Looking at the numerous adverts for kitchens you will repeatedly see the phrase “customized” as the marketing teams try to differentiate their products and persuade you to part with your money. In this context, what is a customized kitchen? 

For the true definitive explanation, a custom (as opposed to customized) kitchen will have everything individually designed – the cabinets will take months to prepare and finish as they will be designed based on individual and non-standard measurements to begin with. This is extremely labor intensive and will cost an absolute fortune so in practice, many customized kitchens are in fact something quite different. 

Most kitchens sold and installed today are based on standard cabinet sizes and follow standard design principles. The customization comes from the inclusion of optional extras to produce the look and utility you want but this does lead to uniform appearances in kitchen design. 

Poorly designed kitchens are all too common with no imagination used to define individuality or produce a kitchen space that is as unique as you are. Assuming you choose a good quality cabinet manufacturer, the most important aspect of your kitchen is the design and utilization of the space available. 

It is important that you choose an experienced designer who is not simply working from a flowchart and checklist which will not require the exercise of their and your imagination. With the range of optional extras and fittings available for modern standard cabinets the design of your kitchen is only really limited by your imagination and not your budget. 

Here is an example of what we mean: You are looking for a maple kitchen but the price tag is too high and causing you to look at cutting back elsewhere. Look at birch as an alternative to maple – it has a very similar appearance but provides a significant cost saving. One of the design principles used by many kitchen designers is the “triangle”; this is formed from the three major points of utility in the kitchen – the sink, the cooking or stove area and food storage (pantry or refrigerator). These three points in a kitchen need to be combined so all three are easy to use when you are preparing a meal; one should not be a million miles from the other but they also should not be on top of one another unless space limitations restrict your options. 

You can enhance the individual style of your kitchen design by the inclusion of fittings such as wine racks and non-standard storage units to take advantage of otherwise redundant gaps and irregular spaces – in fact, using such non-standard space will help enhance the uniqueness of your kitchen so don’t simply cover up irritating odd space with a panel – use that space and turn it into a feature.

Very, very few of us can afford a custom kitchen and what we are really buying is a customized kitchen that uses standard cabinetry but provides a range of optional fittings to help you create the look you are after. It is the design of your kitchen that will really make its individuality stand out and provide you with a custom kitchen without the excessive cost that goes with owning one.. 

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