Buying a new kitchen is always an important investment, it’s crucial that you don’t make any mistakes that you’ll have to live with or pay to fix. In this post, I will look at 7 things you must not do when designing your new kitchen.

Firstly, let’s not assume that by handing over to a kitchen designer – you’ll automatically avoid mistakes like these seven mentioned, there are plenty more. In my experience, these mistakes are made routinely by underqualified or inexperienced designers.

So let’s look at the 7 things you must not do when designing your kitchen. These points are not in any particular order

Number One:
Reference Your Existing Kitchen Layout. Don’t use your existing kitchen as a starting point for the design, this is a common mistake and one I will often talk about with my customers, the first thing I do is measure the kitchen and note all the important factors, I do look at unit sizes or layout. Then when I come away with the measurements, I then have a blank canvas, and, together with the customer’s wish list, I start from scratch and design the right kitchen to fit the space. It will often flow in a similar way, it’s very probable that the sink will be there under the window and the fridge freezer will end up in a similar position. However, it’s always for the right reasons, we are working the right way round, and quite often, we will discover something very different from what the customer has or was thinking. Designing this way means that you won’t miss any opportunity to improve the layout.

Number Two:
Appliances against a wall. Be careful of putting fridge/freezers right up against a wall, almost all fridges and freezers need some space to the side to enable the door to open enough so that the internal parts can be accessed correctly. This can be a very costly mistake! Typically a 70mm to 80mm filler will be sufficient for an integrated appliance but when using a freestanding model, I like to put a larder unit to the side ( ideally either side ) to create a built-in look.

Number Three:
Dishwasher Location. The location of a dishwasher is often misplaced, very often it will be pushed to the far side of a run, up against a wall, or at the end of a run, neither is ideal for a few reasons. Firstly, a dishwasher that opens will a wall to the side can be problematic from the point of when loading, you are likely to get a cleaning issue as it creates splashes and stains on the wall, it’s not ideal. You also want to be able to load the dishwasher directly from the sink, if you find yourself walking a short distance, it can be quite annoying. 9/10 of my designs will consist of a 600mm base unit to house the sink and then the dishwasher will sit snug under the drainer, that’s usually giving you 1200mm and I would always aim to put that central of a window where possible. It’s one of the first things I start with when planning a kitchen

Number Four:
If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit! Work with your room size and be honest with yourself, I try to be diplomatic to not upset customers when explaining that they cannot fit an island into their kitchen, be careful because some designers are just wanting to please you to get the sale! I will say it as it is, if it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit. There are other situations as well, like trying to fit an American style fridge freezer into a small kitchen, just not a good idea, there are better options so, work with the space you have and don’t get upset if a designer is honest and gives you good advice over getting a sale over the line.

How much space do you need for an island in a kitchen? – Read this blog post

Number Five:
Overfill a space. I can usually improve a basic design both in terms of appearance and storage. There’s the option of filling the space with units and then there is careful consideration of that space and optimising it. In my opinion wall units are overused and are a terrible use of space, I’ll attempt to limit the number of wall units in exchange for clever use of space, larder units, and sometimes, storage mechanisms. It is surprising the difference it can make to a room when you use fewer wall cabinets.

Number Six:
Forget Clad-on panels. This is a real bug-bearer of mine, probably my number one from the 7 things you must not do when designing your new kitchen; if you’re designing a good quality kitchen and you’re not using clad-on panels, it’s probably going to be massively detrimental. Clad-on panels can make all the difference, I use them on every kitchen I design and ensure that they are fitted so that they see sit flush to the front of the door, the panels are best when using the same material as the door front, for example, a painted door would have a painted end panel, an oak door would have an oak veneer panel, quite often, panels are either excluded or panels that match the cabinet are used because this will save money, I prefer to get the very best design as this is one of those little extras that make a world of difference.

Number Seven:
Symmetry for Symmetry Sake. I have a keen eye for symmetry, it’s a really important factor in almost every kitchen design, however, this does not mean that every door must line up from top to bottom and I purposely avoid doing this. The symmetry can be seen in all my designs, just not always as obvious as the doors aligning so for example, I could have a run of a 600 base, a 1000 base, and a 600 base, what I won’t automatically do is follow suit on the wall units, what I might do is go with a 500 base, 1200 wall, and a 500 base. If you sketch that up, you’ll see it is still symmetrical but without simply lining them up – it’s an advanced design tactic that sets a design apart from the junior designers or beginners who will simply follow the line or worse, just not have any symmetry in their work.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post where I have explained the 7 things you must not do when designing your new kitchen. Please leave us a comment, question and don’t forget to follow our socials – Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/olivestonekitchens