Gidday Gidday

Back again. How is everyone out there in cyber space?

What a busy few weeks I have had. I have started two new Internet sites which will be up and running soon. One is splitting my kitchen design company into my custom design site and my semi custom kitchen site.

I have split the sites as in New Zealand I design and manufacture but in the United States I do design work only. The other site is a company I set up to sell fine art. Funny how that started. I set it up to help out my mother who is an artist. Like most artists they struggle to make a living out of their passion. I thought I would give it a try to help her out. Have a look and let me know what you think.

Any way down to business.

The plan

So now you have decided what materials you will use its time to design the kitchen. Over the next couple of articles I will give you some things to think about as regards how your kitchen should look and be planned in relation to how you use it.

At this point I want to stress how important it is to get the design right and how important it is to get a good kitchen designer to help you with the plans. I find so many people will go to a kitchen company for a design thinking a kitchen designer will be really expensive. All I can say to that is, you get what you pay for. Well-designed kitchens don’t have to be expensive as you can see with my semi custom kitchens. What makes a kitchen expensive is the materials used and the size of the kitchen.

The brief

The first thing you need to do is write down a few things. By now you have a goo idea on the materials you will use and no doubt you have a few ideas on what you like and don’t like.

What you have to do now is make up a brief to give to the designer. The brief doesn’t have to be a novel it could be made up of pictures out of magazines. Most of the time the designer will cover the points with you when they meet with you. Some will have a questionnaire for you to fill out others will take notes.

I think pictures are the best way of showing what you like. They don’t have to be kitchen pictures either they could be an interior of a house or building or an architectural style that you like. When I do a kitchen in an old house that needs to be in a period design I get the client to send me photos of the house exterior and interior which gives me idea on design features which I then use to design the kitchen. That way the kitchen is in keeping with the design of the house.

Information required

Firstly a plan of the kitchen space including the position of existing plumbing,

Electrical, size and height off floor for existing windows, ceiling heights etc. This is not as daunting as it may sound, the designer usually does this when they come and visit. New houses and larger renovations will usually have architect's plans. When I design kitchens over the Internet where distance does not allow me to go to the site I will get the cabinet-maker or the architect to measure the site.

Next information as regards the way the kitchen is used. For example. Do you use your kitchen formally or informally? Do you find when you have guests do you all gravitate to the kitchen? With this in mind the designer would accommodate some seating.

On the other hand you may have a large kitchen which is just used formally for chefs to cater for large dinner parties. There would be no point in allowing seating in this kitchen.

How many people use the kitchen at any one time? This is important, as it will effect work-spaces, triangles and the general flow of the kitchen.

What about how much food you store where you like it kept or how much cooking equipment you have and where you like it stored in relation to where you use it.

Most of this information is covered in my questionnaire.

The questionnaire

As there is so much information to cover when designing a kitchen if feel spending the time filling out the questionnaire is well worth it. If anything it gets you thinking about what you require in your kitchen. Also it gives the designer extra references when designing. Most of the time the designer will cover most of the information when they visit. So what's the point? I hear you say. Many a time being stuck deciding on a point of the kitchen I have gone back over the questionnaire and found the answer based on what the client wrote.

Its well worth spending the time filling out any questionnaire.

Appliances

These are important, as the kitchen has to be designed around the appliances.

This might sound strange but when you look at the great variety of appliances available and the many different requirements for venting, mounting etc it pays to know what you want before designing the kitchen.

Budget

It is very important to set a budget. How much do you want to spend on your kitchen? Many times I get people who say they have no idea how much a kitchen costs. That’s fine but everyone knows how much he or she can afford. This is important as it can waste time if you have a Toyota budget and you are pricing a BMW. It takes a lot of time to design a kitchen so for the sanity of the designer please have an idea at least an amount that you want as a cap to spend.

Conclusion

Now we are getting closer to the design. You should have a good idea of what you do and don’t want, you have pictures a plan, appliances and have set a budget. Time to design the kitchen. Before I do that I think I will do an article on appliances, so that will be next.

Thank you for your e-mails it’s good to get some feed back.

So until next time.

See ya

Alex