How Lighting And Storage Can Make Your New Kitchen More Comfortable
Custom kitchens give you the chance to design the space exactly as you want. To create a comfortable kitchen, one that you will enjoy using day to day, make sure to choose the right types of lighting and storage. Both of these will have a big impact on the kitchen's use and livability.
Lighting And Comfort
If you incorporate different levels of lighting, you will then be able to change the ambience in an instant to suit your current needs. A kitchen at times functions as a study, at other times as a work zone and also on occasions as a meeting place for socialising and fun.
If you try to cater to all these activities with one bright overhead light, you will be left with an uncomfortable kitchen. You will sometimes squint because the brightness level is too glary, and at other times, you will strain to read because the light is too low. Additionally, your own figure can cast a shadow across the benchtop.
What will help is a variety of lighting options so you can choose the best one for any moment. A pendant light over an island, combined with halogen downlights which enable reading, provides more control. Under-cabinet LED track lighting to illuminate a benchtop will help with cooking and preparing food. In-cabinet oval puck lights or a light bar will remove the need to blindly feel around the back of cabinets. These options will let you adjust the lighting to make the kitchen comfortable for a variety of activities.
Storage And Convenience
Other decisions for an effortless kitchen centre around storage. A cluttered benchtop that is overflowing makes it hard to relax. Microwaves can monopolise a considerable chunk of countertop space that could otherwise be free. Mixers, toasters and other gadgets and accessories can overload the area. And getting on your hands and knees to reach into the back of a cupboard is not comfortable either.
Carefully planning your storage can eliminate these issues. A cabinet custom designed to house a microwave will save benchtop space, and other storage spaces can specifically accommodate appliances such as toasters and beaters.
Accessible cupboards also make your kitchen feel more natural to use. Pull-out shelves within cupboards glide forward on rails to allow access to the very back. A roll-out rubbish bin in a bottom cabinet is another option. To make corner storage convenient to access, you could install a lazy susan or right-angled corner drawer units. Deep drawers can contain large pots and pans, and shallow ones can hold smaller bits and pieces.
