Luxury Fitted Kitchens

Choosing the right fitted kitchen for your purpose, lifestyle and personality is essential. Family person, Entertainer, Cook - which type are you?

Thinking about what you want from your new kitchen can be a big step towards deciding on what the design should entail. These days there are so many choices of colours, fittings, fabrics and finishes it can become a bit overwhelming. So if you can stand back and think - What is it that I want from my kitchen? This could help your kitchen design to become a kitchen for you.

Fitted kitchens make a great investment for any home. However, the sheer multitude of products and styles of fitted kitchen available means you could very well be overwhelmed by choice.

So the first question has to be:

What will be the prime purpose of your new fitted kitchen?

This may sound like an odd question, but for many people these days, the kitchen is regarded as much more than a space to prepare and cook food in.

How you view yourself plays a big part in the kind of fitted kitchen you ultimately end up with. Because there is so much choice in terms of products, colours, finishes and accessories, many more people are opting to design their ultimate fitted kitchen around lifestyle and personality factors.

So how about you?

Are you:

The Family-oriented Person

Everything you do is centred around your family. Your children prefer to do their homework and creative work in the kitchen. The little ones enjoy helping you with cooking and chores. They draw pictures on the kitchen blackboard and make messages out of the magnetic plastic letters on the fridge. Your kitchen is the place for the whole family to spend quality time every day, but particularly at weekends - wiling away a lazy Sunday afternoon with the Sunday supplements, books and board games.

You need:

Your ideal kitchen will be warm and welcoming with loads of storage space for all your essentials. Consider combining old and new appliances - an aga with an American-style fridge-freezer. Choose a large robust table as a centrepiece - perfect for relaxed family meals and a place for the kids to do their homework.

The Entertainer

Your middle name is Mr or Ms Sociable: you love nothing better than having a bunch of friends round on a Friday or Saturday night. Any night in fact. You'll probably knock up a few cocktails and get everyone to join in the fun of creating food that's made for sharing. Your home will be the first choice venue for every party - any excuse for a celebration. Can we come?

You need:

An ultra glamorous kitchen that makes you the star of the show. A minimalist style works well here. Opt for a breakfast bar or island unit with colourful contemporary stools and decorative lighting. The perfect place to show off your culinary skills.

The Cook

You're one serious foodie, with aspirations of winning Masterchef, or at least Come Dine With Me. You've even considered opening your own themed restaurant some day. Okay, maybe not that serious, but you do love creating your own food dishes that bring people together and trying them out on your friends. Cooking for you is a genuine pleasure, rather than a chore and your mates are always asking you for your recipe secrets.

You need:

Simple units with bold colours and state of the art appliances as befits the serious cook. Hob, sink and oven layout should with planned with the cook's 'working triangle' in mind. Add a hanging pan rack suspended from the ceiling, a la Nigella, for optimum use of space and efficiency and prepare to serve up your signature dish!

To the untrained eye, porcelain and ceramic tiles look exactly the same. Indeed, there are many similarities between the two types. When one begins to look a little deeper, however there are actually a number of properties porcelain tiles possess that their ceramic cousins do not.

'But wait!' you might exclaim. 'Porcelain and ceramic tiles are the same thing, right?!' Well technically, porcelain is a ceramic. The clay used to make porcelain, however, is far more refined than a standard ceramic. The process of manufacture also differs slightly; hence the distinction between the two.

Durability

First of all, largely due to the clay used in construction, porcelain is much denser than a typical ceramic. Porcelain is fired at a higher temperature than other ceramics and a porcelain tile has higher feldspar content.

This means porcelain is far harder, making it almost impervious to scratches and far less likely to chip off. In addition, porcelain can sustain far heavier loads making it suitable for floors as well as wall tiles.

Water Absorption

Another benefit to the extra density of a porcelain tile is that it is much less water absorbent. In fact, a porcelain tile will have a water absorption rate of under 0.5% making it far more resistant to stains and far less likely to sustain damage in freezing conditions. As a result, it is useful in bathroom and kitchen scenarios and can be used in outdoor environments.

Aesthetics

Due to the types clay used in their construction, ceramic tiles come in browns and reds whilst porcelain is lighter in colour.

There is a misconception that a chipped porcelain tile is less noticeable than a chipped ceramic tile as the latter is not the same colour through the entire tile. It should be noted that if the porcelain is glazed (which is often the case) chips will still expose a different coloured tile underneath.

Porcelain is often considered to be elegant and modern when compared to other ceramic tiles, particularly when used in kitchens and bathrooms. Brilliant whites and cool blues can readily be achieved, opposed to 'plant pot' reds and browns.

Cost

Unfortunately, porcelain is trumped on this front by other ceramic tiles. Due to the manufacturing process, materials involved and popularity of porcelain, its tiles are rather more expensive than equivalently sized ceramics.

At the end of the day, it is fairly clear that porcelain is the road to take. In fact, if you are planning on installing floor tiles, ceramics will simply not do the job. Porcelain won't scratch, it is better at bearing load, water resistant and beautiful when compared to its softer, absorbent cousin.