What to consider if you’re thinking about making your kitchen open plan

We are seeing an increase in open plan kitchen designs as people want larger, brighter living spaces. The kitchen is the heart of the home so it is only natural that it be open to the dining and living area; it is not only where we prepare and cook food for our families, but it’s also where we help the kids with their homework and entertain friends.

First of all think about how you want your kitchen to function, and then how that should interact with your dining and living area. Ideally, your kitchen should be unique, however some standard kitchens have standard constraints. There are a few typical kitchen layouts that may help guide you in finding the best open plan kitchen for your space and your life.

For an island layout, you need quite a large area to comfortably include an island but this arrangement can provide a lot of amenity with space for cooking as well as entertaining – giving you the opportunity for a cooking area that looks straight out on to your living and dining area.

Alternatively, a peninsula layout can often give you many of the advantages of an island, but uses less space given you needn’t have access from both sides. Ideal for smaller kitchens or a rectangular area, a peninsula kitchen can result in more bench space.

Unless you have a long wall, a straight-line kitchen can squeeze bench space but its advantage is that it can be designed, almost like cabinetry, to be unobtrusive so it can be part of the living and dining area.

Variations of each other, the L and U-shaped kitchens are both flexible and efficient, and ideal if you want or need to incorporate a dining table into the room.

Given your kitchen will be on display, aesthetics also play an important role in designing your kitchen. So it is a good idea to choose appliances that offer flexibility when it comes to selecting a finish that fits with the design and look of your kitchen.

Kitchen designers prefer appliances to speak the same language: appliances with consistency in their looks and edges that run seamlessly between different products so the eye isn’t jarred by out-of-line elements. Appliances with the same handles or glass features lend intention to the design, helping pull it all together.  So choosing appliances from the same design family makes this easy.

Use tools online to help you visualise your perfect open plan kitchen, such as Fisher & Paykel’s The Kitchen Tools, a source of visual inspiration, helpful drawings, product specifications and case studies. Originally designed for architects and designers, the tools and content are professional and detailed.

— Mark is the general manager of Design & Integration, Fisher & Paykel.