Tips for achieving your dream kitchen

A kitchen is the integral heart of a home, and its design can greatly affect the atmosphere. We caught up with Inglis Hall, The Kitchen Maker, to get the top tips and tricks for designing a modern and practical culinary oasis in your home.

Before we start, let’s get to know Inglis Hall a little more. In their own words, “It’s very simple. We make kitchens”, using materials from local sources. Every member of their team is extremely involved in the entire process of bringing a kitchen to life. They have their finger on the pulse of the modern kitchen design and are consistently creating spaces that are both beautiful and practical.

Now to the fun part – the top tips on creating your dream kitchen. We’ve gathered answers from the design team at Inglis Hall, as well as from our very own lighting designers, to create a top tips list from all perspectives!

How do I make my kitchen more inviting?

Inglis Hall: By insisting on warm, dimmable lighting, and including some soft seating. It could be a built-in banquette at a dining space, or just a nice big arm chair in the corner.

Fritz Fryer: A well conceived lighting scheme is essential and needs to be considered at the start of the project,  typically it is tricky to retrospectively correct later on. The main key word is ‘layers’, layers of light are essential for creating an inviting and cosy, ambient space, whilst providing the all important task lighting. A colour temperature of 2200k – 2700k will enhance the inviting atmosphere.

How do I make my kitchen more practical?

Inglis Hall: We like to zone our kitchens, much like you would find in professional kitchens, with Cook, Clean, and Prep zones. Each having everything you need to fulfil the task at hand, within arms reach.

Fritz Fryer: Task lighting is important. Consider how you will use the kitchen and where exactly within the space you will prepare food or dine. Under cabinet lighting is a given, but we love to specify a run of simple work lights over a counter top where there aren’t any eye level cabinets. This creates an excellent visual feature and also provides task lighting for food prep over at the counter. Pendants over an island and/or kitchen table provide an excellent aesthetic focal point and when controlled by a dimmer switch will provide both the task lighting in this area as well as the intimate lighting for dining.

Tips for creating a versatile kitchen space?

Inglis Hall: People, whether they are the cook, family, or guests, will always congregate at the kitchen island. To help the island be as adaptable as possible it helps to have a completely clear space with no sink or hob. Lighting options over the island also help change the mood to suit the occasion. People like lower level, dim lighting when entertaining, but to enable one to prepare food, roll out pastry or even start assembling their new Lego set, full illumination is ideal.

Fritz Fryer: We referred to layers of lighting earlier. These are key and should be on separate circuits and controlled individually. This way, you can change the mood of the space by controlling/dimming the individual circuits.

Where do I begin when planning my dream kitchen?

Inglis Hall: We always begin with the floorplan. Making sure that the zones are positioned effectively, and the space flows, with comfortable passing distances between kitchen cabinets. Once the floorplan is nailed, you can move on to thinking about how the kitchen looks, and what materials, and lighting to incorporate.

Fritz Fryer: Work out how you will use the space and set out the floorplan. Consider natural light in the space but don’t be tempted to locate skylights above tables and islands. Once you have a detailed floor plan only then start to prepare the lighting plan. The lighting plan needs to work in harmony with the kitchen layout.

What’s the latest kitchen trends?

Inglis Hall: I would say that we don’t follow trends. Because we design our kitchens to function first – taking inspiration from professional kitchens, and build our kitchens to last a lifetime, trends are largely obsolete. We think of our kitchens as timeless, which is helped a lot by the materials we use.

I suppose as materials evolve, and kitchen hardware improves, it can have an impact on how a kitchen is designed, and therefore inform trends. For example, the boiling water tap. Suddenly there is no need for a kettle, which changes your morning ritualised cup of tea. Or downdraft extractors, meaning that cooking at an island is much easier to achieve whilst maintaining a simple aesthetic.

Fritz Fryer: Pendants and bars over islands are still super popular, as is the addition of simple wall lights over counter tops.