Designing Kitchens

Written by: Matthew Anthony

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 dishwasher that would actually wash their dishes for them. Whenever possible, leave room for future acquisitions in your kitchen design plans.

Matthew Anthony has contributed to many home improvement sites such as kitchens and bathrooms.

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