The Gourmet Cupboard

Whenever you are considering a kitchen refurbishment, you should remember that overall success will be gauged according to the amount of planning that you do in advance. It’s easy to get overenthusiastic and many of us simply want to roll up our sleeves and pitch in. However, we may not be experts in kitchen design and if we aren’t careful we can run into many problems along the way. Not only can these problems cause setbacks and delay, but they can lead to significant additional expenditure that we were simply not budgeting for.

Planning is not everyone’s forte. Many people suggest that you consult with experts if you’re not predisposed to think things through carefully. If you are the creative type who doesn’t take well to the technicalities, you should ask for help. Remember that a partnership between people that have a tendency to be “left brain” as well as “right brain,” will usually work out best in the end.

It’s best to start with a maximum budget, in other words a line that you really don’t want to cross. Now, you shouldn’t aim to spend the budget at the beginning of your planning sequence, but should set the bar here a lot lower, to take into account the fact that there will invariably be additional costs as you plot your way through this planning sequence. Again, this is why it’s good to talk to experts in the field, who have been through this process before and will be able to give you some pointers at the beginning. It’s amazing how enthusiasm can give way to exasperation, if the planning phase simply reveals a path toward a budget that’s beyond your reach.

To many people budgeting is a necessary evil, but if you are careful to plan this strategically you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish. Remember that many new additions, accents and improvements can be achieved using an alternative approach, once you have all the fundamentals covered.

Don’t make the mistake of planning a room that is purely functional. Almost invariably you and other members of the family will spend much more time in the kitchen than you might have initially envisaged. Don’t forget that this can be a social gathering place, as well as an area for simply cooking meals. Estimate how important this social gathering place is within the bigger scheme of things and ensure that you include this functionality accordingly.

Once again, don’t allow frustration and exasperation to derail your plans for that fantastic kitchen refurbishment of your dreams. By setting realistic goals in the beginning and ensuring that you’re not overreaching as you plan, it’s remarkable how enjoyable this sequence of events can be. The kitchen can be a focal point of your home and many people consider it to be the most important room in the entire house. It does mean different things to different people though and you should consult with each and every member of the family to ensure that their description of the ideal kitchen is “in line” with the plans you ultimately choose.

Above all else, your home should reflect the personality of your family. It’s incredible how the home can help you to maintain a cohesive family unit, especially in this day and age when there are so many pressures, issues and problems in the world. It’s easy to get distracted and to let some of these challenges in our lives get the better of us, but by focusing on the home as a central, pivotal point in family life today, we can all keep it together.

It’s so important to make the home “lived in.” By reflecting the individual personalities of each family member and taking into account what’s important for the family unit as a whole, you can really enjoy your time together under one roof. This is why it’s essential to make sure that the house is configured exactly as you want it. You don’t have to settle for whatever you inherited when you moved in there, as you might not have had the luxury of being able to design and build a home from scratch to begin with. Nevertheless, with a little bit of ingenuity, creativity and passion you can re-create the home of your dreams, no matter what your budget.

Allocate time to sit down together and brainstorm your ideas. This can be fun and inclusive and make each family member feel as if they are contributory. What’s most important on a daily basis?

The first thing that you need to determine is the overall “theme” of the house. Whilst there’s a certain amount of flexibility and room to manoeuvre in terms of the decor and decoration, you want everything to match well together and in general, the theme should carry from one room to another. Many people choose to start in the kitchen, as this can often be an area to socialise. Is this the most important room in the house to you? The answer won’t be the same for every single family, of course, but the moral is to determine the most highly trafficked areas and pay particular attention to them.

Do you tend to feel that the bathroom is purely functional, or is it, by itself, perhaps the most important room in the house? Many people feel that the bathroom is a sanctuary, a place to reinvigorate and rejuvenate and face the world once more. If it truly is an area that provides you with an ability to recharge and find peace in a troubled world, then maybe you should devote a more significant part of your overall budget to bathroom redesign.

Remember that, in general, by making sure that your home is more up-to-date, with cutting-edge appliances, space-saving options and maintenance-free products you can also save money, save time and feel truly happy with your efforts. When you’ve finished you may well find that you are happy that you didn’t consider moving to a “larger place.” You’ve been able to make the best and most productive use of what you already have, as witnessed by the smiling faces of the family all around you.

