Most kitchens today have to function as more than just a place to cook. Incorporating a scullery means the main kitchen can remain functional and easy to cook in, but the messiest bits can be hidden away when family and friends visit and the kitchen turns into your social space.
The key starting point when you are briefing your kitchen designer is to really understand what jobs you want your scullery to do. Which tasks do you want to perform in there, away from the main kitchen? That will help you decide which appliances, fittings and storage you should include, and how best to make this space work efficiently. Follow this guide to see how a scullery could make life easier at your house.
Minosa | Design Life Better
1. Allocate the space
The starting point for deciding what you can include in your scullery is to look at how much space you have available. The larger the space, the more features you will be able to incorporate. If space is limited, make a wishlist and then prioritise.
Darren James Interiors
2. Start with food storage
The first priority for most people in the scullery is food storage. Open shelving makes it easy to see what you have in stock and everything is easily accessible. As more kitchens use drawers to maximise storage and access to items, it means tall items can be difficult to incorporate into the main kitchen. Taller shelves in the scullery can also accommodate non-food items such as vases, jugs and big bowls.
Planning the perfect butler’s pantry
Kitchen Design Co.
3. Add a food prep sink
A sink is a common feature in most sculleries, and is a handy feature if you plan to prepare food or wash up in here. Think about what sort of sink works best for you: some people want a small, round sink, while others prefer a larger one – even a butler’s sink – so they can use it to wash platters and roasting dishes.
Du Bois Design Ltd
4. Clean up mess
If you like to wash your messy and/or large items in the scullery to keep the main part of the kitchen clutter free, then as well as specifying a large sink, you might add a dishwasher to the scullery. Sometimes people have the main dishwasher in the kitchen itself and a smaller dishwasher or dishdrawer in the scullery. Others find that they like to do the bulk of their washing up in the scullery and have the main dishwasher there. This is particularly convenient if you plan to store the crockery, glasses and tableware in the scullery, as you can unload and put away in one spot.
Garsden and Clarke Kitchens
5. Keep small appliances ready to go
Lugging your appliances in and out of cupboards often means they are underused. A bench in the scullery is a great place to keep small appliances such as the slow cooker, toasted sandwich press or food processor; if they’re plugged in and ready to go, you’re far more likely to use them. Be sure to specify plenty of power points for this purpose.
Mal Corboy Design
6. Create a baking station
Is your scullery going to be the place you bake and use your food processor and mixer? Are you going to store your toaster and kettle in the scullery along with the tea, coffee and sugar? These decisions will help you work out how much bench space you need in your scullery and what type of storage you need next to the appliances.
Why we should bring back ‘baking day’
Key Piece
7. Create a kids’ zone
A dedicated place in the scullery for making school lunches takes the pressure off the main kitchen in the morning. Store your plastic wraps, tin foils and lunch boxes in here, along with the containers of muesli bars, crackers and snacks. Packing lunch boxes just got a whole lot easier.
Dedicate one area to appliances your kids like to use to make after-school snacks – the popcorn maker or smoothie maker, for example. That way, the kids won’t get under your feet in the main cooking area of the kitchen when you’re busy prepping dinner there.
Fast-track school lunch making
Nicola Manning Design
8. Double up on the kitchen
The bigger the scullery gets, the more it can become a mini-kitchen. Decide whether you want your scullery to be large enough to incorporate a fridge. Think about whether it will be a regular fridge or a small one under the bench. A specialist wine fridge, perhaps, or do you just need an additional freezer?
Some people do part of their cooking in the scullery. Here, a steam oven and combination microwave oven have been included so the main kitchen can keep its streamlined good looks. The scullery is a great place to store your recipe books too, if a minimalist main kitchen appeals – they can look messy if they are on display.
Celia Visser Design Ltd
9. Keep it light
A scullery may not get any natural daylight from a window, so lighting is important. Complement the overhead lights with great task lighting such as LED strip lighting under overhead shelves or cabinets.
Specify a motion-activated sensor to turn on the lighting – great if you are just grabbing something quickly or your arms are full. If you are going to be working in the scullery for longer periods, you can override the sensor so the light doesn’t turn off on you.
Inwood Custom Cabinets
10. Think about materials
Your scullery need not be fancy – it’s more about function than form. To save on costs (and put more of your budget towards the main kitchen), consider using a cheaper benchtop material. To help you decide, look at how visible your scullery is from the main part of the kitchen. Is it tucked away? Is it very open to the kitchen when the doors are open and can then be shut off when you want to hide the mess?
Kitchen Architecture Ltd
If your scullery can be seen clearly from the main kitchen, be more consistent with your choice of materials and finishes so the two spaces blend.
Suzanne Allen Design
It can be fun to use more colour in the scullery, however, and be a little ‘safer’ with your colour choices in the main kitchen. The orange splashback provides a great pop of colour in this scullery.
Darren James Interiors
This scullery is open to the main kitchen when the sliding door is left open, so the finishes are consistent. Different benchtop thicknesses distinguish the two zones.
TELL US
Would you like to hide away mess in a scullery or are you happy containing your kitchen in one zone? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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