Kitchen Planning and Design » Kitchen Planning and Design

Industrial Modern Style Kitchens

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:48:14 +0000

With this minimalistic approach to kitchen decor, clean lines and natural materials return along in a great look that’s trendy and utilitarian.

A mix of sleek, modern fixtures and antique items that are a simply slightly rough round the edges, a contemporary industrial kitchen makes for each a purposeful workspace and a trendy, inviting place to entertain.

The look are often achieved by investing in core items like cabinetry and hardware with clean lines, and juxtaposing these parts with additional old style furnishings and accessories. Exposed shelving, vintage seating and sturdy appliances maintain a sensible and unfussy feel, whereas subway tiles, trendy farmhouse sinks and sharp wanting taps keep this vogue up-to-date.

History of the Kitchen – 1920s and 1930s

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:27:41 +0000

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, furniture manufacturers found a ready market for kitchen cabinets. These were designed to hold almost everything the cook needed, complete with flour bins, egg racks and extending tables. They also often had vented compartments as refrigerators were still uncommon.

From 193234 in the USA, General Electric and Westinghouse opened cooking institutions. Engineers, chemists, architects, nutritionists and professional cooks studied all aspects of the kitchen. The work process was scientifically investigated, and the way was opened for the modern streamlined kitchen

In 1940, a mutualdesire to support the war effort made AGA Heat Ltd in London and its rival, the ESSE Cooker Co. in Scotland combine forces to promote their cookers.

1940s

In the early 1940s, three work centres were defined: storage and preservation; cleaning and preparation; cooking and serving. These studies were continued at Cornell University in the 1950s, where the concept of the kitchen triangle emerged. That is the relationship of the three most used appliances, i.e. sink, cooker and refrigerator. Recommendations were also made for the heights of worktops, the bottom of sinks and optimum levels for shelves

Travel lines shown in two different kitchen layouts. The travel cost inthe lower plan is 29 yards longer than in the top plan according toGuides for Arrangement of Urban Family Kitchens by Heiner & Steidl of Cornell University published in 1950

History of the Kitchen – Appliances – part 2

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:49:46 +0000

Early twentieth century

During the early part of the twentieth century up until the outbreak of World War I, kitchen design progressed very little.

Then the supply of female servants dwindled dramatically as many found work in factories, which many women preferred as it brought in more money and gave them greater independence. So, gradually, the middle classes had to start managing without so much help. New gadgets and equipment were invented and the old cast iron ranges were replaced with gas or electric cookers. In the 1930s, the well-insulated solid fuel Aga and Esse cookers were developed, and were often adopted where mains gas was not available.

First AGA cooker patented in Sweden by the inventor Gustav Dalén in 1922.

The continuous worktop

The big change in the layout of kitchens came with the introduction of the continuous built-in worktop lining the kitchen walls, as opposed to centrally placed, free-standing tables. One forerunner of this phenomenon was the late nineteenth century pantry. Here we see the prototype with continuous waisthigh counters, a built-in sink with cupboards underneath and cabinets with sliding doors hanging on the walls above.

In Europe, the new architecture of the 1920s re-appraised the house plan and based its findings upon functional rather than decorative criteria. In 1923, the Bauhaus exhibited a onefamily house called Das Haus am Horn. Here the L-shaped kitchen had a storage centre with the sink and sideboard placed along the wall. The sideboard was split into two elements a base cabinet and wall cabinets. The worktop continued round the corner, flush up to the gas cooker, which had another worktop on the other side.

In 1927, J.J.P Oud designed low-cost kitchens for houses in the Weissenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart. These kitchens had a large window and an L-shaped run of continuous worktops with a preparation area, a sink, a food chest vented to the outside and a refuse can emptied from the yard. The cooker was placed to the left of a hatchway communicating directly with the dining room.

Vintage Kitchen Design

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:10:11 +0000

I’m all for modern kitchens, but sometimes something different makes all the difference. So if you prefer something a little more vintage instead of modern, these appliances are for you.

There’s something about vintage style that can’t be defined and yet it’s there. Just take a look at these ideas from Marchi Group related to vintage kitchens.

Marchi has two concepts: Loft and 1956. They are both beautiful but markedly different. They feature a retro interior and the old-school appeal that you can’t really recreate in modern kitchens. The 1956 kitchen feature a country-chic design. It has cream finishes and floating cabinets and shelves. They provide useful and practical storage space and they also help keep the kitchen lean and organized

The Loft kitchen has a different feel, a little more industrial. It’s still a traditional kitchen but with pastel teal colors and a series of steel fixtures such as the hood and the steel appliances. As you can see there is no standard range of materials to create a vintage look for your kitchen. It’s all about the way you use them and all the little details that bring everything together

Origami Kitchen

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:49:58 +0000

When you think kitchen, you think base cabinets and upper cabinets, set nicely against a wall. While it’s by far the most common – and the most practical too – how else you could configure a kitchen? Well, let’s put it into the middle of a larger space. The Origami-Mi Kitchen incorporate three, two or one spatial dividers, all dedicated to create an area ideal for cooking.

