Best Ways to Design a functional kitchen

No one wants a smelly and ugly kitchen but we end up making it quite messy. When we cook and dump everything in an open bin by throwing stuff in the bin from 5 feet away, that is when we stain the wall behind the bin as well. Let’s talk about a pull-out cabinet that hides the ugliness of a garbage can.

A pull-out cabinet that is not connected to any other cabinet can help keep the kitchen clean. The only thing you need to make sure of is the cabinet is easy to clean, big enough to store at least a full day’s garbage, and seals perfectly so that mice and cockroaches don’t get a new home in your new kitchen cabinets. You can also design a recyclable waste cabinet for glass bottles and plastic containers.

A functional kitchen needs enough space for you to move around and handle 3 or more cooking projects at once. If you are someone who likes to cook often and gets accompanied by a partner and family in the kitchen, you need more kitchen space. In such a case, your kitchen space should be ideally the size of your living room because you want to spend half of your time in the kitchen with them.

Be it countertop or floor space, you need ample space. A great way to nail a kitchen design that works for you is to use at least 3 sides of your kitchen for counter space and add a kitchen island if you can leave approx. 3 feet space between the cabinets and kitchen island.

Plan the landing space near appliances. This space provides a spot to place the necessary items while cooking and preparing the ingredients. Make room in the countertop. It is ideal to keep at least 15 inches on each side of the stove or cooktop for the purpose. Keep some landing space beside the microwave as well, for appliances such as toaster and coffee pot.

As you’re designing your dream home, you might find that the kitchen is posing some challenges as it has different purposes than conventional rooms. Keep broad walkways in the kitchen to ensure that you have enough space for cabinetry as well as islands to move about. A general rule of thumb is to keep at least 36 inches of a walkway in the kitchen for everyone’s convenience. If you’re expecting multiple cooks at a time, go for a walkway that’s 48 inches. 

Many people forget to adjust the counters in their kitchen according to their height when they can. If you are a family of most individuals over 6 feet, you need a comfortable working space that matches your height so you don’t have to constantly bend while cooking. Similarly, if you are short, you need a functional kitchen where the work area is not too high. 

Couples who don’t invite many guests at their house can go for fewer cabinets and more windows or empty walls in kitchen. But if you are a family of five, you need a lot of storage space-cabinets and drawers. You need a lot of space for your silverware, crockery, cutlery, and tons of food.

People who like to hoard beautiful crockery should go for additional glass door cabinets to showcase the marvelous dinner sets. But those who like to conceal the messy and unorganized cabinets usually go for wooden door cabinets.

Ideally, you should have a mix and match of the glass door and wooden door cabinets to showcase beautiful crockery nicely arranged on shelves and hide the unorganized spices in the wooden door cabinets.

The secret to a well organized and clean kitchen is a regularly cleaned kitchen. To always keep your kitchen squeaky clean, you need all the cleaning supplies in one place. Therefore, a pull-out rack in the cabinet below the kitchen sink will be the perfect spot for accessing all the cleaning supplies

The kitchen window is something you should never ignore. If you can enjoy a beautiful view of your front lawn when working in your kitchen, then why not? If your kitchen window opens directly into your front lawn or backyard, place the kitchen sink or the stove below or near the window. This is because you will be spending most of the time in your kitchen while cooking or cleaning.

A stove near the window is not a very popular idea but won’t you like to enjoy the view of your front lawn while stirring soup? Possible problems with the window might be, you won’t be able to open it because the breeze may blow out the fire on the stove or the curtains on the window may catch fire. A reflective fixed glass window might be the best choice to avoid such dangers if you are going for a stove below the window.

Usually kitchens have average drawers that are not wide enough to store large cookie trays, chopping boards, and wide dishes. If you deal with wide pans in the kitchen and because you can’t fit them anywhere, they lie on the countertops, you should think of wider drawers this time.

Keeping a neat and clutter-free kitchen is the goal nowadays. You want to eliminate any wasted steps. Organize the typically used items near each other so that you don’t have to walk more than three steps to get a hold of them as you prepare a dish. Keep your dishware and flatware beside the dishwasher for convenience in loading and unloading. The best way to design a kitchen is to keep it organized. 

A moveable sink tap can make your life so much easier when you won’t end up washing yourself along with the dishes. You can hold the faucet in your hand to simply spray the dishwashing liquid off the dishes, fill small pots, and adjust its height. No one likes to wipe the sides of the sink and floor after dishwashing because you unknowingly create a pool of water when working with an immovable faucet.

Because you will be able to position the water flow according to your need if you get a moveable sink tap, there won’t be any water here and there, after you’re done with the dishes.