5 Subtle Design Choices To Keep People From Invading Your Kitchen
While the kitchen has become a hub of activity and gathering in many American homes, not everyone wants a crowd in there. If you prefer to cook or bake alone, how can you keep others out of the kitchen and stay unbothered while indulging in your cooking interests? Here are five design choices that will do the job.
1. Avoid Pass-Throughs
Prevent unnecessary foot traffic using the kitchen as a hallway rather than a destination. Exit doors to the backyard, dining room, mudroom, or other places encourage people to traipse through your work area. If you must have multiple doors, try to route these outside the high-traffic work area.
2. Create Natural Barriers
One downside to open kitchen designs is that the openness may encourage people to wander inside. Help discourage them by adding a few subtle, organic barriers. A peninsula, for example, stops people on the outside. A large and strategically-placed island can form a similar obstacle. Install seating on the outside of such barriers to give people a landing spot.
3. Make the Triangle Compact
The kitchen work triangle — stove, sink, and refrigerator — is a key design tool. When this triangle is relatively small, it's usually less interrupted by foot traffic. For instance, rather than place the three triangle points on three walls of a U-shape kitchen, install one on an island. Bring this island a little closer to the other triangle points to encourage people to navigate around the other side of it.
4. Add Self-Service Stations
Are you interrupted by family and friends who need things inside the kitchen? If so, consider what brings them in and how you can provide that without them fully entering your space. Place a small sink or refrigerator near the primary entry door for snacking or dish collection. Add a coffee or beverage station near the door so people can help themselves. Or install a home water fountain in a convenient spot.
5. Use Work Zones
Work zones are another design tool which seeks to minimize wasted steps and keep kitchen users out of each other's way. If you like to bake, for example, create a baking zone with some counter space, your most-used ingredients, and an oven or range. Position this with a physical separation from the cooking zone or the cleanup zone. Then, move zones away from natural traffic paths.
Where to Start
Want more tips for creating a haven you can enjoy when you work in the kitchen? Meet with a kitchen design service in your area today.
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