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 some opened. To give a mix n match look.
11. Dedicated cabinets
Dedicate some cabinets to things like plastic bags storage and Tupperware storage in an organized form. These two things always create mess in the kitchen.
12. Electronics
Keep a separate cabinet area for electronics. This area will require a good electric supply. Electronics such as choppers, blenders, oven, fryer are helping aids in cooking process and if they are well-organized, they enhance your cooking efficiency as well.
13. Dish Wash area
Choose a well sized and shaped sink for the purpose and keep your under-sink cabinet very clean. A ventilated cabinet door helps control humidity. You should do pest control over here also. And use this area to keep kitchen cleaning stuff.
Do not forget to install an electric dish washer close to the sink area. Having both close to each other makes working easy.
14. Put essentials handy
All the essential things shall be very handy, central and in front. To keep the overall working process less laborious and easier, you should consider organizing kitchen as much as possible. You can use wire baskets or clear containers to sort different things into groups rather than keeping them mixed in cabinets.
15. Utensil drawer
The utensils like eating cutlery or cooking spoons and spatulas are difficult to handle. It’s best to keep dedicated drawers and keep them organized into groups in them by adding partitions or dividers etc.
16. Out of the box ideas
Some out of the box ideas instantly make your kitchen look very different from a regular kitchen. For example, keep a recipe book collection shelf, it not only helps look your kitchen more sophisticated but it also keeps you orderly. Add a dry erase board to keep track of needs and chores. You can also hang a small calendar on its alongside. Adding some photo collection or small decorations in different corners will definitely spice up your kitchen.
17. Kids friendly cabinet
Keeping a cabinet dedicated to kids’ stuff like foods as chips, biscuits chocolates, plastic cups and bowls, makes life easy. Choose a low height spot. Kids will know where their stuff is and they will not mess around in the whole kitchen and it’s a win-win for everyone at the end.
18. Hang it up
Keep most things hanged or hooked to walls to keep shelves less burdened and easy to wipe out.
19. Spice corner
Keep a cabinet or drawer dedicated to all spice collection. It helps in keeping easy to manage overall system.
20. A hook
Add a hook system to your kitchen to hang gloves, aprons or anything necessary like that in their place.
21. Waste bin corner
Choose a nice waste bin for your kitchen. If possible, get a one which provides segregating system as well. To waste plastic glass and organic wastes in an already sorted way. It can be best if it is a covered one. Keep bin bags system along with it to make wasting trash easy on daily basis.
22. Drainage and floor slopes
Having a nicely sloped floor and a good drainage point for kitchen helps keep it very clean in long run. You can easily and quickly wash the floor regularly.
You can also add kitchen specific Matt’s and runners to add substance to the floor. The drain should have a valve to prevent upward travel of roaches or smell.
23. Lights
A kitchen should be well lit. Prefer guiding natural sun light as much as possible to your kitchen by a nicely designed window. Other than that, you can add light to roof, under the upper case of cabinets, inside the cabinets, or hanging on the bar or island, in a way that kitchen should have multiple sources of lights. It can also have a dim night light to be left on without giving much brightness or electricity bill, to keep kitchen approachable in quick visits during off hours.
24. Pest control
Pest control is a very mandatory factor in a well-kept kitchen. Any kind of seepage, fungus, roaches, termite and smell ruins the kitchen environment as a whole, just not the looks. The hygiene is affected at most. You can find various products for pest control from market or call in a pest control service.
A kitchen built by a good construction company always fulfils the basic criteria and gives you less tough time to manage all this on your own. A well-made kitchen is always easy to keep well and vice versa. IND Construction construct, renovate, remodel kitchens in a very personalized way to give you a best experience of your life time. You can trust us for your kitchen!
