Summer is fast approaching which means that it will soon be time to take the entertainment outdoors. If you want to impress your friends and family with the standard of your barbeques, brunches and garden parties, the one thing that you should consider doing is building your own outdoor kitchen.

For a lot of people, an outdoor kitchen is the height of luxury and the perfect way to entertain when the weather is good. I mean, imagine sipping a cocktail on the deck while the birds sing, the flowers bloom, and your dinner cooks over an open fire. Bliss, right?

If you decide that an outdoor kitchen is for you, there are a number of things that you will need to consider to ensure you get it right, but if you pay attention and think carefully about your wants and needs, you’ll be able to build the perfect outdoor kitchen in no time at all.

[Photo courtesy of toddpharistx/pixabay.com]

An Extension of Your Living Space

First and foremost, you should think of an outdoor kitchen as an extension of your living space. A well-built outdoor kitchen will add value to your home if it is able to offer shelter, shade and comfort. This means that you will need to locate it in an area that is near trees, or where you can easily erect an awning to keep the area cool when you’re cooking in the hot summer months, and you’ll probably want to install an outdoor heater for the cooler months., This might be starting to sound expensive already, but you can get a loan quickly, and if you do the job right, the value of your property should increase as a result.

Think About the Surroundings

As I mentioned above, your outdoor kitchen should be an extension of your indoor space, but it also needs to fit in with its outdoor surroundings. Ideally, you should locate your kitchen as close to the house, on a patio or decking, as possible, so that there is a seamless flow from indoors to outside, and you should try to incorporate as many of the same colors and materials in your outdoor kitchen as you would find outside.

Additionally, you should take a look at the colors and textures present in your garden and try to incorporate some of them into your design too. For example, if you have lots of plants and trees in your garden, using bamboo or other natural-looking woods would be a good idea, and if you have lots of bold, bright flowers, incorporating pinks, oranges and yellows into your kitchen and awning will help everything mesh together in spectacular style.

Planning the Layout

You probably spent a lot of time planning the layout of your indoor kitchen, and you should do the same with your outdoor space. Of course, there are some further considerations to make when you’re planning the layout of an outdoor kitchen. After all, there are no walls, windows or doors to work around. Most of the best outdoor kitchens tend to be designed a simple ‘L’ shape, which leaves adequate room for all of the necessary appliances, with plenty of space left over for dining.

When it comes to outdoor kitchen appliances, you should always try to plan your layout so that hot appliances like fire pits and grills are separate from cold appliances, such as the refrigerator.

Finally, you will want to create your design so that there is ample space for you to chop, peel and prep with ease.

Which Appliances Do You Need?

Of course, in order to adequately design your outdoor kitchen, you will need to decide on which appliances you want to have in your new kitchen area. There are a mind-boggling number of appliances you can use outdoors from a basic gas grill to a wood-fired pizza oven and from a standard refrigerator to a kegerator made specifically for keeping beer cool. Take some time to explore your options and pick out the items that will best enable you to cook, relax and entertain your guests in style.

Choosing Materials

We know that, when we build an indoor kitchen, we must choose materials which are hardworking and able to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, and this is even more important when designing an outdoor kitchen. After all, your new kitchen will not just be contending with your messy cooking style – it’ll need to hold its own against the elements too! That means that you need to choose tough materials that will hold up well and which are easy to clean and maintain. Stainless steel is a good option because as well as being very strong, it will reflect the colors of the garden back, for an attractive look. Another great material to use in an outdoor kitchen is tile. You can buy tiles in a vast range of colors and styles, so you can easily choose something to match your current style, and you can wipe them clean.

Sweat the Small Stuff

Once you’ve planned the location, layout and materials you’re going to use to create the ideal outdoor kitchen; it’s time to start thinking about all those little extras which make a space feel prettier and more personalised.

One of my favorite ways to decorate outdoor space is with simple solar powered lanterns or fairy lights. They will add a bit of sparkle to evening parties and ensure that you can see what you’re doing when you’re cooking.

Of course, you will probably want to install some more powerful lights, so that you can still see what you’re doing when it’s really dark. You could buy battery powered wall mounted lights if you need to save money, but if you have the budget to spare, wiring up some outdoor lights on the wall closest to your outdoor kitchen would probably be a good idea.

