Village Squire, 1979-10, Page 9decade ago people hardly thought of
Function, he says. In those days, he says,
people just stacked the appliances and
cupboards into the room with no study of
how the various units would be used.
Today kitchen planning centres around the
"work triangle", the relationship of the
three main activity centres in the kitchen:
the stove. refrigerator, and sink. The work
triangle between the three centres should
be between 13 and 22 feet, experts say.
Ideally the sequence of work in the kitchen'
moves from storage, mixing and other
preparation, then to cooking and serving
and finally back to the sink (and possibly
disposer and dishwasher) for cleanup. In
most cases counter space can link the three
centres and increase efficiency of the
kitchen.
There are all kinds of little things that go
into kitchen planning, like making sure the
refrigerator door opens in the proper
direction to make it handy and making sure
there is at least 15 inches of counter space
beside the door opening. Ideally the
refrigerator should be near - the door
through which supplies will enter the
house so that they don't have to be carried
too far. On the other hand, the stove should
be nearer the place of ultimate consump-
tion of the food, near the door to the
diningroom or the breakfast area. Experts
say there should be a minimum of 12
inches of counter at the side away from
another major centre and 24 inches
minimum between the range and another
major appliance or sink.
Another variable in good kitchen design
is whether the person using it is right or
left handed.
While it's easier for designers like Mr.
McKee to work with a building from
scratch it isn't always that simple. Mr.
Baechler and Mr. McGee estimate that at
least 60 per cent of the kitchens they're
called on to design are renovations to
existing homes. That can mean lots of
challenge for the designer such as dealing
with some kitchens in older homes that
have as many as seven doorways. That
problem can usually be solved partially at
least by closing off some of the doorways.
Often people say the doorway simply can't
be closed off, Mr. McKee says but usually
something can be done. One of the
problems with such rooms though is traffic
flow and this can greatly effedt the shape of
the design for the kitchen.
The shape of the room often dictates the
kind of design to be used. Kitchens come in
five basic shapes: one -wall, corridor,
L-shaped, U-shaped and four -wall. There
are endless variations of each of these
plans caused by door and window locations
but each basic shape retains its essential
advantages.
The one -wall kitchen has all the kitchen
elements along one wall and is often used
in studio apartments and vacation homes.
The corridor or two -wall kitchen is practical
in apartments and in any home in which
space useage is important.
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October 19/9, Village Squire 7