The Kitchen Conservatory: An Ideal Way to Maximise Space
When we think of conservatories, we think of places in the house where we can relax and lounge about, enjoying a marvellous view of our garden or the natural landscaping out of doors even whilst we remain inside. But conservatories these days are taking a new form and used for different purposes other than as lounge rooms or morning rooms. One of the new forms that the conservatory has taken is the kitchen conservatory.
The kitchen conservatory is more common in modern homes and is typically a bespoke conservatory. It is a great idea to turn a usually neglected spot in the house into a space that is more useful and more pleasant to stay in.
Why Build a Kitchen Conservatory
There are a number of reasons why a kitchen conservatory is ideal in a home. Oftentimes, families spend most of their time together at home in the kitchens, eating meals together, doing chores, or having a chat whilst sipping a cup of tea. In such cases, the kitchen becomes the central part of the house instead of the living room or the parlour.
Constructing a kitchen conservatory only enhances this purpose of the room. As a conservatory, the kitchen becomes an access point to the exterior of the house and not just the interior. Styling the kitchen into a conservatory also brings more light as well as the illusion of more space in the room, making it even more pleasant to stay in.
In fact, building a kitchen conservatory can actually open up more space in the home. If you have a narrow space at the back of your house that you do not use, you can extend the interior of your house to include that space and turn it into your blended galley kitchen and conservatory. This move would utilise that narrow and neglected space and open up the space formerly used by the kitchen for other purposes.
Designing a Kitchen Conservatory
One of the great things about building a kitchen conservatory is that you can make it look any way you want it to be. You can play with your own ideas and have it constructed to suit your tastes.
Just as it is with designing any kitchen, however, there are a few considerations that you must look into when designing your kitchen conservatory. It is going to be a conservatory, but it should function as a kitchen. Thus, you need to plan the layout of your kitchen so that it would be functional, efficient and dynamic.
First of all, you need to figure out the so-called zones of your kitchen when designing your kitchen conservatory. The typical kitchen zones are:
- The non-consumables zone, where you store your china, silverware, small appliances, linens and all the other items in your kitchen that you do not use often.
- The consumables zone, where you keep your groceries and other foodstuff. This is where the refrigerator and freezer are located.
- The preparation zone, which is the section of the kitchen where you do all the prep work necessary for cooking. You would need your cutting tools and your food processors here.
- The cooking zone, where you do the actual cooking. This is where you would store your pots, pans, cooking utensils as well as condiments and seasonings.
- The cleaning zone, where you do all the washing up. Your sink and your cleaning materials for your kitchen are supposed to be placed here.
Thus, when designing your kitchen conservatory, you have to make sure that these five zones are carefully thought of and laid out so that you would be able to work in your kitchen efficiently and move about in it without wasting a lot of time.
You should also pay attention to the storage needs of your kitchen conservatory. Do not sacrifice a wall that could be used for your cabinet space just because you want it to have glass panels. You may end up with a beautiful kitchen, but what is beauty if storage is going to be a problem later on?
Protecting Your Kitchen Conservatory
Aside from the zoning and the storage, you should also put up means to ensure that your kitchen conservatory would be protected. Heat and ventilation would be an issue here, as well as the privacy of your conservatory.
You are going to be cooking in your kitchen conservatory, so it could become very hot here in the summer. You can solve this problem by installing vents and air conditioning.
As for privacy, window blinds and roof blinds will also work well with a kitchen conservatory as they would in a regular conservatory. They will hide your kitchen well from prying eyes as well as help in maintaining the temperature inside your kitchen.
"Thank you the thoughts about zones was very relevent"
P A rawles