Its the place where you dream up the most delicious meals, The kids sitting at the kitchen nook or the island doing homework or playing on the tablet. Your husband popping in smelling the taste tantalizing aroma of the masterpiece that you are putting together like a work of art. Once you have completed the glorious meal you serve it and have a nice family gathering , sharing all the happenings of the day. The meal is done and the cleaning starts. You wash the dishes , pack the dishwasher or use the sink. Pack all the utensils and cutlery back to where they are supposed to go and you do the surface cleaning. Before you know it 2 hours of your day is gone.
The big question is how was the experience in the kitchen during these two hours. Did you waste time struggling to open drawers or finding the utensils in the untidy drawer. Was the extraction unit a noisy beast. Did you walk back and forth, Back and forth in the kitchen. How many times did you have to bend and scratch for the spices, Tupperware , plates and groceries?
In most cases the fault does not lie with you, The kitchen just was not planned correct. There was no specialized organizing units, no planning went into the workflow. Space allocation was not discussed . In most cases you did not even know of all the solutions available.
It is a proven fact that when a kitchen is well thought out and designed through good communication with your design consultant and careful planning that you can save allot of wasted time. It really makes working in the kitchen a pleasure.
By keeping in mind your left or right handed habits, your flow of the kitchen can be taken in one direction if you have a small kitchen and if it is a massive kitchen you could have a triangular work flow that works in either a clockwise for right handed people or a left handed anti clockwise direction.
Once the flow is worked out you need to have your 5 zones allocated. Storage of consumables, non-consumables , Prepping , Cooking and naturally the cleaning area. If these are well fitted in your workflow you will be astonished how much quicker the daily routine goes.
Did you know that there is hundreds of hinges and Drawer runners on the market. Most companies sells you the cheapest that you can find and sure they work well for a while but then you start realizing that the doors and drawers just doesn't close as nicely as when you bought it a year ago. In some cases you hear squeaky noises and the doors just seem to always touch each other because the adjustment that you had to make last week has changed again. Sometimes it feels like you are going to the gym pulling and pushing that darn utensil drawer 15 times in one night. The Crux is that you must make sure what hardware you will be paying for. The names that should be putting your heart at ease is Blum "Check the spelling on the hinge" , Grass and Hettich. They have a 15 year guarantee !
There is a multitude of drawer systems available from these suppliers. Starting with a ordinary Metabox drawer that works with a specialized nylon "Not plastic" wheel and has metal side members that is mounted to your wood base , all the way throught to a gear operated , electronic drawer that you touch and it opens it self. Brace yourself though , Ka-Ching for the Latter end . Soft closing functions is available in all of the drawer systems if you request it. My recommendation is that you do request it. When you carry plates in your drawers the soft closing touch just takes the silence of opening and closing to a glorious new level.
The hinges also comes with soft closing options, some of them is built into the hinge and others is a attachment. My preference is Blum's integrated blumotion hinge. Masterfully crafted workmanship.
I once saw the amount of components that goes into one of these hinges. I was stunned that so many little pieces goes into one hinge.
If you are a person who loves containers to store everything in then have a look at cross and vertical dividers that is available in almost all these brands.
The Exterior of a kitchen is what everyone experiences the most. Make sure that you are being sold a-grade materials.
Choose wisely when you decide on the type of worktop surface that you will use. Remember most actions happens on a worktop surface. There is Manufactured stone , Granite surfaces that you get out of the earth, Solid Wood surfaces , Formica surfaces and the big no, no for a kitchen . . . Melamine worktop surfaces.
Melamine is great for doors and deco fillers though. In the modern world the colors that they brew up is truly astonishing .
The next step up would be a Micron foil surface, also known as a wrap. On these doors you are able to choose a selected range of patterns. Make sure what micron value your doors will be or soon you might have peeling doors .
Then you get Acrylic doors. These doors is stunning. The colors is very much focused on a more modern designed kitchen.
My personal favorite is the painted surfaces. Basically anything can be done when a door is painted.
Be it pattern or color the world is your oyster , that is if you have money .
A big modern trend is Gloss surfaces. These can be done in paint , Micron foil surfaces and acrylic surfaced doors. Stay away from Micron foil if you are very focused on smooth surfaces. With close inspection you will find that the surface is slightly wavy. This is called orange peel.
When you are planning on having a kitchen installed put a little homework into it and create a dream book filled with pictures , drawer inserts , notes of what you like and dislike in your current kitchen and if you have the time wright a bit about your family habits in the kitchen. This will enable you to envision the dream and to word the dream better to your designer.
And people remember if the quote is low then there is a reason for it.
Quality comes at a price.
If you are interested in more details regarding kitchens feel free to contact me at
gerhardjgoosen@gmail.com or at gerhard.g@easylife.co.za.
+27 78 270 3456
