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The kitchen is known as the heart of the home for a reason – when friends and family come round through the entry doors, we all naturally congregate there. While your kitchen naturally lends itself to being the social hub of your home, there are things you can do to make it even more welcoming and truly a place where everyone wants to hang out. So whether you’re revamping your existing space, or designing completely from scratch, here’s what you can do to make your kitchen amazing:
Keep It Open
Practical Layout for Cooking
Ideally, if you want to create an environment for people to be comfortable in while you cook, you should ensure that they aren’t getting in your way. Whether someone wants to sit and relax in the kitchen or they’re trying to grab a snack or a drink, you should ensure that you have a countertop near the stove to work from. If everything is in a logical place, you can work much better without getting frustrated. This also means you have room to experiment with some new recipes and truly enjoy yourself in the kitchen.
A large open plan space is the dream to make the most of your kitchen facilities. Think about adapting the layout, and possibly removing some internal walls in order to achieve this free flow. There should be enough space to include some comfortable seating and perhaps an island with stools for informal dining and catching up. It’s also a good idea to think about the possibility of adding bi-fold or sliding doors that allow you to connect indoors and outdoors seamlessly, so that you can enjoy great weather. Adding in some Coldbuster underflooring heating will also help to keep the space cosy in colder temperatures and allow wall surfaces to be kept free.
Think About Storage
A tidy and appealing home is a welcoming one, and that tends to happen where you have proper kitchen storage solutions. If you are replacing your kitchen units, there are lots of options to include things like a pull out pantry unit, or retractable shelving that makes the most of every last inch of space. You can also consider adding things like a butcher’s block on castors or an open shelving unit to hold items and keep them neat. When a room performs lots of different functions, storage is an essential to stop things feeling clutter and to allow the activities in the space to switch seamlessly from meal prep to socialising.
Get The Lighting Right
Lighting can be a game changer and very transformative for the mood of a space. In an open plan room, you can use lighting to divide the place up into zones. You need a mix of bright, functional task lighting, such as LED spotlights, alongside a few statement pendant light fittings to add the wow factor and illuminate the space in a different way. On top of that, think about adding a few lamps or opting for dimmer switches so that you can make the area more cosy for social activities. You could also go for some undermounted strip lighting on your kitchen cabinets for when you don’t need to do serious cooking, but just want to relax in the evenings and help yourself to a drink.
For more posts, check out the Kamfy Living section of the blog.