Six Tips For The Perfect Kitchen Extension For Your Family

Kitchen extensions are a very popular way to modernise a more traditional home, with many families opting to swap an old, poky kitchen for a big, beautiful, multi-functional family space. If you’re planning an extension to create a kitchen that will become the heart of your home, try out some of these ideas. 

1. Even if your house is more traditional, a kitchen extension feels modern. Embrace the more modern vibe by using strong, bold colors that you couldn’t use in the rest of your home. Create a feature wall with bright paint or tiles, and then pull the color into the rest of the kitchen by choosing accessories or decor items in the same shade. These pops of color will feel modern and fun. 
2. One of the advantages of building a kitchen extension is getting to completely tailor all the storage options. Choose storage that works for your kitchen needs, with a mixture of cabinets, cupboards, drawers and shelving. Tailor the storage you add to the sort of kitchen you want. For example, if you love to cook, large cupboards and deep drawers are ideal for storing cookware. Give your favourite wines a good home with a built in wine rack, or show off a collection of beautiful dishware with a set of open shelving. 
3. Create a divide between different zones in a multi-functional kitchen by using the kitchen islands. A central island or breakfast bar can be used to help different zones, like the cooking and dining areas, feel separate. 
4. If your kitchen backs onto the garden, embrace the outdoors. Add big, beautiful windows and lay out your garden so you can enjoy it from the windows, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate for you to go outside. Folding doors are amazing in the summer, as you can open the kitchen right up to enjoy the outside. Treat your patio or deck as an extension of the kitchen and add a dinner table just outside the doors, so you can easily move outside to eat during good weather. Add colorful, scented plants in pots so you can enjoy them when the doors are open. 
5. A multifunctional space can feel confused, but you can help different spaces within your extension feel cohesive by using the same design elements throughout. If your extension combines kitchen, dining and living space, you use the same materials, such as using the same woods, or use the same color set or design theme throughout to help the spaces feel like one room. 
6. Use your extension for more than just cooking. Make a space for the whole family to spend time together. A large dining table can be used by the kids for homework, while you can cook and keep an eye on them. If you enjoy dinner parties, this setup also allows you to socialise while you’re preparing dinner. A seating area with comfy sofas feels cosy and encourages the family to spend time in the kitchen, instead of disappearing to other parts of the house as soon as they’ve eaten dinner. 

*collaborative post*