Steve Vanhinsbergh, director at stoneCIRCLE, one of the largest stonemasonry companies in England, explains how to create the perfect work from home kitchen
By Steve Vanhinsbergh
The last year has seen many of us working from home at the same time as the kids are being home schooled — and our homes aren’t set up for it. Here’s how to create a work from home kitchen that accommodates your job and your kids’ schooling.
How to adapt your kitchen for WFH
Create more workspace
Although it’s not always practical, or possible, to create more space in an existing room, lockdown has made us realise that the kitchen is the heart of the home. For this reason, it is often the area chosen to work in and it deserves to have as much space dedicated to it as possible.
A large island top with a seating area keeps everyone together and lets adults work while keeping an eye on the kids to make sure that they are doing their school work. Sockets built in to the top mean that there is no problem with charging laptops. Food preparation areas can be kept separate from the seating area by using different heights of worktop.
Make it practical and beautiful
You don’t need to sacrifice looks to achieve practicality in a work from home kitchen. Your kitchen can meet all of your family’s needs and still look stunning. Using natural stone is a way of ensuring that it will stand the tests of both design and time.
Stone is one of the most durable and easy to maintain materials for a kitchen worktop, whether you choose granite, quartz or sintered stone. You can ring the changes by using different types or colours of stone to delineate zones in your kitchen dedicated to food preparation, eating and working.
Choose the right stone
Granite is the most suitable natural stone for kitchen worktops: strong and durable, it is easy to care for and will stand the test of time. There are hundreds of different granites available, from the understated speckled Bethel White, to more dramatic veined and coloured varieties, such as White Beauty with its abstract patterns of white, green and black.
For those that prefer a more uniform look than is possible with natural stone, quartz is the traditional choice and is available in many different brands and colours – some of the most popular being manufactured by Silestone and Caesarstone.Alternatively, sintered stones such as Dekton, from the makers of Silestone, are extremely tough, heat and scratch resistant and are available in designs which mimic natural marble, a stone which is not recommended for kitchen worktops due to its tendency to staining and acid etching.
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