By ultra / March 18, 2022
10 Simple Ideas For Modular Kitchen Design!
First things first, let's admit that a lot of us have no idea what a modular kitchen is. The concept is rather new in Nepal, after all. Sure, we know what a kitchen is and probably guessed that a modular kitchen is a type of kitchen design, but most of us are blank apart from this.
Since we are the interior experts of Nepal, let us clarify this for you.
A modular kitchen is simply a modern kitchen design concept based on Cabinet Modules. A cabinet module is simply a cabinet that can stand alone without relying on any other furnishing. As people are getting fond of efficiency with functionality, Modular kitchen Designs are slowly but surely getting popular. After all, we would all want our kitchen to be efficient and look good, especially since it is one of the most dangerous rooms with sharp knives, gas fuel, and quite a bit of electrical outlets.
Curious about Modular Kitchen Cabinets?
Modular Kitchen Cabinets
As we mentioned, Modular kitchens Cabinets are stand-alone cabinets that do not require any external furnishings. These cabinets combine different materials like wood and metal to make them highly functioning and compact. These cabinets may have built-in gadgets, customized open shelved units, cutlery units, pull-out dishwashers, tap-to-close drawers, and so on.
The primary reason why an entire design theme is based around these cabinets is due to the compact and featureful aspect of Modular Kitchen Cabinets. After all, why would anyone install external cabinets and shelves if you have them in a single cabinet?
Since we mentioned the features, many of you may question its durability.
Durability of Modular Kitchen cabinets
Contrary to what you may think, Modular Kitchen Cabinets are quite durable despite having many delicate moving parts. This durability can be primarily attributed to the raw materials used. These cabinets are made from the finest woods and metals. High-quality woods are first treated to prevent the termites from becoming strong. Due to this, the stress-bearing capacity of Modular Kitchen Cabinets is surprisingly high.
Along with this, due to the movable parts being connected by stainless steel or other equally solid yet versatile metal alloys, the joints are surprisingly stable as well. Steel supports further enhance the durability of some modular kitchens.
Because of the combination of all of these factors, the modular kitchens are extremely durable.
Price of Modular Kitchen Designs
Whenever it comes to estimating interior design price, there will never be a fixed answer. The modular kitchen is in the same boat as well. The price of a modular kitchen will depend on the furniture you used, the design of the kitchen furniture, the composition of your kitchen furniture, and the design implemented.
But if we had to give a rough estimate, the average price of a simple L-shaped modular kitchen with three average baskets/cabins can be as little as Npr 3000 per square foot. However, if you want a fully furnished modular kitchen, you may need to spend anywhere from Npr 1 Lakhs to Npr 5 Lakhs, depending on your interior design needs.
Modular Kitchen Design Ideas
Now that you have some basic gist of what a Modular Kitchen is and its prices let's talk about some Interior design ideas for a modular kitchen. We are Ultrainterio, after all. But before we move on to the design, do remember that since this is a modern design idea for interiors, the core concept of a Modular kitchen is functionality with aesthetics. Therefore, regardless of its design idea, it will lean towards being efficient.
Let's talk about some design ideas now!
1) L-Shaped Kitchen Layout
As the name says, this design idea for a Modular kitchen is laid in the L shape. This is further divided into the Cooking area and preparation area. On one side of this design, the layout is dedicated to cooking with Kitchen appliances like Oven, heater, and cooking gas installed. On the other side, we have a preparation side with kitchen appliances like a knife holder, knife, holders for additional kitchen utensils like a fork, skew, and whisks.
The cabin is customized in the same format, with the cabin of the cooking side being utilized to store cooking utensils and possibly an oven built into the cabin. As for the preparation side, it is used as storage for non-perishable foods and room for kitchen drainage.
You can install additional cabins for storage on the wall as well. The additional wall cabins are arranged in L-shape and go along with the theme.
2) U-Shaped Kitchen Layout
Similar to the L-Shaped Kitchen Layout, this interior design idea is meant for functionality. As the name says, the cabins are laid out in a U-shape, i.e., along the three walls of the kitchen. This makes efficient use of all the wall space and increases the available area for kitchen activities like cleaning, preparing, and cooking.
A U-shaped modular kitchen layout is one of the most popular interior design ideas because it applies to both big and small kitchens. In big kitchens, this interior design layout prevents the feeling of being overly empty. Meanwhile, the U-Shaped kitchen layout makes efficient use of every wall space available and gives you more room to work within the kitchen.
Along with this, similar to the L-shaped Modular Kitchen Layout, the best way to utilize this design layout is to fix a purpose for each side of the layout. You can divide them into a cleaning section with a sink, a basic knife, some forks, a cooking section with all the cooking utensils, a gas stove, a heater, and a preparation section with knives and spices.
3) Stainless Steel cabins
If you are looking for a Modular kitchen design idea that speaks durability, then stainless steel cabins are one of the best options for you. You can use this in any layout. So the shape and size of the kitchen will not affect this modern kitchen design idea in any way.
