Streamlining Your Sydney Kitchen for Effortless Living
Summer in Sydney is synonymous with entertaining, and making the most of the weather and sunlight with family and friends. With extra time spent at home, it’s natural that we begin to notice elements of our kitchen’s layout or design that create more challenges than they solve.
With this in mind, this can be a great time of year to consider either a renovation or smaller strategic updates to minimise headaches and maximise the use out of your kitchen and any adjoining outdoor spaces. We’ve compiled some of our top tips to achieve a seamless, streamlined Sydney kitchen that you’ll look forward to using every day.
Blur the lines between outdoors and in
One of the biggest barriers to making full use of the kitchen during summer is its lack of integration with your outdoor entertaining space. While many modern kitchen designs embrace the open plan concept with living and dining spaces nearby, most homes still don’t take into account how your alfresco area is just as important to consider as part of this overall design.
Where possible, replace walls or standard doors with sliding options or a wall-to-wall bifold system that can create one large, seamless space when required. Building a cavity into the wall that can conceal these doors when open really heroes this element of the design, and makes the larger space feel cohesive between the two areas.
Similarly, continuing a degree of shelter over this space – whether that be through a roof, a shade sail or a pergola – and installing elements like cabinetry for extra storage, a fan for warm days or even a television can help it to feel like a natural extension of your adjoining living space.
Invest in your island
Island benches are another staple design element of modern Sydney kitchen design, though often their potential for storage and functionality is underutilised.
Given these usually sit as a centrepiece of the layout, the island can make for a great home for things like a bar fridge. Placing things that your guests are likely to access at the periphery of your design prevents the kitchen from becoming a thoroughfare while entertaining, streamlining the flow of traffic in the space.
You can also utilise custom joinery to build in design features that assist in food preparation; such as a concealed rubbish hole in which to sweep scraps, a pull-out chopping board that is otherwise hidden underneath your bench, or an integrated secondary dishdrawer that minimises the dishes in your sink and is easily accessible while preparing food.
Thinking about giving your kitchen an update for the entertaining season? Our design principles eBook contains great tips for a kitchen you’ll enjoy year-round – download it now.
Declutter your benchtops
One of the biggest culprits when it comes to consuming bench space in a Sydney kitchen design are the small appliances we accumulate, and tend to leave out for convenience. When it comes to the rate of usage, however, it’s rare that these are all used every day.
Designing a dedicated storage solution for benchtop appliances means that you can reclaim precious bench space, keeping this clear both from a functional perspective as well as an aesthetic one; while not compromising on the convenience of having these at arm’s reach.
This may involve creating a set of deep pull-out drawers below a vacant benchtop; implementing tailored storage at the base of your pantry; or even designing a concealed appliance hutch with shelving that makes use of otherwise empty wall space, that can be hidden away when not in use with either a roller door or cupboard door.
Organise your cabinetry
If you find your cupboards are constantly overflowing and dread the task of pulling out your extra crockery and servingware every summer, it’s a good sign that your Sydney kitchen could benefit from some custom storage organisation within your cabinetry.
Begin by mapping out the different categories of storage you need in your space, paying particular attention to any pain points you have with your current layout or design.
For example, you may have a lot of wasted space in corner cupboards because it can be awkward to reach into the back of the space. A swivel solution that provides easy access to the contents of this type of cupboard could breathe new life into this otherwise dead storage space.
You might also be surprised at how much storage can be reclaimed through implementing other storage organisers, like vertical racks for plates or cooking tools, adjustable shelves to accommodate for items of varying height, or even storage concealed on the inside of cupboard doors for things like saucepan lids that can otherwise be awkward to store.
For a more tailored approach to streamlining your kitchen set-up, why not enlist the help of our talented design team here at Apollo Kitchens? With showroom locations across Sydney, Western Sydney and the Central Coast, it’s easy to visit us in-person to discuss your project and to get hands-on with different materials and finishes.
