Check list for kitchen planning may help. Planning a Fitted Kitchens Step 1: Getting Started Designing the most important room in your home requires careful planning. So, before you do anything else there are some key questions to ask yourself. As you do so keep a record of your ideas so you can refer back to them as your project progresses. Step 2: How and when you want to use the space What do you and don’t like about your existing kitchen. What really works for you in the current kitchen layout and what frustrates you? The negatives are just as important as the positives as they can help you form a clear idea of what you do or don’t need in your new fitted kitchen. Step 3: Key areas of the kitchen There are four vital zones that will create a natural and efficient flow to your kitchen design; cooking, food preparation, sink and storage. However, increasingly kitchens are used for all types of activity. Do you need a room that can cope with the rigours of a busy family? Are you going to dine in your kitchen? If so, plan enough room for a dining table, breakfast bar or island is a great place to congregate. You may be a keen cook and if your cooking for a large family a range cooker may figure in your plans along with plenty of worktop space. You may want turn your kitchen into a open-plan design in which case a area to relax, and room for a sofa and TV may be important. Ultimately, it’s your kitchen, and the most important thing is how you and your family are going to use the space. Design the space and features (must have items) around the activities that will take place in your kitchen, and most of all ensure you match your kitchen to your lifestyle. Step 4: Finer details As you become clear on the demands you will be placing on your new kitchen make a wish-list of your preferred products and materials. From a practical perspective consider what you will require from you appliances, worktops, storage solutions and sink and tap. You may already have a look in mind of the kitchen in terms of colour, style and finish, but it’s a great idea to gather ideas from magazines or websites. Enjoy creating a scrap-book with cuttings of furniture, flooring, taps, even paint finishes, crockery or vases- anything that inspires you. Even just images with right ‘feel’. Step 5: Budget With a kitchen the cost of key elements such as appliances, units and worktops can vary dramatically. For instance, appliances may account for a considerable percentage of the total cost of the kitchen, however if branded top-end ovens, hobs and extractors are specified this percentage can escalate dramatically to become the most expensive element of the project. Similarly the choice of worktops materials and door material may increase the budget substantially. There may be areas of the project where you may have to be prepared to consider a compromise to stay within your budget. Step 6: Layout As a rule of thumb this will be dictated by the existing dimensions of you room, or you may be lucky enough to be planning to extend. If you are extending you amy wish to consider an open-plan kitchen to seamlessly link through to the living area. Whatever the shape there are clever design options that will ensure you can make the most of the space available to you. Even in a tight space a clever designer can still work miracles.

Hello Mohammed, You're welcome ! I think the wooden chest is actually nice and I would leave that and have a mirror over it.. It's looks good but of course entirely your choice. The copper/rose gold or glass bulb light is the one to consider out of the ones you have chosen but the glass bulb would give you more light! However it's more subtle... Reason why I'd be inclined to leave the wooden chest and add something there.. Wood offers warmth and texture which is why I think it's a nice idea.. At the far end I would only suggest a mirror (if the hall is really short but it didn't appear to be) You can always try a long mirror and then try adding something like a column and a sculpture or a vase of flowers or something decorative to stand in front. If you want to add a bench seat by all means or maybe a console table would be nicer or useful - it really depends on how you use your hall. :))

Hello, you have some really good options now. Personally what struck me was how many doors there are in this area/area's. It seems to inhibit flow. As you said you seems to always be going "around" items. In the new proposed design I was wondering why you need a table next to a bench with there also being a table in the dining room? As someone else mentioned the powder and utility room seem overly large in comparison to the kitchen and what you want to achieve. Forgive my crude alterations, I had about 5 minutes to spare, here are some other thoughts to the above, but, the best option will really depend on how you want to live in this new area and the functional flow you are after. You can easily keep the wall between the kitchen and dining in place. Or, you can remove all or part of it. If part is structural and small lintel can easily be added (generally). Opening it up will allow more natural light and help with overall flow, however, retaining some of the wall also maintains a degree of privacy and can allow for hanging of art or positioning of other furniture against the retained wall. You could also add a sliding door between the kitchen and dining if you wished, however, this could be a compromise if you can create a cavity slider. The central island bench has an overhang so can easily accommodate breakfast, family dinners, homework in view (put in lots of USB and power outlets in this island). You could also make the bench a bit wide and drop part of the height to a normal table height, although I believe this would compromise the flow. Options also exist to remove some of the dining wall to the hall. But, not knowing the house dynamics this could impact on required noise control and heat/cooling requirements. Again sliders to the dining room/hall way can increase the effective space in both areas. They could be hung externally on the hall side.. Slot windows above the main kitchen bench can also bring in light. WM and Dryer can be incorporated in the kitchen cupboards. So many options. Good luck! Julie An idea of how slot windows can look.

The stools inside the kitchen don't help too much to interact. The stools basically provide a place to eat something quick and you can interact from outside the kitchen (it's open and you don't feel really away). As you say, this solution provides a less cluttered look. The bookshelf is a nice addition that helps to tie with living space. You can change the books to: decorative items, or dining buffet objects and then install the dining table by the kitchen