Plan your layout

Tradespeople can work faster with a detailed plan to follow (cutting your time spent washing dishes in the bath and relying on microwaved meals!). Have your preferred kitchen shape in mind when first discussing with builders what’s achievable on your budget – then perhaps revise your ideas accordingly. Get inspiration from Pinterest or Instagram, book meetings with kitchen companies for quotes, use a kitchen visualiser and draw up more detailed plans before making your decision. At home, placing scale-sized pieces of paper or tape where you want your units can give you an idea of the physical space they’ll occupy and let you play around with configurations and proportions.