Modern Kitchen Designs

By Author: Paul Mc Lauren
Total Articles: 4
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Designing a kitchen is far more complicated and important than designing any of the other rooms in a house. While on the one hand it may seem less so, as the options are more limited having to fit in every appliance and work surface, the fact of the matter is that a poorly designed kitchen can be the bane of the family cook and make hurried breakfasts more of a nightmare than they need to be. The kitchen is a room that you will be spending a lot of time in, meaning that you'll have to look at it a lot; and one that you'll be doing a lot of work in, meaning that you'll be struggling to find and use things a lot.

Modern kitchen designs aim to please on both these counts and should make the work easier and the appearance more pleasing. By combining the popular trends of the moment with your personal preference and the shape of your kitchen, you should be able to make the most of your kitchen and get it looking like something out of a catalogue.

The first thing to consider when designing a modern kitchen is the flooring and the tiles. Stone flooring or tiles are currently popular and these are non-absorbent so easy ...
... to clean as well as difficult to stain. Pick a fairly plain pattern to keep your kitchen looking up-to-date, but go for something fairly dark and preferably with flecks to make crumbs and dirt show up less. Laminate flooring is also a popular option, though this can warp over time if you spill large amounts of liquid on it and is also more prone to chips and damage. For walls tiles are still fairly popular, again for being easy to clean. Choose a design that's fairly minimalistic (as this is the current trend in interior design) and that compliments the choice of flooring.

Next you will need to decide on the appliances and design of the cupboards and sideboards. You should go for something cohesive that matches your flooring and tiles (sideboards in the same colour as the flooring is a good look while cupboards can be chosen to match the walls). To keep your cupboards modern look for rounded edges and doors that don't allow slamming. White and silver are currently quite good colour choices, though they will show up spilled and splattered food more easily.

Finally you need to select your appliances. These should again compliment the colour scheme you've now developed and be both practical and aesthetically pleasing (going again for minimal amounts of buttons and handles). As far as possible these should fit seamlessly into work surfaces and cupboards. For example your fridge may look like any other cupboard when shut, while hobs should be on the work surfaces rather than part of a separate unit which gathers crumbs down the sides. Another trapping of modern life that's incredibly practical and useful is the waste disposal which will blend anything that goes down your sink, preventing blocked drains and allowing you to peel over the sink.

Once you've chosen all of the parts it's simply a matter of assembling them in a way around the kitchen that allows you to reach multiple appliances and work surfaces at once while maximising the space available to move around in.

These days kitchen designs are based on practicality aswell as presentation. Smart kitchen cabinets for example, create space and add colour.