Kitchen Essential

With all of its pots, pans, bags of groceries and delicious comforting aromas, the kitchen is the heart of the home. But it does have a dual role to play: it has to be efficient yet comfortable and inviting.

Planning a kitchen may seem daunting at first, but most of the important decisions will be common-sense ones. Then you can spend time on the fun things like colour schemes and the overall ‘look’. Continue Reading »

With cabinets and appliances running in an unbroken line around three counters, the U-shape is generally considered to be the most workable kitchen design.

To create an efficient work triangle in a U-shaped kitchen, awkwardly positioned doorways are more of a problem than the actual size of the room. In the true U-shape, the line of work surfaces is uninterrupted by doors, so that the cook is undisturbed by family members continually tramping through the work area. Continue Reading »

This configuration is suitable for virtually all types of rooms, except for particularly narrow ones, or those with lots of doors.

It’s often used to create a kitchen in the corner of an open-plan living room, or in a large combined kitchen/dining room.

In almost every case, the L-shaped kitchen can include an eating area, even if it’s only in the form of a breakfast bar; generally, though, there’s room here for a table. Of course, it’s a very sociable set-up, ideal for relaxed entertaining and family meals, enabling the cook to join in conversation without feeling excluded. Continue Reading »

The most informal arrangement, the eat-in kitchen can fit into almost any shaped room as long as it’s not too small.

A great benefit of this layout is that the cook need never feel left out from what’s going on at the table. On the down side of things it is impossible to close the door on kitchen mess. Continue Reading »

Serving

As long as there is sufficient work surface beside the hob, the oven or the free-standing cooker on which to put plates and serving dishes, there should be few problems.

Within the serving area there should be convenient storage for oven gloves, serving spoons, plates and serving dishes.

Dishwashing

This is often a part of the preparation area. However, if the kitchen is large enough, it may be worth considering a separate dishwashing zone, close to the eating area. This zone will accommodate the waste disposal unit or a rubbish bin and, ideally, a dishwasher. Twin sinks should be large enough to hold a grill pan.

The hob should be linked by a worktop to the sink. It should also have ample work surfaces on both sides of it. Kettle, tea, coffee, cups and saucers are best kept close to the sink. Toasters should be on a work surface or shelf near to the bread. Deep drawers for bread storage are preferable to bins on the work surface. Continue Reading »

Lighting a kitchen is not easy. Most people get it wrong because they don’t really understand what the different types of lighting will do for them and how to use lighting to achieve maximum benefit. Subtle yet effective illumination is a skill that few have mastered, yet its importance cannot be underestimated. Too many and too bright lights can cause tension, just as dim lighting causes accidents around the house.

This is an attempt to simplify the complexities and try to illustrate the best lighting for each area.

Simple, direct and bright illumination is required for food preparation, cooking and washing up. This can be provided by a number of different fittings depending on your kitchen layout. Continue Reading »

When someone is busy cooking in the kitchen, the instinctive urge for visitors or bystanders is to want to have a taste. Eating food where it is prepared is a traditional, and very comforting thing to do. In prehistoric times it was the norm. There was no special room for eating, nor was there co-ordinated linens, crockery and cutlery! Raw materials were simply hunted, harvested or gathered, then roughly skinned, chopped or ground with simple implements. Cooking, where applicable, was over an open fire and eating was a communal process vital to survival.

Historically, cooking and eating habits have refined and continually changed over generations and according to the structure of the social system. Formal dining rooms were associated with privileged sectors of the community — those who had servants to scrub, clean and polish their homes and possessions. Continue Reading »

Shape solutions

Small, awkward-shaped kitchens can present special problems. These examples show how these virtually unworkable kitchens were transformed into labour saving dreams.

Five walls

A tiny kitchen in an old end-of-terrace house in a garden suburb presented a challenge with three windows and five walls, none of which was of equal length.

The new owner was a busy professional woman who lived with her teenage daughter. Breakfast and evening meals were to be eaten in the kitchen. Maximising on the microwave and the freezer, they entertained friends about once a month. The budget for this kitchen was moderate.

The previous occupants had fitted some units which had suffered from misuse. The double- drainer sink unit was against an inside wall which complicated the plumbing to the drains. A free-standing cooker stood in one corner near the door which led to the tiny utility room and toilet. Continue Reading »

More ambitious ideas and budgets to match are illustrated by these four kitchens where extensions were constructed and living rooms incorporated.

