Designing Kitchens
Kitchens today
now reflect the changes that have taken place in family dynamics
in the last half century. More women than ever before are
working outside the home and the 'typical' family of today is
just as likely to be comprised of a single parent as two parents
or a grandparent. These changes have naturally had a tremendous
impact on kitchen designs. With more than one person now
normally helping to get meals on the table in an effort to spend
more time together while cutting down on meal preparation time,
kitchens must be designed to easily accommodate multiple users
simultaneously. In terms of designing kitchens, this means it
has become necessary to reassess traffic zones and food
preparation centers. One of the most popular, and practical,
changes that have taken place in kitchen designs due to this
evolution is the addition of a second prep sink and an
additional area of chopping and dicing.
Preparation isn't the only area of kitchen design that
has been impacted by the changes of the last half century.
Storage is another area of the kitchen that most kitchen
designers have been forced to reassess. As you are probably
aware, most older homes traditionally do not have enough storage
space. This is primarily due to the fact that decades ago most
food was prepared from scratch and there was no need to store
large amounts of items when shopping might be conducted on a
daily or weekly basis. Families of today are far more likely to
shop in bulk and keep ready prepared food items on hand rather
than mixing items from scratch.
This means there is a need for additional food storage items. In
addition, families of today have access to many more modern
conveniences in terms of small appliances and ingenious dishes,
pots and pans; all of which take up storage space. As a result,
kitchen designing efforts have taken a decided focus on
practical and creative ways of adding additional storage space
without sacrificing necessary floor space. One way to handle
this dilemma is to incorporate banquette seating. Not only does
this allow for built-in seating, but the space below the seating
can be easily used for additional storage.
Finally, when designing kitchens it's always important to keep
in mind that you never know what the future may bring in terms
of kitchen and appliance innovations. Certainly our grandmothers
never envisioned a dishwash
er that would actually wash their dishes for them. Whenever
possible, leave room for future acquisitions in your kitchen
design plans.