Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When designing your dream kitchen, you’ll have a lot of fun, choosing colours and tiles, that double door pantry you’ve wanted for ages, seeing the perspectives and it all coming to life!

But there are a few important things to think about when considering the actual design and flow of your kitchen. We have compiled a list of some commonly made kitchen design mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Too many units and no variation

A sure-fire way to make your kitchen feel smaller and claustrophobic is by having too many wall units; especially if you have a smaller kitchen. If you don’t have a larger space or taller ceilings, focus more on the bottom units and make sure to add a variety as too many cupboards can sometimes look busy. Mix up cupboards and drawers depending on your lifestyle and storage preference, it’ll make a world of a difference to the over all look of your kitchen.

2. Aesthetics over functionality

One of the worst things you can do when designing your new kitchen, is focusing solely on what it will look like rather than taking into consideration your lifestyle and functionality of the space. Of course you want your kitchen to be as beautiful as you’ve dreamt it! But you will come to resent it once you start to find problems in how you work in it. Consider things like work flow, is the sink a little too far away from your bin? Is there enough counter space and storage? Have I chosen a material that will stain easy and does this suit my lifestyle? Is there enough ventilation? Do you tend to splash about at the sink, is a wooden worktop realistic? These may seem more boring than choosing colours and handles but are very important in the design process.

3. Skirting board under the sink unit.

Something we advise against is skirting boards under the kitchen sink units. Simply because, you will end up kicking them. Keep the skirting around areas like larders, free standing units and taller units.

4. Not enough lighting or all spotlights

Lighting is so important when it comes to any space and variation is key! Too many or all spotlights may be a little too bright and solely under unit light strips or lamps won’t provide you with enough light to cook safely in. A few different lighting choices to keep things interesting and suitable for different times of day and moods!

5. Tall units in corners

Tall units are stunning, there’s no question about it. What we advise when it comes to these beautiful giants, is to avoid putting them in corners. The reason for this is simply because they will create a dark corner in your kitchen and close the space up.

6. Not injecting your own personality into the design/solely going with trends or other peoples taste.

Don’t make big decisions based on fleeting trends and other peoples opinions! The best way to go about designing your kitchen is by following your gut feeling with colours, handles etc. You can always ask one of us for some help if you’re unsure, but don’t let other people make the decisions for you. If you don’t love it, it’s not for you!

7. Something needs to be over the island.

When it comes to kitchen islands and peninsulas, they generally work best with something hanging over them. You could go for a selection of pendant lights (three always looks best) or if you have lower ceilings, maybe an overhead shelf to display cookbooks, plants and styling pieces.