No matter if you are an amateur home cook preparing family favorites or an experienced culinary professional experimenting with new techniques, your kitchen can make or break your experience in the kitchen. From its layout, lighting and storage solutions to quality tools and personalized touches; your kitchen should serve as the hub of all culinary activity!
Make the most of your cooking experience by keeping all elements within easy reach when preparing meals. Optimizing your work triangle and reducing unnecessary movement saves both time and energy in your kitchen.
Kitchen Layout
Kitchen layout plays a pivotal role in creating an enjoyable cooking experience. By placing essential workstations close together, movement becomes less of an issue and efficiency increases significantly.
Example: when a cook must travel too far between their refrigerator, stove and sink when preparing meals, time and energy are wasted while risk of injury increases due to handling hot pots or sharp knives.
Lighting
Make sure that chefs can see clearly while cooking with ample task lighting on countertops/islands, under cabinets and along the counter perimeter. Track lighting provides additional flexibility by allowing adjustable fixtures to point at work areas such as chopping vegetables or kneading dough.
Natural lighting can have a positive impact on one’s mood and wellbeing, so consider installing windows, glass doors and skylights into your kitchen design for maximum impact. If your kitchen doubles as dining area too, use soft ambient lighting to set the mood for dinner and hosting guests.
Storage
Chefs dream of the ideal walk-in larder cabinet for storing both dry and fresh ingredients, featuring clear glass storage caddies for quick access, as well as a cold marble shelf for extra cold storage space. At Roundhouse, we can design custom cabinets featuring extras such as willow bread crocks or spice racks to suit our customers’ specific needs.
If you frequently host parties or host other social functions, installing a wet bar can provide drinks and snacks to guests while serving as an easy food prep workspace.
Personal Touches
Chefs know that kitchens must be more than functional; personalize it by adding decorative elements like teapots or vintage utensils for an authentic flair. Consider base molding to finish lower cabinets more nicely or install recessed lighting alongside toe kicks so work spaces remain well lit.
Serious chefs look for durable yet hygienic kitchen work surfaces such as stainless steel or composite materials for ease of cleaning, while large sinks and sturdy countertop materials are prized among professionals for longevity and easy upkeep.
Technology
Restaurant-grade appliances help chefs create an environment conducive to their culinary endeavors. Chef-grade stovetops boast higher BTU ranges to efficiently boil water while simultaneously providing sufficient heat for searing meats.
Add restaurant-style culinary theatre to the kitchen by using a cooktop with built-in griddle, while other chefs utilize advanced cooking devices that speed up and enhance nutritional values of meals, such as digital thermometers, kitchen display systems, or point of sale integrations.
Appliances
Chef’s dream kitchens typically include a range with multiple burners and an oven capable of cooking at multiple temperatures simultaneously. Convection ovens are also increasingly popular as they circulate hot air for faster and more even cooking.
CHEF iQ can make meals more enjoyable for cooks by encouraging them to use all five senses when cooking and decreasing food waste and frustration levels. The technology shows us the future of smart home cooking.
Surfaces
Food surfaces should be designed for easy cleaning and sanitation in order to minimise surface contamination risks. This means smooth finishes without crevices or cuts on the surface and materials that can easily be rinsed or wiped down for quick, convenient care.
Bakers need plenty of storage for dry ingredients and tools, as well as high-capacity ovens to facilitate their work and allow them to bake larger volumes with greater ease and speed.
Designing Your Zones
A well-planned kitchen requires careful zoning if open concept layouts are to succeed.
The cooking zone houses all cookware, pots and utensils necessary for efficient workflow. It should ideally be located adjacent to the prep zone for maximum effectiveness.
The service zone holds food that needs to be plated and served, and should be located close to your dining area so servers can quickly deliver hot dishes to guests. Keep heat lamps handy in this zone in order to keep dishes warm until they arrive on tables.
Service Area
Home food preparation and family/shared meal practices have long been established as key contributors to improved dietary behaviors and outcomes, yet their impacts remain relatively under-studied. This scoping study fills this research void through an integrative cross-disciplinary approach aimed at systematically examining design features of domestic kitchens and dining areas.
The 27 articles reviewed were organized around four main themes: Kitchen size and layout, Fixture/fittings quality, Environmental quality and Dining area layout and furniture. Their respective effects on cooking/eating experiences were examined to help inform future research projects.