Plan your kitchen

In order to create a kitchen that will work for you, it can be a good idea to start by analyzing how your kitchen is planned today and how you work in it. If you are building a kitchen from scratch, it can be a good idea to originate from the kitchen that you had in your previous accommodation or to visit a friend that has a similar room to the one that you are building your kitchen in. A few things that might be good to think about regarding the kitchen that you have today:

- Is the workspace big enough?
- Can the new layout be improved or is it already good enough?
- How much storage do you need?
- What is stored in the kitchen?
- How do you work in the kitchen?
- Do you recycle?
- Do you cook a lot of food?
- Is it possible to move the sewage or fan?

Make a simple measurement sketch of the floor space and a measurement sketch for each wall. Make sure to include the following:

- All measurements from wall to wall.
- The placing and size of all doors. Include the doorframe while taking measurements.
- Placement of windows and sizes of these. Include the window frame while taking measurements.
- Measurements from sewage to wall. Start from the centre of the pipe.
- Mark off where ceiling lights, radiators, light switches, power outlets and water pipes are placed. Note if these can be moved or adjusted to suit the new kitchen.

It is a lot of fun to have the old kitchen documented so that you can compare the old with the new. But the pictures are also good to be able to look at an extra time during the planning of the new kitchen.

Practical and aesthetic elements are often seen as each other polar opposite, but at Superfront we are driven by a will to combine the two - with as few and as small compromises as possible. Here are a few aesthetic points to keep in mind while planning the layout of the new kitchen:

TOP CUPBOARD SYMMETRY.
A mistake people often make as beginners is that you try to create complete symmetry between top and bottom cabinets when it comes to the width of the fronts, in other words, you would think that a 40 cm wide bottom cupboard front should have a 40 cm wide top cabinet front above it. But from an aesthetic view, we think it looks nicer to strive for the same width within all the top cabinets fronts to then let the bottom cabinets "live a life of their own". That creates greater harmony and better aesthetic.

EITHER OR.
We like both streamlined and all over the place-aesthetics. But we think that it should be either or. If for example you can not have streamlined all the way but have to make compromises it might be better to mix formats instead. This, of course, varies from case to case, but it might be good to keep this in mind while planning your kitchen.

CORNER CABINETS.
There are probably a thousand arguments as to why you should have a corner cabinet if you have a cornered kitchen. Sure, you will be utilizing the entire volume of the room, but nonetheless, we would still like to suggest that you skip the corner cabinet. In a corner cabinet, it is usually advised that you have a flywheel in order to be able to reach all the things at the back of the cabinet. It is a really nice thought, but we think that the mechanism takes up so much room that it would be better to just have normal pull-out drawers and leave the corner space empty. Furthermore, we think it looks nicer without corner cabinets if you intend on following the lines of the drawers in the kitchen.

TRUST YOUR GUT INSTINCT.
It is your kitchen. These are your choices. Do not listen blindly to our arguments or any other know-it-alls. We do have a very large amount of experience when it comes to planning kitchens, but in the end, it is your home and your kitchen; so follow your own gut instinct. Your gut instinct is usually right, especially when it comes to kitchens.

DRAWING YOUR KITCHEN

IKEA'S KITCHEN PLANNERS
Take a trip to Ikea and visit the kitchen section and a computer there. You can book an appointment with one of Ikea's kitchen planners for a more personal walkthrough. Ikea's kitchen planners will help you create a practical and workable layout based on your sketches. Make sure to also make a decision about the kitchen lighting under the wall cabinets and in the drawers, what furnishing you want for the drawers and also which white goods you wish to use.

DO IT YOURSELF
You can also plan your kitchen yourself with the help of Ikea's Home Planner. The program can be downloaded to your own computer.
However, we recommend that you let Ikea's staff help you. They know what they're doing!

WHITE GOODS
We recommend that you use white goods from Ikea's assortment. If you are interested in other brands we ask you to contact that supplier to make an order and have them confirm that their integrated products fit Ikea's frames and fronts. Remember the small details, an integrated oven might fit the frame - but if the front part, for example, stands out 7 mm from the doors it is not going to look or feel great.