The basis of kitchen unit is a frame made of metal tube on which are mounted boxes. The frame allows the kitchen units exist independently from the wall. For the production of fronts the manufacturer uses sandwich panels. The boxes (or drawers…) open by an electric “servo-drive”, you just lightly press the front and even a fully loaded drawer will open.

The sharp sculptural units can be customizable to take a number of intriguing geometric shapes. The pristine white cabinetry of the Origami-Mi Kitchen is given a contemporary edge having plenty of angular lines, and lightened up by quirky wireframe racks built between the crisp contours.

Free Up Space & Hide Your Kitchen

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:16:16 +0000

Space is something you cannot get enough of – especially in the kitchen, where things are usually super-crammed. So here’s your challenge: fit a compact yet complete kitchen into one square meter when it’s closed up. You should keep the kitchen, and enough storage to cook and clean up easily within a very tiny limit.

Here’s how design students Kristin Laass and Norman Ebelt made it work. Their quite brilliant solution, to accommodate all the various ways that we use the kitchen was one of the entries in the DMY international design festival berlin 2010.

Tiny spaces reduce your carbon footprint too, because it takes less energy to keeps a small space comfortable, and they reduce your tendency to accumulate a lot of of stuff, because there’s just nowhere to put it all.

From dmvA Aitecten here is yet another colorful solution to hide the kitchen in plain sight behind a folding wall. An elegant dining and entertaining room turns to a kitchen. Just slide the panels to the side.

Another way of making a kitchen disapear is to slide the entire thing up and down. To cook, you’d take out the ingredients you will be using, then slide the entire cabinet up on automated sliders.

Once the the entire kitchen cabinet is up in its workspace configuration, you can cook and wash up. When you finish cooking, clean up and slide it down closed. The sink faucets can slide up into an empty space hidden in the upper cabinet, and there is a small space recessed into the top cabinets above the stove burners.

History of the Kitchen – Appliances

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:54:48 +0000

Gas cookers were invented in the first decade of the nine-teenth century but were not in general use until 1850. At firs tthey were regarded with great suspicion people fearedexplosions, poisoning or food tasting of gas.

To begin withthey were used in hotels and institutions, but it was not until 1924 that an oven regulator or thermostat appeared which made possible, for the first time, the accurate control of the temperature of the oven. The other great advantage was thatthe gas cooker did not need a flue, so could be placed anywhere within a room, even in a room without a fireplace.

Electric cooking

Electric cooking appeared in England in 1890, but was slow to develop due to the sporadic nature of the electrical network. However, as electricity became more generally available at lower prices, electric cookers slowly began to be more commonplace, but were not in general use until 1930.

Appliances with electric motorsBefore domestic electric appliances could be developed, two prerequisites were needed: a reduction to a compact, moveable size, and the introduction of a small built-in electric motorwith a sealed motor housing and thermostatic controls. It wasnot until these were available that refrigerators, ventilator fans and washing machines were made possible.In 1860, Ferdinand Carré produced a forerunner of the refrigerator using ammonia as its refrigerant, but it was not until the 1920s and 1930s were these in general production. Indeed, itwas not until World War II that the freezer was developed.

Similarly, a hand-turned dishwasher was patented as early as 1865 but it had to wait until the 1940s before modern dishwashers were mass produced. Waste disposers or electric sinks as they were curiously called at first, were invented in 1929 and in production in the US by 1935.

B2 Kitchen by Bulthaup

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:33:50 +0000

With the b2 kitchen workshop, 1German kitchen manufacturer bulthaup has radically rethought the concept of the kitchen. Starting from the origins of every living space – fire and water – the company has created an open and mobile kitchen that can be added to and composed to suit each individual’s personal requirements.

The new group of elements is the logical continuation of the kitchen workbench and defines the “kitchen workshop” in its original meaning – comprising a workbench, kitchen tool cabinet and appliance housing cabinet.

The three main elements: a ‘workbench’ housing the sink and cooker, ‘tool cabinet’ for utensils, crockery and food, and appliance cabinet for the oven, dishwasher and fridge.

Closing the cabinets hides away culinary equipment while opening them fully allows easy access during cooking.

The workbench is for the fire and water point; the kitchen tool cabinet for crockery, cooking utensils, as well as spices and food; and the appliance housing cabinet for the oven, dishwasher and refrigerator. bulthaup b2 follows the principle of “clearing away anything superfluous.” All that remains is value – the best materials, the best tools, the best raw ingredients and the best crockery.

bulthaup b2 is a kitchen that either conceals everything or showcases them all. Opening the in-door storage doors provides an overview of the entire kitchen. Everything needed for a two person household is visible at a glance and within reach. The smart compaction of the storage space makes pull-outs and drawers unnecessary.

