Kitchen organisation: is your kitchen ready for the new school year?

The holidays will soon be over… and with them, a return to the daily routine. This might be the perfect time to take a fresh look at your kitchen.

The holidays often give us the chance to slow down, cook in a different way, and take the time to share meals with family or friends.

Then comes the start of the new term.

The early mornings start again, the children go back to school, the days fill up once more and the kitchen regains its central role: quick breakfasts, meal preparation, putting away the shopping, snacks, homework and family dinners.

It’s often at this point that we notice the little flaws we’d eventually stopped noticing.

Is the worktop always too small? Are the cupboards overflowing? Is it difficult to move around? Not enough space for several people to cook at once?

The start of the new school year is actually an excellent time to ask yourself whether your kitchen still really suits your everyday life.

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before considering a renovation or a new bespoke kitchen.

1. Do you have enough storage space?

When the new school term begins, the cupboards quickly fill up again with their usual contents: breakfast cereals, pasta, tinned food, snacks, bottles, groceries for the week… And it’s often at this point that we realise whether our kitchen storage is really suited to our daily lives.

A functional kitchen isn’t necessarily about having lots of units, but about finding the right organisation for the things you actually use.

Wide drawers for saucepans and utensils, tall units for groceries, dedicated storage for small appliances, or even specific spaces for bottles: everything should have its own natural place.

In some layouts, a larder can also be a particularly attractive solution. The models offered by Neptune combine storage with style, looking like a proper piece of furniture that can add character to the kitchen whilst making it easy to organise everyday groceries.

But this type of unit is just one option amongst many. Depending on the room, the amount of storage required and individual habits, a bespoke kitchen can combine base units, drawers, tall units, wall units or a larder to make the best possible use of every available space.

Ultimately, the aim is not to have as much storage as possible, but to have the right storage in the right place.

And when everything is easily accessible, the difference is particularly noticeable at the start of the new school year: fewer things piling up on the worktop, less time spent looking for what you need… and a much more pleasant kitchen to spend time in.

• 

• 

• 

2. Is your worktop big enough?

Do you love cooking, but constantly find yourself short of space?

Between the ingredients, the chopping board, the utensils, the food processor, the coffee machine and the dishes you’re preparing, the worktop can quickly become cluttered.

A good design should allow for plenty of space to prepare, cook and set out food.

The choice of material is also important.

Cosentino’s Dekton and Silestone surfaces combine aesthetics, durability and functionality, with a wide range of colours and finishes to choose from.

A well-chosen worktop can therefore become both a practical element and a real aesthetic feature of the kitchen.

3. Is everything you need easily accessible?

How often do you have to walk across your kitchen to fetch something?

Utensils used on a daily basis should ideally be kept close to your preparation area. Pans near the hob, plates within easy reach, and everyday items within arm’s reach.

This may seem obvious, but a kitchen’s ergonomics often come down to these small details.

When designing a bespoke kitchen, it’s important to think about the movements you actually make, rather than simply replicating a standard layout.

4. Is your fridge in the right place?

The fridge is probably one of the most frequently used appliances in the kitchen.

And at times when the whole family is gathered in the room, its location can have a real impact on how people move around.

It should be easily accessible without blocking the passage between the different areas of the kitchen.

In a family kitchen, a good layout allows several people to help themselves to food, prepare a meal or put away the shopping without constantly getting in each other’s way.

5. Where do you put your shopping when you get home?

It’s a very simple question, but a telling one.

You come home with several shopping bags: where do you put them? How many trips do you have to make before you can put everything away?

A kitchen’s organisation is also measured in these everyday moments.

In a bespoke design, we can consider the relationship between the entrance, the fridge, the storage areas and the worktop, to make your movements feel more natural.

A well-designed kitchen should make your life easier, not force you to think about every step you take.

6. Can several people cook at the same time?

During the holidays, we sometimes take more time to cook together. But when the new school term begins, the kitchen often becomes a real hub of activity.

One person prepares the meal, another opens the fridge, someone sets the table and a child comes to fetch their snack…

A family kitchen needs to be able to accommodate several people without turning into an obstacle course.

This is where a central island, when the right size, can be particularly useful.

It can provide an extra preparation area, accommodate a few seats or simply create a natural transition between the kitchen and the living area.

7. Do children have a place in the kitchen?

The start of the new school year also brings family life back to the heart of the kitchen.

Breakfast before school, an afternoon snack after lessons, homework, family meals… for many households, the kitchen has become a real living space.