Family planning

Two adults, two teenagers and two young children made up this family who planned an extension to their home to contain a completely new kitchen. There was a separate utility room for the washing machine, but the existing floor-standing gas central-heating boiler had to stay where it was. They wanted to eat in the kitchen at a breakfast bar to seat up to eight people; they liked a rustic look, and were able to spend a reasonable amount to get the kitchen the way they wanted.

Three meals a day were eaten, plus home baking at least once a week, batch cooking for the freezer once a month; dinner party and other entertaining from time to time. This family had thought deeply about what their real needs were. Continue Reading »

Two large walk-in store cupboards dominated one end of this kitchen. The wife of the family is a sculptor and spends very little time cooking. But after many years of making-do she felt a complete change was necessary.

The family consisted of parents and two grown up children and a cat. Their dining room was used as a study, so they wanted to eat and entertain in the kitchen. With good natural light from the window overlooking a garden full of sculptures, the potential was great.

At the opposite end of the kitchen to the walk- in store cupboards, another two cupboards housed the washing machine and central-heating boiler. Continue Reading »

When this family of four moved into their new house in a fashionable part of London, they had no idea of how difficult it would be to fit the kitchen.

The room had a window, a deep recess and five doors which left no walls for fixing base and wall units. One of the doors led to a pantry, broom store, box room and WC. It was decided that the only way they could have an efficient kitchen and informal dining area was to demolish this cluster of small rooms, revealing a long narrow area — ideal for an efficient workflow. The family consisted of parents, two children, an au pair and a dog. The cellar housed their laundry equipment and boiler.

Space is put to far better use when the run of units is unbroken by doors and windows. Efficiency and a good workflow are easier to achieve: this new kitchen is a perfect example of a U-shaped arrangement . Continue Reading »

Restoration

This Hertfordshire residence, built in the 1920s, is a relic of a gracious era. It comprised two large reception rooms, large airy hall, butler’s pantry, morning room, huge larder, kitchen and laundry room.

The family who moved into this house were parents and two pre-teenage children. Cooking and entertaining, as well as growing her own fruit and vegetables for freezing or preserving are this housewife’s relaxation. She is also a keen junk shop addict — spotting objects that anyone else would reject. She then lovingly restores them not merely to their former glory, but improves on the original.

While she could see the potential of the house, she could not visualise the kitchen area with its maze of cupboards and rooms. As a designer it is necessary to find out how the kitchen would be used and what the family’s requirements are before producing a plan. During our discussions it became clear that cooking was a major part of the activities. The wife cooked not because it was expected of her, but because she truly enjoyed it. She seemed cut out for an Aga cooker, and once it was explained to her just what an Aga was about, she couldn’t wait to try it. The gas- fired Aga is on continuously, heats the water in the kitchen and cloakroom and warms the kitchen. Once this was agreed, the plan for the kitchen seemed to fall into place. Continue Reading »

Of all the rooms in the house,the kitchen is the most difficult to plan. Unlike other rooms where you can move furniture around to your heart’s content, you have only one opportunity to design the perfect kitchen layout. Once the plumbing is in, your design is fixed, so take as much time as you need to work out the most pleasing and practical plan.

Cooking is a serious task that requires adequate space, specific equipment and functional fittings. Good kitchen design is more about planning well than having the largest possible room.

As the kitchen occupies a central role in our daily lives, it’s important to consider its position in relation to the rest of the house. Continue Reading »

The shape of the room will dictate the most appropriate layout. Size is secondary to good planning and organization. The process of getting food from the fridge, preparing it, cooking it and serving it, should follow a logical sequence.

THE GALLEY KITCHEN

This layout suits the smaller, long, thin kitchen. In a narrow area all the appliances will have to be ranged down the length of one wall. If the door and window permits, make use of the width too. A slightly wider room offers two parallel working areas. The galley kitchen needs streamlined, fitted units. Aim to use the wall from floor to ceiling in your design, and store seldom used items on the higher shelves. Continue Reading »

The busiest area in the kitchen (called the ‘work triangle’ by the experts) is around the sink,fridge and stove. Position these units close to each other, with work surfaces next to them. Doors should not interfere with the safe operation of appliances, nor should appliance doors interfere with one another.

No major traffic patterns should cross through the basic work triangle. Put tall cabinets outside the work triangle. The food preparation area should be between the sink and the stove, linked by a long work surface. The most important distance is between the sink and the hob as this is the most frequently trodden path. Continue Reading »