Column: Living your Space- The Kitchen (1)

By Elizabeth Onuoha

T

he kitchen is simply a place in the house where food is prepared. It could also be referred to as the ‘heart beat’ of the home; this is pretty obvious as we all must eat.

In this edition, which is going to be in two parts, we will be taking a look at the basic issues involved in the interior design of the kitchen and how we can make the kitchen practical enough to suit various needs.

The basic issues involved in interior design of the kitchen, are basically the same for every kind of space, but in residential designs, kitchens attract particular interest on the part of occupiers. I will never forget the shock I got when I first sighted the kitchen in my house.  As a result of my very busy schedule, I asked my agent to help me look round for an apartment. I gave him my specifications and impressed it on him that space is of importance.

A modern kitchen

You can imagine the rude shock I received when I came face to face with a kitchen no bigger than a cell and a large store. I had made the mistake of trusting my agent and had paid up without first inspecting the property. What was I to do with such a huge store even if I were storing food for an army!

This was not practical for someone who lived alone so I had to learn to live with my kitchen. Builders have long learnt that attractive kitchens sell a house faster than any other feature. The designer of a kitchen must carefully take into consideration the needs and desire of the actual users. The designer should find out what meals are to be prepared, how many people will work in the kitchen during meal preparations, will the kitchen also accommodate a washing machine, will there be a provision for serving and eating in the kitchen, and finally the size of the family will also be considered.

Today’s life style has outgrown the standard kitchen layout. The modern tendency is towards open kitchen plans that permits communication with family and guests during meal preparations and can also accommodate other activities like eating, laundry etc. It is common these days to have a small dining table in the kitchen where a house wife can serve her husband dinner while she is busy with other chores and can still chat with him while he is eating, also the children can have lunch in the kitchen and afterwards do homework in the kitchen while mummy keeps her eyes on them while she is getting things set for dinner.

I was at a friend’s house recently and was shocked at the kitchen space. The apartment was a beautiful well tilled two bedroom flat, I was about complimenting my friend on such a great flat when I decided to visit the kitchen and toilet – yes, I have this weakness for bathrooms and kitchens Whenever I am visiting, I always look for ways to take a sneak peek at the kitchen and bathroom of my host you can always tell how classy a woman is by the appearance of her kitchen and bathroom.

So, since I was pretty close to this person, I promptly made a bee line for

 the kitchen and was rudely stopped in my tracks, ‘what in the world is this?’ I screamed. When I came face to face with a single wall demarcating the small cell that served as a kitchen from the bathroom! My own cell of a kitchen was bigger than this; this kitchen could barely hold a medium sized gas cooker and leave room for the lady to stir a pot of stew! And to add insult to the injury, a single wall is between the kitchen and the bathroom. The builder should have his license withdrawn.  

It is a common mistake by builders here to always give little space to kitchens and bathrooms, as if the occupant is not supposed to spend quality time there. In the next issue, we shall be looking at kitchen layouts, appearance, kitchen elements and materials.

Do keep a date, and live your space.