Everything and the Kitchen Sink
By Richard Thompson
Social kitchens are finding a permanent place in the hearts of American consumers as Millenials, professionals and foodies want more experiential cooking occasions at home. Once relegated to a corner of the house where the chore of cooking took place, open-floor kitchen designs have reemerged as more consumers have become comfortable with making the kitchen a social hub that accommodates parties, enables multiple cooks and fosters more communicative socialization, according to the 2005 study “Kitchen Activities of Twenty-First Century American Households.” Recently, as more consumers – Millenials in particular – have shifted to see food as not just fuel, but as an experience, the desire to embrace the foodie lifestyle of hosting dinner parties and trying new types of foods has made the need for a social kitchen more mainstream.
“It’s great to have an open kitchen plan,” says Sonya Lang, Lead Designer and Project Manager of Mission Kitchen and Bath, “everything from handling appetizers to wine tasting is so much better and easier since you don’t need a formal living room anymore.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the second most common leisure activity for Americans between 2003 – 2014 was socializing – visiting with friends and either attending or hosting social in the home and the emergence of the “kitchen hearth room”, says Lang, is now making the idea of a separate family room in which to entertain guests as obsolete.
The inclusion of a large island in a kitchen eliminates unnecessary foot traffic, establishes an openness in the home and helps pull two rooms together for a larger, more inclusive social hub. “A typical party I’ve seen has about three or four couples, and an open kitchen offers enough room for about eight people comfortably,” says Lang.
Cabinetry and kitchen design go hand-in-hand at Mission Kitchen and Bath and its owner, Al Felman, knows how important it is for consumers to understand the costs and benefits of having an open-plan kitchen. As a certified kitchen and bath re-modeler with over 20 years experience, Felman recognizes that the kitchen is a gathering place. “It comes down to how you want to use a kitchen,” says Felman, “someone who doesn’t entertain much wants to maximize storage solutions and preparatory space while those wanting a ‘party kitchen’ find minimizing storage and prep space more beneficial.
Felman explains that a standard design consists of a seating area, a small overhang and an island or a peninsula for at least six people to sit around and eat. For a proper open kitchen, it would be unusual for a sitting area not to be factored in, says Felman.
Nowadays though, understanding just what can help make a kitchen more open makes all the difference between creating a sense of openness versus one of chaos, according to a recent study by ConsumerReports.com. By being able to visually integrate the kitchen into the rest of the home, such as by repeating a hue from a connecting room onto kitchen walls or counter tops establishes a continuity between the rooms. “Even widening a doorway or keeping consistent hard flooring helps keep an openness in the plan that makes it seem all-in-one,” says Lang.
Since casual dining is integral to the social kitchen, built-in banquettes are making a strong comeback as are islands – with between 42 and 48 inches of clearance on all sides – that allow people to both sit and relax while not getting in the way of the helpful cook that is preparing meals for them. This inclusion is central to new home buyers as a 2013 survey by the National Association of Realtors found that an eat-in kitchen was one of the most desired features for future homeowners.
A strong trait of a proficient social kitchen also keeps placement of beverage and snack stations in the fore-front edge of the kitchen, and can take the form of a wet bar, wine chiller or a coffeemaker – or for kids, a snack and juice area.
