What Makes an Ideal Kitchen?

The kitchen is just about the most important room in the home. Essentially, it is the family’s workshop and the main person who takes care of the household will spend a great deal of time in it. Therefore, if you are constructing a new house and you have some input in the design or if you are remodeling your kitchen, you should take a little time to learn what makes an ideal kitchen.

As with every other room, the first aspect to think about is the light. You should allow as much natural light into your kitchen as you can. If you can have two or more windows, so much the better. Make certain that these windows can open wide as well so that you can permit the air to change through circulation easily.

You will also need to provide mechanical ventilation for when the weather stops you from opening the windows. The amount of steam produced and retained in the kitchen has an effect on every room in the house and damp and mold are unhealthy.

Make the kitchen as large as your family requires, but bear in mind that it can become tiresome very quickly if you have to keep walking five or six yards to get something. So, have a big kitchen by all means, but keep your working area, the so-called ergonomic working triangle, pocket-sized.

The flooring is important because things get spilled and you do not want these spillages soaking into carpets or wooden floorboards where they will go musty and attract insects or rodents. The best surface for a kitchen floor is ceramic floor tiles, properly grouted to make your floor impervious. If you have to have a wooden floor or you just really want one, keep it water-resistant by polishing it every week.

Finally, for decoration, keep all kitchen colours light and bright: white, off-whites and yellow are the best for the floor, walls and ceiling. Hang some pictures up and maybe a few romantic candle wall sconces and grow a few potted plants around about.

You must have plenty of cupboard space and each cupboard or cabinet should be dedicated to one sort of thing, so that everybody can find what they want. Some people favour sliding doors, others prefer swing doors. I find that what I want is always on the shut half of sliding doors, so swing doors for me. If the cabinets have ventilation, which is a good concept, cover the holes with fly screen to stop insects and reduce the dust gaining entry.

Some people prefer their cabinets to be on casters so that they can clean behind them, but I prefer to have a fitted kitchen, so that the dust can not get behind there in the first instance. Whatever you choose, it should be easy to keep clean and if possible all be in a similar style and colour. It is best to have everything colour co-ordinated.. White or light oak looks wonderful.

You will need a table or breakfast bar to eat at and there should be a hanging light above it for reading by. Maybe one of those pull down lights that look as if they are on a spring, so that you can shove it back up if it gets in the way. Clearly, the size of the table and the number of chairs depends on you and the size of your family.