Kitchen design mistakes

Kitchen design is considered to be most important area of home design. Careful planning and measurements are needed to design a kitchen as it may save you lots of money. While designing kitchen you need to be aware of common mistakes made by contractors and homeowners. You will find here a list of common mistakes to avoid.

Kitchen Layout

Draw a Kitchen layout before you start working on the kitchen. Not having a Kitchen layout is a big mistake which is made by homeowners. In kitchen activity areas such as gas stove and sink should have unobstructed access to both of the locations. Wrong placed kitchen island or some other furniture that you decide to place in the kitchen may cut off direct access to these areas so once you have the Kitchen layout on paper, you can avoid such mistakes.

Measurement

Inaccurate measurement is another pitfall. Most of the home owners who design the kitchens themselves get over confident about the measurements of various appliances in their kitchen.  Not taking right measurement of kitchen cabinets and countertop may cost you a lot of money in fixing these mistakes later on.  It may be possible that cabinets, kitchen appliances or even sink will not fit right. Countertop height and width is very important because after completion of work it is hard to correct the things. Make sure you have the measurement of refrigerator and other big appliances and draw them on the floor of the kitchen before you start the work, this way you can have some sense of the space available once every thing is complete.  Give these dimensions in writing to your contractor and before finalizing the final amount with contractor make sure that the contractors work is according to the measurements provided.  

Material

Wrong material selection can be another big mistake of kitchen design. Keep in mind that cheap counter top may chip off after some time. When purchasing a countertop material keep in mind durability and maintenance of countertop. Laminated countertop needs more maintenance than a granite countertop. Ceiling and flooring material is also equally important, skid proof floor material should be installed in kitchen. Ceiling of kitchen needs more maintenance than other rooms so choose a ceiling design that requires less maintenance. If you are planning for a false ceiling, avoid coves in the false ceiling as the coves are hard to maintain in the kitchen

Countertop space

One of the common mistakes about the kitchen is lack of countertop space. While you are on the planning stage, the home owner thinks that they would keep many of the kitchen appliances on the countertop. This reduces the available space on the countertop.So again make a list of all items that you must keep on the counter top and then see whether you have enough space on the countertop.

Islands are very exciting but home owners tend to forget that Improper island is also a big mistake that can eat up the space in your kitchen. Kitchen is a work area and a wrong placed island  or an oversize island can choke the movement between various important areas of the kitchen, i.e. Stove, refrigerator, cleaning station etc. Island that obstructs the flow of work to or from kitchen sink, gas stove or refrigerator will be big hassle. 

Storage

Another big problem of kitchen design is not planning storage space in kitchen. While planning a kitchen design, kitchen storage should be planned according to the need of kitchen storage. Note down all the items in your existing kitchen and make a mental note as to where you would place them in your new kitchen  Sufficient storage cabinets should be installed in kitchen for storage. There can be cabinets for kitchen appliances; proper dimensions are necessary for that. Evaluate what you really want in your kitchen and how do you want to access this storage area. This will help you to utilize space of your kitchen.

Kitchen is the heart of your home and design of kitchen may make it functional. Just make sure that do not make these mistakes while designing your kitchen.