Many older homes are in need of a makeover, as much as anything else because they may not fit the needs and requirements for modern-day living. A lot has changed since some of these houses were built. Quite a lot of the housing stock in Britain is, after all, post World War when there was a significant housing boom and it goes without saying that life is very different indeed, at this point. The size of the typical family may be different to what it was back then. Today, we may spend more time in our homes taking part in activities that were simply not available back then, which are based on technological breakthroughs we have enjoyed over the decades. We may be more inclined to entertain and create dining events that require us to be productive in the kitchen and one of the drawbacks of those earlier homes was certainly a lack of space in this particular room.

Of course you may not live in an older home but may still be a little disappointed with the available space in the kitchen. Unless you’re in the position to design and construct your own residence, it’s likely that the layout of your existing kitchen may not be ideal from your point of view.

This is why kitchen extensions are becoming so popular these days. Now you may not be able to expand the size and scope of the kitchen within your existing home configuration, perhaps not without taking a good chunk out of your living area, for example. However, you may have room in the back garden to project outwards and this should enable you to complete the kitchen extension and finally set up this important area to your own requirements.

When you do consider such an extension you need to understand that this will probably require a complete re-plumbing and re-wiring in order for the various appliances to be positioned in the most ideal areas. This will also require you to engage the support of your local building and planning department, in order to get the correct permits. This doesn’t have to be too onerous an undertaking, so long as you make sure that you consider applying for these permits well ahead of your actual construction schedule.

You may not want to stop there. You might think that your bathroom is a little constrained and hardly a place that you want to spend some time in for relaxation purposes. You may have a small spare bedroom that you can co-opt in order to create a much larger room.

It’s definitely a good idea to consult with some professional bathroom fitters for this purpose and also to talk with some professionals when it comes to extending the kitchen, as well. There are a lot of potential drawbacks and hurdles that you may encounter if you choose to go it alone in all respects. On the other hand, there’s a lot of good advice to be obtained from experienced professionals in this field, as well.

If we know anything about Italian culture it’s that our friends from south-eastern Europe love to entertain. They are gregarious, outgoing and welcoming and if you ever visit an Italian home you are bound to be impressed by their style, flair and ability to make you feel as if you’re part of the family. A very important part of the Italian home is the kitchen, as food is of course a very important part of life in that country. We owe so many of our favourite dishes to their origins in that part of the world and we can definitely take a leaf out of their book whenever it comes to a home redesign project.

How do we create some of their flair and panache and install an Italian kitchen in our own home? Do a little bit of research and have a look at some images and photographs, to see just how much colour and variety is included in the typical Italian kitchen. This is something that you need to bear in mind right from the start. If you can add as much texture and as many different complementary tones and shades as possible, you begin to bring some of that warmth that they are famous for, as a people, into your house.

You might like to consider a terracotta floor, or marble counters to begin to reflect some of that Italian style. They like to bring a lot of the outside world inside and as such if you’ve got a rather nice view of your back garden, or if you can gaze over the countryside, then you should plan for unobstructed views through a nice, large window.

When you look at some of those photographs make a note of some of the classic and stylish furniture items, accessories and functional machinery. A wine rack would probably be a good idea, an espresso machine another.

Of course whilst colour schemes, accents and accessories are all important you do need to ensure that your redesign takes into account functionality and incorporates some of the more modern aids that the kitchen of today can provide. Remember that you’ve got to be able to prepare all your meals whilst also providing a place for entertainment. Any redesign should certainly pay attention to any inefficiency that your kitchen may have had before you started. One of the biggest problem areas in the kitchen tends to be unobstructed workspace, so do be sure that you are always left with a sufficient amount of room to be creative, after you’ve made room for all your decorative items.

If you’re looking for help with the redesign of kitchens and specifically when it comes to installing an Italian kitchen, look for experts who specialise in these areas and who will be able to provide you with the type of finished look that you dream about. Then, when your Italian relatives come to visit, you’ll be able to provide them with your own interpretation of hospitality and a very warm welcome indeed.

