Create a country style kitchen

Creating a well designed & functional kitchen takes time. Your kitchen is the heart of the home & needs to reflect your personality. You firstly need to create the work triangle which is the three main working areas of any kitchen, the sink, oven & fridge & these need to work efficiently. This means the traffic flows easily between all three making them accessable. A cottage kitchen needs to be simple yet cozy feeling. Chosse Shaker style doors with tongue & groove panels in cream or white finishes, although often island units can be contrasted in a soft cornflower blue or even a vibrant red. Walls tend to be painted in soft hues of green, blue, yellow or in light earthy tones. Bring in lots of floral patterned fabrics for window treatments, cushions & accessories like tea towels, tea cosies etc, you can mix floral's up with striped patterns for an accelctic feel.

When thinking about cabinetry for your country style kitchen opt for open shelf plate racks to display your crockery. A dresser with glass doors is another idea for displaying your ceramics. Whether you buy an old vintage dresser to contrast or have one designed in as part of the kitchen they are an essential country look if you have the space. Agas were popular once apon a time & are making a big come back but range cookers look just as good & take up much less space. Building a chimney mantle around your range works really well if you are in a modern house that doesnt have a built in chimney in the kitchen already. Displaying pots & pans above an island unit or a utensil rack above your range or aga is funtional use of space. Other storage ideas for the country look include wicker drawer baskets for your fruit & vegetable. Belfast sinks are the best option for this style but if thats not your cup of tea you can always use a standard Franke single bowl sink & make a feature of the sink area with pillasters instead. Butcher-block worktop are popular with this style kitchen & age well with the look. For finishing Ttouches to your country kitchen add pots of herbs to your window cill