Planning A Kitchen That Works - Part 1.

I love my new kitchen.  It's clean,  shiny and works so well.  I guess 20 years of dreaming and planning has paid off.  It also helps that I've been cleaning other people's kitchens for the last 18+ years too.  This has given me the chance to see what works and what doesn't.    Here are some things to consider when planning a new kitchen -

*  Pull out tap. These taps make it easy to rinse off large pots and to swish a sink clean.

*  Stone bench top color and edge.  If you get a stone bench top,  consider the color you choose.  A black or dark color is very hard to keep clean.  Every wipe mark and smear shows up no matter how hard you try to keep it clean.  Stone benches will have joins in them.  Choosing a light color with detail helps to conceal the joins.  The edge of the bench matters too. If you pick a slightly rounded edge it prevents damage to your clothes.  

* Drawers. Replacing cupboards with drawers makes it easy to access everything.  No more bending down and digging into the back of a cupboards.  Please note,  drawers might not hold as much as you think.  I had to do another declutter to fit everything in.  At least  I've only kept the things I really love.

*  Corner cupboards - lazy susan or not.  When I picked out my kitchen,  I was shown a corner cupboard with a lazy susan in it.  At first glance it seems like a great way to access everything.  Unfortunately the shelving is not as strong as a regular cupboard shelf.  I like to stack casserole dishes inside each other to maximise space.  A lazy susan would only be good in a plastics cupboard.

*  Sinks are smaller.  When I was researching the sinks available to buy,  I was quite suprised to find that sinks have shrunk in size over the years. Please keep this in mind when choosing one for your kitchen.  I picked the biggest I could find.  Even doing that,  I lost 20 centimetres off my old one.

*  Range hood with canopy or pull out.  Range hoods with a canopy might seem like all the rage on those cooking shows.  Keeping them clean is another issue.  When cooking,  steam rises.  So does the oil you cook with.  Before you know it your range hood has a layer of grease that can be a pain to remove.  Even if you do remove it,  you'll see the wipe marks from your cloth.  I've wasted so much time cleaning clients canopy range hoods only to see they are still not perfectly clean.  I chose a Westinghouse 90 centimetre pull out range hood.  The filters can be pulled down and cleaned in the dishwasher.

Drawers

Pull out tap

Detail in a bench hides the join