Since Stainless steel is a rather durable metal, you can easily aspect the cabins made from them to quite durable. But an underestimated aspect of using stainless steel cabins is that they are easy to clean. We all know how hard it is to make steel furniture dirty. Even if a steel cabin does get dirty, it is relatively easy to clean it.
Along with this, Stainless steel is also a poor conductor of heat. So you won't have to worry about the heat from cooking pots and stations burning your hand. It is a good conductor of electricity. Because of this, you need to be extra careful while installing stainless steel cabins.
If you are unwilling to do this, you can switch from a stainless steel cabin to a thick aluminum cabin. While they are not as durable or attractive as stainless steel, they serve as a poor conductor of heat and electricity fairly well. Besides this aluminum, Modular Kitchen Cabins do have some decent durability, although not as much as stainless steel.
4) Minimalistic Kitchen
A lot of Modular kitchen designs are all about being minimalistic. The concept of a minimalistic kitchen, in general, is quite modern, and it perfectly aligns with a modular kitchen. You use fewer things to function more. This means not using accessively designed or bulky kitchen furniture and getting rid of unnecessary kitchen utensils and appliances.
Less is more in this design concept. This modular design concept is perfect for small kitchen spaces since space will be utilized efficiently. In this type of modular kitchen, the cabins are quite compact, and the top stations are meant to function multiple functions.
Along with this, this modern kitchen design utilizes walls in the best way possible. By installing modular cabins in the otherwise empty walls, you design a kitchen with everything it needs without consuming extra kitchen space.
5) Add in some plants for a Tropical Modular Kitchen
The kitchen is not a place for aesthetics for most of all. It is meant to be a functional room, especially modular ones. But since you will be spending a considerable amount of time in this room to cook, you should consider a bit about how it looks as well.
The simplest thing you can do is add in green plants. The addition of plants instantly adds a fresh feel and natural ambiance to your modular kitchen. Along with this, if you want the best effect of this small addition, pair them with Modular Cabins made from natural-looking wood.
Not everything about the modular kitchen is about functionality; there needs to be some aesthetics to the kitchen design.
6) Add Material Furnishings
Going with the theme of aesthetics for Modular Kitchen, adding a bit of material furnishing to the kitchen is also a good idea. You can play with your design ideas by combining modular cabins made from different wood shades and different types of metal. Besides this, you can cover the surfaces with other natural materials like graphite, marbles, and tiles.
The use of different natural materials will enhance durability to some extent. Along with this, since the kitchen design doesn't play with components but purely aesthetics, you can implement this design idea in just about every type of Modular Kitchens.
However, you do need to be careful about messing up with the theme since using random materials will be an eyesore. Since Modular kitchens can get quite expensive, this design might be an expensive mistake if you use random materials.
Ultrainterio suggests you make a digital representation before implementing this design idea to your modular kitchens.
7) Combine Sharp and Soft edges
When we think of Modular Kitchen, the most common image that we have in our mind is a kitchen with rectangular cabins with sharp corners, square wall cabins, and an angular chimney. But things don't need to be sharp all the way. In fact, you can use soft edges as in many places without ruining the modern aesthetic of Modular kitchens.
You can use chimneys with curved edges, circular spice jars, cabins of rounded rectangular corners, and so on. While we say this, be sure to control the number of soft edges you use. If you use too many curved edges, the kitchen will lose the modern aesthetic. The functionality of a modular kitchen will still be there, but you will lose the aesthetics.
As we mentioned before, a modular kitchen is not just about being functional but also being functional while aesthetically pleasing.
8) Led Lights with customizable brightness and colors
Yes, Modular Kitchens are mostly about Modular cabins and their layouts, but you should not forget about lights either. In fact, bad lighting in a modular kitchen can ruin the entire design concept. So Ultrainterio suggests using LED lights with customizable brightness for your modular kitchen.
While it can be somewhat expensive to install, you will save a lot of money on energy savings. Along with this, since you can change the color and brightness, you will be able to set the mood. It is a well-known concept within interior designing that bright light enhances the mood and dim lights make everything mellow.
So if you can control this aspect in your modular kitchen, you will save energy and set the mood. Naturally, this design element fits in perfectly with Modular Kitchen. If you want to know more about ambient lighting, you can follow our article on the Importance of Lighting in Interior Design.
In the end
A modular kitchen is a modern design concept that focuses on functionality with aesthetics. The core component of this interior design is Modular Kitchen Cabins which are high-functioning compact cabins. However, you can add in additional elements to make it best suited for you. Elements like the addition of plants, curved and soft edges, intricate carvings on the cabins, and lights play a huge role in the aesthetics of a Modular Kitchen.
If you found this entertaining and helpful, why not check out some of our other articles on interior design? And if you want expert advice on interior design in Nepal, contact us.