Open plan kitchen requirements

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Open plan kitchen requirements

I need some information on kitchen requirement in a lounge? ...I am doing a thesis on lounge, I need to know what are the requirements while doing the planning of a kitchen in lounge?

...I need to know about the storage facilities also?

Thank you.

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Open plan kitchen requirements

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May 19, 2011
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Open plan kitchen planning...
by: Charlotte

Hi

Do you mean an open-plan type kitchen, attached to a living area?

There will be many planning themes here that are identical to planning for any other kitchen...

...such as how to work in the kitchen (the work triangle), allocating places for certain tasks and appliances, thinking about how you use the kitchen, how much you want to store in your kitchen, and how easily accessible you want to make it...

There is lots of information about practical planning for your kitchen, here...

In addition, for an open plan area, I think you would want to consider how separate or integrated with the rest of the living area you'd like it to be...

Is a dining area to be included? It can be quite nice for an open plan kitchen to segue neatly from kitchen to dining area to living area.

Can a kitchen be included in a corner? L-shape or other alcove?

It can be nice for a kitchen to be tucked away. Kitchens are often purely practical rooms for 'doing' (compared to the relaxation you'd expect in dining, and certainly in living, areas) so you might want the hustle, bustle and hurly burly of cooking, food preparation and washing up to be away from quieter relaxation areas...

...equally, who wants to sit and look at washing up when trying to relax after a nice meal.

There are ways in which you can effectively separate a kitchen in an open plan area, without making into a completely separate room - which you choose depends on how separate you'd like it to feel...

Look into:

-archways or windows/serving hatches

-separation through the countertop/cabinets

-breakfast bar

-overhead/ceiling hung open shelving

-overhead/low hung lighting

-floor standing open shelving

-screens, curtains, bead curtains etc

If the person in the kitchen likes to be involved with people in the living areas whilst cooking, separation that comes to waist height (countertops) can be very suitable, so they can still feel involved, whilst getting the kitchen tasks done...

If you'd like it to feel more 'separate' or closed off - eye level separation is more effective.

Think about how you divide the space up in an open plan area - although it might be nice to have a large seating area, if there needs to be a lot going on in the kitchen, a larger kitchen area might be more practical - and safer!

However, if the kitchen is to be rarely used, perhaps just for heating up meals, or making a cup of tea, the kitchen task areas might be less important, and the living/relaxation areas require more space...

When positioning the kitchen, also think about things like where plugs are, plumbing, windows, lights etc - how easy and expensive will it be to get such facilities where you want them to be?

Continues on comment below...

May 19, 2011
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Continues from above comment
by: Charlotte

Continues from above...

It can be tempting in an open plan area to spread kitchen storage areas around the whole living space - after all, there's a lot to fit into a kitchen, however small that might be!

But putting these practical kitchen items in areas that should be reserved for relaxation, socialising and fun can confuse the purpose of the areas, and lead to them feeling less relaxing...

...as well as causing bother for the person in the kitchen who wants to access appliances, implements and food stuffs.

Where possible, as much as possible should be fitted in the kitchen area itself - if this is a small space, this could well be a task in itself, and should certainly be thought about carefully.

Using a 'separation' shelving unit or cabinet with countertop can add a lot of extra storage and work space, compared to a kitchen that is completely open to the living area.

Look into using wall-space for extra storage: shelves, hooks, rails, magnetic boards.

And think about space-saving and fold-away devices (such as integrated fold away ironing boards)

Ceiling hung shelving or rails can also be very handy, and a useful 'separator' between the 2 spaces too.

I hope some of these ideas help. Good luck with your project

Charlotte

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Open plan kitchen requirements

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Open plan kitchen requirements