The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Designs: From Dreamy Islands to Open Spaces

When beginning a kitchen project whether personal or for a client it's important to note that a lot more goes into planning the layout than just placing furniture and cabinetry: ergonomics has a huge role to play as well. Getting the heights right, ensuring enough space for comfortable movement, placement of appliances and ease of use are all going to factor in your enjoyment of the room. Sometimes we get carried away by the space and how that dream kitchen can come alive immediately, it's good to get excited but make sure the excitement drives you to get it right.

I love big kitchens it’s not like i cook all the time though (lol) but when i do i love to take my time and make it worth the while ,so This piece is a little personal because i’m just gonna state my kitchen preference and why I've chosen that as well as the other types of kitchen designs available for you to choose from. NOTE kitchen design selection is sometimes dependent on other factors other than your personal choice or liking,its like a guide to selecting your kitchen design.

1. Available space: This is the number one determinant of what design you can build and how its gonna come out. If you have a tiny space there's just little you can do to maximize it but if your space is large ,every design available is on the table for your selection, it's now up to you to pick your dream design. When we go further you will see what designs are available for small and large spaces.
2. Budget: budget is as important as available space because a good and efficient kitchen certainly does not come cheap. When you think of setting up your kitchen ,figure out how much you are willing to spend on the project so that you can plan/work within the stipulated budget without breaking the bank. Just know that no matter how much or little your budget is you can have a simple kitchen for your personal use.
3. Needs and purpose: so you wanna build a kitchen, one very important thing is to know the purpose but of course a kitchen is for cooking right? But how many people would be in the kitchen at a time? What's the foot traffic going to be like? Is it a Restaurant's Kitchen or an old couple's kitchen? Is it an office kitchen or newly weds with growing kids? Knowing these needs will help you make a wise design selection.

               TYPES OF KITCHEN DESIGNS

1. One Wall Kitchen: This is a perfect design for small and narrow kitchens, just as the name sounds only one wall carries the cabinets and other appliances while the remaining space is left for movement.  A one-wall kitchen is a kitchen that is all built into one linear wall. These types of kitchens are found typically in small homes and efficiency apartments to conserve floor space and construction costs.                                                                                                                                                                 
2. The L-Shape Kitchen : This is also a good choice for a small space kitchen, the triangle principle can be achieved here. Just as the name implies ,it's an L design with cabinets and appliances fitting into the L-shape.make sure to utilize your vertical spaces efficiently.  Vertical space is the room between your floor and your ceiling. It includes your walls, doors, windows, mirrors, shelves, and anything else in that space. Your home has so much potential when you look at more than just the square footage!                                                                                                                                                                                                            
3. The Gallery Kitchen: This design offers you just two rows of cabinets side by side to work with. This design is perfect for small spaces too but can also work with a little bigger space,it is also cost effective as it limits the unnecessary waste of space.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
4. The U-shaped Kitchen : This a great design for larger kitchen space ,it's like an incomplete square or literally a U shape and makes use of three walls. This design allows for easy work flow, more foot traffic and movement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
5. The Island Kitchen : This is one of my best designs, these designs are as literal as the sound so just imagine how water surrounds a small piece of land that's the way this design is. It could be a dinning or whatever you choose to call it in the middle with cabinets on the three or 4 walls. This design needs a very big space because for you to effectively achieve this you need at least 2 meters for foot traffic and movement in the kitchen. This design accommodates a lot more people in the kitchen at the same time and often does not require a dining room because the island top serves that purpose and it is a beautiful design that never goes wrong.                                                                                                                                                                        
6. Peninsula Kitchen: The peninsula design is like the island design but it does not require as much space as the island design so instead of having a stand alone island its usually connected to a wall in order to properly manage the available space.  Questions have been raised about island and pennisula kitchen and which is better,unlike the island design, a peninsula  kitchen is more focused on providing seating and serving space without impeding the traffic flow of the kitchen itself. This may be a better option in a smaller kitchen space or in a home where informal seating is a requirement.                                                                                                                                         
7. Open Space Kitchen : The concept of this design is pretty simple to encourage more interaction with the cook and it's mostly in a contemporary home setting. This is integrating the kitchen with the living room with a counter table top that serves as a dining or bar . this design is quite unique because its breaking down the interior and housing structure where we grew up thinking the kitchen is a sacred place that is meant for mommy alone, this new design makes cooking fun and open to all members of the family by getting them involved either from the chatter while movie is being watched or from the preparation of meals. It also helps you manage your space  so you don't need a seperate space for kitchen, living room and dining. It's all going to be in one space.                                                                              

As i said earlier i just wanted to let you know what my dream kitchen is ,i don't have it yet but i'm certainly going to have a huge island kitchen or and open space kitchen for reasons stated above both because of the size and the much people it can accommodate as well as the unstructured nature of the open space design.

It would be amazing to hear what your dream kitchen is and if you have gotten it yet or still dreaming like me and we can also help you build and design a beautiful kitchen,contact us today or request to speak with an interior consultant.