Most of us are now aware of the benefits of a kitchen/diner – a room in which to relax and entertain as well as to prepare and eat our meals. Some people will relocate their kitchen to a larger room in the home, such as a rarely used formal dining room. If this is not the answer for you, then a single-storey extension on an existing room, or a conservatory housing the working kitchen, may be the perfect solution. The pastel-painted kitchen featured here- is an excellent example of a well- designed and compact kitchen positioned in a single-storey extension to the side of a living space.
When planning a kitchen extension or refurbishment, it is a good idea to decide how much of your time will be spent preparing meals in the room, and how much time will be taken with activities more associated with a living or sitting room. If your kitchen is well designed, a great deal can be achieved in a very limited space: good planning is the key to a successful working kitchen. As much can be achieved by an inized cook in a small kitchen as in the most generous spaces. You may therefore be surprised at how little space you need to allocate to the working kitchen. Really, all that is needed is adequate storage, a cooker, refrigera- tor, sink and sufficient preparation and serving spaces.
The attractive kitchen featured here benefits from the additional natural light supplied by the skylights and further enhanced by the chosen colour scheme. Lemon-green wall and base units sit very happily on a lavender blue background. It is interesting to note that pastels are the only colours on the colour wheel that you can guarantee will never clash; it doesn’t matter what combination you team kitchen and the dining together, they will always work successfully. The lavender-blue walls and ceiling also act to maximize the available space as all blue-based, cool colours appear to recede, and therefore create the impression of pushing back the walls that they decorate. Tonal interest is provided by the dark blue stained glass in the windows and the inset border on the tiled splashback. This important detail acts to emphasize the area, adding depth to a basic pastel colour scheme.