Potted plants and flowers make a great addition to any outdoor kitchen space, helping it to blend in with the rest of the garden, and adding little points of color and interest too.

Furniture

Of course, furniture is the most important part of any outdoor kitchen (apart from cooking apparatus). After all, there is little point cooking up a storm on your gas grill if you have nowhere to enjoy it afterwards. In an ideal situation, you should choose outdoor furniture which is moisture resistant and which can stand up well to the sun. Rattan furniture with waterproof cushions is always a good choice, as it’s hardwearing and attractive, but visit your local garden center and see what catches your eye.

No matter what furniture you choose, you will want to install an awning or gazebo over your seating area, so that if it does start to rain, your food won’t be ruined and you won’t be drenched by the downpour.

Citronella

If you want to be able to enjoy your spare ribs and a cool beer without having to swat away all manner of bugs, you will need to invest in some citronella candles and incense. These smell perfectly pleasant to the average person, but insects really do not like their scent and will give any area where they are burning a wide berth.

Party Time

Once the hard work is over, and your perfect outdoor kitchen has been designed and built, it’s time to enjoy yourself. Invite a few of your best friends over and celebrate the new addition to your home by cooking a backyard banquet that blows last year’s barbeque straight out of the water. After all, an outdoor kitchen should be enjoyed!

There’s one thing that home buyers value possibly above all others, and that’s a great kitchen. With it being such a well-used room, a space that’s practical and beautiful is needed to truly become the heart of the home. So if your home has a fantastic kitchen, not only is it something you can enjoy in the here and now but if you come to sell your house later down the line you’ll make an incredible profit too. So if you’re deciding on what area to spruce up next in your home, it should be the kitchen! Here are some of the things to consider when you’re creating your perfect space.

[Photo courtesy of Kaboompics // Karolina/pexels.com]

Clear Out The Old and Rejig Any Walls

Ripping out your old kitchen is sure to be satisfying! Pull out the old worktop and units, rip the tiles off the walls and get everything into a skip. Unless you already have a large space, you might want to remove a wall or move it to a different place to open up the room and give you more space to work with. You could go with a full open concept design or have a stud wall put up in another location.

Talk To a Kitchen Designer

The thing about kitchens is in order to get the best out of your space they actually have to be cleverly designed. One trick is to keep the ‘working triangle’ in mind. This keeps you in the middle of a triangle with the refrigerator, stove and sinks at the three points. This allows you to move around the space in the most efficient way. If you want an island, you need to work out how big you can go with it and the kind of features it will include. Talk to a kitchen designer who will help turn your plans in reality and advise you on what will and won’t work.

Choose Your Units and Appliances

Possibly the most fun part of buying a kitchen- picking the units! While you want your kitchen and home to be personal to you, it’s worth bearing in mind that some styles will be more timeless and age better than others- meaning that if you sell in a few years, the kitchen doesn’t look dates. Avoid anything too trendy which will fall out of style quicker- while high gloss and stainless steel might look cool now once the trends change (which they will) your kitchen will be stuck in a time warp. White or wood units stand the test of time, a wooden or granite worktop will again always look classic. If you choose solid wood as opposed to veneers, they will last for a much longer time and also mean you can paint them in the future if you need to. For appliances, going with integrated pieces will make your kitchen look far more streamlined. Do your research into each piece so you know exactly what you’re getting.

Plumbing and Electrics

Once your space is clear and you know exactly where everything is going to be put, you’ll need to get plumbing and electrics in. If you’re having extra sockets or an island you’ll need an electrician to install these in the correct places. If you’re having things like an American fridge freezer with a plumbed in water and ice machine, you might need some additional plumbing put in. The same applies if you’re completely changing the layout, or adding things like a dishwasher chances are you’ll need new pipes installing, A company like Brentwood plumbing could tackle jobs like this, or you could look at tradesmen in your local area. You should have all of this done before the units, and tiles things go in, to make the job easier and avoid having to remove and redo certain jobs.

Think About Wall and Floor Tiles

Again choosing a plainer design will stand the test of time with style, although if you don’t mind getting your tiles redone in a few years, you could go with something cool and trendy. Plain White is an easy choice, if you want to keep on trend right now, gray is a very popular choice. For flooring, a real tile looks smart and will be long-lasting and easy to clean. Avoid wood and laminates which can warp and rot if they get wet which is a possibility in the kitchen.

