Form Follows Function: The Rule in Great Kitchen Design
To a great degree the success of your kitchen will not be dependent on the surface, style or appliance choices you make. In architectural design a favored maxim is that form always follows function. This means that if you start by considering how you utilize a kitchen as a work and social space and optimize your design to that utility, you’ll still end up with a beautiful kitchen.
Modeling
The way space is used requires imagination and a certain amount of trial and error. Space by definition is three-dimensional and learning to think in three dimensions can require practice. If you’re craft-minded, building models can a great help in looking at your space in a new way and for trying out architectural changes in a room. All you need to put together some simple models are your measured drawings, foamcore, a razor knife and a hot glue gun, all available at any arts supply store. Glue a copy of your floor plan to a piece of foamcore and then cut out foamcore walls the same height as the existing ones. Cut out the doors and windows and put it together with glue and tape. We suggest you leave out any soffits, dropped ceilings and interior doorways. Just leave them open up to your open ceiling.
Looking down into your raw space you may find that you can immediately see unused corners, valuable volume filled by closets, dropped ceilings and soffits or places where opening a doorway or moving a window will change the space for the better. Try different combinations and stay open to apparently radical choices. Your carpenter or contractor may show you that moving a wall or window is not as daunting as it may appear.
If you have some computer skills there are many home design, CAD (Computer Aided Design) and drawing programs available that can take your 2-D drawings and render them in three dimensions, making it very easy to try different structural or architectural changes. Some programs also feature ‘walk-through’ functions that can actually walk you through your altered space. If you can’t use one at home, many kitchen cabinet dealers can create one for you. Just be forewarned: This service is a part of the sales process and you may end up looking at walls of cabinets they hope to sell instead of the architectural elements that interest you.
Integrating Existing Elements
In a remodeled kitchen you may have the option of incorporating existing architectural elements within the design of your new kitchen. Interesting moldings like chair rails, crown moldings and various detailing can visually connect your new kitchen with the older house. Existing built-in place cabinetry, often found in pantries and old kitchens may be saved or serve as a design guide for new cabinetry. Often your new kitchen may be an upgrade of the old combined with best features available in new elements.
Styles Based On Lifestyles
Lifestyle has another affect on your style choices. Families with children will seek open traffic patterns, extremely durable materials that are easy to maintain and safe rounded corners, inaccessible appliance controls and other child-proof features. A single person may seek to have certain tasks as automated as possible and near at hand resulting in a more compact and efficient use of space. Your lifestyle should be reflected in your decisions.
Its important to consider these architectural influences when making design decisions rather than simply following a trend you loved in a magazine, book or friend’s home. The most alluring kitchens you see may work extremely well for their owners but not be suited to your lifestyle. By considering function before form you’ll find ways to incorporate the styles you like into a kitchen that works successfully in your lifestyle.
