The kitchen has become an integral part of our daily routine. Most of us spend a significant portion of our time in the kitchen. In today’s fragmented households, cooking is no longer the main occupation. It is seen as an add-on, an extra service, or something to make our food look special. This is why, many times, the preparation of food in the kitchen goes unnoticed and is left to chance – until it’s too late for it to be fixed.
In this article, we will discuss some of the ways that you can organize your kitchen, to make cooking faster and more efficient. We will look at the work surface, the island work surface, and also how to make the best use of your cooking space, including your appliances and cabinetry. After reading this article, you should have some ideas on how to organize your kitchen.
We will begin with the kitchen layout. First, decide whether your kitchen layout will include a freestanding or an island kitchen. Island kitchen layouts are usually more appealing because they take up much less floor space. The majority of kitchen layouts, however, use freestanding cabinets. Freestanding cabinets can take up more floor space because of their height, and the fact that they are not attached to any walls. It is important to remember that freestanding cabinets, even those that are not attached to walls, should have a working surface attached to the cabinet.
Kitchen designs with a work triangle also create more room in the kitchen. The work triangle refers to the space that frames the stove, the refrigerator, and the sink. To utilize this space to the fullest, you need to plan the layout of your kitchen in accordance with the triangle – the more you can utilize this space for food preparation and food storage, the more square feet of usable area in your kitchen. If possible, choose a layout that uses all three walls of your kitchen in order to maximize the amount of room that you have. A kitchen layout with only two walls can sometimes feel very claustrophobic because there is not enough space to move around in. The best way to combat this problem is to add an island in your layout that has a counter, a sink, and a small food preparation sink.
For smaller kitchens, one of the best ways to maximize the amount of space available in your kitchen is to build vertical cabinets. Vertical cabinets provide more storage capacity in a smaller footprint. They can be built out of plywood or particleboard in a standard box shape, and most manufacturers allow you to customize the depth and width of these cabinets. An ideal kitchen layout would consist of a central set of cabinets where you can store all of your most commonly used kitchen appliances and kitchen cutlery, then a series of smaller cabinets where you can store small kitchen appliances, food containers, and linens and cutlery.
Another important aspect of designing and layouting cabinetry for smaller kitchens is how much seating area you will need. Most modern homes now come with at least one large dining area, usually an eat-in kitchen that is located next to or within a master bedroom. It is a good idea to match this dining area with adequate seating such as bar stools, wooden tables and chairs, or accent chairs to make it flow beautifully with the rest of your kitchen.