Why not set aside a spot where children can settle down without getting in the way of whoever is preparing the meal?

A kitchen island with a few seats, a nearby table or a sufficiently open space can transform the kitchen into a place where everyone naturally finds their place.

Neptune furniture allows you to extend the kitchen space with tables, benches and chairs that create a seamless transition between the kitchen and the dining room.

8. Is your lighting suitable for all times of the day?

A kitchen can look stunning in daylight but be far less pleasant once the sun has set.

Lighting therefore needs to be considered right from the design stage.

There are generally several different requirements:

• general lighting for the whole room;

• task lighting above the worktop;

• specific lighting for the island;

• more decorative lighting to create a certain atmosphere.

Pendant lights above a table or an island can also become real decorative features.

The aim is to create several levels of light, so that you can adapt the atmosphere to suit every time of day.

9. Do your kitchen appliances still meet your needs?

Over time, the way we cook changes. We may find ourselves preparing more home-cooked meals, entertaining more often, or simply seeking greater convenience in our daily lives. A kitchen refurbishment is therefore also an opportunity to consider whether our kitchen appliances still suit our needs.

At JustKitchens, we pay particular attention to this aspect, especially with Miele solutions, which combine technology, convenience and style.

The induction hob with integrated extractor is a good example: the extractor hood disappears directly into the worktop, leaving the view above the island unobstructed and maintaining a very clean, minimalist look.

Another option is to combine a built-in oven with a vacuum-sealing drawer and a warming drawer. Vacuum-sealing helps to preserve and prepare certain foods more effectively, whilst the warming drawer can keep dishes or crockery at the right temperature. These features are particularly handy when cooking in advance or when the whole family doesn’t necessarily eat at the same time.

The idea, therefore, is not to accumulate appliances, but to choose the equipment that truly suits your lifestyle and cooking habits. When seamlessly integrated from the design stage, they can open up new possibilities whilst remaining perfectly discreet in your kitchen.

10. Does the organisation of your kitchen still suit your lifestyle?

This is probably the most important question.

Your kitchen may have been perfectly suited to your daily life when you first fitted it out.

But things have changed since then.

The children have grown up. You cook more. You entertain more often. You sometimes work from home. Perhaps you’ve opened up your kitchen to the living room.

Or perhaps you simply want a brighter, more practical and more pleasant space to spend time in.

A kitchen can be perfectly functional on paper and yet no longer suit the way you live today.

What if your kitchen simply needed to change along with you?

Renovating a kitchen doesn’t necessarily mean tearing everything down.

Sometimes, simply reorganising your storage is enough to transform your daily life. In other cases, you need to completely rethink the layout, open up a space, move a partition or rethink the flow of movement.

That’s precisely the appeal of a bespoke kitchen: starting with your home and your habits, rather than trying to fit your daily life into a predefined layout.

At JustKitchens, we take the time to understand how you use your kitchen before considering its aesthetics.

In particular, we work with Neptune, for its kitchens and furniture with a warm, timeless character, and with Häcker, which offers numerous options for customisation and contemporary design.

Cosentino worktops, Miele appliances, Falcon hobs and various pieces of furniture then allow us to create a project that is cohesive as a whole.

A kitchen designed for today… and for tomorrow

A good kitchen shouldn’t just meet your current needs.

It should be able to adapt as your daily life changes.

That’s why, when designing a bespoke kitchen, we pay particular attention to:

ergonomics, flow, storage, lighting, materials, appliances and social spaces.

Because a successful kitchen isn’t necessarily the one with the most features.

It’s the one where everyday tasks naturally become simpler.

The start of the new school year: a good time to start thinking about your project

If you’re considering a kitchen renovation, the start of the new school year can be a good time to start thinking about your needs.

Not necessarily to start the work straight away, but to take the time to work out what works, what’s missing and what you’d like to change.

A bespoke kitchen project requires careful thought: layout, materials, appliances, colours, storage, lighting and, of course, budget.

Starting to think about it early enough allows you to make the right choices without rushing.

Is your kitchen ready for the new school year?

At JustKitchens, we design bespoke kitchens for homes in France and abroad.

As a Franco-British family-run business that is bilingual in French and English, we support our clients throughout their project, from the initial planning stage right through to installation.

We work in particular in the Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, Dordogne and Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as in other regions of France.

Whether you simply want to improve the organisation of your kitchen or envisage an entirely new project, every project begins in the same way:

by understanding how you like to live.

CONTACT US