Blog - Kitchen design guide: layout, materials and lighting

A well-designed kitchen shows its worth every day: in how comfortable it is to cook, how easy it is to keep tidy and how it relates to the rest of the home. Kitchen design is, above all, a series of decisions best taken in the right order. This guide brings together the most important ones, from layout to lighting.

1. Layout: the most important decision

Before thinking about materials or colours, you need to decide how the space is organised. The layout sets the working route between storage, sink and hob, and almost everything else depends on it.

Single-wall, L-shaped or U-shaped

A single-wall kitchen, with everything along one run, works in narrow spaces or kitchens open to the living room. An L-shape uses a corner and keeps the centre free. A U-shape offers the most worktop and storage, but needs a minimum width to move around comfortably.

Kitchens with an island

An island adds worktop and storage and becomes a meeting point between kitchen and living area. It needs clearances of at least 90–100 cm around it. It can be a simple worktop or house the hob — which means solving extraction with a ceiling hood or a downdraft extractor — or the sink. Add a breakfast bar and stools, and it doubles as an informal dining area.

Kitchens with a peninsula

Where there is no room for an island, a peninsula attached to one of the runs offers similar benefits: extra worktop, a breakfast bar and a natural transition towards the living room.

2. Open-plan or closed kitchen?

Opening the kitchen to the living room brings in daylight and a sense of space, and lets you cook without being cut off from the rest of the home. In exchange, smells, noise and clutter are on show. Good extraction, quiet appliances and storage that keeps worktops clear deal with most of that.

If you want the option of closing it off, a glass and aluminium sliding door separates the two spaces without losing light. Opening up the kitchen affects services and sometimes structure, so it is best decided at the start of a complete renovation.

3. Storage and interior organisation

Interior organisation is barely visible, but it shapes everyday use. The rule is simple: keep everything close to where it is used. Utensils by the hob, crockery near the dishwasher, knives and boards in the preparation zone.

In base units, full-extension drawers make better use of space than cupboards with shelves: everything is visible and within reach. Adjustable dividers, bespoke cutlery inserts, pull-out larder units and integrated waste sorting under the sink are all worth deciding at design stage.

4. Materials and finishes

The worktop works hardest. Natural stone, large-format porcelain and technical surfaces stand up well to heat, stains and knocks. For the fronts, lacquer, solid or veneered wood and high-quality laminates let you match the kitchen to the character of the home.

Two or three well-chosen materials usually work better than many. Neutral tones bring light, while wood or stone add warmth. On the walls, porcelain cladding protects the working areas and is easy to clean.

5. Lighting

Kitchen lighting works in layers: even general lighting, usually recessed in the ceiling; direct, shadow-free task lighting over the worktops, with LED strips under wall units or pendants over the island; and decorative lighting — a pendant over the table or island — that gives the room character.

Dimmers let you move from bright light for cooking to a softer light for dinner, and a home automation system can programme scenes and control them from your phone.

6. Integrated appliances

Integrating appliances behind panels in the same finish as the fronts gives a visually calmer kitchen, especially important when it opens onto the living room. Choose them early: their dimensions and ventilation needs shape the design of the units.

7. From design to installation

A bespoke kitchen starts with a conversation about how you cook, how many people use the kitchen and how it should relate to the rest of the home. From there we define the layout, choose materials and appliances and prepare renderings so you can see the result before anything is made. We then measure precisely, coordinate manufacturing and lead times, and our fitters install and adjust every element.

As the official Armony Cucine showroom in Barcelona, we can show you the collections in person at our studio at Copèrnic 15, and you can see finished kitchens in our portfolio.

Frequently asked questions about kitchen design

How much space does a kitchen island need?

As well as the island itself, allow clearances of 90 to 100 cm around it so you can work and open drawers and appliances comfortably. If the kitchen cannot accommodate that, a peninsula offers similar benefits in less space.

Is an open-plan or closed kitchen better?

It depends on how you live. An open kitchen gains light and space and encourages life together; a closed one keeps smells and noise contained. A middle way is a glass sliding door that can be opened or closed as needed without losing daylight.

Which worktop material is the most durable?

Large-format porcelain and technical surfaces are the most resistant to heat, stains and scratches. Natural stone is very durable, though some varieties need sealing. The choice also depends on the look you want and how much upkeep you are happy with.

How long does a bespoke kitchen take?

A full project usually takes three to five months: two to four weeks of design and specification, around eight to twelve weeks of manufacturing and one to three weeks of preparation and installation, depending on complexity.

Planning your kitchen?

If you would like to start shaping it, you can visit our showroom by appointment or tell us about your project.