
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