Kitchen makeovers are highly involved tasks that mean lots of moving cupboards and appliances and lots of dust and debris everywhere. It’s important then that before you get all the new stuff shipped back in and the kitchen tidied that you know exactly what sizes you need to order and exactly how you want to lay them out. Read on then for helpful advice that’ll make sure your kitchen makeovers go smoothly and end up looking just how you want them.

The first thing you’ll need to do when designing your kitchen makeovers is pick things you want to keep from your current kitchen and which parts you want to go. Not everything in your kitchen is likely to be completely useless and you can save yourself some money by keeping your old oven or sink or whatever else is still fit for function.

Once you’ve picked the parts you need you should measure up their sizes and then work out how much room is left over. From here you can then choose the essential appliances that you’re missing – oven, fridge, draining board, sink, hob etc – which gives you an idea of how much space you have to play with for the rest of your kitchen makeovers. You’ll probably want to get rid of all your cupboards and sideboards however as otherwise you won’t have a cohesive design. While the kitchen is empty this is also a good time to look for new services such as electricity, water and drains – so do this now while the kitchen is empty.

Now that you know exactly which items you’re keeping and how much space the main utilities are going to take up (as well as fixing or altering any basic services) you now need to consider where your cupboards, sideboards and other fixtures are going to fit in. When you design this aspect there are many considerations to be made – how much storage space do you need? Do you want to store utensils etc on the side or inside draws and cupboards?

The other thing you need to decide is how to arrange your work surfaces in such a way that they’re easily accessible and you can multitask without having to move around too much. The basic rule here is to alternate between appliances and work surfaces – for example oven, sideboard, microwave, sideboard. This enables you to stand at one work appliance and reach a space at either side – perhaps one for preparing and one for dishing up. This then creates a mini ‘activity zone’ for particular tasks and is a basic design staple of any kitchen makeovers.

As well as having a working space on either side of an appliance however it can also be prudent to place one behind you. This then gives you more a diamond shape to work with and allows you to handle even more things at once. Perhaps this way you can store utensils opposite yourself so that you can grab then while you’re working at the appliance or surface board.

Obviously while you will order appliances and arrange sideboards practically for your kitchen makeovers, you’ll also need to take into consideration the shape of the room you’re working in and your own personal preferences in terms of arranging a space. For navigating these options there are fortunately four basic kitchen layouts that you can use when drawing up plans for your kitchen makeovers.

The first of these four basic layouts is the corridor layout. Here you utilise a long narrow space by placing cupboards and sideboards down two opposite walls. This is useful in the fact that it means you can reach most points at anyone time, but also leaves the room feeling fairly claustrophobic and fails to utilise two of the walls.

A similar variation is are ‘U’ shaped kitchen makeovers which utilise the third wall at the end, meaning you can work with surfaces and appliances in front of you and to either side. This however is even more claustrophobic and doesn’t make the best use of the corners of the rooms.

An ‘L’ shaped option for kitchen makeovers uses two adjacent walls however, which leaves you with less space for kitchen surfaces but also leaves more space to move around in and makes the room feel more spacious. If you have particularly long walls or a smaller family (so requiring fewer utensils and less food) this can be a more aesthetic and pleasant area to work in.

The final of the four options for kitchen makeovers however gives you more surface area without making you feel hemmed in. This is the ‘island’ design and utilises a small appliance or work surface stationed in the centre of the room. This is considered something of a luxury and gives you many advantages – a more spacious feeling kitchen as well as more localised work stations. The island design can be combined with any of the other three layouts.

Of course these are not the only options however and the sky is really the limit but if you’re lost for inspiration then one of these basic designs can make a great starting point. With the appliances and measurements in place you can then order the cupboards and work surfaces you need to fill out the gaps in your perfect kitchen design.

Mack LeMouse

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