Cues – Setting up Your Kitchen 

 

What’s the best way to set up a kitchen? 

 

Gone are the days of the kitchen work triangle; now there’s a new line of thinking which advocates setting up the kitchen in terms of work zones. 

 

Let’s take a quick look at how to do so -

 

1. Divide your kitchen into five zones
   1. Consumables Zone: The area used for food storage. This can be split into two zones: refrigerator; and pantry or food cabinets 
   2. Non-consumables Zone: The area used to store everyday dishes (plates, bowls, glasses, and silverware)
   3. Cleaning Zone: The area that contains the sink and dishwasher (if you have one)
   4. Preparation Zone: The area where most of your kitchen prep happens – a portion of the countertop or a kitchen island
   5. Cooking Zone: The area that contains the stovetop, oven, or range, and possibly the microwave
2. Store items as close to their related zone as possible. For example, knives, mixing bowls, chopping boards, spices, and other prep utensils should be stored where you do most of your prep work, in the preparation zone. Cooking utensils, pots, pans, and bake-ware should be stored near the stove or oven, in the cooking zone. Daily dishes could be stored right next to the cleaning zone, or where your sink and dishwasher are.
3. Create prep space as close to the stove as possible

 

Of course, keeping items precisely within their zone isn’t always entirely possible - but viewing your kitchen as a collection of zones and grouping things together by their purpose is just to ease the mammoth task of setting up your kitchen…!