Analyse and Plan your Kitchen

Take a pen and write it down your requirements, I know you are not going to do that , but  trust me ,its worth noting what you really need in your kitchens for better planning.


1) Utility Requirements while you work

    Lets start with the Counter Top . Most Commonly Used are  Granite ,
   Quartz (Kalinga & Hafele ) ,Nano Glass ,  Agl Slabs , Caeserstone  (Hafele) ,
    Corian (Dupont & Local Brands).
 
If you want a Rough Kitchen with all the rough work to be done , Go for black Granite  which   will  with stand any abduction including stains , cleaning liquids and   even Lemon .Black Granite is also the cheapest in the segment starting from 250 Rupees/sft .when the slabs are joined together the joining gap wont be so visible due to the black color .

Please avoid White Granite if it’s a L shaped Kitchen because when you join the slabs in corner , there will be small gaps in the joining parts and later debris will get accumulated there and it looks very dirty .

 White counter tops provide a sense of richness and elegance to any kitchens , Nano white  is an option , but  when used in an L shape Kitchen the joining gaps will bring the same problem  when we use white granite , that is dirt accumulation .The same problem will pop up when double nosing is done .See The Below Pics of a Nano White  Installation in an L shaped Kitchen .The solution is to make a black line , in between the joints which will nullify the dirt effect .


                                       Below is a Nano white Installation , Double Nossing

                                         Below Is  a Nano White  Installation , Corner Slab joint

 
                                    Below Picture Shows How a White Counter top Installation can avoid the 
                                    the gap issues by simply sandwiching a black granite piece between the slabs . 
                                

Then Comes the Quartz , What ever the  Sales Man in the Tile Shop tells you about the wonderful stains free product  , 4 of my clients have changed the Quartz (Kalinga ) from their kitchens to Normal Black Granites , due to the "stain loving " features of Quartz , There are stain free finishes in quartz but the colors remind you of those 80's Tamil Vijaya Kanth Movies

Agl Slabs are ok except with the Gap Issue , Debris Collection . 

Hafele Caeserstone is an ok guy with reasonable features , If you are not concerned about the Sft Rate (i think its around 2500 including installation ) then go for it . its completely stain free but have the problem of gap in l shape kitchens , but no double nosing issues .
                                             
                                                    Below is the Corner Slab Joint for Caeserstone

Corian is a widely used Countertop and it doesnt have any of the problems , its like a bed sheet
we tuck in mattresses leaving behind all the gap issues , Make sure buy corian from Branded Vendors . its not advisable to buy from the local industrial units due to bad customer support
                                
                                        Below is the Corian Counter Top

2)Space Requirements for your free movement .

You Might have seen a wonderful Island Kitchen in your friends house , and you have asked your contractor to make space for it while construction , some times due to many reasons , he may not be able arrange the space for that island in your kitchen .

Never never never put an island in your kitchen if you dont have atleast 1 meter clearance from the
wall or other opposing  cabinets .Keep in mind that , a 7 meter kitchen is more than enough to serve a 5 member family who cooks 4 times a day and  are over weight . Bottom line is that adding more cabinets or an island cabinet is not gonna make your kitchen more user friendly but it will surely add flavours to the ideas of congestion .

Again it doesn't meant that you cant build an island in a small space , its possible but you need to plan other cabinets accordingly .

The best practice to make use of the space is to add tall cabinets , which will serve as the "store room " for your kitchen and avoid all kinds of expensive accessories in market , if you want space, put some removable shelf inside so that you can arrange and adjust the shelves , in case you want to accommodate a kitchen broom .

3) Appliances Selection

Below are the  most commonly  used appliances in a modular kitchen

Microwave , Oven , Wine cooler , Fridge , Aqua Guard , Hob , Chimney ,

 Below is the pic of an inbuilt Micro wave and Oven 

Below is the pic of a standalone Microwave /Oven

Below Pic Inbuilt Fridge

 First thing , you need to decide for Microwave , Oven , Wine Cooler , Fridge are whether it need to be inbuilt or Free Standing . Inbuilt Means the Supplier have modified it to be inserted in a modular cabinet with proper technical Specifications . It looks Stylish , but costs at least 9 times in comparison with free standing Appliances .

