Shapes and Designs of Kitchen in 2022
Whether a day starts with a cup of coffee, or it ends at dinner, or it is a midnight snack, kitchen is the center of life in the home. Kitchen is the only place of the house which is shared by everyone and runs almost 24/7. Therefore, unlike any other room in a home, the kitchen requires plenty of attention to details when it is designed so that it keeps you convenient. Working in kitchen can be laborious or enjoyable, all depends on how your kitchen is made and kept. A well-made kitchen is always easy to well keep and vice versa. You cannot keep a kitchen very user friendly, spotless decorated, and organized if it lacks basic sense in its construction. There are different types of kitchen layouts for different homes and spaces. We have covered them all in this guide. Read on to find out which one is best for you. You have to choose the best one which suits your personality, cooking habits, family size and their food aptitudes, overall house design and ambience. Once you choose, IND Construction is there to help you make it in a very personalized way. We construct kitchens from scratch, and we also renovate or remodel old kitchens to give them entirely new look, in a way that they best meet your needs. Have a look at our Kitchen Remodeling Projects and our Client Testimonials. These are some basic types of kitchen layouts: Straight, parallel, L-Shape, U-Shape, Open, closed etc. Let’s talk about their perks individually. 1. Straight Kitchen If you have a small space, straight kitchen is the best choice for you. It is made just along a single straight wall in as much length as available. It is a linear kind of kitchen having a single counter with one set of wall and base cabinets. The stove is kept at an equal distance from the fridge and sink, making it the most convenient layout for an easy cooking process. It shall not be longer than 12 to 15 feet in length as then the design loses its efficacy. This type of kitchen is perfect for small and studio homes, apartments, open kitchens made in living room, outdoor kitchen, as they need the most space-efficient design. If there is room adding island in front of such kitchen or just keeping your dining table in front of it in parallel direction adds both, work efficacy and style to it. Straight Kitchens are great choice for small families. 2. Parallel or Galley Kitchen Parallel kitchens are known to be the most efficient ones. If you have space width wise too, it is a better choice over the straight kitchen. It can be defined by two narrow rows of cabinets facing each other with a narrow walkway in between. A parallel kitchen can turn out to be an extremely productive layout with two counters and two sets of cabinets, these kitchen types can have multiple work zones. Besides, the hob, fridge and sink are in an ideal golden kitchen triangle making it an extremely convenient cooking process. Parallel kitchens can be designed as open kitchens but when they are kept closed as a room, they are called galley kitchen. Galley kitchens have advantage of more privacy and less noise or smoke/ smell to the living areas. Both, parallel and galley kitchens are most standard forms of kitchen. Suggestion is, keep base cabinets in a heavier, darker material, and the upper cabinet in a lighter color to connect it more towards the ceiling. This will also help reduce the feeling that you are in a hallway. Try concealing the fridge and dishwasher behind cabinet panels to give the space a tidy look. You can also put nice lights and a runner in the walkway. Walkway can connect to any door or left open on either ends as suitable. Parallel or galley kitchen are great for medium to large sized families. 3. L Shaped Kitchen An L-shaped kitchen is the most common layout found as open kitchen after the straight kitchen design. It requires space with two walls connecting at a corner. Length of counters along both walls can be same or different. This design offers ample counter space for many hands working together in a cooking session. This layout is sure to derive the most productivity from it. The hob, fridge and sink are in close proximity to each other and best designed according to golden triangle rule. This design ensures that you don’t have to walk too much between zones. This design can also be topped up with an island or a dining table in front of it. L shaped kitchen is perfect for medium to large families with multiple people cooking at same time. 4. U Shaped Kitchen It is the best design for large and specifically joint families. This design offers more counter space, more storage space and many working stations can be set simultaneously in it. This layout comes with three sets of base cabinets and two or three wall cabinets. Giving the fridge, stove and sink a counter space for each zone and perfectly defining the golden triangle rule of kitchen. These work zones can easily be divided into cooking and washing zones. Yet you can keep third counter spare for processing. Many people can work at a time. If your kitchen load is heavier, go one step further from a parallel kitchen and opt for a U-shaped kitchen. If your u shape kitchen is super large, you can still choose to add island in its center. That makes kitchen super spacious. These types of kitchens are usually made in villas. U shape kitchen can also be kept open at one end, and it can be closed or topped up with a nice bar on the open end. U shaped kitchens are most luxurious ones. 5. Modular vs Carpenter made Kitchens A carpenter-made kitchen is completely built from scratch by locally available company. Subsequently, it
How to organize your kitchen? 24 Tips & Ideas you don’t want to miss!
