Unlike previous notions of the kitchen merely being a functional room where meals are being prepared, the kitchen is rapidly becoming the focal point at home, where the family gathers for meals; drop by to catch a slice of culinary action or simply for a hot cup of tea and a chat.
The kitchens of today are increasingly gaining importance and it is necessary to create a comfortable room for food preparation as well as to accommodate the social interaction that goes on. To better equip the kitchen to cater to these new roles, it is necessary to choose a kitchen design that will work best for your household depending on usage patterns.
Although there is an increasing emphasis on chic and stylish kitchens, the foremost important factor to consider in kitchen design is not so much the style but rather the functionality. The kitchen, unlike other rooms in the house, has a designated purpose and to fulfill these purposes, there needs to be certain elements that are present in the kitchen like sinks, countertops, cooker hobs, refrigerator, storage space and so on.
When designing the kitchen, there are several other factors that will affect your choice of design. Basic questions like how often the kitchen will be used, how many people will be using it at any one time, how much storage space you'll need, the type of equipments you need and so on.
To help explain most common kitchen layouts, let us look at the basic principle of the work triangle. It is an imaginary outline drawn from the middle of each primary workstation in the kitchen- the stove (preparation/cooking), the refrigerator (food storage) and the sink (clean-up area). By calculating the distance between each area, we can determine traffic flow and designing a more efficient workspace for food preparation. Let us now look at the 5 basic kitchen layouts to demonstrate the usefulness of the work triangle: the U-Shaped, L-Shaped, Island, G-Shaped, Corridor/Gallery, and Single Wall shapes.
The U-Shaped Kitchen
This is named for the shape it resembles. This popular kitchen design is good for both large and small homes, offering ample room for storage and easy access to all appliances. However, the U-shape may be too cramped for more than one cook with the possibility of collisions of bodies if cooking back to back.
The G-Shaped Kitchen
Again this layout is so called due to the alphabet it resembles. It is in fact very much like the U-Shaped kitchen with an additional elongated partial wall or some others see it as an enclosed area with a break in one wall for the entrance. This design is great for multiple cooks and offers a lot of storage space and preparation surfaces.
The L-Shaped Kitchen
This is the most flexible and most popular kitchen design among both homeowners and homebuilders. Although a large area is not necessary for this L-Shaped design, it makes the room a lot more spacious, increasing functionality and flexibility at the same time. The work triangle is compact as well. The L-Shaped kitchen can easily be converted to a U-Shaped Kitchen by adding more cabinets parallel to either side (depending on your kitchen layout). For larger kitchens, an island may be included to provide more counter and storage space.
The Island Option
This is often found in L-shaped kitchens to provide increased counter and storage space. An island is also a good place for food preparation or an extra sink or grill.
The Corridor/Galley Kitchen
This design is popularly found in smaller spaces, as it is space-efficient. However the downside to this is that it is often challenging to work with more than one person in this type of potentially narrow kitchen. The up side though is that everything is close by to you, almost at arm's length. However, this sort of kitchen, due mostly to space constraints, often runs out of storage space and space to place appliances.
The Single Wall Kitchen
This is designed to maximize kitchen space in small dwellings like studios or loft apartments. The entire workspace is aligned along one wall, freeing more space for living areas. To increase work and storage space in this open concept kitchen, add the versatile island.
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