Project Planning
So you’ve found your favorite cabinetry door style … you’ve chosen your finish ... you’ve selected the decorative and functional enhancements you want ... you’ve even taken notes and sketched out some ideas. What next?
This section devoted to helping you bring all your plans, choices and ideas to life. If includes reminders, tips and ideas – all designed to help you handle your project with a minimum of hassle and inconvenience.
Carefully consider all the elements outlined here and then meet with our kitchen design specialist for
professional assistance in making your dream a reality.
This section devoted to helping you bring all your plans, choices and ideas to life. If includes reminders, tips and ideas – all designed to help you handle your project with a minimum of hassle and inconvenience.
Carefully consider all the elements outlined here and then meet with our kitchen design specialist for
professional assistance in making your dream a reality.
Avoiding Common Problems
Jumping in too soon. Then changing you mind
Through planning and attention to detail are essential to a successful outcome. Of course, you can always change your mind midway – but expect it to affect the timetable, the budget and your contractor’s temperament.
Getting caught in a corner
Avoid wasted corner space by including corner storage solutions such as a Lazy Susan or a blind base pull-out pantry. These units are designed to increase usable storage space and make corner cabinets more accessible and functional.
Here today. Hated tomorrow
While you can update wall coverings, accessories and hardware to reflect the latest trends, you should consider choosing cabinetry, appliances and countertop that will stand the rest of time.
Door-to-door problems
Think about how each door and drawers of your cabinetry will open. Be sure they will not collide when opened. Also think about how open appliance doors may get in the way.
Missing a new view
Instead of assuming your sink has to go by the window, consider placing the sink on a center island or overlooking an adjoining area to be closer and more connected to family activities.
Staying in the dark ages
Instead of simply using overhead lighting fixtures, consider additional lighting options such as … under-cabinet lighting to illuminate the sink or cooking area … recessed or track lighting to brighten up dark corners or to spotlight decorative areas … strip lighting above cabinets or in the toe kick area.
Jumping in too soon. Then changing you mind
Through planning and attention to detail are essential to a successful outcome. Of course, you can always change your mind midway – but expect it to affect the timetable, the budget and your contractor’s temperament.
Getting caught in a corner
Avoid wasted corner space by including corner storage solutions such as a Lazy Susan or a blind base pull-out pantry. These units are designed to increase usable storage space and make corner cabinets more accessible and functional.
Here today. Hated tomorrow
While you can update wall coverings, accessories and hardware to reflect the latest trends, you should consider choosing cabinetry, appliances and countertop that will stand the rest of time.
Door-to-door problems
Think about how each door and drawers of your cabinetry will open. Be sure they will not collide when opened. Also think about how open appliance doors may get in the way.
Missing a new view
Instead of assuming your sink has to go by the window, consider placing the sink on a center island or overlooking an adjoining area to be closer and more connected to family activities.
Staying in the dark ages
Instead of simply using overhead lighting fixtures, consider additional lighting options such as … under-cabinet lighting to illuminate the sink or cooking area … recessed or track lighting to brighten up dark corners or to spotlight decorative areas … strip lighting above cabinets or in the toe kick area.
The Master Plan
Even once you’ve picked out your cabinet style and figured out just what you want, you can’t do anything until you get specific about the layout of your kitchen. To start, take a look at the five basic kitchen shapes here and see how they relate to your space. Pay attention to your work
triangle and its three basic work centers. This, along with your own tastes, will help you figure out exactly how you want to arrange your new kitchen. Remember that even if you are not doing a major remodel or making structure changes, you can still rearrange your cabinetry to some extent. Ask our kitchen design specialist for ideas. Five Basic Layouts
The single-wall or straight kitchen has all work centers along one wall, offering the least efficient kitchen plan, especially for active cooks. However, it’s ideal for smaller homes and apartments. The corridor or galley kitchen offers a single cook efficient workspace with closely grouped work centers on parallel walls. But two cooks may be too many for this kitchen, as the shape allows little extra room to work. Also, household traffic crossing back and forth may interrupt this work flow. The L-Shaped kitchen provides a generous amount of continuous counter space. With work centers on two adjacent walls, a natural triangle forms and traffic, generally bypassed the work area. It’s the perfect solution for a kitchen that opened to an adjacent room, inviting interaction between cook and guests. In fact, this design even allows for the inclusion of a dining area. The U-Shaped kitchen offers a continuous countertop an ample storage that surrounds the cook on three sides for maximum efficiency. Traffic flows around the work area rather than through it, making the cooking process even easier. Adding an island to an L-shaped kitchen provides the benefits of a U-shaped kitchen. The G-Shaped kitchen is really a modification of the U-shaped and offers the same efficiencies. This design adds an extra wall of cabinets and appliances in a peninsula or partial fourth wall. To keep the kitchen from feeling too closed in this plan works best when one or two of the cabinet sections are open to adjacent spaces. |
The Work Triangle
The work triangle is the standard configuration used by industry
professionals for designing efficient kitchen. The three points of the triangle are typically represented by the refrigerator, range and sink. Whether you’re planning your own layout or enlisting the help of our kitchen design specialist, use the triangle to check the efficiency of your design. It’s easy. On a piece of paper, simple draw a rough sketch of your kitchen and include the location of your three main work areas – refrigerator, range and sink. Connect these three locations with lines to form a triangle. Then, estimate the length of each triangle side - in other words, the distance from one work area to the next, the sum of the three sides should be between 12 and 26 feet. If the total is less than 12, the areas are probably too close for comfort. If it’s greater than 26, they’re pretty far apart and you’ll waste time and effort moving between work areas. As you plan your layout, also keep in mind tables, islands and peninsulas that bisect your triangle, as well as how traffic flow moves through your kitchen. Kitchen Zones Let’s take a closer look at our three points of triangle. Though the refrigerator, range, and sink are the specific reference points in your work triangle, they actually represent slightly larger areas we call kitchen zones. These five kitchen zones should be considered when determining the most efficient and practical kitchen configurations. First, there is the Food Storage Zone. This zone contains all of your basic food items, canned goods, dry goods, perishables, refrigerated foods and bulk storage. In your kitchen layout, it should be placed near the Preparation and Cooking Zones and should be easily accessible for unloading groceries. Our Storage Solutions such as Lazy Susans, multi-storage pantries and roll-out trays make this zone work harder and smarter. The Preparation Zone is the main work area in your kitchen. This zone contains work knives, utensils, mixing bowls, and small appliances. Of course, it should be designed in proximity to the Cooking and Cleanup Zones. The Cooking Zone will contain your cooktop, ovens and microwave. It will also contain your cookware, bakeware and cooking utensils as well as your spices and cooking oils. This zone is the true focal point of your kitchen layout. And you can keep the focus on efficiency with our solution, like a spice rack, roll-out trays, and microwave cabinets. The Tableware Storage Zone is used to store dishes, glasses, steamware, serving pieces, silverware and items that you use in your daily kitchen routine. This zone should be placed so that it is easily accessible from the eating area as well as the Cleanup Zone. The Cleanup Zone may define your kitchen layout because it most likely will be dictated by the plumbing access or the placement of your dishwasher and windows. |