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Design Perspectives

Command Center Kitchens
The place where heart and home meet requires special design attention.

by Karla Nielson, ASID Allied Member,WCAA

Without question, no room in the home has evolved to the extent that the kitchen has. No longer a space where only the cook and bottle-washer performed KP duties, today’s kitchen has become the most lived-in space in the contemporary home.

The kitchen has always been a space where people want to be, and historically where people often spent their time. During the Colonial era and as far as the 1940s, farm families enjoyed what we term a country kitchen: a place where families worked and interacted continuously in the duties and pastimes of self-sufficient life. However, during the modernization of the 20th century when thousands of homes were built as small boxes in suburban tract developments, the kitchen became a self-contained workstation where the cook could not interact with anyone unless they were working side-by-side in tight quarters. Cut off from the dining, living and other utilitarian areas, the kitchen in a majority of homes built from the 1940s to the 1980s were isolated from the rest of the home and from the activities and people in adjoining rooms.

Not so today. Kitchens are places where great food is prepared and dining is a pleasure. It is a place where people visit, plan schedules, execute projects, enjoy each other’s company and enjoy the beauty that surrounds them. Today’s kitchen is largely open to spacious dining spaces and living spaces—both informal and formal. The kitchen often is accessible to the computer station and home office, sometimes located right inside the kitchen boundaries. These new larger spaces are accomplished easily in new constructions, but are also being created through remodeling—removing a wall that separates the kitchen from the rest of the house, sometimes using a screening partition, but often it becomes a stunningly beautiful place that invites guests for that lavish buffet spread on an island or peninsula or a simple meal at the bar or table that in turn becomes a part of the living space. This great room is the new in-home destination for family and friends alike.

The kitchen is a place where a lion’s share of a homeowner’s building or remodeling budget is being dispensed to create spaces that are aesthetic achievements. With busier lifestyles, the kitchen has also become a hub for the family, the space where schedules are organized and where intersecting time is spent together. The kitchen is a place where heart and home meet, where family and friends come together to prepare and enjoy food and to reconnect in social and emotionally supportive ways. Home and kitchen/great room have become a refuge and sanctuary from an uncertain and stressful world.

Many factors have contributed to the new command-central kitchen. At the forefront is the uncertain investment market factor. More people have poured discretionary income into their homes where their money is likely to remain stable and with a return on investment if the home is sold. Another is the need to be sheltered and renewed to face life’s challenges. Yet another is the high technology wave that continues to make life easier, more convenient and even safer and cleaner.

FROM LOW-TECH TO HIGH-TECH
From the spit over the fireplace to the latest must-have Wolf Dual Fuel Range (a gas cook top and an electric dual convection oven) today’s kitchens have left low-tech far behind—perhaps forever. From cabinetry front to stainless steel, appliances are coming into their own. Technology has created a new generation of basic appliances such as drip coffee makers, timers and food processors with digital dials and readouts. Timesaving items include electric fry pans, woks, kettles and percolators, instant ice-cream makers, pasta and yogurt makers, ice cream blenders, warming drawers and, or course, the ever-present microwaves.

On a larger scale is the introduction of smart appliances. Two notable appliance companies, Samsung and LG Electronics, are introducing refrigerators with built-in touch screens on the door panels that function as TV monitors, display information from the Web and record voice messages for those family members who miss their family kitchen connection time. Soon the refrigerator’s computer will keep an up-to-date inventory of the refrigerator’s content. It will be able to display a dinner menu with recipes including a shopping list of items to be purchased. Smart refrigerators will allow us to scan or manually input purchase dates and expirations dates for pantry items as well, with a prompt message to alert us when a food may have spoiled. An inventory control also can help find items by location—no more searching for the missing ingredient. High-tech refrigerators may become the center of command central for the kitchen, connecting other smart appliances and systems so that the entire house can be programmed from one eye-
level point.

The “Icebox” FlipScreen appliance acts as an undercounter TV, but also projects images from the security system onto the screen and provides Web access. A new collection of small Salton appliances labeled Beyond communicate with each other. The coffee maker can notify the alarm clock when the coffee is brewed and waiting. The microwave includes a bar code reader (capacity of more than 4,000 UPCs) so the perfect cooking cycle aligns with the product.

More appliances are planned for lower installation areas for latchkey children and for universal design if and when the need arrives for wheelchair user-friendly spaces.

All these advances in appliances are designed to take the edge off our typically compressed stress-filled lives.

BEAUTY AND BEYOND
The kitchen is also the fashion center of many homes today. Cherry is replacing maple as the favored choice. Wood and paint finishes, including fly-specking, are being mixed. For example, upper cabinets in cherry and lower cabinets painted black. Cane and raffia or translucent panels may replace glass panel inserts in upper cabinets. Accent colors are used for interest and balance. Although granite is still the favored choice as countertops, engineered quartz and solid surface are in high demand. Other countertop materials include concrete; wood and stainless steel are seen, sometimes as a combination of materials in one kitchen.

As for design detailing, there are fewer heavy corbel brackets and raised moldings. Lines are becoming simpler, perhaps due to the heavy influence of the Mid-Century Modern Minimalist style. Moldings may be flat, as wider rails are being used on raised panels. A secondary sink is also becoming a must-have, complete with the pull down spray head and swivel ball joint design that maximizes function and ergonomics, or ease of use.

Above all, today’s culinary command centers are better lighted than ever before. Artificial lighting includes dimmable downlighter and eyeball spotlights, plus specialty lighting for accent and mood setting. Limited fluorescent lighting is used in workspaces, although often skylights flood rooms with natural light. Larger windows are being planned into kitchens in addition to glass doors that connect the kitchen to well-appointed outdoor living spaces. This gives the opportunity for myriad window coverings from blinds and shades to custom top treatments.

Beauty is in high demand for today’s upscale kitchens. Wall covering borders, custom painted effects and tile or stone are often seen on the walls and backsplashes. Windows and doors themselves often are architecturally handsome. Thus, window treatments for light control and privacy can be set inside the frame and are especially appealing when they fold or draw up into a tiny space so the glass and view are unobstructed.

Today’s aluminum mini-blinds and vinyl and aluminum vertical blinds are impervious to grease, spillage and dirt. Wipeable and soil-resistant blinds and shades are ideal for today’s low-maintenance kitchens. Skylights also may require window coverings such as cellular shades that can be motorized. For areas where cooking food will not be a factor, more soft and lovely treatments are appropriate. Many kitchens are outfitted with wood blinds. And back in the running are woven wood shades that combine traditional styling with modern operating systems and designs that include bamboo, reed, grass as well as wood slats in many hues.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 3.6 million kitchens were remodeled in 2001. Today’s homeowner has in mind a beautiful kitchen, enlarged seating and gathering spaces and more open spaces in the home.