My top kitchen tips - part 2
We all know how important the kitchen is. With a little bit of thought in the planning stage, you can achieve a practical and stylish kitchen that you’ll simply love.
In case you missed it, I recently I shared my top tips for splashbacks, appliances and tapware here. Now, let’s get on to some more tips below:
Tip 1 - Sink
These days a double bowl or 1 and ¾ bowl sink is standard, but should you opt for an undermount model or a standard top mount sink with a drainer?
I think it is a personal choice. Undermount sinks give a seamless look to your benchtop, but most models do not have a drainer, meaning, if you have items that you handwash, you have to either buy a separate dish drainer rack or just put down a tea towel or drying mat.
Top mount sinks with a drainer have been around for ages (and some may think they look a bit old-fashioned) but they are very practical. Particularly if you have a rental property. Stone benches around the undermount sinks do often get chipped because the stone is right near the lip if the sink so it is easy to hit the stone when washing large saucepans, etc.
Tip 2 – Stone bench tops
Most builders offer stone benchtops in the kitchen as standard nowadays. There are a range of colours and textures from smaller flecks to large spots and also stone with marble-like veins.
The standard thickness of the stone is 20mm, but for an island bench a 40mm or 60mm stone is striking, as well as adding waterfall ends to either side of a bench to really frame it.
Tip 3 – Pantry
I could talk about storage for days…everyone needs a walk-in-pantry in their lives or at least a double standard pantry to hide away all that kitchen and general life ‘stuff’.
Most plan designs can be altered to accommodate a walk-in-pantry - it can be added under an eave or space taken from a walkway.
A butler’s pantry is amazing and is a great idea if you are fastidious with your kitchen and cooking - if you want an area to prep food away from your guests it’s perfect. You can even put the fridge in the butler’s pantry (no need to keep on cleaning the dirty fingerprints off - out of sight out of mind!) Of course a butler’s pantry gives you more cupboards which equals more storage space…yay! You can have fun with colours in the butler’s pantry too – perhaps with contrasting cupboard door colours or a contrasting stone bench colour or thickness.
Tip 4 - Kitchen cabinetry doors
Most builders provide a matte or sheen finish to the cupboard doors as standard. A sheen finish is a semi-gloss and looks great, but can show up fingerprints more than a matte finish will.
If you want to spend a bit more on your kitchen - around $7000 more - you could upgrade to a thermolaminated door which offers a range of different styles to influence your kitchen vibe, whether it be a shaker style doors for the Hamptons look or a barn type door for a country kitchen. This panelling for kitchen cabinetry looks amazing, but does come with a cleaning caveat - the grooves collect dust and do need to be cleaned regularly compared to a high gloss flush cupboard door. Again personal taste will dictate!
If you have any questions about inclusions or optional upgrades – for the kitchen or any area of the home, contact me here.
