Christmas – it’s a time when all the family get together & enjoy each other’s company. Usually, the loving ambience is peppered with a few arguments, hangovers & digestive upsets!
The Christmas Kitchen – a room filled with love or a pressure cooker environment fraught with frayed tempers – which do you have in your home?
Have you ever said:
“Where the hell am I going to fit this in my fridge?” or “Where am I going to put all this shopping?”
Or “There’s nowhere to work in this kitchen” or “I have no space to serve up this food”
I’ve been there…worn the tea shirt…& here’s some advice:
1) Go Big: If you’re extending or building a new home make your kitchen big as you can – sacrifice everything else – because you honestly know that you’ll spend most of your time in it!
2) Utility/Appliances: If you don’t have a utility room & your kitchen is choc-full of appliances consider your washing machine & dryer.
– Can they move elsewhere…is your garage nearby? – you could put storage options in their spaces
– Is it worth your while to build an extension – including a utility?
– Can you use a combined washer/dryer – this would give you the space vacated by one of the appliances which you could use for storage.
3) Space & Storage: There are plenty of things you can do:
– do a big cleanup now…throw out items that you don’t use or are gone of date. If you’ve got crockery or pots/pans you don’t use it’s now time to move them to storage or discard them forever!
– take a good look at your cupboards. We are creatures of habit & sometimes we don’t think to move things around. Have you one cabinet packed & another one half empty? Open your kitchen cupboard doors and have a good look and move around! Maybe a few more shelves might help matters – or some shelf tidies?
– have you presses high above fridges/ovens that you can’t really reach? Move items there that you don’t use much or that are big – e.g., baking trays/wine bottles…they fill the space & you can grab them easily from their front edges.
– do you have other options for refrigeration?? Most homes have fridge/freezers. Is it an option to put a freezer elsewhere e.g. into the space you freed up with your drier…& then invest in a full height larder fridge? Have you room for a feature freestanding or American fridge??
– if you’re designing from scratch in a tight space, consider ditching the dishwasher or design using a slimline 450mm dishwasher.
– if you’re designing a bank of tall units in a new design include an extra 600 wide unit…it can be a larder or you could transform it into a fridge unit if you need more refrigeration in the future.
– if you can squeeze in a full height, full depth larder/pantry into your kitchen somewhere you’ll be glad you did! That’s easy when you’re starting out from scratch designing your new kitchen. For those of us that have a kitchen without a pantry – can you fit a feature freestanding pantry in your kitchen? These can be done by your kitchen specialist or sourced in your local furniture store.
We are huge fans of the corner pantry – which is big on space – if you can fit this into your new kitchen then you’ll be delighted!
– make better use of your corners – install storage solutions such as 3/4 carousels, Le Mans carousel, and magic corners.
– install drawers e.g., you might have a door under your eye level oven that you find hard to access – install a drawer – it’s easier to use the space!
– get cutlery organisers & pot/plate organisers for your drawers – tidying up your space is good!
– consider reconfiguring a drawer unit… If you have 4/5 drawer stacks change them to 3 drawers…giving you more functional storage
– put in plinth drawers – maximising all storage options!
– put in an under counter oven drawer – it won’t fit much – but it’s still a space for bits n bobs!
– Maximise your gables and ends of units – use hooks or extend using open shelving…
– use inside your doors – consider either metal or wooden spice racks – to hold packets and spices.
If you do manage to get through the festive season but your heart’s desire is a new kitchen, then treat yourself – you deserve it.
Newhaven Kitchens
Newhaven Kitchens & Bedrooms have designed and built bespoke kitchens of every style, size and shape. Come and see how we can help you get the kitchen of your dreams.
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