15 Top tips for planning your new kitchen

1. Be really clear about your budget. Start with a figure that you think you can easily afford and call this the minimum figure. Then decide on an absolute must-include-everything figure that you can afford at a stretch. DONT tell this figure to your kitchen designer; tell them the bottom end figure is what you are aiming for but they should also include a second design idea costing up to x% more in case you get a (fictional) bonus from work in the next month or so.

2. Do you really need to buy a new kitchen or could you get away with replacing small part of it? The general rule is that if you just want to freshen up, your local home improvement store will stock replacement cupboard doors and work surfaces. If your kitchen is looking very tired or out of date, or it is not as easy to work in as you would like, or you are looking to sell your home in the near future, get a designer in.

3. What do you like about your kitchen? What do you hate? The answers to these questions can bring enlightenment to what your new kitchen needs.

4. Make a scrapbook of your likes and dislikes. Take images from magazines and the internet. This will help your kitchen designer enormously and cut down on the time it takes to find your ideal design.

5. Plan your kitchen according to your lifestyle. Keep this also in mind when planning your storage. Do you eat in your kitchen or is it just for cooking? Is your kitchen the social meeting point in your home? Who will use it?

6. Where possible, plan to keep power and water supply points as they are as moving them is a major part of renovation costs.

7. For ventilation point placement See tip number 6 .

8. Try and group different functions together. For example your cooker, utensils and food storage in one place, your eating place and condiment storage in another and your dishes, pots and pans and dishwashing facilities elsewhere. This will save you energy and time.

9. Make the most of the space in your kitchen. Taller and wider storage cabinets are better for smaller kitchens,.

10. When it comes to storage, think about reducing clutter; Does that kitchen draw really need to be full of non-essential items or could you store it elsewhere in your home?

11. Recent surveys suggest that kitchens with the wow factor can add as much as 10% to the asking price for a home. So make sure your new kitchen is something that will appeal to as wide an audience as possible, for as long as possible.

12. Consider trends: built in gadgets and equipment could be what gives your kitchen the wow factor. We all want a kitchen that takes less time to maintain, that comes with clever storage ideas and is more friendly to the environment.

13. Try and build in easily changeable features. You may love your kitchen now but as fashions and equipment change, how easy will it be to replace work surfaces and cabinet doors? If you can get away with just changing the countertops and cupboard doors every few years, your kitchen will always look modern and fresh at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one.

14. ECO kitchens are a must. Look at features and themes that will save energy and water in your kitchen. You will save money on household bills and help the environment at the same time.

15. Find out if there are any financial aid packages or incentives for making your new kitchen more environmentally friendly.

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