How to Design a Functional Kitchen:
One could ask: what is the function of beauty?
In a residential kitchen, function and form naturally fit together. A functional kitchen should service you and all your needs, including your need for beauty. Cabinets should match with drawers, not only in their colour, but how they feel in your space. Whether they are a light-as-air white or a weightier dark wood, look, feel, and even wider elements such as the use of light should all mesh together in harmony.
What Makes a Kitchen Truly Functional
Where the fridge is, what kind of stove you have, how an island best fits into your design--these are all questions where the answer for you and your kitchen layout can and always should be different. Do you cook little, or often? Does your kitchen entertain, or do you have a separate dining room for that purpose? What is most important is if the daily path you take through your kitchen is frictionless yet pleasing to the eye. If you often cook with vegetables, you want it to feel it is as easy to wash your vegetables as it is to chop or cook them. If you often make large meals, you may even wish to have multiple ovens, or perhaps multiple sinks. If your kitchen abuts a backyard and features a door that leads into it, you may find your kitchen serving multiple purposes for multiple parties. If someone needs to wash their hands after coming inside, it should not feel like a burden to the person who is cooking.
How to Plan Your Kitchen Layout
When thinking about how you design a functional kitchen or plan a kitchen layout, the goal is to eliminate friction while maximizing flow. Standard kitchen counter height sits at 36 inches, but in a custom kitchen this can be adjusted to suit your household perfectly — a taller household may prefer 38–40 inches, while a baker rolling dough may want a lower prep surface.
How to Organize Kitchen Drawers
Knowing how to organize kitchen drawers well is one of the easiest ways to make your kitchen more functional every day. You should consider your ideal mix of cutlery, so there are never too many or too few of any single utensil. If you make steak, for example, make sure there is ample space for different kinds of knives. If you have a sweet tooth, perhaps consider a dedicated slot for an ice cream scoop. At the same time, how that drawer looks from the outside and how it fits into the overall aesthetics of your kitchen is as important as its functionality. What kind of knobs or handles would you prefer? Consider even how your cutlery itself will go with them--perhaps you want to go with a stainless steel with a similar finish to match. In a custom kitchen, the possibilities are endless for making your lifestyle match your kitchen itself. Where one begins and the other ends should be seamless.
How to Organize Kitchen Cupboards
Organizing kitchen cupboards should follow similar principles. It is entirely up to you and your lifestyle how many shelves you have and what those shelves should house. It could be bowls, mugs, or other sorts of dishes. Or it could be spices, herbs, and other pantry spaces. What is at eye level, and what will eye level be for you and the different members of your household? Can the same cupboard serve different peoples' needs? If one person bakes and another more often serves drinks, how can both of these preferences fit in the same space? All these functional considerations are as paramount as the visual design. Your cupboards can be thin or wide; they may link directly to a pantry, or sit opposite or further away from it. You may wish to have glass doors to perhaps showcase your artistic bowls. And whether you choose a matte or a glossy finish may make all the difference.
Lighting Your Kitchen: Form Meets Function
Remember that, in your kitchen, you are the master of light. If your kitchen faces east and you make food in the morning, how can that sunlight be welcomed in? Alternatively, if you often cook during twilight, how can your kitchen be designed to make the evening light last the longest? How lights and lamps come into the design is also of major importance. A light fixture is a perfect example of beauty and function combining, with one servicing the other. Whether you go for a showpiece above your island, potlights above the standard cooking stations, or places in the floorplan meant for your existing standing light fixtures, your kitchen's light should flow through it as seamlessly and as functionally as you do.
Work With Toronto's Custom Kitchen Designers
Whatever a beautiful, functional kitchen means to you, visit Yorkville Design Centre to discover the best kitchen designers in Toronto. With decades of collective experience at our helm, we know how to make a custom kitchen perfect for any client. Kitchen renovation is one of our premier services, and we will make sure that you and your kitchen get the premium service you deserve in both form and function.