When we talk about kitchen, we actually are talking about the most functional area of the house. It is the most equipped one also. Considering the fact, that it has a versatile system, for instance having floor, walls, cabinets, shelves, electric, plumbing kind of systems all in one room, like no other room in the house, makes it the most difficult area to be maintained. It usually is the most used and shared one too. A house that has a well-made and well-kept kitchen, not only presents good but also tells the taste and habits of the house residents. Having a dream kitchen is not always expensive. Obviously one can have a very high end made kitchen but on the other side a medium or low budget kitchen can also give their best effects on a house if they are wisely kept. Perhaps, if a very expensive kitchen is not kept well, it can ruin the whole ambiance of the house. Keeping a kitchen is an art and it requires a lot of consistent efforts. But, if you focus on smart work, it definitely beats the hard work. Just by choosing some smart hacks, tips, rules and strategies, you can make a regular kitchen look super classy without much of a zeal. Let’s have a look on some important tips you can consider while making or keeping a kitchen. 1. Good kitchen layout plan When you are installing a kitchen, keep in mind that basic kitchen layout plan is very important. A kitchen made in a technical way will make it easy to keep it well later on. A good contractor will have their grip on basic laws of kitchen efficiency. So, choose your contractor wisely. Read these 11 factors that you should consider while choosing a remodeling contractor for your house. 2. Size of the kitchen When you make a kitchen, try keeping it spacious. 90 square feet is considered as a small kitchen and 150 square feet as an average size kitchen. Depends on the size of the house and the size of the family in end. You can go beyond this, but as a general rule, give a sufficient area of your house to the kitchen and its accessories. 3. Ventilation A kitchen should be in the most ventilated area of the house. Good light and air flow helps keep a kitchen efficient. A good contractor will wisely plan the ventilation of the kitchen. 4. Shape of the kitchen You can either choose a straight, parallel, L-shaped, U-shaped or galley kitchen. It can also be in an open or closed form. All have their own perks. Look at the space available and choose the shape of the kitchen wisely with help of your contractor. As, this is the very basic thing about a kitchen. 5. Bar Addition of a bar in Kitchen is a wonderful idea. You can keep it an open kitchen through a bar specifically if the kitchen is small size. It gives an illusion of a large kitchen then. Or if kitchen is very spacious, you can add a bar inside the kitchen. 6. Island Adding island in the center of the kitchen if it is spacious enough, helps increase the shelf surface and hence give more functioning area. Island can be fixed or moveable. Both bars and islands help as handy dinning within a kitchen to prep and serve dinner. They basically increase shelf surface which is separate of working and cooking shelves. If you add small amount of decoration by some plants, or lights to them, they will give a personalized effect to your kitchen. 7. Juice/coffee corner Adding a drink juice coffee or tea corner gives a kitchen very nice impact. Also, it keeps the kitchen organized. It can be kept in out-of-the-way counter, slightly removed from the main food prep area, or nearby dinning. Whether you like white or brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla powder, chocolate shavings or coconut flakes, your coffee condiments need a space in your kitchen set-up. Also, the variety of juices and teas, with a quick machine system to make them hot or keep them chilled, all kept in an organized way makes a perfect drink corner. Opt for containers that align with the overall decor of your corner and kitchen, and label each to match. Having a separate corner dedicated to such things makes life easy, and having drinks efficiently managed. 8. Pantry Adding a small panty room alongside the kitchen helps increase the cleanliness of main kitchen. The most obvious benefit of pantry is additional storage space and keeping the storage stock organized. Cluttered kitchens look messy and dirty, and they also make it easy to misplace things. It is messy and more laborious to work in an unorganized kitchen. You can add racks, shelves, or cabinets as per your requirements to accommodate larger pots, grocery and related stuff organized. To make it most efficient you can add labels and a stock list. This helps keep an eye on near to expiry stuff also. More organized the system will be less wastage will be there. Never underestimate the storage needs of the kitchen. Keep ample space to meet this concern. 9. Dirty kitchen corner If you have option to make another small addition to your main kitchen adjust like the panty, choose to have a dirty kitchen corner. It can be a very small one having an extra wash basin and a single stove just to do your messy work there. It helps keep unpleasant stuff off sight from the main kitchen. 10. Main kitchen cabinets While designing main kitchen cabinets, chose a style which suits your overall house ambiance. You can choose colors to give your kitchen a theme. In the main kitchen do not over load the room making cabinets all along. Specifically, when you have designated pantry and dirty kitchen for the purpose. Main kitchen cabinets shall contain elegance and give a less messy look. Keep some cabinets with doors, and