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Kitchen Design
Kitchen design is very important, but it is sometimes confused with kitchen planning. Both planning and design are critical, and ignoring one while concentrating on the other can lead to a disaster and regret. A designer can use different materials, cabinets, finishes, lighting, etc. to achieve a sleek, modern look and feel or a kitchen that seems to belong to an old Irish cottage.
There is no limit to the amount of kitchen designs you can have - only your imagination.
Kitchen planning is primarily about the effective use of the space you create, or you are allowed to work with in an existing house. When you plan a kitchen, you are thinking about the placement of the cooker, sink, appliances, types of cabinets and the layout of the cabinets and countertops.
Designing a kitchen that you want means putting in the research where you look at possibly hundreds of different designs and pick ideas from each, to finally put in place the jigsaw that was your jumbled thoughts at the outset.
Your research will undoubtedly take you across the vast cyberspace the World Wide Web, into numerous showrooms and design centers, which because of the Irish housing boom, are more readily accessible in cities like Dublin, Belfast and Cork. Ireland is not really a big place so it pays to spend time doing a bit legwork to get the right combination. This is the most important room in the house, and one that you may be using for the rest of your life.
There is any number of excellent kitchen design books and magazines, providing you with colour photos of kitchens, large and small, expensive and affordable. If you really want to be on the cutting edge, look at kitchen designs done in European countries. European kitchen designers often produce stunning results in small spaces, especially German and Italian designers.
Design is not just about cabinets and countertops. Every surface in the kitchen is a design element. The backsplash space between the countertops, ceiling, doors, wall spaces above and around cabinets, etc. all should contribute to the overall design theme.
Unfortunately, lighting is often overlooked in many kitchen designs and it the single most important element. Natural light is your greatest companion, particularly in the dreary Irish winters.
You do not want to create a situation where in wintertime artificial lighting is the only means of illuminating your kitchen during daylight hours.
If you are buying or building a house that is costing maybe half a million euros (not much by Irish standards today), it may be well worth the money to invest in a professional designer. They can be sourced by word of mouth (the best way) or through professional listings such as Kitchens Ireland provide.
Do not rely on kitchen manufacturers to design your kitchen as part of their quotation. This is the tail wagging the dog. Manufacturers will steer you in their direction from a convenience point of view (for them) and a maximizing of the cost (for you). Again depending on budget, the independent advice of a designer can be saved many times over in cost and contentment from knowing that you what you set out to achieve.
As with every room in your house, planning your Kitchen is the key.
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