Don’t Overlook Lighting

Lighting can be trick in the kitchen, after all, fittings like chandeliers as well as table lamps certainly don’t look right. Go with a sleek light fitting or have some spotlights installed. Another cool way to light the kitchen is to have led strip lighting installed under cupboards and kick boards. A nice modern touch and another way you can light up the kitchen in the evening without lamps.

Find The Right Window Treatments

Curtains rarely look right in kitchens. Go with something more simple and sleek- blinds and shutters make a good choice. You can add privacy without blocking out that all important natural light. If your kitchen feels dark and dingy, you could even consider having your window extended and made bigger. Other alternatives would be replacing any doors with glass doors, or in some kitchens, it might be possible to add a skylight.

Splash Out on Fixtures and Fittings

Finally, your fixtures and fittings really area everything in the kitchen. These will finish off everything and can be the difference between a kitchen which looks ok and one that looks incredible. Spend a little extra on your sink, taps and drawer handles. You could also upgrade your outlets from the white plastic to stainless steel for a more expensive look. All of these little touches all up massively.

[Photo courtesy of Kaboompics // Karolina/pexels.com]

Decorate

Using light coloured walls and keeping the decor homely and simple will make the most of the space while bringing it to life. A textured house plant, some checked tea towels, a clock and a fun plaque for example would show your personality without adding clutter. Add a couple of key pieces that showcases you.

Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home. This is where you and your family come together at the start of the day to eat breakfast. And it’s also where you can all catch up while you eat your evening meal at the end of the day too. So, if you want to create a better kitchen in your home, here are five changes that will make a difference.

1. Change the Faucet

The main faucet in your kitchen is used every day. If it hasn’t been updated for a decade or more, it’s probably starting to look a little out of date. You can get advanced faucets that offer boiling water now too. So, you should think about replacing the faucet if you want to give your kitchen a modern twist. It could be one of the best things you do in your kitchen.

2. Light Up Your Worktops

Your worktops need to have strong and precise lights pointing down on them if you are going to prepare food properly and safely. If you only have one ceiling light in the kitchen, this is something you should aim to change. It won’t be enough to shine light on what you’re doing on your worktops, especially if you have a large kitchen area. You can fix the problem by adding some lights to the underside of your kitchen cabinets above the worktops.

3. Break Down Barriers

If you ask me, there should be no barriers between your kitchen and the dining room. Why not do what you can to cook the food in the same space as where you eat it? This could be a simple case of switching around the layout of the kitchen dining space. Or you might need to knock down a wall in order to make the most of both rooms and join them together. That might sound like a big job, but it will make the home feel more spacious, and your dining experience will be improved.

4. Make More of Your Storage Options

The storage options in your kitchen are also important. You should make the most of them if you want to make the most of the kitchen as a whole. By doing this, you will be able to make sure that you can find everything easily. For example, you could hang up the saucepans above the oven. Displaying your items is often a good way of storing them in the kitchen. You should also add stainless steel drawer slides to the drawers to make them easier to use.

5. Open it Up Into the Garden

The garden is usually right next to the kitchen. So, why not make the most of this fact? You could install new patio doors. This can make it easier to open up the kitchen into the garden. During the summer months, you can simply throw open the doors and bring the outdoors indoors. You can then spend time in the kitchen and the garden and make the most of both spaces. It can really improve your summer evenings too.

The kitchen should be an enjoyable space that inspires you to cook. In recent years, the kitchen has developed into a space which is used not only for cooking, but also for eating and entertaining. As we spend more time in the kitchen, it’s becoming more important to us that it should be an aesthetically pleasing environment. Creating such a space not only requires a lick of paint and some desirable furniture, but a change to your appliances, too.

Here, we take a look at a few appliances and consider how they can improve your home life.

Washing machine

We used to do our best to keep appliances like the washing machine away from the kitchen. They were large, noisy and unsightly; while their introduction to the home was welcome, we weren’t keen to be reminded of them.

Today, it is a different story. Washing machines not only look sleek, but they are far less intrusive than ever before in terms of size, shape and sound. The result is that we can gladly incorporate the machine into our kitchen environment to make life a little easier.

[Photo courtesy of Elena1957/pixabay.com]

Cookers

The kind of cooker you choose for your kitchen is, of course, a matter of personal choice. With so many to choose from, it’s now possible to tailor our cookers to our cooking style. This means making decisions on looks, size and power options. If you’re unsure of what might suit you, it’s worth researching belling cookers to understand what each style of cooker can offer you and your kitchen.

