Once upon a time, kitchens were simply a basic room in which food was prepared and little thought was given to the practicalities – let alone any aesthetic design aspects. As long as there was some sort of surface on which to prepare food prior to cooking and something to apply the heat for the cooking itself; that was a kitchen.
Practical Requirements
Larger houses and restaurants were amongst the first to decide that this basic approach to kitchens left a lot to be desired. Food preparation is a chain of events and an ergonomic kitchen layout will make for a better work flow within the kitchen.
- Food storage: – you cannot run down to the shops each and every time you need an ingredient. They all have to be purchased in advance and suitably stored in such a position as to be readily available precisely when needed. Preserving stored foodstuff also needs to be taken into account.
- Cooking utensils: – these also need to be kept in a place where they can be quickly used (you need to have the frying pan ready before you crack the egg).
- Even if you live on only Vegemite sandwiches and salads, you need a preparation surface that is reasonably close to your storage spaces.
- If you eat a full diet that includes many cooked dishes, you need the cooking appliances within reach of the above items.
- Kitchen work almost always produces utensils, plates and pots, etc that require washing up. Therefore, the “kitchen sink” also needs to be ready to hand.
In “aristocratic” houses of old – with many people employed on kitchen duties – the above could be arranged by having separate rooms for each function (the pantry, the kitchen proper, the scullery, etc). However, this is not practical for the modern, average Australian household.
Kitchen Cabinets – The Easy Way
Today’s houses do tend to give you a slightly larger kitchen area and the trick is to use various customised cabinets to create the spaces for all the above functions. Floor standing storage cabinets can be designed to be of a height where their tops can form a work surface. If the sink is within a topless cabinet, storage space can be arranged beneath it.
Hot plates no longer need to be placed on top of ovens and the oven can be within a cabinet to make more working surface on top. If hot plates or gas rings are still required, these can be built into the top of another cabinet.
If you have an older house, your kitchen may not have been designed to modern standards. Fortunately, specialist stores like Business name stock a wealth of cabinet designs for use when recreating your kitchen cabinets. These can be assembled for you or supplied as flat pack for the DIY enthusiast.
