The kitchen - Part 2

The Kitchen - Part 2

In this lesson, we dive into the details you need to iron out at the early stages, such as creating a lighting scheme, designing comfortable flow and movement within the kitchen and choosing appliances.

Lighting

• Lighting has the power to really make or break an interior; it can create a beautiful mood within a room, or it can completely ruin the atmosphere if not done correctly.
• In the early stages, you will need to decide on where the lighting will be positioned in order to make sure you have the correct wiring, as well as the size and weight of the light in case it needs reinforcing.
• When planning a lighting scheme, work from the top down; start with ceiling lights and work down through wall lights and table lamps to downlights and skirting lights.

Ceiling Lights

I would recommend having a combination of decorative lighting, such as pendant lights, and directional lights to illuminate areas you need to work in.

Directional lights are usually downlights, which can either be recessed into the ceiling or surface-mounted. We opted for the latter, as they can be angled more accurately. Choose the fitting type depending on how wide you want your beam angle to be.

Wall Lights

Low-level wall lights are a great opportunity to bring softness into a kitchen through fabric shades in complementary colours.

Lighting Control

In a large room, it can be helpful to have a lighting control system that unites all the different layers of lighting to create pre-set scenes. These could range from 'scene one', which might be all lights on full for when you're cleaning, down to 'scene four', which could provide a low and soft ambient glow for relaxing in the evening.

Flow and Moving Around the Kitchen

I love having a kitchen island, as I feel like it creates a helpful definition between the cooking space and socialising space; a dining table could also serve this purpose if you don't have space for an island.

Everything you need to cook should be easy to reach and close by. In this home, there is a clear and direct access through from the main kitchen to the nearby back pantry, which is where a lot of dry goods and drinks are stored.

Planning a Kitchen

At Sims Hilditch, we give our clients a comprehensive questionnaire at the very beginning of the project to ascertain exactly what they want in their new kitchen. This will cover questions such as the following.

• How do they like to cook, and for how many people?
• What do they need to store, and where do they prefer to store it?
• Do they have preferences on appliances?
• Would they like their appliances to be visible or hidden?
• How many small appliances do they have and require space for?

Power

Sockets are key within a kitchen, and it's essential to have enough in the right place.

Consider including a 'power drawer', which is something we like to include within our kitchen design. It is a drawer, usually at the end of an island, which has a bank of sockets and power inside for people to charge all of their devices within cluttering the countertops.

Sourcebook

• Fisher & Paykel fridge drawers
• ECM coffee machines