Kitchens are evolving. Kitchens have been the heart of the home for decades. However, during the pandemic, kitchens took another form – a place where you can think and plan your days ahead of everything. Kitchens are becoming less about meeting your dietary needs and more about how it will be part of your daily life, besides being a celebration area for family gatherings on weekend afternoons or study space for de-stressing on weekdays. You are looking forward to what other roles they could take while wishing them to return to the basics (i.e., focus on cooking & baking again) soon so you can continue confiding in them again. After all, you want this space primarily for you and your family’s nourishment needs.
Have you remodeled your kitchen before?
You may have heard about the idea of the work triangle. The point is to make sure the fridge, stove, and sink are all in easy and convenient places so that people can move between them quickly. The stove helps with cooking, the sink serves as a prep and cleaning area, and the fridge facilitates food preservation. That’s why you come across many varieties in them as well to suit the modern needs. For example, you can check the latest food prep sinks that offer a combination of convenience and functionality.
Homes almost about hundreds of years ago didn’t have any triangle in mind, which was fine since different times called for different arrangements. For example, refrigerators have evolved – at first, they were super bulky, then they got more efficient until now they take up less space than ever before.
Nevertheless, kitchen triangles became commonplace in the 1940s, mainly in the galley or L-shaped styles. At that time, things like islands and additional sinks were not available. Parties would conclude in the kitchen, but they mostly started in dining rooms or living rooms. In those times, houses used to take up to 1200 sq ft. However, many modern homes feature about this size of kitchens today. Let’s now take a dip into different zones for a clear understanding.
Cooking space
A cooking kitchen will contain all the appliances needed to cook food. Ranges, microwaves, ventilation hoods, and stoves are examples. It will also include non-appliance items such as utensils, pots, and pans that you need to keep handy. Your spices can also stay there because you frequently reach out to them while prepping and cooking.
Cleaning and preparation zone
Your dish zone covers all things related to prep, serving, and cleanup. It’s crucial to have everything in this category within easy reach of where you need it most so that you don’t have to go searching for it when you need it fast. For example, your baking powder could be on the same shelf as the flour; your marshmallows might be lying next to the cocoa and so forth.
It will also help if your dining table items are close by for quicker setup and cleanup since this can make or break the experience for some hungry people. At the same time, the main highlights of this zone tend to be the sink and faucet. That means your kitchen and utensil cleaning supplies will also have to be there.
With this, you would want to keep your disposal units and dishwasher close to this area. Then, things like cutting boards, glasses, and other materials will also be there. Having them closer to the dishwasher allows for faster uploading and cleanup. And when serving items are also close by, it becomes easy to set or clear tables.
Special zones
A reasonably spacious kitchen can have specialty zones for coffee-making. So you can imagine this particular space to store items like coffee grinders, coffee makers, sweeteners, creamers, serving pieces, etc. Then, some kitchens can also have dry or wet bars depending on the space, preference, budget, etc. Accordingly, you can decide about the wine refrigeration. It can stay in this zone and not in the typical fridge zone. Everything related to the bar will belong here.
Another area that comes to mind is baking. A baking corner will have ovens, microwaves, and a storage room for trays, rolling pins, and cooking ingredients, along with a countertop. If you are a devoted juice person, you may want to create a separate juicing section with proper refrigeration appliances, shelves, prep sink, and cutting boards.
Food cooling and preservation
From meals to dairies, you can keep various things. Of course, it has to be a refrigerator as it stores most of the fresh produce and tinned items that need cooling. These appliances come with dedicated sections for frozen and new food products. Some can also have a purified drinking water supply. However, you can also think about storing food that doesn’t need refrigeration in this zone. Usually, any kitchen without proper design will lack having a refrigerator and pantry nearby. Due to this, it becomes hectic for users to run from one corner to another for meal preparation or to put groceries back.
That’s why it is necessary to think through this aspect well in advance, so you don’t have to walk much distance. And as mentioned earlier, if you have a separate bar area, your wine refrigeration system can move there. All your wine accessories will rest in that corner.
Knowing about these fundamental but essential features is necessary to avoid any inconvenience you may face while doing your kitchen chores. After all, the more you have to walk from one end to the other, the more mess will occur. You can get too tired when you have to cook a lot, especially during festivities.
Besides, even ordinary things like keeping groceries and fresh produce back in their designated corners can feel like trouble. So if you missed this concept, it is better to consider all these features for you and your kitchen’s wellbeing. It will reduce your kitchen efforts significantly. And you can also feel organized and more productive. If you cannot imagine the design, consider talking to your designer once.
