I’m sure you’ve read many other guides that claim to offer ‘top 10 tips’ for one thing or another, which, in the end, turn out to be very generalized and useless lists of statements about things you already knew. ie, “Remember to set a budget and stick to it!” as if you were deliberately going to set a budget and then doing your best to spend more than you intended.
So today, I hope to round up some helpful tips that you may not have considered before when shopping for a new kitchen, some may be obvious at first, but will take you into more interesting and useful territory as you read on.
First, design your kitchen with a style that is timeless and forward-looking, not trendy. Most of us are aware that kitchen trends come and go; we don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a kitchen that will last a decade when its trendy style just hits the end of the year. This is reasonably obvious. The point I’m trying to make is that stoves are expensive, and given how long they last… you’ll probably want to upgrade and change them. So if you’re clinging to a fad, it’s unlikely you’ll have matching, or at least similar, doors and accessories. If you limit yourself to say, a type of style such as minimalist, colonial or rustic, within five years you are more likely to find pieces from other kitchen ranges that you can merge with yours; this is particularly important if you decide to upgrade an oven to a much larger range cooker, or switch to other appliances where much of your cooking will need to be cut out or replaced to accommodate.
Be careful with kitchen utensils! The truly enthusiastic consumer will probably attend a number of kitchen shows and showrooms before settling on a kitchen. During that time, they’ll probably see a myriad of gadgets that look cool at the time, and want to add them to their own kitchen; an example of this is the ‘Smart Fridge’ which was supposed to sort your groceries for you, warn you when you were running low on some items and more. Intel said they ‘will rule the roost’ in 1998, while The Independent reported on them in 2000 to say they will become a mainstay in the homes of the future. 11 years later, is he that popular? No. In fact, many would say that it went the way of the dodo. They cost around $3499, that’s £2248.84 for you and me. Why pay that when you can get a modern fridge freezer for under £1000 and buy a special case that allows you to stick your iPad or tablet to vertical surfaces? This would give you more functionality, for less cost and you can move the iPad or tablet around the kitchen while cooking or cleaning. The lesson here is to think about the alternatives and wait…not all innovations catch on.
Define your capabilities! If you are a good cook, or really want to be a good cook, the quality of your appliances will matter a lot to you. Many typical modern kitchen installations usually come with a free or discounted appliance offer that will suit your kitchens very well. For some, these appliances simply don’t work and this complicates matters; as the kitchen is usually built for particular unit sizes. Therefore, it is important to discern whether you want to buy the quality appliances first and build a dream kitchen around it… Or buy a new kitchen and take the appliances that fit with it. If you go for the latter and find that you want the former after installing the kitchen, you will be very sorry. Again, if you stick to the first point, you can always substitute similar style kitchen pieces to accommodate new fixtures and then simply replace all the cabinet doors with one type.
Go to the shows! I’ve worked in the cooking industry for years, and yet almost every show I attend shows me some new innovation in the kitchen that I’ve never imagined before. Many of the people we talk to talk about seeing a kitchen showroom, choosing a really nice kitchen to install, only to see their dream kitchen for the same or less price elsewhere. It is important to compare prices and do research; new innovations appear first at trade shows i.e. Ideal Home Exhibition, 100% Design and Grand Designs road show. When they do, it takes a while before they’re widely publicized, so going to the shows is the best way to learn about new innovations in the kitchen. This is also particularly good, because many exhibitors will sell their display items for less than retail price to avoid taking it back to their warehouses and many others offer discounts to people who want to get quotes for their booths.
Experiment with the materials! Recently, a range of innovative materials have hit the kitchen industry that have enabled all sorts of miniature revolutions. Corian is one of those materials; It’s incredibly strong and can be molded into virtually any shape or texture, resulting in brilliant, scratch-proof surfaces and countertops including sinks, fixtures, ridges, and other useful design elements. To showcase the possibilities, the inventors of Corian teamed up with the designers of Disney’s TRON to create incredible, futuristic home interiors exclusively from one material and extensive use of blue LED lighting. It’s not uncommon to get amazing Corian features and countertops and then order separate units from, say, a German kitchen and then combine the two. Honestly, look out for the ‘Corian/TRON’ exhibition, it’s something special.