Design aspects you need to know about

Some of the most difficult parts of a Kitchen renovation come during the colour selection and kitchen design stage. During the Kitchen Renovation process you will be asked to identify a lot of different aspects of the renovation that may not have occurred to you before.

Artistic Kitchens and Bathroom Renovations like to adapt your needs to create a kitchen to best suit you. Below is an example of some of the hard but necessary questions that we like to ask our clients and some key points that you should factor in while designing your kitchen.

1. Do you have any dislikes/likes about your current kitchen?

2. Is that main cook left or right handed?

3. Are there any physical limitations that may need to be factored in>

4.Do you like the height of your current benchtop?

5. Do you like to sit while you prepare meals?

6. Do you have any problems with your current storage?

KEY WORK ZONES

Determining a kitchen layout is dependant on the size, shape and physical limitations of your kitchen

Orange Zone

The orange zone in a kitchen should be where you store all of your consumables from your baking goods to your snacks. This should be based in an easily accessible section of your kitchen. Being a high traffic area we try to create the least amount of disruption possible.

Blue Zone

In the blue zone you should store items used to prepare meals such as pots and pans. The blue zone in your kitchen should be in the same location as your oven, stove and microwave to save constant pacing while cooking.

Red Zone

This zone stores those kitchen utensils required for food preparation e.g. oils, electrical appliances, cutting boards and spices. We recommend that this be positioned where there is the most amount of bench top space to allow easy preparation.

Green Zone

The green zone in a kitchen space should be where you store cleaning items such as washing liquid, sponges, bleach and paper towels. This section should be located in the 'Wet Zone' which is where the sink and dishwasher is located. This cabinet can also be used for waste management and storage and household items i.e light bulbs.

Grey Zone

In the grey zone of your kitchen it is best to store cutlery, dishes, glasses, and fine china. Designating a specific spot for your dishes can help to create a nice work flow within your kitchen. We recommend that this section is next to your sink to provide easy access to store clean dishes away while washing up.

ERGONOMICS IN YOUR KITCHEN

We understand that everybody's different from their height to their arm length which is why we ask clients which is there dominant hand and if there are any physical limitations. These although they seem small play a big key role in the actual layout and design of your kitchen.

The diagram above shows a generalisation of how we factor in what depth your bench top should be, what height the floor cabinets should come to and how high your overhead cabinets can be. Many of our clients ask for us to extend the cabinets to the ceiling not realising that they may not necessarily be able to access these sections easily.

The colour coded diagram above shows 3 different sections

Yellow Zone

The yellow zone on this diagram represents where you should put your daily items, these are the easily accessible places to reach, this can be a spot for things like plates, cups, bowls, pots and pans.

Green Zone

The green zone on this diagram should be for your commonly used but not so daily items i.e oils, spices, mixing bowls, plastic storage containers and other items

Blue Zone

The blue zone is for the the least common used items, you can store things like cake mixers, baking dishes and other not so common items in these spaces so that they are out of the way but still in there own spot.

The basic storage principles for ergonomics. The main thing to factor in is the importance and frequency of use for the items that you will be storing away.

Some other key elements to factor into the designs are