A modern kitchen is often a popular design choice for homeowners when considering home improvement plans. As technology advances and design trends change, it’s now universally popular to implement a modern design aesthetic throughout the home, and the kitchen is a great place to start.
How Can You Create A Modern Kitchen?
There are so many design options to choose from to make your kitchen more contemporary and aligned with the latest trends. The best thing about this is that it doesn’t have to cost a lot! A kitchen renovation or re-design is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve the value of your property, as well as to quickly bring a contemporary feel into your home.
So if you’re looking to modernise your kitchen, you’re in luck. We have composed a list of the easiest and top trending ways to upgrade your kitchen without forking out hundreds of pounds.
Install Smart Appliances
In this day and age, there are plenty of devices and different kinds of technology to improve your quality of life and make it easier. One of the most popular inventions in recent years that will modernise your kitchen instantly, is the Amazon Alexa. Alexa is a robotic personal assistant, who can set reminders, alarms, play music and near enough do anything you tell her to. She’s really handy in the kitchen, as with a simple call of her name she can even notify you when your food is ready to come out of the oven.
And it doesn’t stop there; if you’re stuck on what to cook for dinner, she can inspire you with a list of delicious cuisines if you ask her for some trending recipes! If you’re on a diet, she can even provide you with a variety of different healthy dishes and give in-depth instructions on how it can be prepared. The Amazon Alexa will soon be your best friend in the kitchen and is definitely a must-have for anyone who is trying to keep their kitchen up to date with the latest technology. Which brings us to our next point – with technology advancing every day, you can make your life a great deal easier by upgrading to smart appliances. Appliances like the Appkettle are linked to your smartphone, and allow you to carry out simple tasks like boiling the kettle from your phone. So if you’re on your way home from work and are desperate for a warm cup of tea, you can boil the kettle just before you reach home ready for when you get in.
As well as this, one of our favourite revolutionary kitchen appliances has to be Studiolines oven range. It features a sous-vide function that allows food preparation with pure steam; this then preserves all of the vitamins and minerals in your food, as well as holding all flavours and textures to create a restaurant-worthy meal. Find more about the Studioline oven range here.
Add A Kitchen Island
Kitchen islands are a trend swiftly rising in popularity. Even if you have a small kitchen, our kitchen fitters in Milton Keynes can make plans and storage solutions to ensure that you have the space for a kitchen island. They make your kitchen appear more spacious and can have appliances such as dishwashers and sinks installed within it. It also offers extra working space for food preparation and storage.
Whatever you wish to install in your kitchen island is entirely based on your own preferences and needs, just be sure that the measurements are correct beforehand. All in all, kitchen islands are a fantastic way to break up your kitchen space and make it seem more modern and open planned.
New Flooring
Traditional or dated kitchens often have vinyl or lino flooring that are commonly seen in older kitchens, and can therefore cause the room to appear slightly dated. In the event of a leak or flooding, vinyl and lino flooring is almost guaranteed to rise up from your flooring foundations, bubble or even grow mould. This is a health hazard and is most definitely something that you should avoid having in the kitchen.
For a contemporary design in your kitchen, we would always recommend using kitchen tiles. These allow for plenty of design options, as well as the choice of various different shapes and size best suited to your preferences. If you have a small-scale kitchen, using large kitchen tiles could save you money on your kitchen flooring. Although the tiles work out slightly more expensive, they have a larger surface area and will require a lower quantity to tile your entire kitchen floor. We must however mention, that if you have pets or young children, you may want to consider another flooring option, as tiles can become scratched or cracked easily.
Add A Breakfast Bar
Gone are the days of eating your breakfast at the dining table or on the go. The latest trend in modern kitchens are breakfast bars. Of course, this is just a term and isn’t strictly for breakfast purposes, but your breakfast bar is another seating space perfect for meetings, get-togethers or a general chit chat. Homeowners who love having guests round for a cup of coffee are the primary users of this fantastic trend, and have found numerous ways to make it suited to the design of their entire property.
Breakfast bars are generally a simple extra countertop with bar stools or seats. They take up minimal space, making them perfect for any kitchen, and are perfect for those looking for seating space who do not have the capacity for a designated dining area. A common trend in homes is to have your breakfast bar extended into your conservatory. If you have a conservatory and open planned kitchen, you can extend your breakfast bar into your conservatory by knocking through a wall, and can spend your mornings enjoying breakfast in the natural daylight – the perfect addition for modern kitchens in Buckingham.
Install New Lighting
Lighting is everything; your lighting situation can convey a mood and even affect the attitude of guests in your home. If your property is very dimly lit, this naturally can cause guests to feel fatigued and a sense of lethargy, whereas a brightly lit home promotes an energetic, contemporary feel.
You can improve your lighting by installing somewhat more energy efficient LED lighting fixtures. LED lighting is one of the most popular forms of unique home illumination, and is found in a variety of different properties such as shops, offices, homes and showrooms. Its brightness makes you feel awake, and even makes a room appear bigger and cleaner. If you wanted to take your kitchen design a step further, why not install LED mood lighting? You can purchase LED mood lighting that is designed in the form of a typical ceiling light, except it is colour changing and has dimmable features to add a sense of relaxation to your kitchen.
Have An Open Planned Kitchen
It’s common for new build homes to have an open planned design throughout the entire property design. If you want to maximise space and modernise your kitchen, we recommend opting for an open planned kitchen. If you currently have a smaller enclosed kitchen, you can achieve this by knocking through a wall. Adding an arch in place of the wall is a good way to achieve the look of an open planned space, while still retaining the illusion of having two separate rooms.
An open planned kitchen gives you more space to work with, while also allowing space for more additions like a breakfast bar or kitchen island.
Upgrade Dated Appliances
We previously mentioned upgrading your home with smart appliances; however, it is also wise to upgrade those that are old and slightly dated. This primarily applies to devices like your fridge, washing machine or freezer. These appliances are paramount for a fully-functioning kitchen. Once they get too old, they start losing power and costing you more on your energy bills due to the high-quantity of power needed for them to run at full capacity.
When fridges and freezers begin to lose power, they aren’t able to remain at the low temperatures needed. Because of this, your produce and food in the fridge may start to expire a lot quicker, and in the worst case can even become unsuitable to eat. Refrigerators and freezers come in many different models now and have numerous new improved features. For modern homes, we recommend investing in a large American style fridge freezer, as they are durable and can hold a high amount of contents. We supply a variety of appliances that you can kit out your new and improved kitchen with, take a look at them here.
Modernise Your Kitchen
Creating and designing a contemporary kitchen is a breeze when you follow these top tips. Renovating your kitchen is a relatively simple task, that makes it simple to let your inner creative run free and to design a modern kitchen suited exactly to your preferences.
For more information on our kitchens in Aylesbury, please feel free to contact a member of our team today! We hope that this article was helpful, if it was then why not share on social media?