The kitchen is an area of your home that you need to consider carefully when in the planning stages of its design. This is because an impractical design can make your kitchen difficult to use as well as inefficient, which is the last thing you want for a space that is so dependent on function.
The following are seven of the most common kitchen design mistakes that homeowners make when planning out their kitchens, and that you should be sure to avoid:
1. Not planning enough storage space
You should plan to have more than enough storage space, whether it’s in the form of drawers, cabinets, pantries or any other type of storage system. Planning your kitchen without enough storage space is going to lead to a number of problems – mainly, you aren’t going to have enough space to store your dry foods, pots, pans, kitchen utensils and dishes! This will lead to cabinets being overstuffed, counter space being taken up and an overall disorganized and clutter kitchen space.
2. Not planning enough counter space
Counter space is just as important as storage space. You need enough space to prepare meals after all. Don’t forget to keep in mind all of the things that you generally keep on your counters as well, from your blender and toaster to your bowl of fruit in addition to other design elements. Without the proper counter space, you’ll find your counters becoming cluttered quite easily.
3. Not having enough lighting
If there’s one space in the house in which lighting is of utmost importance, it’s the kitchen. In addition to general lighting, you’ll need to have plenty of task lighting so that you can easily see what you are doing. Consider installing pendant lights over your kitchen island as well as installing lights underneath your upper cabinets to provide your counter space with plenty of light. Not only do you want plenty of light in the kitchen in order to see what you’re doing, you also want the kitchen to feel upbeat and bright, not dark and gloomy – especially if you spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen on a daily basis.
4. Not installing a backsplash
Don’t make the mistake of ditching the backsplash because you’ve divided your budget on other features in the kitchen. The backsplash isn’t just a design flourish, it’s an important part to keeping your kitchen clean. Use of the oven is going to produce tons of steam, grease and general food splatter over the years. This is going to damage the walls nearby if you don’t install a backsplash, which means you’ll end up losing money over the long-term.
5. Not having proper ventilation
Proper ventilation is a must in every kitchen. It’s going to start getting pretty uncomfortable in the kitchen when the lingering smells of every meal you’ve cooked begin to combine powers. An effective ventilation system will help keep the air clean and fresh, and will even help to extend your appliances’ lifespans.
6. Straying away from the kitchen triangle
The kitchen triangle is the most efficient layout that you can have for your kitchen space. It involves spacing the three most used features of your kitchen, which includes the sink, the stove and the refrigerator, in a triangular layout to make them as easy to access from one another as possible. There are a few variations of the kitchen triangle design, but straying away too much can hurt the efficiency of your kitchen. Avoid obstructing it as well. You won’t want the stove to be on one end of the kitchen and the refrigerator on the other end if there is a kitchen island between the two.
7. Paying too close attention to current kitchen design trends
Checking out current design trends is a great way to get a few ideas for the style of your kitchen. But don’t take them as gospel – doing so will result in a kitchen design that is completely outdated within only a couple of years. (see featured image)
These are seven of the most common design mistakes that homeowners make when planning out the design of their kitchen space. Be sure to avoid them at all costs in order to create a kitchen that is functional and efficient.