If you opt for the Free standing , it can be accommodated into the Modular Kitchen as a whole unit with the help of your designer . Ask him to select the color of the appliances to make sure it doesnt look isolated from the full kitchen unit .

If you opt for freestanding,

Please dont put a free standing appliance pushed in to the space of an inbuilt appliance. , in the long run , heat dissipation from the free standing appliance may create pealing of the Laminate and also improper air ventilation damages the appliance functionalities .
A lot of People Complains that the chimney is a waste of money as it doesn't have the capacity to suck the foul  smells in kitchen . Mostly its because , during the intial days when the chimneys were introduced most of the designers were sceptical about the cost and they supplied a 750 m3/hr  Indian Brand chimneys which were meant to be for minimal vegetable cooking in office pantries !!.

If you are Buying a chimney of Indian Company , you should atleast buy a 1000 m3/hr suction capacity chimney if you dont want your neighbour to guess your dinner .

There are different  Performance measurement criteria's for Indian and European Brands of Chimneys,If You are buying European , you can use 870 m3/hr  to get the same effect of the indian counter part buying 1000 m3/hour .

Most of my Vegetarian Clients , complaints that Cook Top Hobs Take more gas and is slow to cook ,
Its 100 % True ,Most of them even calculate the timing with the old stand alone stove and the new cook top guy is far behind the old traditional stove. If you dont mind a Stand alone Gas Stove in the top of the granite , its better to buy that old guy . But if you want an ambience in your kitchen then go for the new guy .

If you want precise Sharpened flames , then go for Siemens Hob , Trust me they dont pay me a penny for saying it , You know this corporates  , once they become brand they dont care!!!


4) Plumbing Points for Water Purifier and Sink

   Aqua Guards , what ever Brand you are comfortable with , Make sure you have discussed all your concerns with your designer ,if you dont mind a visible aqua guard in between the bottom cabinet and wall cabinet , you need to do the plumbing points for them and make sure the Power Plug for aqua Guard is above the water inlet to prevent any leakage spill to the power plug .

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that , some times professionals go to such an extend to keep their kitchen stylish , they forget about the whole purpose of an aqua guard . I have seen a kitchen in which an aqua guard was placed in the wall cabinet and there was a small tube sealed inside the wall invisible from the aqua guard outlet to the Pipe near the sink where the water will be collected to drink. It looks not a bad idea , but eventually there will be bacteria accumulated in the Tube and even though the aqua guard  provides clean water , due to the tube bacteria , user will get only contaminated water .

 Sink Plumbing points , Some times some designers put a new model of Aqua Guard with Pumps inside the sink cabinet , Make sure you have enough space and you wont get irritated by the messy look inside sink cabinet due to the Pumps .


5) Storage Requirements .

Ask yourselves questions like ,do you store groceries for a week or you do occasional cooking only .
How much will the Flour Container weigh. Do you like to take out the spices and oils from a ledge
fixed to the wall or you like to pull it out from the base cabinet ?

Do you like a Drip tray in the wall cabinet that can be used after washing the plates and glass to drip off the water .



6) How much you can compromise with utility to add in more Style.
  Designers will push you for more open customized cabinets to make  your kitchen stylish , but when you work in kitchen and if you have a lot of grocery containers , your curios will take the most wanted storage spaces.






7) Do you really need all those fancy Hardware Functionalities and are you gonna use it?

 There are tons of Hardware Functionalities available in the market in exorbitant Prices !!
 Always Make sure all the vendors are branded as service support will be an issue after one to two years especially with the segments that use electrical sensors to open and close doors .


Please find the below links to know more about the Different Functionalities used in the shutter doors

 

8) Legalise your contract  

    Write it down the full scope with your contractor and details of  Hardwares,  Cabinet colors , Materials , Counter Tops and Wall tiles  etc