Kitchen Layout Ideas

5 essential planning tips to renovate your kitchen right

Plan ahead for maximum success
John Downs

The key to a kitchen looking beautiful and working well for you is all in the planning.

Getting your layout right takes time, consideration and often the help of a professional. The right design can make or break your kitchen so take your time to plan, measure and reflect on everything that needs to take place in this crucial space.

5 essential planning tips to renovate your kitchen right | Home Beautiful Magazine Australia
(Credit: John Downs)

1. Include enough storage

Tailor each cupboard to comfortably accommodate the items it will hold. Include drawer mechanisms, shelves or dividers to ensure maximum use of space.

2. Mark out your island

Decide which tasks will be performed on your kitchen island and measure and mark up a space on the floor or your current benchtop to role play how that will work for you. Include markers for sink and tapware and allow for enough space to eat where any stools will be located.

5 essential planning tips to renovate your kitchen right | Home Beautiful Magazine Australia
(Credit: Sue Stubbs)

3. Hero your appliances

Appliances are large so, whilst they may not need to take centre stage visually, they must be accommodated for size. If you are bringing in the fridge of your dreams, work from there for the rest of your floor plan. If it’s a freestanding stove you’re working with, decide on its location then plan your cabinetry around it

4. Tell a story with finishes

Make sure your benchtop, splashback, cabinetry and tapware work beautifully together. Take away samples and construct a physical moodboard with tiles, paint, stone and steel to see how it all works together.

“You’ll never regret allocating space for a study nook in the design of a mid-sized kitchen for the inevitable pile-up of mail, keys, phones and chargers”

Kristie Hill, Colour Cube Interiors, Interior Designer
5 essential planning tips to renovate your kitchen right | Home Beautiful Magazine Australia
(Credit: Derek Swalwell)

5. Task each zone in the kitchen

Designate fixtures and fittings according to how you will use the space. If you’re including a small desk or study nook, ensure adequate power and charging ports in the adjacent walls. Add draws to collect and hide paperwork.

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