Kitchen Accessories, Design, Appliances – Gadgets for Kitchens

Archive for February, 2008

Kitchen design is very much down to personal taste, but here are a few of our favourite contemporary design styles for you to consider:

Ah, the farmhouse. The smell of warm bread wafting from the oven under the stove, and the sight of the family sitting around a large oak table to enjoy their evening meal. Sound like heaven? Farmhouse stylings rely on older items of furniture like solid wooden chairs and chunky tables. Opt for warm colours like yellows and reds to make for a darker, more comfortable room for the family to enjoy. Think large-scale and bold, from your appliances through to your curtain designs, and your farmhouse-style kitchen won’t go far wrong. Why not try a modern twist on this old concept, with more contemporary styled furniture for a fusion of interior themes?

Probably not best for a family kitchen, the modern or minimalist approach to kitchen design will contain very little. Look for expansive work surfaces and cabinets with plenty of storage – after all, we don’t want that toaster clogging up the work tops, do we? Try stone flooring, or even simple laminate and keep kitchen appliances out of sight where possible. Plenty of natural light will help, be that through patio doors or a large window, and make sure you use bright spot-bulbs to provide artifical light for evening dining.

Practical design isn’t really a specific theme, but more about a way of life that caters to the needs of your family. It’s a combination of simplistic style without sacrificing the general idea of a room that suits the needs of any sized family – particularly where kids are involved! Work surfaces will be easy-wipe and fittings robust enough to deal with the day to day living requirements of your growing family. Don’t worry about too many interior design features – there’ll be plenty time for that when the kids fly the nest! For now, it’s about minimal mess and maximum utility – oh, and make sure you avoid light coloured carpeting!

Chic design in your kitchen will focus on dark tiling and strong lighting, centred around a number of different focal points and features. Consider dark marble work tops and a similarly themed oven to keep in line with the overall idea. And how about tiled flooring or natural stone to bring out the rustic in your kitchen? Try to stay away from gold fittings and fixtures – despite your perception, gold doesn’t necessarily mean quality, and it can end up looking tacky, and ruining the overall look of your room.

Kitchen tiles have long been a staple design feature, and are revered for their versatility and ability to lift the appearance of a room. When done tastefully, tiling can look spectacular and can add value to even the smallest of kitchens. However when done improperly, tiling can look tacky and dated, even if it does still provide the same practical benefits as more stylish tile compositions in the kitchen environment.

The first step to better tiling is learning how to work with tiles in order to understand how better to fit the tiles that you do choose for your kitchen.

First things first, it’s time to get down to removing those old tiles. Your aim is to achieve a flat surface on which you can apply the tile adhesive for the next layer of tiles. That means removing as much of the tiling and the old adhesive as possible in order to create the right surface for tiling. With a chisel, strike the centre of the tile and then leverage it off the wall. Start at one corner of the tiling and work your way across. You should find the tiles come off quite easily, and you can start to build up a rhythm in removing them.

A quick tip here – hang on to a couple of old tiles so you can practice your cutting skills later on. This will be especially handy if you’re going to tile around power-points or corners, which can be tricky if you’re inexperienced at cutting through tile!

Practice, practice, practice – cutting tiles is difficult, and many a tile has been lost through bad cutting or simple inexperience. Use a tile cutter where possible, and try to score into the back of the tile where you want to cut before going ahead and doing so, to avoid damaging the design. At any rate make sure you buy a few more tiles than you need to avoid running out halfway through, as there will inevitably be some degree of wastage in the process.

Before grouting, tape around the corners of your tiles and use separators in order to distance the tiles correctly from one another. If you do happen to get grout on a particular tile, a warm damp cloth in a sweeping motion will do the trick, and will clean your tile no problem.

For the grouting itself, cut the nozzle of the grout container at a 45 degree angle for best effect, and scrape off any excess with a blade or knife during the process.