Theres a lot to consider when it comes to planning your kitchen design. Where do you even start? Gathering some inspiration in a photo gallery is always a good starting point, as looking at different kitchen designs often brings up ideas you havent even thought of yet.Browse Photos of Kitchen Designs for Inspiration and Collect Your IdeasYou can browse through photos of all kinds of kitchen styles, layouts and sizes on Houzz to get started before jumping into any design software or contacting a local professional for help. Heres a few considerations to keep in mind when planning your kitchen.1. What Makes a Good Kitchen Design, and Why is it Important? For starters, you want to find a balance between aesthetics and function. You may have heard of the kitchen work triangle, which refers to the space between your fridge, sink and stove. You want everything within easy reach when youre working in the kitchen and look beautiful at the same time. Its a good idea to take note of both when browsing our photo gallery.2. Consider Your Space to Determine Your Kitchen LayoutFirstly, consider the space you have, and the limitations that come with it. Do you have a small kitchen and need to maximise your workspace and storage? Can you allow yourself some more space and a big island with seating? Are you designing your kitchen from scratch or renovating an existing design? Which appliances do you already own and what are their measurements? Are there windows you need to take into consideration when planning cabinets? How do kitchen, living and dining areas connect?

Depending on your space and needs, you want to use a shape that suits you. U, G, or L-shaped kitchen, with or without island or peninsula? Know your dimensions, plan cabinetry carefully and consider the placement of your appliances. You dont want to end up with a finished design, only for your significant other to question where the fridge is supposed to go. Consider from the start where your fridge, oven, microwave and sink goes to save yourself from starting again from scratch - remember the kitchen work triangle!

You also want to plan the layout of your cabinets. Maybe youre planning for a pantry and can do with less storage space in your kitchen, so that your design can be one without upper or lower cabinets for a different look. A corner cabinet can be a smart storage solution if you want to keep the look clean and simple.

You also want to consider colour and finishes of cabinets, countertops and splashbacks. Which colour do you want your cupboards to be? Simple, timeless white or rather making a statement in black? Maybe rather a rustic wood? Also consider the colour of your floor - if you have dark floors, you may want to keep cabinets lighter. You could also go for an all-white look and choose black appliances for contrast.

Once you know which style you fancy, dont forget how you will be using the space. You want to keep cooking in mind, as well as how easy to clean and maintain the space will be. How many cooks do you need to accommodate? Do you have kids around? How much storage do you need? Maybe you want to go for open shelves rather than cabinets and allow for easy reach of key items you use when cooking. Again - remember the triangle!

Lastly, choose lighting that both enhances the look of your kitchen as well as your cooking performance, providing light in all the right places.

Once you are ready to hire a pro, our directory will help you find one, no matter where you are. So whether you're looking for an Interior Designer in Melbourne or an Architect in Sydney, you can be sure to find a qualified expert for the job!

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A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator, and it also has counters and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher and other electric appliances. The main function of a kitchen is serving as a location for storing, cooking and preparing food (and doing related tasks such as dishwashing), but it may also be used for dining, entertaining and laundry.

Commercial kitchens are found in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, educational and workplace facilities, army barracks, and similar establishments. These kitchens are generally larger and equipped with bigger and more heavy-duty equipment than a residential kitchen. For example, a large restaurant may have a huge walk-in refrigerator and a large commercial dishwasher machine. In developed countries, commercial kitchens are generally subject to public health laws. They are inspected periodically by public-health officials, and forced to close if they do not meet hygienic requirements mandated by law.[citation needed]

The evolution of the kitchen is linked to the invention of the cooking range or stove and the development of water infrastructure capable of supplying running water to private homes. Food was cooked over an open fire. Technical advances in heating food in the 18th and 19th centuries changed the architecture of the kitchen. Before the advent of modern pipes, water was brought from an outdoor source such as wells, pumps or springs.

The houses in Ancient Greece were commonly of the atrium-type: the rooms were arranged around a central courtyard for women. In many such homes, a covered but otherwise open patio served as the kitchen. Homes of the wealthy had the kitchen as a separate room, usually next to a bathroom (so that both rooms could be heated by the kitchen fire), both rooms being accessible from the court. In such houses, there was often a separate small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food and kitchen utensils.

In the Roman Empire, common folk in cities often had no kitchen of their own; they did their cooking in large public kitchens. Some had small mobile bronze stoves, on which a fire could be lit for cooking. Wealthy Romans had relatively well-equipped kitchens. In a Roman villa, the kitchen was typically integrated into the main building as a separate room, set apart for practical reasons of smoke and sociological reasons of the kitchen being operated by slaves. The fireplace was typically on the floor, placed at a wallsometimes raised a little bitsuch that one had to kneel to cook. There were no chimneys.

Early medieval European longhouses had an open fire under the highest point of the building. The "kitchen area" was between the entrance and the fireplace. In wealthy homes there was typically more than one kitchen. In some homes there were upwards of three kitchens. The kitchens were divided based on the types of food prepared in them.[1] In place of a chimney, these early buildings had a hole in the roof through which some of the smoke could escape. Besides cooking, the fire also served as a source of heat and light to the single-room building. A similar design can be found in the Iroquois longhouses of North America.

