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Tag Archive for: kitchens cape town

Featured, Product Focus

Don’t leave your high-end kitchen in the dark

Lighting with glass shelves

The kitchen is often the meeting place, the “take 5 mins to read a message” place, the place we prepare our families meals and try out cooking new recipes for friends. Yet this multi-functional space is often the last place one thinks about installing proper lighting. But for your high-end kitchen, one needs to think about the right light, from general lighting to task lighting and of course accent lighting.

What is task lighting in a luxury kitchen?

In interior design, task lighting refers to increasing the light in an area to help accomplish a specific activity. Therefore one needs to take into consideration visibility and contrast to help improve visibility in your high-end kitchen.

What is accent lighting?

Accent lighting is used to highlight a particular area or object for example a piece of art. This means that the brighter the light, the more visual interest it can create in your high-end kitchen.

What is general lighting?

General lighting falls in between task and accent lighting. It refers to the general illumination of an area. For example, indoors, it could be the use of a lamp on a table or a fixture on the wall.

Contrasts and colours in your high-end kitchen

Having the right light is not only practical, but it can make a big difference in the way your high-end kitchen looks and feels. Much of the warm, homey atmosphere in your luxury kitchen comes from the way light, and shadows fall. When a room is too bright, it flattens shapes and subdues features. Too much contrast is also hard on your vision. When designing your high-end kitchen, use several light sources to highlight details that create an atmosphere and a softer scattered light that doesn’t tire the eye.

Need some kitchen inspiration, here are five design tips to help you light your high-end kitchen:

Kitchen design tip 1:

Plan task lighting first, this makes sure you focus light where you need it most. Then think about your accent lighting, where do you want to create visual interest? Then fill in the rest of the kitchen with general lighting.

Kitchen design tip 2:

Combine your three layers of lighting with beautiful light fixtures and dimmers.

Kitchen design tip 3:

Fit a light strip below the wall unit above your worktop.   This will give you excellent visibility on your worktop, without shining onto your eyes or creating a shadow.

Kitchen design tip 4:

Don’t forget to put a light under the sink. It can come on automatically when you open the cupboard, making the contents easier to see.

Kitchen design tip 5:

If you opt for glass or steel wire shelves in wall units. Put a light at the top of the cupboard. It will illuminate the whole cabinet, making items easier to find and see.

Also, check that the electrical systems are certified by quality marks and preferably use low-energy consumption systems.

Looking for some more kitchen inspiration for designing your luxury kitchen?

Read about what marks the best quality kitchens have here.

Or do you want to apply the science of ergonomics to high-end kitchens, click here.

Valcucine South Africa is part of The Excellence Group. Read more about our group of companies here.

https://valcucinesa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Lighting-with-glass-shelves.jpg 1799 2400 https://valcucinesa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Valcucine-logos_2-600x158-transparent-cropped-530x86-300x49.png 2019-07-29 20:39:582020-10-07 10:55:31Don’t leave your high-end kitchen in the dark
Featured, Product Focus

Applying the science of ergonomics in high-end kitchens

In your home, your high-end kitchen is the space that should be fit-for-purpose-built.  We often get caught up in the enthusiasm and excitement of how it looks in the showroom when buying a luxury kitchen, instead of taking a closer look at features such as worktop height, worktop depth and how wall unit doors open.

Designing and building a kitchen space that fits you is what kitchen ergonomics is all about.  Because ergonomics is the science that studies our interactions with the areas we live and work in and the objects we use.

At Valcucine, we paid careful attention to how people used their kitchens and identified seven major problems.  Here are some tips to use when designing your high-end kitchen.

1.  Worktop height

The standard height for a worktop in a high-end kitchen is 85cm from the floor to the worktop. However, today, people are taller than when this became the standard. Working off a worktop that is too low or too high can be detrimental to the health of your back. Here are some suggested worktop heights, based on how tall you are:

  • If you are 150cm – 160cm high, your worktop should be 84cm high
  • If you are 160cm – 170cm high, your worktop should be 88cm high
  • If you are 170cm – 180cm high, your worktop should be 92cm high
  • If you are 180cm – 190cm high, your worktop should be 96cm high

2.  Worktop depth

Feel cooped-up when working in your luxury kitchen? Your wall units might be too near your face preventing you from having a complete view of the worktop. The traditional depth of a worktop is 60cm. A depth of 65cm – 80cm gives you more freedom of movement because you have more working space and a better field of vision.

3.  Wall unit height

If your wall unit shelf is too high, it makes it impossible to reach and see what’s on it, becoming wasted space. Increasing the depth (e.g. from 60cm to 65cm – 80cm) of the worktop allows you to drop the height of your wall unit from the standard 54cm above worktop to 48cm – 42cm above the worktop. This drop makes the contents in your wall unit more visible and easier to reach.

4.  Wall unit doors

Traditional wall units require the user to open and close the doors continuously. You often leave the doors open when you are busy in the kitchen. This may give you a closed-in feeling or result in a few bangs on your head if you leave the doors open. Opt rather for a leave lift-up door, which allows you the freedom of movement and fewer headbangs.

Wellness and well-being is based essentially on freedom. One of Valcucine’s special features in their high-end kitchen range is the Aerius Wall Unit which has a light and noiseless, ultra-slim, lift-up door. Read more about it here.

5.  Freedom to see and reach

Traditional base units with shelves mean that you have to kneel to get to spaces at the back that are almost always inaccessble and poorly lit. Rather swap to full extension jumbo drawers when designing your high-end kitchen, that allows you to see everything inside, neatly arranged and easy to reach.

6.  Freedom to open draws completely

Traditional drawers that open partially don’t allow you a complete view of what is inside.  Full-extension drawers that pull out all the way allows you to see everything that is inside.

7.  Tricky corner unit

Kitchen corner units have traditionally always been a problem.  When designing your high-end kitchen space, you need to take into consideration how the cabinets open,  accessibility to items inside and rational use of space. Good solutions are corner base units with receding doors, and carousel racks are more ergonomic than a base unit with fixed shelves.

Remember you have the right to live in a safe, comfortable, functional environment so when you buy something, make sure it is ergonomically right for your, as well as beautiful.

Other considerations when designing a high-end kitchen

A quality high-end kitchen is an investment, make sure you work with manufacturers that carry quality marks. Read about what quality marks mean in luxury kitchens here.

Planning a new high-end kitchen?  Looking at a modular unit or a kitchen with a continuous worktop?  Maybe a kitchen unit with plinths or rather wall-hung?  Here are some practical design tips when planning your luxury kitchen.

Don’t leave your high-end kitchen in the dark, read here about how to use task, accent and general lighting in your kitchen.

Valcucine South Africa is part of the The Excellence Group.

 

https://valcucinesa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Full-extension-jumbo-high-end-kitchen-drawer-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 https://valcucinesa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Valcucine-logos_2-600x158-transparent-cropped-530x86-300x49.png 2019-07-29 12:32:092020-10-07 10:55:54Applying the science of ergonomics in high-end kitchens

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