If you have a family, especially a large one, designing your kitchen to be family friendly will be of paramount importance to you. How will you make best use of the space you have available? What design choices will you make stylistically? In the end, how will the kitchen look, and how will it best serve your family?

We can break this down into three aspects you need to keep in mind: Design, Materials, and Style.

Let’s take a look at these three elements briefly:

• Design

The design of your kitchen will be based entirely on what you want it to be. A family kitchen is often the heart of a home and parents usually want a layout which will not only allow them to cook in a busy household, but will also provide a place where the family can eat some of their meals together. Whether this comes in the form of a breakfast bar, extra worktop space, or a full set of table and chairs will be down to your own wants, the space available, and budget. A common layout for a happy family kitchen is to use an island design with a central area in the kitchen for kids to do their homework, while parents can easily cook nearby.

• Materials

If you are setting up a family kitchen, you are going to have to take into serious consideration the type of surfaces you will be using. Kids are great but, especially with a busy household, accidents can happen and even if everything goes to plan, your work surfaces will be subjected to far more wear and tear than they would in a home without children.

You’ll normally want to have worktops which have a polished finish – porous materials can house bacteria. You’ll also want a hardy surface like granite which can withstand most of what you throw at it, while your worktops will also be best served by having rounded edges and corners to make the kitchen a safe place for excited children running around. 

• Style

Lastly, style is a key consideration: How do you want your kitchen to look? Often families enjoy a homely style such as wooden cabinets and rustic colour schemes, but it is entirely up to you. Do you want your kitchen to hark back to cosy winters with the family inside chatting, cooking, and eating together? Or, would you prefer something a little more modern; a kitchen which welcomes the family but with darker tones which perfectly doubles as a place to entertain guests?

Whatever you choose, make sure that you are delighted with the results. After all, you’ll have to look at those walls, cabinets, and surfaces every day for a long time, but all that matters is that your kitchen is one which embraces not just you, but your entire family, creating a wonderful place to host memories which will sit happily in your mind for many years to come.