Over the years, David Powles Kitchens has seen any number of mistakes made by prospective home builders. The modern Australian kitchen design allows for a range of activities, tasks, and entertaining to take place. From cooking, eating & socialising, to homework and running our ‘home office’ to just name a few. Because of this, you want your kitchen design to be visually appealing as well as practical.
To create a kitchen that is both beautiful and functional, you need to avoid making these fundamental and irreversible mistakes. Have a look at what not to do! It takes careful planning to ensure main work zones centered around the hotplate, sink, and fridge remain clear and accessible; while allowing other zones to give family members sufficient access to the kitchen at the same time.
Your kitchen is a hub of activity, and with so much going on, it can be a challenge to create a space that will be all things to all people. The good news is that most of these problems are easy to avoid if you do a little planning.
Avoid creating Obstacles for your Kitchen Design
A professional kitchen designer understands how the working triangle has evolved in today’s kitchen. Ensuring the working zones are not too small will keep family members from tripping over each other. Likewise, keeping zones not too large will prevent the kitchen becoming an area where food preparation is a cumbersome task.
In the majority of today’s Aussie kitchens, the sink would be the most frequently used element; you can anchor your design around this location.
If you think the location is not perfect, you might consider re-positioning with help from our professionals. If you’re lucky enough to own a spacious kitchen, consider installing an additional small sink to optimise the layout.
Not Having Enough Storage Space
The equipment and food that is used in the modern kitchen requires a lot of storage space. So it is quite often that kitchens are just short of that vital space. As a result, your appliances and other items occupy space on the benchtops. This will limit your preparation and serving areas and make cooking less safe. Plan your Kitchen design to provide sufficient room to store these items.
Avoid your design from not providing sufficient room to store these items. Drawers come to mind first when you think about creating additional storage space for your kitchen. Although they will cost more in comparison to the other storage solutions like door cabinets, you will be investing towards better accessibility, workability, spaciousness and ergonomics of your kitchen, no matter big or small — but always keep in mind, large items such as Mixmasters©, bread machines, woks may be better suited to cupboards.
Overly Fashionable Kitchen
The end purpose of any renovation, and especially renovation of your kitchen, is to increase the value of your home from an investment perspective. Kitchens always feature when any property is marketed for sale.
Try and avoid those trends and colour mixes which might look very attractive on the magazine covers, but in reality, have a shorter lifespan and will go off trend faster diluting your investment.
It’s not always a good idea to go with your heart and follow that latest magazine trend, but rather pick a Kitchen design that offers a clear and strong colour scheme that will complement the style of your house.
Inadaquate Lighting
Lighting has a tremendous impact on the kitchen. You can design the most perfect kitchen, but if it doesn’t have adequate lighting, your client won’t be able to perform tasks as comfortably as they should be.
Providing ample lighting in the kitchen is a priority. Pendant lights that function as task lighting above the kitchen island are a great addition to any kitchen. You can also opt for undercabinet lighting and recessed lights for extra visibility. Just remember - overhead lighting can be harsh and can create unwanted shadows, therefore opting for task lighting is a better option.
Not using vertical space
Another kitchen design mistake that can easily be avoided is not maximizing on vertical space, especially in smaller kitchens. Vertical space can provide valuable storage for your client, and wasting that space will create a dysfunctional kitchen.
You can install overhead cabinets or open shelves to give your client a little more room for storage. Make sure the cabinets and shelves reach all the way to the ceiling instead of leaving unusable space at the top. You can even mix closed cabinets with open shelves to add visual interest in the kitchen.
Ordering the wrong size appliances or cabinets
It's best to have an idea or have chosen appliances to give your kitchen designer the specs so we can work with them.
