Whether you’re building a new kitchen or looking to update and old one, settling on a design can be a challenge for many home-owners. As a potential space for entertaining, you want your kitchen to be stylish and comfortable, but you also want it to be functional when creating meals for your family. Don’t sacrifice style for functionality or vice versa. Create your dream kitchen by following these insider tips:

1) Cover your walls in cabinets

Your kitchen’s number one most important feature is its cabinets – no appliance or piece of kitchen equipment can compete with them. That’s because in order to keep your kitchen looking organised and stylish, you need a place to store all of the pots, pans, utensils, gadgets and dry goods you’ve accumulated to keep your kitchen running smoothly and your family fed. As well as being practical, cabinets are a good way to hide your refrigerator, freezer, tumbler dryer, and other appliances so that they blend more seamlessly with your kitchen’s overall design. What’s trending in 2013 is to mix cabinet colours – a cream or grey shade for the upper cabinetry and darker woods for the lower cabinetry.

2) Add an island

A kitchen island provides you with two very important features: more counter-top and cabinet space. Unlike other counter-top areas, an island provides you with uninterrupted space where you can do your mixing, chopping, beating, grating, etc. when preparing a meal. You can design the cabinetry portion of the island to suit your individual needs, adding a sink, overhead lighting or trash compost if it will be your main prep area, or bar stools and chairs if the island will function more as a table and informal space for socialising. Keep in mind that turned legs can give your island the look of furniture, and a bold colour choice can help punch up the kitchen’s overall design. If you’re short on funds or space, a wheel-based butcher’s trolley provides a similar function to an island for a lot less money, and can give your kitchen a nice contemporary feel.

3) Get creative with the storage

Not everything needs to be hidden away in cupboards and drawers in order for your kitchen to look stylish and uncluttered. If you’ve got an exposed wall above your stove or sink, consider adding some hung storage to give your kitchen a more homey and inviting ambience. Instead of buying a pot to store your kitchen utensils, add a rack above your stove where you can hang your spoons, mixers, and spatulas upside down to free up some counter space and provide you with easy access to them while you cook. Likewise, pots and pans can be hung above your kitchen island to help save space, and the family wine rack can be incorporated right into the design of your new kitchen island. Rather than keeping your kitchen items shut behind dark panels, you may choose instead to add a glass window to some of your cabinetry to give your kitchen a more open feel. These creative storage ideas look especially great on a contemporary or country kitchen.

4) Get a splashback

A kitchen splashback is designed to be practical and stylish. Most kitchens have a splashback behind the cooker. It’s easy to clean and protects the wall from splatter, steam and grease when you’re cooking. You can simply wipe it down and it’ll be sparkling clean again. This keeps your kitchen more hygienic and it looks far more attractive than a bare wall. You can get a splashback from Custom Splashbacks and choose a design that really speaks to you and your family. This will make your kitchen look like a part of your home, as it suits your style perfectly.

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