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So you have followed the advice in our previous post and you are inspired and ready to make some decisions. One more thing to do before you head off down the high street or specialist show-rooms and start spending on that dream kitchen...

MEASURING UP

Almost all kitchens have an awkward corner or services which are on show, at least older homes. Even if a kitchen company will come to your house to measure up at a later date, you do need a good idea of the size of the kitchen and where the services are when you visit their show-room. If you are buying a kitchen and installing it yourself, measuring up is even more critical.

Take an A4 piece of squared paper if possible and draw up the measurements – this is so easy to do. Take exact measurements to the centimetre if not the millimetre of the length, width and height of your kitchen. Ensure you have marked where the oven, sink and electric sockets are positioned – this will ensure you can replace pretty much like for like when your kitchen arrives. If you can do this to scale, it’s even better and will allow the kitchen show-room specialist to really design something or at least suggest a kitchen layout that will fit in with yours.

THE EXCITING BIT- SHOPPING FOR THAT DREAM KITCHEN!

As we said before living in London means that all the major brands have show-rooms and are show-casing the latest trends and must haves. But living outside of London need not mean penury of choice.

Kitchens are the fastest moving areas in term of design, so it’s not just about technology and the latest gadget, but also about the latest new material and perhaps greener alternatives which are kinder to the planet. So “Kitchen Alley” aka Wigmore Street is the place for up to the minute contemporary design; from Italian elegance to German engineering and precision to the more traditional cabinetmakers, huge array of style and budgets are on offer.

So where to shop in Wigmore Street? We like Bulthaup, www.bulthaup.com, cutting edge kitchen design, and the System b3 starts off at £20,000. We also love Schiffini, around since the 1950’s, this Italian company has a small studio on Wigmore Street but the best place to see their latest kitchens is at www.DesignSpaceLondon.com where you will see the MESA kitchen, a kitchen island for preparing food and dining at. This fab kitchen is a mixture of wood, stainless steel and brick-like textures; not for everyone but definitely unusual whilst mixing functionality with cool Italian aesthetics.

Of course in the counties, there is a multitude of kitchen show-rooms, from tiny budgets to larger ones and let’s not forget the Ikea and B&Q ranges, which are competitively priced and good looking too. If you are leaning towards more traditional ranges, the choice is vast. We particularly like www.davonport.com. They used solid woods and they are great example of specialist handcrafted furniture makers, made in a traditional way with traditional designs but they are also extremely good at more architectural and contemporary looks. German engineering again with www.uberkitchens.eu in Romsey Hampshire. The Rondo kitchen has slick high gloss lacquer cabinets in white mixed with veneered teak and lacquered glass – we like these guys because you can mix and match at will and the prices are very competitive, see picture above.

Next blog we investigate feature walls – a wall is a wall is a wall...right?! Well...find out next time why a feature wall doesn’t just have to be a different paint colour or a wallpapered wall!

Photograph kindly provided by www.uberkitchens.eu

Françoise Murat & Associates specialise in interior, garden & landscape design.

For more garden and interior design information visit us at www.francoisemurat.com