If you feel that you’re beginning to outgrow your current kitchen space, or may have a new arrival on the way you might feel that change is in the air. Perhaps you’re moving into a starter home and renovation is called for. Perhaps you just want to make a change for change’s sake? One of the favourite places to initiate a makeover is the kitchen and there are so many different ways that you can go about it. This is not like a bedroom transformation which is far more straightforward in almost every respect. Here, you want to start out with a kitchen planner and answer quite a number of questions before you even start.

Yes, you may be a little frustrated with the way that this room is designed and laid out right now and you may wonder what on earth the original designer was thinking, but you don’t want to automatically sacrifice every single element as you move forward. This is why it’s important to ask yourself what you like about your existing place. There have to be some aspects that please you, that you would miss if they weren’t there, so you should certainly bear these in mind as you plan.

Perhaps you want to completely transform the style. There are many different kitchen designs, from eclectic to country, from traditional to contemporary and modern. Think about each one and don’t forget that you can mix and match certain elements if you want to come up with a completely handmade or bespoke version.

What do you use the kitchen for? It’s important to be completely honest here. Are you using it for certain elements of storage? Is it a socialising room? Do you tend to eat all your meals in or around the kitchen, or do you use a formal dining room, which is an element that seems to be, quite sadly, going out of fashion somewhat?

You also have to remember that there may be more than one master chef in this house. It’s great to encourage your children to take up cooking as a hobby, something that can benefit them throughout their lifetimes, but if you do have multiple cooks you have to bear in mind any specific requirements that they may have.

It almost goes without saying but you do have to be honest and ask yourselves whether you really use your kitchen to plan creative meals which may require a lot of preparation space, as well as storage areas for speciality items. If you’re always on the go and tend to use the microwave more than the stove, then factor this into your thinking.

When all is said and done, efficiency is a vital consideration. Remember the classic “triangle,” which is the path between the cooking area, refrigerator and sink. You may be dreaming up something very special, but you have still got to work here, day in and day out and be certain that improvements you make really are improvements and not just cosmetic.

If you have ever heard of the “kitchen triangle” you must know that it harkens back to a day when everything had to be efficient, economical and logical, somehow. This 1940s idea was used as a staple of kitchen design for many generations, as it was felt that the sink, stove and refrigerator must be located at each point of the triangle, so that the cook would be able to complete all of those chores with barely a step and a turn. Back then we simply couldn’t afford to be inefficient, as the world at large dictated that we should keep waste to a minimum and utilize our space purely for one reason alone.

A lot has changed since then, hasn’t it? The kitchen today is a very different place and it goes without saying that the world around us has changed out of all recognition. We can see many more opportunities and seem to be more used to multitasking than we were back then. Now, the kitchen serves many different purposes and we are also able to integrate advanced technology to make the job a lot easier and also to allow us to do many different things at one time.

The concept of a triangle may still work today, but now our household unit is a very different thing. Back in the 1940s it was still commonplace for the mother to stay at home and be the housewife and to look after all of the duties in the kitchen. Today, we know that there may be several different chefs in the household and it’s expected that each family member will pitch in and help during food preparation from time to time. Indeed, the mother may not be simply a housewife anymore, but may also have a career to attend to. Consequently, there may be several people in the kitchen at one time and each may have a different task to perform.

Therefore, we need to think about different layouts and formats whenever we build a new kitchen. It could be that we have two separate preparation areas, one for pre-cooking and the other for cleaning. We might have two different refrigerators. One might be a simple drawer unit, located in the island in the center and this could be stocked with items for socializing purposes, for example. Remember that this room is often used for casual chats and simply to hang out. We might find it better to situate our appliances in sequential order. In that way we can get food from the refrigerator, transfer it to the adjacent preparation area, then to the stove, and have an adjacent cleaning area where we can transfer the utensils. Efficiency to the fore.

The home can be a busy place and it seems to be a lot busier than generations ago when the kitchen triangle was invented. After all, the general layout of the home is a lot different too. Just consider how many different bathroom spaces we have now, seemingly all in use at the same time!

Whether you are cooking for your family or entertaining party guests in the wee hours of the night, the kitchen is the main social space of any home. Maybe it’s for this reason that the kitchen is normally the first room to receive refurbishment after moving to a new house. For the right budget, there are now designer kitchen ideas available that will turn your ordinary kitchen into something truly luxurious.

