Posts Tagged ‘kitchens’


Modern Kitchen Design

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

I’ve been looking at other designers work both online and in magazines. They continue to talk about the kitchen triangle and to be honest I don’t get what the big deal is. Surely you design the kitchen so that it works for the client. A kitchen that is comfortable for them to work in, have a coffee with friends. For me the Kitchen Triangle never comes into it, it’s all about where I think the appliances, sink etc should go in the room.

kitchens-solid-oak-painted-island-17

Any good designer will visualise the working space as soon as they see the room plans. Obviously they will have a brief from their client and will have to work within this whether it be budget or the actual design. With today’s kitchen you are no longer limited to the classic layout. A sink doesn’t need to go in the kitchen window. An extractor fan does not have to be hung on a wall, it can go in the worktop or be hung from a ceiling. A dishwasher no longer need to be the conventional drop down door.

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They are a number of drawer dishwashers on the market which can be installed at different height or in the kitchen island. A kitchen island is now seen as the work center of the kitchen. The central point where you place you food for preparation, dining and storage. My advice is to take your time. If you are unsure or want to see a different kitchen layout just ask your designer. Kitchens are the room in our homes that get lived in the most. While kitchens need to look good in both design and finish, just as important is that they work for you. The main work centres need to be close to hand or a couple of steps apart.


Should Kitchen Designers Charge For Drawings?

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

Well it’s the age old question amongst kitchen designers for quiet a while now. It seem that some of the top retailers are starting to charge for their designs. They also believe that all kitchen companies should charge for design, a kind of universal thing amongst designers. While I agree that something has to give and that we need some kind of payment for our hard work, time and effort it is not as simple as this. There will always be a company offering a free design, this will never change but would you be willing to pay for a design that was superior to other companies? Doubtful. I still believe that by charging for designs you are discouraging potential customers who are in the market for a new kitchen.

I spent the last four day on a short break and thought long and hard about this. There is no real way out. In order to get the work or stand a chance of getting the kitchens you need to show the client what they are paying for. What we have come up with is that we allow the client to view the kitchen designs in our showroom. The plans are discussed explaining exactly what the client is getting for their moneys worth. If the client wishes to take the plans with them, they pay a fee of €120 which is deducted from the price of the kitchen if manufactured and installed by Woodale Designs. If the potential customer doesn’t want to pay this they were wasting your time in the first place. At the end of this post I will add some pictures of finished kitchens. I can safely say you will never see one that even resembles ours in a major kitchen outlet. The reason for this is initially design, the effort was put into the layout, your ideas were noted and added to what is the most important piece of furniture in your new or existing home. I recently read a post from a guy discussing web design. He was explaining the different costs involved in designing a website. All I can say is imagine designing a website for someone else!? This is effectively what we do on a daily basis. We sit at a computer designing kitchens for someone else to reap the rewards with an inferior product.

Farrow and Ball Painted

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Stoney Ground farrow and ball painted kitchen.


Farrow and Ball painted Kitchens

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

We’ve been working hard to give the client that little bit extra without increasing the cost of kitchens. Farrow and ball paints have some amazing colours to choose from. One of our more recent projects was Farrow and Ball “Stoney Ground”. Our client wanted something different colour wise but didn’t want a hand painted kitchen so we basically color coppied the paint and gave it a spray finish which is durable, resistant to steam from kettles and cooking with a beautiful even finish. When designing the kitchen we were conscious that the kitchen would need some wood elements to it so we added a walnut island with curved doors.

Hand Painted kitchens Walnut And Painted

The SileStone worktops are Blanco Capri. They are stain resistant, anti-bacterial and very durable. SileStone has become a much more affordable counter top for the kitchen and now competes with granite on a budget level.

Here are some worktop pictures of the kitchen during it manufacture. Not much to look at in its raw stage but gives you an idea of how thing start out!

Kitchen Doors [singlepic id=673 w=320 h=240 float=] Poplar Wood Drawers [singlepic id=675 w=320 h=240 float=] Kitchen plans

We use an MDF centre panel when manufacturing painted kitchen doors. This elimated paint cracks around the centr panel of our kitchen doors.


Woodale Designs, Lower Pollerton Road, Carlow

Opening Hours : Monday - Friday, 9am to 6pm & Saturdays, 9am to 1pm
Phone 059 9143979