The Kitchen is the most used room in the house and often the least thought through at the planning stage. The size of the garage or placement of the swimming pool usually gets more attention.
The flawed concept of the working triangle in the kitchen leaves out at least two major and several minor functions for those who actually use the kitchen. The triangle does not take into account food prep nor clean up after the meal has take place. More time and effort go into food prep and kitchen clean up than in actually cooking the food.
In this article, we will examine two components of kitchen use and function then determine how they should fit into the overall design and work flow.
Storage
The kitchen has three basic types of storage required to function properly.
1. Uncooked food to be used as ingredients in the meal.
2. Pots, pans, utensils and appliances required to actually do the prep and the cooking.
3. Dishes used to serve the meal once it has been cooked and ready to eat.
If storage isn’t properly thought out, then your experience in the kitchen will more resemble a workout than cooking. Walking back and forth, bending down, reaching, and lifting to prepare the meal, and then repeat to put the cleaned dishes and pans back.
A few years ago I designed a kitchen for a customer who told me she stored her serving dishes and trays in the TV entertainment center … “no room in the kitchen” she said. Since then, I always design this type of storage into the kitchen, butler’s pantry or utility room.
Prep Area
The Prep area isn’t even mentioned in the working triangle, nor is the proper amount of work surface considered. Baking bread, cookies and pies requires different equipment and space than preparing vegetables and meat. One prep area can suffice for both types of prep if the kitchen is properly laid out and the storage is well done.
I like cabinets with two large drawers for baking prep areas because so much can be stored and easily accessed in one motion. One kitchen design I did included a three foot wide prep island designed with drawers in the end that faced the cooktop. The lady was pleased as could be with the storage designed into her baking prep area. She opened the top wide drawer to reveal the mixing bowls, measuring cups, mixer attachments, etc. and the bottom drawer to show canisters of flour, sugar and other baking ingredients. “I can stand here and make cookies without taking a single step” she bragged. Of course the refrigerator was one step away, but that didn’t count because she set out the milk, butter and eggs before she started mixing.
Two simple cooking functions, like storage and food prep, if designed into the flow of a kitchen, can change the kitchen from “work” into a true pleasure again.
In future articles, we will discuss design elements including work flow, appliance placement and function, cabinet design, types of lighting, kitchen ventilation, cabinet finishes, serving areas in the kitchen, the clean up area in the kitchen, cabinet hardware, vegetable sinks and sinks in general, trash can types and placement and even decorating for the seasons to make the kitchen a beautiful as well as a functional place to work and enjoy.
