KITCHENS & UTILITIES 


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The kitchen is one of the most important centres of a house. It is not just a functional workspace but an area in which a family can live and interact.
Over the last 100 years the kitchen has been regarded as a workroom. An ever-increasing interest in the kitchen as a family room has seen the re-emergence of the traditional kitchen as more open plan incorporating a range and hearth.
When designing your own home the kitchen can be formulated to exact individual requirements.
Incorporating the dining room into the kitchen area can be create an extra multi-functional space allowing interaction between working in the kitchen and activities within the adjoining space.
There are however three primary functions; the washing area, the cooking area and the food storage.
 Each area must be clearly defined with clear passage from one area to another.

 
Traditionally the sink was positioned in front of the window. It made sense to locate a function that can be time consuming next to a natural light source. If a source of natural light is not available a more acceptable location would be facing out towards the room on an island or an outshot.
Today’s designer appliances many choose to highlight the washing machine or dishwasher as part of the whole kitchen display.

With the advent of the utility room there is now a choice of location for the more bulky, noisy and visually unappealing items which would have normally been accommodated within the main kitchen area using up valuable storage space.
Offering a separate area where clothes can be washed, dried and ironed and all household cleaning equipment can be stored reinforces the identity of the kitchen as an integral part of the house.
A utility room should have easy clean surfaces for the floor, walls and units, a double or deep sink unit for handwashing clothes and spaces for the washing machine and tumble dryer.
A drying rack either floor or ceiling mounted is a necessary accessory even if a tumble dryer is installed.
The utility room is also an ideal location for boiler, freezers, the hot-press and the storage of household products such as shoe cleaning equipment and general household products. It is also the ideal location for a w.c. so eliminating the need to remove shoes or coats prior to entering the house