The streamlined effect

Here at Contour we’re huge advocates of the streamlined effect when it comes to kitchen design.

As you can tell from our past projects, many of our kitchen designs are sleek, handle-less and ergonomic, with an emphasis on functionality.

Given the kitchen is about far more than mere aesthetics – it’s a workspace where food is created, after all – keeping it streamlined aids with its practically, as it helps to remove any potential obstacles that could get in the way while cooking.

Taking that into consideration, although the visual appeal is a hugely important aspect of a kitchen, simply removing clutter can have a big impact on the practicality of a kitchen space. Cluttered sides and overflowing storage limits the working area. It’s not ideal when you remove a hot tray from the oven with one hand and are having to swipe things out of the way with the other to make the space to put it down.

An easy initial step to help facilitate more room is to remove any duplicates you might have. You may like quirky corkscrews, but do you really need three? You’ll only be using one to uncork wine at a time, after all, so feel free to remove the spares!

Additionally, what about the things that only have one function? A knife can do the work of all sorts of fancy utensils. Pineapple corers and melon slicers may seem like ingenious inventions, but multiple devices for multiple tasks soon leads to overflowing kitchens.

The most obvious place to focus on is the kitchen worktop (for the hot tray reason as mentioned above). Utilising storage space efficiently means you can keep much of your cooking equipment as well as foodstuffs out of sight, helping to 1) ensure the aesthetics of your kitchen are improved and 2) ensure the functionality is improved.

Think also of the ‘flow’ of your kitchen. Are the items that are needed in the right places? Many of our kitchens incorporate coffee making machines and instant hot water taps, but are the coffee cups in the nearby vicinity? It makes more sense to keep the cups above the coffee maker than having to hop across the kitchen to dig out a suitable mug. The same can be applied to cooking utensils – are they within easy reach of the hob? Allocating areas and creating ‘zones’ can help to ensure the space is properly utilised.

In the majority of kitchens, space is at a premium – especially the smaller designs, but even in larger plan kitchens, it’s essential that storage space is employed efficiently to make the most of what you have.

We work with high-end kitchen brands such as Leicht and with high-end appliance brands such as Gaggenau, both of which provide kitchen equipment that marries aesthetics with functionality.

Handle-less kitchens with hidden appliances provide sleek clean lines that epitomise the modern kitchen space. It’s an overall approach and style that we’re firm fans of. Of course, we’re happy to accommodate our customer’s vision but creating a streamlined effect is a sure way to add an instant wow factor to your kitchen while also making it welcoming and inviting – helping to reinforce its sense as a social hub, and not just as a culinary workspace.

What does your kitchen say about you? How to personalise your kitchen

We see the kitchen as the heart of the home; the place where a family comes together to socialise and enjoy time together.

In the past, it was common to opt for a one size fits all approach – buying standard stock kitchens, merely adapted to suit your space. This meant that you often saw carbon copy kitchens, with next to no difference from one house to the next.

Times have moved on since then though, with people often looking to add their own personal touch to their kitchen space. Given its importance as a social hub, it makes sense to personalise your kitchen to reflect aspects of your personality.

Many of our clients like to add quirky features – we’ve seen spiral wine cellars for the connoisseur, an old staircase turned into a bookcase so as not to lose a rustic farm feel, and artwork incorporated into the colour scheme. There are plenty of options out there to add that personal touch.

Make use of colour – the majority of our kitchens are built on clean lines, and often handle less, giving them a sleek, streamlined finish. Adding a splash of colour to the kitchen scheme, be that with the seating, the walls, the lighting fixtures or even supplementary small appliances such as a stand out food mixer, really makes a difference in the overall style and feel of the space.

Add some art – as mentioned, some clients opt to use art as a complementary touch to their colour scheme or just the general theme. Art is an excellent way to give some insight into your personality (being a very subjective, personal medium), while also helping to reinforce a pleasant environment.

Lighting – again, touched on above, lighting furnishes you with further opportunities for personalisation. Not just the colour of the fixtures, but also the style – downlights, wall lights, stylish pendant lights, all can change the ambience and atmosphere of the space.

Create a personal space – breakfast bars are a common addition to many kitchen designs. It provides the opportunity for people to join you in the kitchen, helping to reinforce the element of a social hub, while also helping to prevent cooking becoming a lonely business.

A vintage touch – we mentioned the staircase turned into a bookcase above, and while this was a quirk particular to that specific project, you can still drop in vintage additions to personalise the space. We work with the latest in kitchen technology – including prestigious brands such as Gaggenau and Siemens – and often take a modern, ergonomic approach to our designs, but you can still drop in quirky kitchen gadgets and antiquated utensils, or even smaller aspects such as biscuit tins and crockery. It all depends on the vibe you want to create, which, after all, is what personalisation is all about.