The kitchen tool cabinet is the foil to the classic kitchen with drawers. Even the diversity of units is smartly minimalist – just a few basic types and materials, such as oak and walnut veneer combined with worktops made from stainless steel, oak, walnut and gray sandstone offer a limitless range of design variations. Once the doors are closed again, the beauty of the simple purpose-oriented form becomes clearly apparent.

With bulthaup b2, we are radically rethinking the kitchen and cooking,

says Gerd Bulthaup. The workbench breaks with the convention of a clearly-defined continuous worktop. With its flexible structure, modules can be combined at will and, by putting new worktops, water points or appliance modules onto the b2 workbench, it adapts to its owner’s personal habits and customs. Consequently, bulthaup b2 delivers a new dimension of simplicity when it comes to buying kitchens. That’s because the kitchen workshop can follow the needs of and spatial changes required by its owner.

Elements can be extended to suit if the circle of family and friends increases, for example. They can be added or replaced when new appliances come on the market, and changed if a different material is preferred for the worktop.

History of the Kitchen – The Victorian kitchen

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:22:41 +0000

The Victorians still thought it desirable to keep the kitchen, with its attendant smells, well away from the gentry end of the house. In grand homes, kitchens were positioned in the centre of the servants wing, surrounded by the smaller rooms of the scullery, larder and pantry with separate stores for game, fish, ice and coal. These would be adjacent to the servants hall with separate rooms for the cook, butler and housekeeper

The importance of the house could be judged by the number of chefs presiding over numerous kitchen maids. Kitchens were full of cooking devices such as roasting ranges, stewing and boiling stoves, turnspits and hot cupboards. However, there were no mechanised devices for washing, ventilation or refrigeration. Water was pumped by hand into scullery sinks and food was kept cool in an ice box with ice brought in from an ice house outside. Most food was still kept in north facing larders with natural ventilation.

The big change in kitchen design came about due to the social implications of the industrial revolution and the development of mechanisation

Catherine Beecher

Alongside these early technological innovations, society was changing fast due to the advent of the industrial revolution which provided work for country girls who would otherwise have gone into service for middle class families. These social trends were recognised in America by a truly remarkable woman called Catherine Beecher (sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe). She was a reformer and early feminist. In 1841 she published a Treatise on Domestic Economy, which was a text book for girls schools which met with great success. She blamed many womens disappointments on the fact that they were not trained for their profession. She also remarked on the paradox of having servants in a democratic society, and suggested that housework should be divided up amongst members of the family. In 1869, she wrote The American Womans Home in which, with amazing foresight, she proposed a kitchen where the central table and isolated dresser have disappeared. Instead she has a row of compact working surfaces arranged at waist height along the wall, properly lit by windows. To avoid discomfort in the hot American summers and because, unlike in Europe, bread was still mainly baked at home, the range was positioned in a separate room divided from the preparation area by sliding doors

Starck Tower for Warendorf

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:49:10 +0000

As Miele kitchens rebrands itself and takes the name of the town in which the company is based – Warendorf - it is marking this change with a new kitchen. They’ve chosen one of the biggest names in design, no less than Philippe Starck to develop the first kitchen under the new brand.

Starck has created a kitchen design that represents something of a departure, both emotionally and functionally, from the traditional wall-to-wall arrangement of fitted kitchens. He calls the concept “democratic design” because its wide range of individual elements and the ability to combine them in different ways gives it potentially wide appeal to a range of consumers, lifestyles and spaces.

The name ‘Tower’ comes from the two stand-alone tower elements. Each takes up just one square metre of floor space but offers space for all kinds of accessories, food and utensils. Also integrated: oven, steam oven, microwave, dishwasher, fridge-freezer. Doors are fitted on three sides, while the fourth side is left open for individual design. The interior fittings in the towers are just as flexible as the direction in which they face. A light touch of the hand and they revolve 360 degrees, easily taking up just the position needed at that particular moment in time. Ever new. Ever different. The design of the full macoré Skyline is rounded off by elegant chrome edges and vertical recessed handles.

The towers are separated into a hot tower that houses a conventional oven and a steam oven, and a cold tower that houses the fridge-freezer. However, supplementary electrical appliances such as a dishwasher or microwave, for example, can also be integrated into the towers.

Both towers are closed on three sides with doors concealing the appliances. The fourth side is left open and are designed to meet the user’s personal requirements. The rear wall can be a mirror or blackboard, providing space for an enormous shopping list or a welcoming greeting for friends. With a light touch the flexible units can be rotated 360 degrees to reveal each of the sides.

The kitchen also features a kitchen island that is both beautiful and functional – what’s more, it also serves as a dining table. The ‘Trumpet Table’ is a so-called working module that provides preparation space, sink, hob and dining area. Storage space is located beneath the work surface.