If you own or manage a business, you will probably agree with me that your greatest asset is your staff. The people within a company of any kind can make or break the success of the venture, and will have a huge influence on the environment which your clients and customers enter. Keeping a staff team happy should, therefore, be a high priority, and one of the ways to ensure they feel valued and cared for is by providing an appropriate and inviting area in which to take breaks and eat meals.

Most offices and businesses need some kind of staff kitchen. At the very least it should be somewhere to make hot drinks and refrigerate food, but ideally it should present an opportunity to escape from the working environment and socialise with colleagues. Kitchen cabinets should be available for storing cups, teabags, biscuits and breakfast cereals, and a water cooler is a valuable addition too. A range of seating which offers enough room to sit at a table for meals and relax on a sofa for breaks is perhaps not always possible depending upon space restrictions, but avoiding the need to eat at individual desks is certainly the preferred option.

The kitchen design can be more quirky and fun than you might have at home. Use corporate colours or bright inspirational hues instead of the more usual domestic tones. Fittings and appliances should be hard wearing and functional but you can afford to bring a fashion element to the room, as the chances are you will renovate more often than at home.

If you can create an aspirational space, then hopefully you will inspire loyalty from your staff and a feeling of worth. Personal touches like individual lockers, newspapers and magazines on subscription, and a plentiful supply of chocolate biscuits will further enhance this mood. Encourage a sociable feel with a staff notice board and put some money in the tin for staff nights out!

Look after your people and they will look after you.