blog posts tagged with cabinets

Kitchen design can be tricky. Not only do you have to deal with issues surrounding plumbing, electrics and how on earth you are going to fit all those cabinets in that teeny tiny space and still have room to cook, but you also need to think about the overall design of the room. Most people opt to have a kitchen designed by a professional. It’s the easiest way of ensuring everything fits as it is supposed to. But even if you do go down this route, you are still responsible for choosing the fixtures and fittings, so if you are in the market for a new kitchen, here are a few tips to help you avoid any design disasters.

Don’t Be Boring

Being boring isn’t a crime, but when it comes to kitchen design, it really should be. Imagine how uninspiring it is to walk into a kitchen where everything is beige: pine cabinets, sandy coloured floor tiles, light brown worktops and beige wall tiles. If that’s your idea of tasteful, you really should consider asking someone else to design your kitchen. At the other end of the extreme, imagine the horror of red lacquered units, black marble worktops, and magenta walls. Once again, if you think that sounds cool you need taste-bypass surgery.

Don’t Opt for Poor Quality Kitchen Cabinets and Accessories

Not everyone has tens of thousands to spend on a new designer kitchen, but even if you are shopping on a budget, you should never opt for really low quality kitchen cabinets and cheap appliances because if they don’t fall apart during the installation, they almost certainly will before the end of the first year. However, if you are installing a new kitchen in a rented house, don’t be tempted to spend a fortune on good quality units unless you are hoping to attract executive tenants.

Don’t Go Too Mad on the Colour Chart

Kitchens are a great place to inject some colour, but you do need to rein in your creative urges to a degree, particularly if you are planning on selling up in the next couple of years. It is ok to paint the walls a bright colour as long as the kitchen cabinets are fairly neutral, but if you have chosen some super modern lacquered cabinets in a bright colour, don’t then paint the walls in a contrasting shade of paint. This is not to say you shouldn’t stamp your personality on the room, but there is such a thing as ‘too much’ personality.

Don’t Go Overboard on Cabinets

Sufficient storage space is a requisite for a well-designed kitchen as it removes miscellaneous clutter from worktops and helps you to maintain clean lines. However, as with most things in life you can have too much of a good thing and filling every available piece of space with cabinetry is not so great from a design perspective. It will make the room feel too overcrowded and cost a lot more in the process.

Don’t Skimp on Worktop Space

The Worktop is where the practical jobs happen. It’s difficult to carve a roast chicken on the hob and even more difficult to measure out the ingredients for a nice cake on the draining board, so make sure you have enough worktop space in the right areas or things could get a trifle messy.

Don’t Attempt a DIY Kitchen Unless You Know What You’re Doing

If you are a fan of daytime makeover shows, you will know exactly what a DIY kitchen disaster looks like when the person who installed it knew next to nothing about DIY. So if you don’t know one end of a screwdriver from another, pay a professional to do the job.

A smart, modern new kitchen can add value to a property, but only if it is a quality installation, so bear this in mind before you start the project.

Everyone knows that a brand new fitted kitchen can really add value to a property and in an ideal world we would all be having new kitchens fitted this weekend. Sadly new fitted kitchens cost a proverbial arm and leg and unless you have recently come into a nice lottery win, you are probably thinking more along the lines of putting up with what you currently have. But fear not because there are a few simple things you can do to give your battered old kitchen a new lease of life!

Revamp the Cabinets

Unless the underlying carcases are falling apart, there is a lot you can do to improve the appearance of tired looking kitchen cabinets. Solid wood doors can be sanded down, stained or painted with eggshell gloss, which will completely change the look of your kitchen. Or you could have new door fronts fitted—there are plenty of companies that offer replacement kitchen cabinet doors to fit cupboards of all different shapes and sizes. Even changing the door handles will make a difference, so give it a go.

Credits to Women24

New Worktops and Sink

Kitchen worktops usually show signs of wear and tear after a few years. Scratches, burn marks, scuffs and stains all add up to make a kitchen look less than attractive. However, worktops are relatively inexpensive to replace (unless you have a hankering for new granite worktops) and if you change the sink and taps over at the same time, it will feel like you have a brand new kitchen.

Different Tiles

Tiles can make the difference between a stylish kitchen and an old fashioned one. Are your tiles circa 1975? Do they have cute little pictures of onions and apples on them? If so you are in desperate need of a kitchen makeover. Start removing your tiles immediately and then go shopping for some nice new ones. Plain coloured square tiles look great and are not too expensive. Or if you are comfortable spending more money, opt for a glass or metal splash back for a more modern feel. Either way it will be a vast improvement on what you have already.

Shabby Chic Style

Refurbishing a table and chairs or kitchen dresser is a great way to add some style to a dining kitchen. Shabby chic is all the rage right now, so if you have an old pine dresser or table and chairs, sand them down and paint them cream or white to give them an antique feel. For a more distressed look, use several different layers of paint in pale shades and sand the item down to reveal the underlying colour. Once you are happy with the paint finish, wax or polish the piece to complete the shabby chic look.

Lick of Paint

If painting the furniture is a step too far, even giving the walls a fresh coat of paint will make a huge difference. Go for a bold colour and accessorise with a new kettle and other bits and pieces. Get rid of that greasy old window blind and buy a smart new fabric or wooden Venetian blind.

Sometimes there just isn’t enough money in the pot to do everything you want, in which case you need to be selective about the things you can afford to do. Perhaps you need to replace an old rusty radiator. If so, look at designer chrome towel rails and vertical radiators as these will give a nice modern slant to the room, and in conjunction with a new worktop and sink, it will feel as if you have a brand new kitchen. But if money is really tight, just buy some new tea towels and paint the wall a different colour. It isn’t ideal, but it is better than nothing.