Luxury Worktops

Many designer kitchens have more than just one type of worktop, as several variations are used to suit separate kitchen tasks, cutting, cooking, serving, and eating, nowadays each task has its own specific space. The most expensive and favoured worktop material is granite, largely because of its robustness in relation to heat and scratches. It is durable, easy to clean and wonderful to look at. A great thing about Granite is that it is available in a wide range of natural colours, ready to accommodate to each individuals personal preference, which is why it is the preferred choice of material to use for worktops in many luxury kitchens.

Bespoke Cabinets

Although bespoke kitchen cabinets need to be designed with functionality in mind, there is no need for them to be limited by this. They can be just as attractive as any piece of fine furniture. They can be made of any type of wood with any kind of finish, and can include glass panels and fittings of any metal finish or style. They can be designed in any shape to accommodate the space in your kitchen.

Boys (and girls) Toys, gadgets and appliances, like temperature controlled wine racks and sub-zero fridges are now commonplace in luxury kitchens. Ever considered an indoor grill or a wood-burning pizza oven? How about a custom made space, designed specifically for all your cooking utensils? All of these are now viable options in modern designer kitchens. Kitchens that need to accommodate large families could also benefit from rubbish compactors, additional fridges or freezers.

Art is a delightfully decadent way to personalise any luxurious kitchen is to include an artistic touch, which is definitely not limited to the hallways or your living room. You could hire a mosaic expert to transform your tiling into a unique work of art. A stained-glass expert could make bespoke glass inserts for your kitchen cabinet doors, or maybe a metal smith could fashion some drawer and door handles, the options are endless.

There is something absolutely wholesome about the very look and feel of country kitchens. You are immediately transported back to some day, you can’t quite remember where, with memories of those marvellous cooking aromas and that anticipation of a splendid meal ahead. Maybe it was spending the weekend at your grandmother’s house, maybe you were visiting friends in the countryside, somewhere. Lots of people opt to revive such memories when they plan a kitchen makeover and country kitchens can be re-created quite easily if you pay attention to detail and have a lot of fun along the way.

What do you have in mind? Maybe you can picture the Victorian version, or are adamant that you want to re-create your grandmother’s farmhouse style. It’s perfectly possible to make a country kitchen using a contemporary approach and it’s always a good idea to do your research before you start, to get inspiration to add on to those memories, which, let’s face it, may be fading just a little!

A good thing to remember here is that you need body and texture. Colour is a very important part of your plan, but materials like wood, bronze, copper and granite, in one style or another can work very well when strategically placed. As far as the colour is concerned you might want to go for the earthy look or have some crisp and contrasting palettes.

Think about practicality as well as style and appearance when you’re choosing flooring for your country kitchen. It has to be easy to take care of and not susceptible to visual discolouration whenever it starts to get that “lived in” look. It shouldn’t be slippery, nor especially unforgiving, especially when you drop one of your favourite pieces of china. Marmoleum is a modern flooring option that is similar to the kind of linoleum that you may remember from your childhood.

When it comes to your surfaces and backsplashes, maybe you could opt for tile? This is where you can be especially creative and add specific personality to your project. Ceramic tiles are good for backsplashes and something with a solid, but weathered look would be great for the working surface. Remember practicality and cleanability, though.

Assuming that you have got room in your kitchen, go to town with your selection of country style furniture. You certainly ought to consider an antique or vintage look here, a couple of ladder-back chairs, or one of those traditional wooden tables in the middle. Plenty of mason jars and cookie jars add a huge amount of authenticity and you should be able to find a couple of collectibles to place strategically or to put up on the walls.

It’s a lot more fun to craft handmade kitchens, rather than choosing fitted options, if you have the inclination and the creativity at heart. You’d be surprised what you can come up with and how you can re-create some of the most treasured memories from your days of yore back in grandma’s kitchen.

