In the kitchen zone

Heard of a “kitchen work triangle?”

This is a long standing concept when life in the kitchen might have been a bit simpler.  Today’s kitchens are often incorporating “zones”—such as prep zone, clean up zone, serving zone, central command zone, food storage zone (hot/cold), hang out zone, equipment zone, coffee/beverage zone…are you getting the picture?  Thinking in terms of a kitchen zone is helpful because you can easily break down each zone and list exactly what you want to have in each of these kitchen zones.  You can then use these zones as the basis for ‘bubble diagrams’ –sketches that are helpful in the space planning phase to use to help determine the flow of your kitchen as you travel through it through the day, and during different activities that occur in your kitchen.  Place your zone bubbles in the space, and use arrows to show how you move through it—a helpful design trick to help your mind get into the possibilities of the project.

To make it even more brilliant (or complicated, depending upon your perspective!), you can even add to the mix the idea of zoning in laundry operations, entry related zones & functions such as a “key drop zone”, and office compatible zone.  Best zone of all?  I still vote for the ‘hang out’ zone!