Dishwasher

If you’re using your kitchen as a space for entertaining, the last thing you want after dinner is a pile of washing up. Dishwashers can transform a kitchen, allowing us to tidy away the dirty dishes immediately, without that lingering feeling that we’ve got something to do.

[Photo courtesy of landersb/pixabay.com]

Fridge freezer

One effect of the changing way in which we use our kitchens, is that the rooms are getting bigger. As such, more of us are opting to include large American style fridge freezer combinations into the room. Not only are these stylish, but they can offer us plenty of cooling space, not to mention the host of smart features included on top-of-the-range models.

There’s nothing quite as fun as giving a room in your house a good kit out with new equipment; it gives you the chance to be creative, to indulge in a bit of retail therapy and to recreate a space that you might well have become bored with.  One of the most enjoyable aspects of creating a new room is the little gadgets and extras that give the room its unique sense of style.  Perhaps the most fun room to kit out is the kitchen, and to get you started we’ve come up with this list of five must-have gadgets for this important room.

A top notch blender

Let’s get one thing clear here: we’re not talking about those wishy-washy, twenty quid blenders!  A real, solid blender is an absolute essential for anyone who wants to keep their meals interesting.  Everything from luxury fruit smoothies to warming winter soups can be whipped up in minutes, meaning that as well as varying your diet, you can also avoid wasting food.  Excess fruit lying around? Hello, cheap sorbet.  Too many bananas?  It’s the perfect post-run milkshake.  If you’re unsure as to what constitutes a good blender, then consider whether it can easily be picked up with one hand – if it can, then it’s probably not great in terms of quality!

A good dehydrator

Lavish?  Yes.  Get one anyway?  Yes!  A dehydrator is never going to top the list of essentials, but that’s not the point of this list.  A dehydrator is actually incredibly useful for any home that finds itself frequently wasting fresh fruit and veg.   Essentially, they’re able to turn any fresh fruit into a lovely dried snack, which is a great way to stay healthy.  Fruits like pineapple make the perfect summer snack, and when dehydrated, they keep for far longer.  Marvellous stuff.

A versatile peeler

That’s right – it’s time to ditch that rusty old beast that you’ve had since the nineties and splash out.  A good peeler will come in useful time and time again, whether you’re quickly whipping up a good mash for shepherd’s pie, or simply for ensuring your fussy little ones don’t have to eat the skins on their granny smiths.  There are a variety of models available on the market that offer a three in one experience, with different blades for veg, soft fruit and for julienne-style peeling.  Like knives, spending more on a quality model will save you a lot of effort in the long run.

A slow cooker

A slow cooker is absolute heaven for a busy home-owner.  Get down to one of your local electrical stores and buy one, right now!  As well as giving you the softest, flake-off-the-bone joints of meat you’ll ever eat, a slow cooker means you can chuck your ingredients into the cooker in the morning, go to work and then return to find a perfectly done meal with a smell that’ll have you drooling all the way down the garden path to the back door.  Whether you’re partial to curry or stew, you need a slow cooker.

An automated coffee machine

Another extravagance, maybe, but there’s something really, really wonderful about an automated coffee machine, whether it’s a Tassimo or a Lavazza, a pod or a simple espresso machine.  Whilst it might be an expensive way to enjoy your coffee, there is nothing like hearing that wonderful buzz first thing in the morning, before going outside, watching the sun come up and sipping your first brew of the day.

[ Tagged In ] Choosing the Right Kitchen Appliances, Kitchen, Kitchen Appliances, Kitchen Gadgets

Most homeowners ignored the importance of lighting when it comes to renovating their houses. It is important that lights should properly match to the color of the room because a proper lighting can emphasize the paint, decors, floors and other areas of your home.

Kitchen

Lighting is the integral part of any kitchen design since it is the busiest part of any house where food preparations are done. Proper lighting can make the kitchen more functional and enjoyable and furthermore food preparations often involves the use of sharp knives so having it will lit can reduce chances of injury.

[Image source: trsphoenix.com]

Living Room

Lighting for the central area of the home is very important since it is the central areas where people tend to watch television, chat, play games, read and spend time with their family as well as entertaining guests. Through proper lighting you can create a warm inviting space for everybody.

