Heating a kitchen can be surprisingly difficult in the winter without adequate preparation. Depending on the size of your kitchen, ordinary heating may not be enough. You’re also not guaranteed to have any heating available in the first place. Many kitchens are designed without specific heating considerations nowadays. So, to keep your kitchen, here are 7 kitchen heating ideas you should try.
1. Use a space heater
Space heaters are one of the best types of heating systems you can use to warm up your home. It doesn’t require any installation other than plugging it into an outlet, and many space heaters are relatively inexpensive. That said, this can also be costly if you plan on doing it a lot.
However, involving space heaters in your kitchen heating ideas can cause high energy bills. Space heaters consume a lot of electricity, so keep an eye on your power bill to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
According to The Sun, the average model on the market uses around 3 kWh per hour, which can add up quite fast if you use the heater for longer periods or combine multiple heaters. For some households, you can anticipate costs in the range of £1-2 per hour just for your heating alone.
2. Install underfloor heating
Underfloor heating is one of the best long-term kitchen heating ideas if you’re having heating issues in your home. It costs a bit more than other heating methods upfront, but it makes up for that with its longevity and relatively low running costs. Even though underfloor heating uses electricity, it’s much more effective than a space heater and can help you optimize your home expenses.
If you’re adding underfloor heating to an existing home, this can cost around £4,000 according to GreenMatch. This might seem steep, but it’s a good investment into your future, given the relatively low long-term cost of using underfloor heating.
3. Use a hydronic plinth heater
Hydronic plinth heaters have become quite popular kitchen heating ideas in recent years among users exploring alternative methods for heating. They hook up to the central heating of the home, making them convenient for covering a larger area.
Not all builders are properly prepared to install advanced equipment like that. This makes it important to work with qualified builders. That’s particularly true if you’re building a new home, in which case it will be part of your overall cost for the home’s construction.
4. Plan around your cooking
Cooking can produce a lot of heat. If you use the oven together with one or two stove elements active, this can provide you with plenty of heat that should keep your kitchen nice and warm. You can take this one step further and plan your cooking sessions around your kitchen usage, so that the room is already warmed and prepared when people enter it.
5. Eliminate any sources of draught
While this won’t help you warm up your kitchen directly, it will address issues with heat escaping it, which can also go a long way towards keeping the room warm overall. Look for any sources of draught and try to eliminate them to the best of your ability. Sometimes this is as simple as shutting a window or door more tightly, while in other cases it could require a more substantial rework of your kitchen interior.
6. Heated glass
Heated glass is still relatively uncommon as kitchen heating ideas go but is gaining popularity. The idea is similar to that of underfloor heating, but the heating element resides in the windows and not under the floor. Depending on the layout of the home, this can sometimes be a more suitable approach.
If your kitchen has a lot of windows but not too much floor space, heated glass can provide a better solution. Modern heated glass systems can reach temperatures of up to 55 °C, more than enough to keep a room warm through the day. They also come with different temperature settings, for example for defrosting your windows.
7. Install a stove
Installing a stove is one of the more inexpensive kitchen heating ideas. Cheap wood-burning models can be found for as little as £300, going up to several thousand pounds if you want something fancier. Almost a third of the population uses a cheap model with a price of less than £2,000, as per DirectStoves.
Wood is not expensive as a fuel source either, and can be the perfect solution for keeping your kitchen warm during the winter. If you combine this with point #4 and plan around your cooking more efficiently, you should be able to fulfil all your heating requirements.
Closing thoughts
Finding a good solution for heating your kitchen in the winter can take a while if you’re doing this for the first time. Not every option on the market will fit your requirements, even if it’s generally popular among other users. You must also occasionally be prepared to make a larger investment – for example, if you live in a big house with a correspondingly large kitchen.
If you have any questions on heating your kitchen with underfloor heating, get in touch.
Sources
https://www.finepoint.glass/product/heated-glass/
How Much Do Wood Burning Stoves Cost to Install?
https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/underfloor-heating-cost
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/16737866/cost-electric-heater-energy/
