Aug 24 2008
STEP BY STEP
1. Cut a length of 60 x 60 mm timber to the desired width of the table. This is the block from which the table will be hinged and which will be fastened to the wall. If it is a stud wall use at least two 80 mm coach screws, counterbored 20 mm or so with a spadebit in a drill, secured into separate stud beams. If it is a brick wall use masonry bolts of the same length or greater, also counterbored 20 mm. Continue Reading »
Aug 24 2008
A small kitchen may not have enough room for a permanent table at which a couple of people can eat breakfast or quick kitchen meals, but it may have a wall to which a fold-down table could be attached.
Such a table can also provide extra workspace when needed as well as a place for family and friends to sit and keep the cook company while meals are being prepared. Folding chairs, some kind of cosy lighting arrangement and a spot for a small television on a facing wall could make previously dead space the most popular spot in the house. Continue Reading »
Aug 23 2008
Cupboard storage ideas are only as limited as your imagination.
Aug 14 2008
With cabinets and appliances running in an unbroken line around three counters, the U-shape is generally considered to be the most workable kitchen design.
To create an efficient work triangle in a U-shaped kitchen, awkwardly positioned doorways are more of a problem than the actual size of the room. In the true U-shape, the line of work surfaces is uninterrupted by doors, so that the cook is undisturbed by family members continually tramping through the work area. Continue Reading »
Aug 12 2008
The most informal arrangement, the eat-in kitchen can fit into almost any shaped room as long as it’s not too small.
A great benefit of this layout is that the cook need never feel left out from what’s going on at the table. On the down side of things it is impossible to close the door on kitchen mess. Continue Reading »
Apr 29 2008
Essentials like sinks and taps are such an integral part of the kitchen that it’s easy to forget what a variety there is to choose from.
Old-fashioned porcelain butler’s sinks (the deep rectangular tanks that have been turned into so many container gardens over the years!) are still very appealing for country-style kitchens. The disadvantage with traditional installations was that the join between sink and adjacent wooden draining board was difficult to seal, allowing water and waste to get into the gap. If you’re buying a new butler’s sink, look for a design with an edge that overlaps the worktop, to avoid this problem. Continue Reading »
Apr 26 2008
If you’re planning your kitchen from scratch, there’s no substitute for an accurate floor plan on which you can mark existing fittings, furniture and immovable features such as windows and plumbing points. Draw it to scale and mark all the measurements clearly.
The basis of a practical kitchen layout is the arrangement described by kitchen designers as the ‘work triangle’ — the space between cooker, sink and fridge. Your kitchen plan should allow for clear access to all three. You should be able to turn quickly and easily from one to another without the risk of dropping a hot pan or spilling an ice-cube tray. It’s an easier arrangement to achieve in some kitchens than in others: long, thin kitchens have a natural tendency to line up all the appliances in a row, and in very small kitchens you really won’t have much choice about what fits where. But if you aim for the triangle — even an elongated one — you’ll have a good basis for the rest of your kitchen. Continue Reading »
Apr 25 2008
White or plain wood cupboard fronts — with a few glazed doors too. Try mixing white and wood together: white units with a woodblock work top, or wooden base units with white-painted wall cupboards. Stripwood floor. Plain white roller blinds for the windows.
Everything discreetly fitted, right up to the ceiling — no open storage except for ultra-functional chrome utensils on hanging rails. Recessed lighting. Granite-effect work tops. Black‑’ and-white tiled floors. Slatted window blinds. Continue Reading »
Apr 07 2008
These examples will show you some different ways in which efficient planning of kitchen zones can be put into practice.
This L-shaped kitchen (left) illustrates the way the work triangle of sink/cooker/refrigerator has been adapted to the needs of the family as well asthe constraints of the room itself. The workflow sequence is not perfect, but it does make sense. Perfection would have demanded costly major structural work not essential to safety and efficiency.
The U-shaped kitchen/living room (below) illustrates the way in which the utility, eating and working kitchen areas have been created. Within the working kitchen are the six zones: food storage, preparation, cooking, serving, dishwashing, crockery storage. In this case, as the fridge is close to both the working kitchen and the eating area, the food store is not in the ideal position. However, the needs of the whole family have to be balanced against the needs of the cook, and this is an acceptable compromise. Continue Reading »
Apr 04 2008
As long as there is sufficient work surface beside the hob, the oven or the free-standing cooker on which to put plates and serving dishes, there should be few problems.
Within the serving area there should be convenient storage for oven gloves, serving spoons, plates and serving dishes.
This is often a part of the preparation area. However, if the kitchen is large enough, it may be worth considering a separate dishwashing zone, close to the eating area. This zone will accommodate the waste disposal unit or a rubbish bin and, ideally, a dishwasher. Twin sinks should be large enough to hold a grill pan.
The hob should be linked by a worktop to the sink. It should also have ample work surfaces on both sides of it. Kettle, tea, coffee, cups and saucers are best kept close to the sink. Toasters should be on a work surface or shelf near to the bread. Deep drawers for bread storage are preferable to bins on the work surface. Continue Reading »
Mar 26 2008
The working kitchen divides into six sections:
2. Preparation
3. Cooking
4. Serving
5. Dishwashing
6. Storage of crockery.
For efficiency and comfort of operation, it is not only necessary to ensure the layout is right; utensils, gadgets, saucepans must be in the right places.
Just because the larder has always traditionally held all the food, condiments and spices, there is no reason why things should not be changed around to give greater convenience.
What is the point of crossing to the other side of the kitchen to find the stock cubes or sugar when they are required at the cooker or the table? The larder can then be used for longer-term storage of cans, packets and bottles. Continue Reading »
Mar 25 2008
Lighting a kitchen is not easy. Most people get it wrong because they don’t really understand what the different types of lighting will do for them and how to use lighting to achieve maximum benefit. Subtle yet effective illumination is a skill that few have mastered, yet its importance cannot be underestimated. Too many and too bright lights can cause tension, just as dim lighting causes accidents around the house.
This is an attempt to simplify the complexities and try to illustrate the best lighting for each area.
Simple, direct and bright illumination is required for food preparation, cooking and washing up. This can be provided by a number of different fittings depending on your kitchen layout. Continue Reading »
Mar 24 2008
Everyone has their own pet ideas on storing items that no standard kitchen unit could accommodate. For example, units don’t provide little hooks for all those rubber bands we can’t bear to throw away! So full marks to those British kitchen unit manufacturers who do look beyond merely what their Continental rivals provide, and actually try to see what the housewife really needs.
Recipes and recipe books are never provided for. Recipe cards or small notes are not easy to handle whilst making a new cake for the first time. A bulldog clip and a cup-hook attached to the underside of the wall unit solves this problem. Attach the recipe to the bulldog clip and simply hang it on the hook! Winchmore Kitchens have produced a recipe book holder which looks, when closed, like part of the pelmet concealing the strip light under the wall cupboard. When it is pulled out it holds the book — just like a mini-lectern. Continue Reading »
Mar 22 2008
This young couple have one child and the possibility of more to come. In this first home, with a limited budget, they wished to spend it as wisely as possible. First priority is the working kitchen, which must be efficient, safe and as timeless as possible. They could not afford it to look old fashioned within a few years.
Sensibly, the washing machine and a sink were plumbed in the garage where the central-heating boiler had already been installed to allow more space in the kitchen. The fridge/freezer, fronted by decor panels to match the units, was placed next to the garden door. Adjoining this is the gas double oven. Base and wall units link up to the double-bowl, round red enamel sinks under the window. Continuing round the kitchen, units link up to the matching red gas hob with an extractor fan above. Base units continue fromthe hob up to the peninsular breakfast bar — also a useful extra work surface. To make use of the end of the wall unit (see picture left) a midway unit, normally wall mounted between worktop and cupboard above, was fitted to hold cruet, jam, sugar and so on in handy reach of those using the breakfast bar. Continue Reading »
Mar 22 2008
There were no children in this household and the owner enjoys entertaining a constant stream of visitors.
