Kitchen on Order: 20 Tips for Creating the Perfect Kitchen

Before planning the kitchen, a designer prepares a technical specification for design — determining the customer's preferences and wishes.

If you plan to make a kitchen without a designer, do the same thing — create a technical specification based on your answers to our questions. Let's get started!

Tatyana Fabychnaya, Interior Designer, Studio Director 'Dekotrend'

What do you need your kitchen for?

This is not a rhetorical question — it's important everything: your lifestyle, the number of household members, how often and how much you cook.

If you only have breakfast at home, don't plan a kitchen with many storage spaces and a lot of appliances. It also makes sense to do without upper cabinets — without them, the kitchen visually seems more spacious, which is especially important for small apartments or studios.

And if you cook at home regularly and often with family members — think about a kitchen island with built-in sink and additional worktop, as well as drawers-transformers for bulky dishes.

Design: Nolte Kitchens

In addition, it is important to properly distribute household appliances. A very convenient solution on the kitchen — a separate pantry for food, where you can hide large appliances, additional folding chairs, and also store vegetables, fruits, and homemade pickles.

Design: Nolte Kitchens

If you only have breakfast at home, there is no need to plan a kitchen with many storage spaces and a lot of appliances.

What kind of equipment do you need and in what quantity?

Create a list of appliances and equipment you would like to place in your kitchen:

• stovetop. Which one exactly — induction, gas, or electric? How many burners — 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6? In some models, several heating zones can be combined into one, very convenient for large pots or woks. There are also induction panels that can be built into the countertop, and only cooking zones are visible on its surface;
• dishwasher. 45 cm or 60 cm wide? Pay attention to such features as the expanded loading area, which allows you to fit dishes of various shapes and sizes, and half-load mode, which saves water;
• oven. The most convenient placement for the oven is at chest level. Often, ovens can be combined with microwave ovens and steam cookers. However, such ovens are smaller than standard ones and not suitable if you're used to baking large poultry or big pies.

Design: Nolte Kitchens

• refrigerator. Built-in or freestanding, two-compartment or three-compartment? 60 cm, 90 cm, or 120 cm wide? Keep in mind that built-in refrigerators have less capacity than freestanding ones. Therefore, in our projects, we often place a refrigerator without a freezer compartment, and the freezer is installed under the countertop.
• small household appliances: microwave oven, coffee maker, steam cooker, grill, deep fryer, warming drawer, vacuum sealer, oven — freestanding or built-in?
• hood. Essential if you cook a lot. Hoods differ in power. Choose one suitable for your stove;
• wine cooler. A thing not necessary, but many of my clients want to install one, and often there's no space for a large cooler. Therefore, pay attention to built-in wine coolers of small size — up to 18 bottles.
• sink. Single or double, made of steel, ceramic, or artificial stone? Will a garbage disposal be installed under the sink?
• kitchen faucet. Will it have a pull-out spout or an additional spout for filtered water?

Design: Tatyana Fabychnaya. Kitchen Furniture: Nolte Kitchens

Built-in refrigerators have less capacity than freestanding ones. Therefore, in our projects, we often place a refrigerator without a freezer compartment and install the freezer under the countertop.

How to Choose Kitchen Furniture?

What and how you will store in the kitchen, how much space to give for pots, pans, and plates? Do you have a collection of dishes that you want to display behind glass, or do you want to place a buffet on the kitchen? Pay attention to:

• base cabinet. Few people know about it, but it's a very convenient place for storing baking trays, grids, and baking forms. Especially relevant in small kitchens;
• counter height from the floor. Be sure to consider your height when choosing a kitchen, as it's very important. If you are tall, it will be inconvenient to cook at a counter height of 85 cm; make it 91 cm;
• height of upper cabinets. They can go to the ceiling or be completely absent. Pay attention to not letting ceiling lights or pendant lights interfere with opening the doors. The fronts of upper cabinets with micro-lift should not touch the ceiling;
• work surface. Decide how much space you need for it. Usually, 60 cm to 90 cm is allocated between the sink and the stovetop.

Design: Nolte Kitchens

If you are tall, it will be inconvenient to cook at a counter height of 85 cm; make it 91 cm.

Kitchen Layout. Placement of Kitchen Furniture

Will your kitchen be combined with the living room, and is a dining table necessary or is a bar counter or island enough? If you plan a table, for how many people?

It is important to note that a kitchen with a gas stove cannot be fully combined with the living room — there must be hinged or sliding doors between these two rooms.

Choose photos of kitchens you like. Mark what you liked in the photos — it could be the placement of kitchen furniture, the color of the kitchen, the arrangement of appliances, the location of the dining table, and so on.

Design: Nolte Kitchens

Measure the room: all protrusions, load-bearing walls, and columns. It is important not to forget to measure the ceiling height, window, windowsill, and door. Indicate gas and heating pipes, drainage and water outlets, and radiators on the plan.

After collecting all the information about the kitchen, you can start creating a layout solution. You can sketch it schematically yourself, but it's better to leave the rest of the planning work to a skilled manager in a kitchen showroom.

A kitchen with a gas stove cannot be fully combined with the living room — there must be a door between these two rooms.

What to Pay Attention to When Designing a Kitchen

• Check that the doors and drawers of kitchen cabinets open freely, and protrusions, windowsills, or radiators do not interfere.
• If the kitchen is corner-shaped, then handles on corner cabinets should not hinder their opening.
• Do not install sockets behind the base cabinet drawer.
• No water or sewage outlets should be located behind built-in appliances.
• If a garbage disposal and filter with a storage tank are installed in a 60 cm cabinet under the sink, they may not always fit. Plan in advance where to place the filter or waste bin in an adjacent cabinet.
• When installing a built-in microwave oven above the oven in one column, pay attention to not placing it too high, otherwise it will be inconvenient to use. The same applies to other built-in appliances stacked one on top of another.

Design: Tatyana Fabychnaya. Kitchen Furniture: Nolte Kitchens

Don't forget about lighting

Plan several lighting scenarios for the kitchen:

• general lighting — ceiling light or spotlights;
• zone-specific lighting — lighting above the dining table, kitchen island, or bar counter;
• task lighting for the kitchen work surface.

and electricity

Count how many household appliances will be placed on the countertop and how many sockets they will occupy. Plan additional sockets that can be hidden in drawers or the countertop. Also, take recommendations from the kitchen supplier regarding electrical wiring.

Design: Nolte Kitchens