Making the most of your space - small kitchen designs

With recent statistics revealing that the average UK kitchen is at its smallest size since the 1930s, it’s no surprise that one of the biggest factors affecting the design of any modern kitchen is space.

Yet by maximising small kitchen spaces and utilising all the available space, you can create the kitchen you desire. Even if you think your space is too limited, ensuring the correct layout is put in place can help to unlock its full potential.

Whether your kitchen is confined to a single wall, U-shaped, or tucked in a corner, if planned and executed properly, you will still be able to open a space that can be used for more than just cooking and eating. After all, the kitchen is the new living room; where family, friends and guests can come together relax and socialise.

Although some homeowners may feel their kitchen’s small space won’t be able to boast the functionality and comfort of a modern ‘multipurpose’ kitchen, quite the opposite is true.

Modern engineering has allowed for almost limitless height, width and depth options. If you marry this flexibility with the latest internal systems, you gain functionality that encompasses access, storage and loading. For example, extra tall wall cabinets with internal pull down shelving systems give easy access, maximum storage and allow for a far greater utilisation of vertical space than traditional cabinets.

Choosing integrated appliances with matching cabinetry and countertops will also create a minimalist kitchen that offers more space, while giving off a slick, attractive and streamlined appearance.

To further utilise space, you could consider installing ‘smart’ multipurpose appliances such as a compact steam oven, which combines all the heating modes of a full-featured oven with those of a steam oven. Other multipurpose and WiFi-enabled appliances such as smart washing machines, fridge freezers and worktops, are also great ways to converge furniture and save on space.

A lot of these appliances can even be connected though apps on smartphones, enabling you to free up space by controlling cooking and prepping times instantaneously, through just the touch of a button.

Overall, a small kitchen can become a hard-working and homely area that maximises practicality, without compromising on comfort or beauty. Just as with large kitchen spaces, you can carefully craft a practical and stylish design that converges to allow for a seamless, more streamlined lifestyle.

At Contour, our experienced designers will always listen to and work with customers to ensure they receive an elegant, bold design, unique to them.

As with any kitchen design, it comes down to quality over quantity and if you need help renovating your kitchen or starting from scratch, our bespoke designers will work to all shapes and sizes, all of which offer a space truly designed for living.

Going large – big kitchen designs

A large kitchen design is a haven for social gatherings, event hosting and spending quality time with the family. They are social hubs that offer bountiful space and encompass a family-oriented atmosphere.

There are multiple benefits of going big with your kitchen design, and below we’ve detailed some of the reasons why more people are:

Atmosphere

A big kitchen design will ultimately create an open space that can be streamlined to your taste. It gives the designer an opportunity to create different zones such as a space to prep, somewhere to perch with a coffee or perhaps a place to kick back and relax after all the hard work is complete.

The more space, the more opportunity - but also the bigger margin for error. Working with a designer is crucial in order to avoid an empty looking room. You could add an expansive island or peninsula. A breakfast bar, for example, further embraces the functionality and social vibe of the kitchen.

Walk-in pantries and wine fridges are also popular choices as they utilise space and make great visual show pieces, and with the clever use of lighting, the appropriate atmosphere can be created as the use of the space changes throughout the day.

But, whilst it can be easy to fill large spaces, you need to make sure appliances, furniture and features all converge into a seamless, flawless design.

Entertaining

As already mentioned, the kitchen is a social hub where activities with friends, family and guests occur daily. The kitchen is the heart of the home, so the bigger the room, the bigger the heart.

A large kitchen provides a fantastic platform for entertaining, whether it be a dinner party, time with family or even formal meetings.

Hosting dinner parties in an expansive kitchen allows you to interact with your guests whilst showcasing your culinary skills, enabling you to truly command the evening in a space you can be proud of.

Not only will the kitchen become a hub of social connectivity, but it will become the go-to room of the house. If something is happening – it’s happening in the kitchen.

Theme

A large kitchen is more able to adopt darker colours and styles without compromising the appearance of space. You can get away with embracing warmer colours such as cayenne, sand grey or earthy coppers, knowing there is already enough space and natural light to carry it off.

Lighter pallets are equally successful as they reflect light and therefore maximise the feeling of space. The colour choices really are endless, thus allowing you to be more creative and explore styles and themes without any limitations.

Creating a multi-purpose space

The trend for open-plan spaces in the home continues to be as popular as ever and building an extension to increase internal space, or simply knocking down walls, is a regular occurrence in kitchen/living planning.

Creating a larger kitchen by combining two separate rooms maximises multi-functionality and encourages social gatherings.

Here at Contour, our designers work very closely with customers from the moment they walk through our studio doors till the moment they sit back and relax in their new kitchens.

And it’s through these close relationships that we’re able to design kitchens of all shapes and sizes, all of which offer a space truly designed for living.