Laundry equipment and the central-heating boiler were moved to a nearby utility room. The boiler left a chimney breast and recess which had been used for a flue and the question was whether to demolish it or leave it as a focal point. It was allowed to remain and the built-under oven and hob unit were inset here in an alcove of rustic tiles. The chimney breast surround was faced off with bricks and the whole cooker area was reminiscent of an old kitchen range.
Between the kitchen and the front of the house was a small breakfast room/study. Although the kitchen was an ample sized room, the wall between the two rooms was demolished and an archway formed in its place. Continue Reading »
Mar 21 2008
Small, awkward-shaped kitchens can present special problems. These examples show how these virtually unworkable kitchens were transformed into labour saving dreams.
A tiny kitchen in an old end-of-terrace house in a garden suburb presented a challenge with three windows and five walls, none of which was of equal length.
The new owner was a busy professional woman who lived with her teenage daughter. Breakfast and evening meals were to be eaten in the kitchen. Maximising on the microwave and the freezer, they entertained friends about once a month. The budget for this kitchen was moderate.
The previous occupants had fitted some units which had suffered from misuse. The double- drainer sink unit was against an inside wall which complicated the plumbing to the drains. A free-standing cooker stood in one corner near the door which led to the tiny utility room and toilet. Continue Reading »
Mar 21 2008
Complete kitchens should never come ‘off the peg’. Every kitchen is different because every household is different — small or large families, a single person, a group of adults and children — almost any combination, in fact, with almost any lifestyle. Added to this, the family or household group will have different needs in, say, ten years’ time, and different budgets available for the work to be done.
Of the hundreds of kitchens that Roma Jay has planned, we have taken eighteen examples to illustrate the variety of family sizes and needs, and the range of budgets available.
The size of the kitchen is not necessarily the crucial factor. A spacious kitchen can be just as inconvenient as a very small kitchen if the layout is bad and if it does not meet the needs of the people who use it. All the case histories described here are actual living, working kitchens, but you should not assume that any of them will perfectly match your unique requirements. The intention is to help you to analyse your own requirements and see the tremendous range of possibilities open to you. Continue Reading »
Mar 20 2008
More ambitious ideas and budgets to match are illustrated by these four kitchens where extensions were constructed and living rooms incorporated.
Two adults, two teenagers and two young children made up this family who planned an extension to their home to contain a completely new kitchen. There was a separate utility room for the washing machine, but the existing floor-standing gas central-heating boiler had to stay where it was. They wanted to eat in the kitchen at a breakfast bar to seat up to eight people; they liked a rustic look, and were able to spend a reasonable amount to get the kitchen the way they wanted.
Three meals a day were eaten, plus home baking at least once a week, batch cooking for the freezer once a month; dinner party and other entertaining from time to time. This family had thought deeply about what their real needs were. Continue Reading »
Mar 17 2008
Probably one of the greatest needs when improving kitchens is to create more space by repositioning walls, doors, windows and demolishing cupboards. The objective is to achieve more usable space without going to the expense of building an extension. These examples illustrate ways of achieving this end.
When this young couple wrote to Ideal Home magazine for advice on their kitchen, their first child was expected. The house, built in the 1920s, had a very large kitchen with windows overlooking the garden; a large walk-in larder and a big utility room. In fact the house was featured in the magazine during the 1930s.
An interior designer herself, the owner only needed a kitchen planning expert to provide the key to spark off her own creative ideas to revamp the kitchen. In this case, the key was to convert an existing window overlooking the garden into French doors, in order to give easy and safe access into the garden for the future family. Continue Reading »
Mar 17 2008
Two large walk-in store cupboards dominated one end of this kitchen. The wife of the family is a sculptor and spends very little time cooking. But after many years of making-do she felt a complete change was necessary.
The family consisted of parents and two grown up children and a cat. Their dining room was used as a study, so they wanted to eat and entertain in the kitchen. With good natural light from the window overlooking a garden full of sculptures, the potential was great.
At the opposite end of the kitchen to the walk- in store cupboards, another two cupboards housed the washing machine and central-heating boiler. Continue Reading »