ORDER FROM SUPERFRONT

There are two ways to go when ordering your Superfront products. A quicker, "do it yourself" alternative (A), and a slower alternative where you take help from our kitchen architect (B).

A. Visit Superfront.com and place your order yourself.
The simplest and quickest way is to go to Superfront.com and place the order yourself. Figure out how many fronts, drawer fronts, sides, plinths and excess pieces you will need in each size. Filler pieces are most easily made out of our 16 mm sides and fronts in a fitting format and cut to the exact measurements. Once you've placed your order, changes can not be made, so make sure to look through your order carefully.

B. With the help of our kitchen architect via mail or in our store in Stockholm.

We will gladly help you if you find it tricky to place the order yourself or if you are having troubles choosing. This could take a bit more time. Be prepared that it could take 1-2 weeks depending on the amount of customers we are helping at the moment. Our kitchen architect will help you choose patterns, colours, handles and legs in order for you to create a cohesive kitchen. If you already know how you would like the kitchen to look, that is fine too. This service costs €85 including VAT. For this you will get:

- A design sketch of your kitchen. This also describes each individual products placement and will therefore work great as a basis for the carpenters that will be mounting your kitchen.
- Up to three colour samples.
- A clear quotation that describes each individual product.
- An account created in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If you then place an order you will get the £65/€85 that you previously invested back. Regardless if you want help through e-mail or directly in our store you should send the following information to [email protected]:

• Ikea Homeplanner sketch in PDF-format.
• Product specifikation from Ikea.
• Choice of colour, pattern, handles and any legs you might want.
• Choice of top (thickness as well as colour and material), mixer tap (manufacturer and colour) and other details that you yourself will be purchasing for your kitchen.
• Name, delivery address, e-mail address and phone number.
• State if you want to book a personal appointment in our store or if you want to manage the project via e-mail.

Once we get this info from you, we will put together a design sketch based on your choice of design and send you the colour samples you are interested in. The quotation will be sent to you after you've confirmed that the sketch is okay.

Superfront tip!
If you are just looking for a quote, this is easy to get by adding the products you wish to purchase to your shopping cart on the website.

ONCE THE ORDER HAS BEEN PLACED
Once the order has been placed it is not possible to make any changes, so make sure your order is accurate before you place it.

When ordering at superfront.com, you pay easily by card. In some countries payment by Klarna is also available. When ordering through Superfront's kitchen architect, advance payment applies.

ORDER FROM IKEA

When you know exactly what products you want from Superfront you place your order from Ikea, from their website or at one of their department stores. If you're a bit of a handyman it is possible to install the kitchen yourself. If you want someone else to do it, Ikea offers a number of qualified firms to do it for you. You can order the installation from Ikea at the same time as the kitchen frames. Choice of craftsmen can affect the finished result, so it is wise to choose someone with experience from installing Ikea's kitchens, it is often both better and cheaper. Whatever craftsmen you hire, make sure that they get to see the design sketch of your kitchen. It will help them during the installation. If you live in Stockholm we advise you to contact us so that we can recommend a local firm.

Your products will be shipped to you 4–5 weeks after your order date. You will receive an e-mail from us when the packages are ready to leave our joinery. The shipping company will also contact you before they come to drop off the goods.

We advise you to call and book eventual craftsmen after you have received the delivery e-mail from us.

IN CASE OF DELIVERY DAMAGES
If you receive damaged goods, make sure that this is noted by the driver upon delivery. Take pictures of the package and the damaged product and send this to: [email protected]. Freight claims have to be sent to Superfront within 7 days from delivery.

It is very important to us that you are very pleased with your Superfront kitchen, but also with the buyer experience as a whole. If you're displeased in any way we gladly accept any feedback.

If you want to, we would be very happy if you shared pictures of your new Superfront kitchen with us. E-mail the pictures to [email protected]. We are always interested in seeing the finished result and a lot of interior magazines contact us looking for new objects to photograph.