Bathroom

It is also significant to use proper lighting in your bathroom. Lower level lights should not be place on the ceilings if the extra lights are not positioned close to the vanity. If you put wall sconce as your supplementary light, then you can get rid of the dilemma.

Lighting should be cautiously planned to be able to make the designs of your home projected properly. Decorating is not that hard as you think because you always have an option you can decide for yourself, hire an interior decorator, or even buy magazines about decorating.

[ Tagged In ] Home Lighting, Kitchen Lighting, Livingroom Improvement

Decorating your house is very essential to create comfortable and relaxing environment to live in.  Our house decor usually reflect our taste and  preference and there are times we all get excited and we forget one of the most important factor when decorating.

Space should always be always consider before buying decors and furniture.  Avoid buying large furniture when you only have small room or kitchen to adorn because moving around is difficult when you have a lot of unnecessary furniture.  As much as I want I like a house with more space and less decoration so I always remind my mother  not to buy new furniture but she keeps buying new one without my knowing, like the other day I just found out she bought a new stand cabinet for our kitchen to hold the things I have sent home when we left Korea including the jon renau shampoo and soaps.

You are unique and you deserve the best, especially when it comes to something as routine as coffee – it’s easy to enjoy custom coffee at home or at work when you have an on demand coffee maker that uses Nespresso pods or a similar style of coffee inserts. The Keurig mini-plus coffee maker is ideally suited for home or office use because it s compact but it gets the job done just like the full scale models.

If you are not familiar with an on demand coffee maker you are really missing out – they afford you the opportunity to enjoy custom quality coffee any time you’d like at a price of just pennies per cup. No matter the maker, the way they work is foolproof and they only need an electrical outlet and a water source.

[Image courtesy of Thomas_G/pixabay.com]

All you do is insert your coffee packet, position your cup or mug and press a button; in less than a minute the machine issues a piping hot, fresh and flavorful cup of gourmet quality coffee that rivals anything you’d get at a coffee shop, donut shop or convenience store. The machines produce a great cup of coffee each and every time, in part because the water-to-coffee ratio is pre-set and there can be no mishaps.

There’s also no need to scoop or measure coffee since it comes in individually sealed personal portions; there are no flimsy filters to fuss with and no messy coffee grounds to clean up. Cleanup consists of discarding the spent coffee packet and cleaning your cup or mug when you are done drinking the delicious custom brew.

With a variety or sampler pack it is easy to try out all sorts of unique and exotic coffee flavors, blends and roasts.

The construction of our house was discontinued because lack of financial,  what is left to be done is the second floor and roofing. While we have no funds for the continuation of the construction my parents decided to finish the minor details in the first floor like tiling, cementing the walking path and finishing the single room in the  first floor. Yeah, right we have long way to go, to finished all the details.

My mother bought some wooden cabinets for our kitchen but I disapproved them because our house look more cluttered and not spacious with them.

Valances are decorative treatments that are used to cover up the top portion of a window. It can be used alone to allow a lot of light to enter or it can be used as the finishing layer of layered window treatments. Grommet valances are a great way to hide hardware. Grommet valances have often been seen as a way to make a home look dignified and older. People tend to associate valances with mansions or the White House. However, valances are making a comeback with being able to meet any style.

Grommet valances are a quick and easy way to change the look of any room without spending a lot of money. Whether you live in a loft, an apartment or a house, grommet valances are the perfect way to accent your room. While valances are traditionally found in dining rooms and kitchens, they have quickly been making their way into almost every living space.

[Image courtesy of PIX1861/pixabay.com]

A grommet valance can be modern and chic, classic and elegant, or youthful and fun. It only depends on the fabric and pattern you choose and there are endless possibilities for choices. Grommet valances can be purchased in fabrics such as microfibers, linens, silks, satins, cotton and even velvet. You can purchase grommet valances in solid colors, sheers, and a wide variety of patterns. There is a valance designed to meet the needs of any room without the expensive costs of a complete remodel.

The grommets can also be purchased in a variety of finishes from the basic silver to brass nickel, gold, bronze and even black. The grommet feature is great for those that have decorative curtain rods that they do not want to hide inside the valance. Enriching the room’s appearance and providing it with a bit of flare can be fun and easy with the right grommet valance treatment.