Kitchen Essential

The working kitchen divides into six sections:

1. Storage of food

2. Preparation

3. Cooking

4. Serving

5. Dishwashing

6. Storage of crockery.

For efficiency and comfort of operation, it is not only necessary to ensure the layout is right; utensils, gadgets, saucepans must be in the right places.

Storage of food

Just because the larder has always traditionally held all the food, condiments and spices, there is no reason why things should not be changed around to give greater convenience.

What is the point of crossing to the other side of the kitchen to find the stock cubes or sugar when they are required at the cooker or the table? The larder can then be used for longer-term storage of cans, packets and bottles.

With the growth in ownership of fridges and freezers, the old-style larder is less vital. Some manufacturers have developed chillers within the fridge/freezer cabinet to hold dairy produce and vegetables. Certainly an advance on the traditional larder cabinet offered by most fittedkitchen manufacturers, is the temperature- controlled larder which is cooled but not refrigerated.

Tall, narrow cabinets 300 or 400 mm wide, with pull-out racks attached to the door, make total use of the space and are ideal for small packets and bottles that tend to get lost or fall over on deep shelves.

Preparation

This is the processing of the raw materials — vegetables, fruit, meat or fish. The preparation area should be close to the food store and should include a sink and as large a work surface as possible. There should also be a rubbish bin, waste disposal unit or even a trash compactor. Efficient, and hygienic disposal of waste is not merely a matter of throwing everything into one huge bin! A disposal unit installed into the kitchen sink takes most food scraps. It does not accept cans, bottles, string or paper which must be disposed of elsewhere.

An electrically operated trash compactor, popular in the United States, will neatly compress cans, paper, packages and so on for easy disposal. Keen gardeners may keep a compost heap which will take most vegetable matter, so a separate disposal bag may need to be kept in the kitchen for this purpose. There may be a local bottle bank and waste paper collection, so these items may also be kept separately. To minimise odourous waste, keep only a small bin to be emptied frequently.

Cooking

Cooking areas may be divided into two if there is a split-level cooker. A built-in oven and hob should not be sited too close together as there is little room for preparation of different types of foods ideally suited to split-level cooking.

The hob is used for dishes requiring regular attention. But once in the oven, roasts, cakes, puddings and so on, require little attention until cooked. Saucepans should be stored under the hob. Kitchen tools, condiments and herbs are best in a wall cupboard to one side of the hob.

By siting the oven away from the hob it is easy to store the cake, pastry and bread making equipment, rolling pins and so on where they would be used. The oven housing unit can easily hold ovenware, baking tins and trays, whilst weighing scales, mixer, baking ingredients, spices and cooking foil can be stored next to it.

However, if the oven and hob are one piece of equipment, either free standing, built-under or slip-in, all the same items need to be stored close by, but on opposite sides to each other. For instance if your saucepans are stored on the left of the cooker, your baking trays and mixer should be stored on the right.

The grill can either be above the hob at eye level, or above, in or under the oven. The ideal height and position depends on the volume of grilling. If you grill a lot, you should ensure the extractor fan is powerful enough to remove the fumes. If the fan is immediately above the grill then there should be no problem. If the grill is in or under the oven and away from the hob and fan, then odours will be slower to extract.

The efficient removal of cooking fumes and grease is of prime importance. An extractor fan fitted into the wall above the hob will remove steam and fumes. This can only be fitted in an outside facing wall, so the hob should, ideally, be fixed against this wall. If this is impossible, a ducted hood, or a charcoal filter hood above the hob is a partial solution, but they must be cleaned frequently to be efficient. Cooker hoods must be fitted at least 900 mm above the hob to avoid rapid spread of flames in the event of fire. If a bare fan is fitted into the wall above the hob, it can be concealed behind a false, open bottomed wall unit.

Microwave ovens standing free on a worktop clutter up the kitchen, and they should, if possible, be built into the oven housing unit. Some manufacturers match their ovens and microwaves so they can be built into housing units.

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