The kitchen is the heart of the home as everything seems to be centered around it but have you felt like people are trying to hide them?  Kitchens need to be efficient, functional for everyday use, and essentially serve as the mission control center where people come and go throughout the day. But lately I have felt like everything is hidden — no handles, mystery appliances and pop up everything buried in counters.

As someone who spends a lot of time congregating in my kitchen, I spent many hours with my architect and cabinet designer, making sure my space was one that worked for us. Being that our home is on a smaller scale, I knew I needed to incorporate the “kitchen triangle” theory and how it would work for our family. And as our kitchen is also our dining room, it needed to be seen.

The kitchen triangle design was created in the 1940s by the Illinois School of Architecture to help cut construction costs, and it has been around ever since. According to this theory, the triangle is used to measure no less than four feet and no more than 9 feet. The perimeter of the triangle should be no less than 13 feet and no larger than 26 feet. This includes the sink, refrigerator, and the stove. Under this school of thought, proximity is priority, but today it seems fortunes are spent hiding all of it. 

I cannot tell you how many kitchens I have been in where the oven has never been used. Some of the kitchens I see are shiny black or stainless steel, which act like a thousand mirrors staring at you, or appliances that talk to you and tell you you need to order milk and butter. I have a Ph.D. and still cannot figure out how to talk back to them.

 

So, what’s your stance? I like a kitchen where I can see the appliances and have color and warmth in the elements of it. I do not need an appliance to tell me to take out the trash, or a vacuum that speaks five different languages just yet. Do you?

Alison JensenJanuary 3, 2022