An article about " The Open Kitchen "

The Open Kitchen

Kitchens are no longer what they used to be. A new era has indeed dawned in the field of kitchens. Spacious cooking areas, trendy gadgets, convenient appliances, stylish cooking ranges, wide ranging cookware, concealed storage spaces. That is the modern kitchen.

With changing times, the concept of spaces and their uses have changed drastically. Today the apparent differentiation between the kitchen and the living room has completely disappeared. Now-a-days kitchens have been transformed into living spaces. They are places where the family and friends get together. It is also a creative work place which involves the best of imagination and modern appliances.

There is no longer a divide between the living room and the kitchen, and the open kitchen has become the norm in many homes. When you plan an open kitchen, you have to bear in mind three major things. They are kitchen gadgets, cookware,and the storage space for them. An open kitchen is part of the living room and therefore has to be aesthetically designed, and at the same time, it has to be absolutely functional.

Mind boggling

Cooking plays a crucial role in everyone's lives. Many go in for the trendiest gadgets and the best in kitchen design. A generation ago, kitchens had only a few things like grinding stones, but today the range of cooking gadgets available is mind boggling.

No big expertise is needed for modern cooking, and the cooking process itself has become simpler due to the multitude of gadgets available like juicers, rice cookers, microwave ovens, toasters, blenders, mixers, food processors, coffee makers, deep fryers etc.

Appliances like the food processor occupy only a little space and are multi-functional as it can perform a variety of tasks. Most people would like to have a fully equipped open kitchen. They want a well designed kitchen platform which can accommodate all their gadgets with enough electrical outlets.

Now-a-days numerous fancy cooking ranges are available. They can be fitted on countertops and the space below can be used for storage and other purposes. A dish washer is a good investment for people who have plenty of ceramic and porcelain ware.

Splendour

Once they enter the fashionable world of open kitchens people will think twice before using outdated aluminum and steel utensils. They will abhor the thought of guests and relatives staring at those old world relics.

Fortunately, you can now buy a wide range of cookware made of copper, melamine, ceramic, stainless steel and non-stick material. There are separate vessels for cooking and serving and also cooking-cum–serving vessels. While copper, non-stick and stainless steel are good for cooking, for serving it is better to use beautiful ceramic, melamine, wooden and chinaware. Casseroles, pots, pans, spoons, spatulas etc., are a part of every chef's needs. Dinner sets are available in plenty in many colours and designs and it will be best to have one set for daily use and another for formal entertaining. Stainless steel is better when it is just the family, and this is a good idea if there are small children. In Indian minds stainless steel is deep rooted as it is not fragile and lasts long. Of course many of us would like to take out the chinaware for entertaining, but make sure that children do not have access to them.

Kitchen line enhances the beauty and appearance of the open kitchen. Good quality kitchen linen, complements the stylish and modern kitchen.

Storage units

In an open plan kitchen, open shelves can look odd. Therefore, go for well designed, carefully planned, closed storage units. You can store everything from gadgets to food in them. Shelves and deep, wide drawers of different heights and widths can be added to accommodate various items. Cutlery drawers and vegetable racks can also be incorporated. 

A pull out compartment like an arena shelf accessible from all sides can be used for storing items. All its corners can be used, and the underside of shelves can be used for hanging cups.

If interested, set apart a compartment for wine storage, which will be quite useful while entertaining, and will add a design element to the cabinets. If space is available, a separate store room for storing food items can also be created.

Odour Elimination

If the open kitchen is not properly ventilated, it is likely to smoke up the entire living area. This will spread to the rest of the house, and finally the entire home will smell like the kitchen.

You can eliminate odours by taking the following steps:

- Install an overhead hood in the kitchen with a grease filter. This will prevent the fan from getting clogged with fat.

- Fit a ventilating fan close to apparatuses emitting smoke.

-Use an electric chimney. It will eliminate fumes.

-Go for appliances that come with built-in exhaust fans like ovens.

-Clean out the garbage twice a day.

-It would be better to have a second kitchen exclusively for frying so that the home does not become smoky.

-Using air purifiers can help in eliminating odours.

-Boiling some water with cloves in an open pan for a few minutes or keeping an open container of vinegar on the counter top will create fragrance.

-Lighting some aroma candles or incense in the living room will inject pleasant odoursinto the air.

-Clean the kitchen well after use.

-Keep the cooked food in closed containers.