Modern kitchens may be efficiently kitted out and look seamlessly well designed with nice materials fixtures and finishes – but lack any personality, and thus don’t fulfill their new role as the epicenter of socialising in the home.

Whatever the style – Gothic, Punk, Eclectic, 50′s American retro, Victoriana or Bauhaus -  design  influences  of  the recent and more distant past are the ultimate source for inspiration in giving your home and kitchen design that memorable touch, whether you are refitting or accessorising.

I recently visited a successful designer friend’s home recently, who has a very impressive kitchen extension on an equally impressive 19th century house.

Visually stunning and easy to install, Fusion outdoor balustrade injects contemporary designer style into any outdoor living area.

The Richard Burbidge FUSION Decking system can be fitted to most hard landscaping surfaces, from textured decking boards to contemporary paving slabs, or concrete layouts. You can complete the overall look with a choice of either acrylic panels or two distinctive infill option; slatted panels or vertical balusters, available in both; hardwood & softwood.

There is a choice of Domestic FUSION Decking System or Commercial FUSION Decking System for Architectural projects.

Use graph paper to make a base plan of your existing kitchen. Draw the room to scale, noting the size and location of windows and doors, and location of electrical receptacales and lightning fixtures. Once you have this basic drawing, make several copies and use them to try out various configuration of your new kitchen. Include all the appliances and try to decide where each cabinet element (such as deep or shallow drawers, corner pieces, upper and lower cabinets) should go. You may want to draw elevations of each wall to get a better sense of how the pieces will look next to one another, or transfer your information to computer software that can show you the room from all angles.

Kitchen designers often utilize the work triangle, a term that refers to the placement of the refrigerator, sink, and range, and their relationship to one another. The three legs of the triangle should be no shorter than 4 feet and no longer than 9 feet, meaning that each of the major elements (refrigerator, sink and range) should be no less than 4 and no more than 9 feet apart. Very large kitchens with more than one refrigerator or sink may have overlapping work triangles. Most kitchens fall into one of these categories: