Robert J Morton
Robert J Morton |
This is where we use what nature provides to manufacture the home's most vital and varied product: the family meal. The kitchen hosts the most complex domestic process, which lends itself well to the rigorous discipline of systems analysis.
A basic flow model of the processes of preparing, eating and clearing up after a meal is shown below. The meal's ingredients are taken from the food store (1). The cooking utensils are taken from the pan store (2). The ingredients are washed and prepared (3). Peelings and other waste are discarded (4). The prepared ingredients are then put in the appropriate cooking utensils and put on to cook (5).
The table is then set with the plates, cutlery and other tableware (6). The meal is then served and eaten (7). After the meal, the dirty dishes, cutlery and serving pans are cleared from the table (8). Waste is cleared from the plates and pans (9) after which they are washed (10) and replaced in their respective storage units (11) and (12).
The main active appliances used in these processes are a cooker and a dish washer. A freezer and refrigerator are also available for food storage. The cooker comprises a 3-ring ceramic hob and a separate conventional oven. It may also include a 'microwave' or HF oven. An electric mixer or blender may be useful but is not really necessary. I also like to have a toaster. Ideally, two sinks are required. A normal sink is needed for washing large cooking utensils. A smaller sink is useful for washing ingredients when preparing a meal.
The diagram below shows a front view of the necessary appliances and storage units arranged to minimise the effort and movement required to prepare, serve and clear up after a meal.
All non-refrigerated food storage has forced air ventilation. Below is a plan view of the same arrangement showing the flow model mapped onto this physical layout.
All active appliances - oven, pots/pans washer, refrigerator and freezer - are installed in such a way that they can be easily accessed from the rear for repair and maintenance. Ideally, the food storage cupboards should also have access from the rear for replenishing supplies directly without having to carry them through the kitchen. Water used for drinking and cooking passes through a small scale purification unit beneath the food washing sink on its way to the sink's cold water tap.
Below is a physical arrangement of the above activity analysis-based design for my kitchen. It is accommodated within the 'KI' segment of my ideal home plan.
The physical arrangement of the kitchen is based on the assumption that is far easier to transport just yourself from one place to another in the kitchen than it is to carry pots, pans, plates and food ingredients around. Flow routes for the latter are therefore kept as short and direct as possible at the expense of a little extra hands-free walking. Hence the back-to-back work units with the through-hatch with the through-storage cupboard for pots and pans above. It is also easier to walk hands-free through 2 doors to get from the kitchen to the dining room than to walk through one door carrying place-settings and full serving utensils. Hence the hatch between the kitchen and the dining room with through-cupboards above.
The kitchen side of the through cupboard between the kitchen and the dining room above the hatch is for herbs, spices, salt and other things you need close to hand while cooking. The dining room has a separate dish washer for table settings, which occupies the space beneath the serving hatch work top. Plates are scraped onto serving dishes before being placed into this dish washer. To the left of the serving hatch are 3 ceramic electric hotplates. An extractor hood vents whatever is cooking on the hotplates into a flue in the cusp area between the kitchen, the dining room and the kitchen garden. The computer display screen on the right of the serving hatch is for displaying such things as recipes, the current levels of ingredient stocks with estimated run-out times, a seasonal calendar for crops actually in the field and kitchen garden, the maintenance schedules for kitchen equipment, and a kitchen energy consumption calendar.
Since cooking utensils are all that need washing up in the kitchen, the kitchen dishwasher is optional, but could be useful as a backup for the dining room's dishwasher in case of breakdown. The organic waste chute is beneath the food washing sink. Alternatively, a through-the-wall waste unit could be installed in the wall between the kitchen and the kitchen garden for re-cycling as compost.
The side wall of the kitchen towards the kitchen garden has shallow shelving for storing jars and tins of food and ingredients. The deeper corner shelving is for vegetables and fruit. The other side wall has similar shallow shelving. This is used to store cleaning consumables, with the deeper corner unit housing mops, brushes and buckets.