Kitchen Offices and Message Centers
Whether you’re planning a complete kitchen remodeling or reorganizing the kitchen you already have, improving your storage and organization can save time, effort, and money every time you use it.
Introduction
When most of you think of good kitchen design, you probably think of fabulous appliances, gorgeous cabinetry, and beautiful floors and countertops. But they’re not the half of it—though they will collectively claim the lion’s share of your budget. Good kitchen design is about two far-less-glamorous ingredients: organization and storage.
Just consider the benefits: smart storage and organization can save you enormous amounts of time and effort every week. Whether you’re making a school lunch or preparing a dinner party, having what you need where you need it will speed up the task. Imagine: no more digging around in a jam-packed drawer for a knife to cut the sandwich or sorting through a pile of clippings for a favorite recipe.
A well-ordered kitchen, in which working is a pleasure, is also one where you’re more likely to spend time working. In wan era when many parents rely on fast food to feed their families, more meals at home can mean more nutritious, healthier diets—not to mention saving thousands of dollars a year on eating out.
Your Storage Style
No, the issue is not whether you prefer country to contemporary. Storage styles have to do with more fundamental preferences. Do you want a kitchen where, at day’s end, everything is stowed away in drawers or behind cabinet doors? Or do you find that functional items are a pleasure to look at and prefer to have everything in the open where you can admire them? Or perhaps you are somewhere in between? Sometimes such preferences are personal. Other times there are simple reasons. If, for example, you have an open floor plan and don’t want to see pots and pans while relaxing in the family room, an out-of-sight approach to storage may be your choice. On the other hand, if your hobby is cooking and you like your tools within easy reach, without having to open a door or drawer, open storage may be the answer. Julia Child famously kept her pots and pans hanging in the open on pegboard. Most homeowners prefer a bit of both, hiding some items in cabinets and putting others on open shelves, hooks, or racks. Nevertheless, think about the storage style that best suits you. The approach you choose will affect many of the design decisions that you’ll have to make during the course of your kitchen remodeling or reorganization.
Today’s open-plan kitchens feature islands that increase storage and counter space. But they rely on traditional elements, too, including cabinets, shelves, and baskets.
This kitchen, inspired by country kitchens of the past, makes good use of hooks, pegs, baskets, and narrow shelves.
Opposite Contemporary design subscribes to the belief that everyday objects should be beautiful—and visible. Glass cabinet door-and-drawer fronts, as well as backsplash railand-hook systems, do the trick.
Kitchen Evolution
Before the Industrial Revolution, the kitchen was a very different place. Centered on an open hearth, kitchenware was homemade or handcrafted by the town blacksmith and other local craftsmen. Families had relatively few kitchen implements. Storage was less of an issue than it is today—a few shelves could handle much of the typical kitchen’s contents. Many foods were stored outside the kitchen in larders, smokehouses, and root cellars. In the early nineteenth century, however, technological advances and mass production changed things. The iron range displaced the hearth. Cooking tools became less expensive and multiplied in number. The kitchen also had greater demands placed upon it. Iceboxes displaced root cellars and brought food storage into the house. Mass-produced jars and tins allowed for new methods of food preservation—and new demands for storage in the kitchen. The advent of modern cooking fuels (gas in 1860 and electricity by the end of the century) ushered in a new era in kitchen appliances. The evolution