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Designing your dream kitchen and struggling with the layout? Here’s everything you need to consider, and some of the most popular layout choices.
Without a doubt, your kitchen is the heart of the home. Cooking and baking are popular hobbies, and kitchens are the place where we entertain family and friends. Because of this, we want our kitchens to be strikingly different and welcoming, as well as efficient.
You may have already picked a favourite colour and a German kitchen, thanks to their high-quality materials, but what’s the next step?
When planning your dream kitchen, the layout is possibly the biggest factor to consider. If the layout is wrong, your kitchen simply won’t function well in your space.
So what steps should you take to choose the best kitchen layout for your space? Keep reading to find out!
In many cases, the layout of your kitchen will be (at least partially) guided by the shape of your room. But this is not always the case - you can get creative with the layout if you have space to.
There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing your kitchen layout. For example if you have an L shape run of units, start planning from the corner and work outwards, leaving plenty of space around the hob and (normally) aiming to get the sink in front of a window if possible.
The style you pick will come with it’s own set of planning requirements, so it’s good to have an idea of this from the outset.
German kitchen designs offer a wide range of styles and colours to suit any taste - there truly is something for everyone. Some people prefer a traditional, shaker style kitchen, whereas others may opt for sleek, handleless units.
Brainstorming some basic requirements about exactly what you want your kitchen to provide is always a good starting point when picking a layout.
If you have children, you might want an area where the kids can do homework whilst you cook. You also might consider planning a raised oven, out of reach of little hands.
Social space is important to consider too - maybe you want an island to impress when hosting dinner parties! Or you’re after a pantry to hold all of your precious herbs and spices.
Think about these needs and prioritise them if possible, a good designer will then be able to translate your wish-list in to a beautiful and functional design.
Knowing what you like is important, but it can be easy to get caught up with what you want rather than what your kitchen needs! Maybe you’ve always dreamed of having a kitchen island, but you just don’t have the room.
In cases like this, don’t try to squeeze it in. You'll end up regretting this choice when your kitchen feels overcrowded and you can't move around it freely. Functional design is about creating space just as much as filling it.
Old but gold - this concept has been around since the 1940s.
Based around the idea that a kitchen has three main 'function' areas; the oven, the sink and the fridge/freezer, and that these three points should form a ‘triangle’, thus creating an easy flow around the kitchen.
This is a great (and often necessary) approach in smaller to medium sized kitchens, but it can be a bit basic for galley kitchens, or larger designs with more space to fill. If you'd like to use it, try and keep each point of the triangle no more than a few steps away from each another.
What's on the inside counts - the internal features of your design are what give it it's highest level of functionality.
Utensil drawer organisers are a fantastic solution. For corner units, consider carousels and 'Le Mans' internals to maximise function.
Tall pull-out larder units are always a winner too, along with some great atmospheric lighting.
It consists of two rows of cabinets, meeting at a right angle in the corner of the room. The rows of cabinets run along adjacent walls, creating an L-shape! This is possibly one of the most common kitchen layout choices, and it fits many different rooms.
There are two parallel rows of kitchen units running alongside walls on either side of the room in a galley kitchen, or simply a single row on one wall. This design is perfect for narrow kitchen spaces, providing the ultimate storage potential for small spaces.
The clue is in the name! This kitchen layout consists of kitchen units running around the three walls of the kitchen, creating a U-shape. This kitchen has many corners, but thanks to innovative kitchen storage solutions such as rotating carousels, this space doesn’t need to be wasted!
This layout is similar to a U-Shape kitchen, but one row of the cabinets isn’t against a wall. This is the perfect layout option if you have a large open space room but want to create sections.
This kitchen layout includes a separate island unit sitting in the centre of the room. Units surround the island, running against the walls of the kitchen. This layout is seen as a luxury, as it requires a lot of kitchen space to be possible. It’s an amazing addition for households requiring extra storage and makes for a great entertaining space, such as social cooking or making cocktails!
Hopefully, you now have an idea of which kitchen layout will be the best fit for your space! If you would like any further guidance on which layout would suit you best, or want to start designing your dream kitchen click here to get in touch! Here at German Kitchen Specialist we supply Nobilia kitchens, one of Germany’s most popular kitchen manufacturers. We also offer free UK delivery! Start the journey for your dream kitchen today!