Just think how awkward our kitchens used to look a generation or so ago. We didn’t seem to mind back then as we fully understood that this was a functional room and we didn’t necessarily expect it to blend in very well with other design elements of our home. As we became more sophisticated and those sharp lines seemed to be less prominent as our manufacturing capability advanced, so we were able to blend the look of those clunky appliances to make the whole room appear to be seamless. Style is very important and you must love the space that you live in, to say nothing of being able to show it off to your friends and neighbours, of course!

It’s perfectly possible to conceal the presence of all those purely functional units, features and appliances when you take on the role of kitchen designer. For example, the refrigerator which used to be the dominant unit in the kitchen can be hidden behind the cabinet door. First-time visitors may well have to ask you where the fridge actually is when they’re looking for ice for their drink. You can disguise the location of the sink under glass covers these days. You might have to play “hunt for the microwave.”

A lot of the fun involved in creating a brand-new look for your kitchen is in the planning. Some people shy away in horror at the idea of any brainstorming or number crunching, but you have simply got to do this if you’re going to be absolutely happy with the finished result. Never rush to judgement and automatically place one item here and another there, simply because you’ve always done it this way. Remember that this room is also an important area for socialising and you need to integrate this concept into the modern-day kitchen.

Today, it’s all about health and vitality as well. We are getting used to the idea of steam cooking, grilling instead of frying. We are used to water filtration, and even cutting-edge refrigerator functionality that makes sure that food remains fresher. Remember that eating healthily is not a fad and kitchen design is certainly going to be trending in favour of health and fitness.

Above all, inject personality into your room. In a typical open plan arrangement the kitchen is much more a part of the living area than it might have once been. There may, as such, be no boundary between function and lifestyle and there is nothing to say that you shouldn’t blend some of the family functions into the mix when you’re designing this room.

Kitchen redesign can be a considerable job, but it’s likely that that the other favourite area needs a facelift too. You can wear two hats at once and be a bathroom designer as well. Here, advances in technology and fresh new design ideas can totally transform an area where you turn for rejuvenation. Shower technology these days is cutting-edge. Here again, be prepared to think outside the box and don’t automatically assume that every bathroom has to be laid out “just so.”

Our home looks after us in many different ways. It is, first and foremost, a shelter. It’s a place where we can gather together, safely and securely, able to rest overnight after a productive but stressful day at school or at work. Others see the family home as a place that we use to socialise. There is nothing better than inviting a group of family and friends over for a nice dinner and drinks, or maybe to hang out by the pool on a glorious summer afternoon. Our home has to be very functional as well, though. To some, our bathrooms are the most important areas as a place of refuge but there is another room that is even more important. As human beings we are very efficient machines and able to do an enormous number of different tasks each day, as we contribute to the overall good of the family unit and the world beyond. However, to be able to function this way we need fuel and our home’s most important function could be considered to be a fuelling station!

If we take this analogy further, we can say that the most important room in the house is the kitchen, as this is where we turn at several different times during the day to replenish our energy at the very least, and to enjoy the delights of culinary creation and to satisfy our palates as well.

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as enjoying a family meal together. It’s not quite as much of a social occasion as it used to be, unfortunately. However, it definitely helps to bond the family together as a cohesive unit and many experts believe that the path to family unity is through the stomach.

When planning a home refurbishment or maybe planning to move into a new home, we must pay a lot of attention to the layout and functionality of our kitchens. Remember that this room has got to be a lot more than purely functional. It’s going to be an area that the family congregates on a regular basis and it has to have plenty of room for multiple different reasons. It has to be inspiring to bring the best out of the master chef or chefs and is also considered to be the nerve centre of operations for many a family unit.

Consider installing different zones in your kitchen. Today’s kitchen is invariably a lot larger than it used to be to take into account all the different functional uses. Consider the different zones that you could have. You could have an area for storage, a separate area for casual dining. You could have an area on the opposite side of the room from the food preparation area for socialising, with a breakfast bar and stools.

Whilst we have to understand that the chef will not want to be disturbed at certain critical times during food preparation, he or she will not want to be isolated from other family members in other areas of the room. Therefore, be creative when laying out the location of the appliances, but don’t forget to bear in mind safety at all times. There should be good visibility wherever possible, especially when we remember that it is traditional for the chef to have to face away from the rest of the room when dealing with boiling water, hot fats and other hazards on the stovetop.