In the larger homesteads of European nobles, the kitchen was sometimes in a separate sunken floor building to keep the main building, which served social and official purposes, free from indoor smoke.

The first known stoves in Japan date from about the same time. The earliest findings are from the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century). These stoves, called kamado, were typically made of clay and mortar; they were fired with wood or charcoal through a hole in the front and had a hole in the top, into which a pot could be hanged by its rim. This type of stove remained in use for centuries to come, with only minor modifications. Like in Europe, the wealthier homes had a separate building which served for cooking. A kind of open fire pit fired with charcoal, called irori, remained in use as the secondary stove in most homes until the Edo period (17th to 19th century). A kamado was used to cook the staple food, for instance rice, while irori served both to cook side dishes and as a heat source.

The kitchen remained largely unaffected by architectural advances throughout the Middle Ages; open fire remained the only method of heating food. European medieval kitchens were dark, smoky, and sooty places, whence their name "smoke kitchen". In European medieval cities around the 10th to 12th centuries, the kitchen still used an open fire hearth in the middle of the room. In wealthy homes, the ground floor was often used as a stable while the kitchen was located on the floor above, like the bedroom and the hall. In castles and monasteries, the living and working areas were separated; the kitchen was sometimes moved to a separate building, and thus could not serve anymore to heat the living rooms. In some castles the kitchen was retained in the same structure, but servants were strictly separated from nobles, by constructing separate spiral stone staircases for use of servants to bring food to upper levels.[citation needed] The kitchen might be separate from the great hall due to the smoke from cooking fires and the chance the fires may get out of control.[2] Few medieval kitchens survive as they were "notoriously ephemeral structures".[3] An extant example of such a medieval kitchen with servants' staircase is at Muchalls Castle in Scotland. In Japanese homes, the kitchen started to become a separate room within the main building at that time.

With the advent of the chimney, the hearth moved from the center of the room to one wall, and the first brick-and-mortar hearths were built. The fire was lit on top of the construction; a vault underneath served to store wood. Pots made of iron, bronze, or copper started to replace the pottery used earlier. The temperature was controlled by hanging the pot higher or lower over the fire, or placing it on a trivet or directly on the hot ashes. Using open fire for cooking (and heating) was risky; fires devastating whole cities occurred frequently.

Leonardo da Vinci invented an automated system for a rotating spit for spit-roasting: a propeller in the chimney made the spit turn all by itself. This kind of system was widely used in wealthier homes. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, kitchens in Europe lost their home-heating function even more and were increasingly moved from the living area into a separate room. The living room was now heated by tiled stoves, operated from the kitchen, which offered the huge advantage of not filling the room with smoke.

Freed from smoke and dirt, the living room thus began to serve as an area for social functions and increasingly became a showcase for the owner's wealth. In the upper classes, cooking and the kitchen were the domain of the servants, and the kitchen was set apart from the living rooms, sometimes even far from the dining room. Poorer homes often did not yet have a separate kitchen; they kept the one-room arrangement where all activities took place, or at the most had the kitchen in the entrance hall.

The medieval smoke kitchen (or Farmhouse kitchen) remained common, especially in rural farmhouses and generally in poorer homes, until much later. In a few European farmhouses, the smoke kitchen was in regular use until the middle of the 20th century. These houses often had no chimney, but only a smoke hood above the fireplace, made of wood and covered with clay, used to smoke meat. The smoke rose more or less freely, warming the upstairs rooms and protecting the woodwork from vermin.

In Connecticut, as in other colonies of New England during Colonial America, kitchens were often built as separate rooms and were located behind the parlor and keeping room or dining room. One early record of a kitchen is found in the 1648 inventory of the estate of a John Porter of Windsor, Connecticut. The inventory lists goods in the house "over the kittchin" and "in the kittchin". The items listed in the kitchen were: silver spoons, pewter, brass, iron, arms, ammunition, hemp, flax and "other implements about the room".[4] Separate summer kitchens were also common on large farms in the north; these were used to prepare meals for harvest workers and tasks such as canning during the warm summer months.

In the southern states, where the climate and sociological conditions differed from the north, the kitchen was often relegated to an outbuilding. On plantations, it was separate from the big house or mansion in much the same way as the feudal kitchen in medieval Europe: the kitchen was operated by slaves, and their working place had to be separated from the living area of the masters by the social standards of the time.

Technological advances during industrialization brought major changes to the kitchen. Iron stoves, which enclosed the fire completely and were more efficient, appeared. Early models included the Franklin stove around 1740, which was a furnace stove intended for heating, not for cooking. Benjamin Thompson in England designed his "Rumford stove" around 1800. This stove was much more energy efficient than earlier stoves; it used one fire to heat several pots, which were hung into holes on top of the stove and were thus heated from all sides instead of just from the bottom. However, his stove was designed for large kitchens; it was too big for domestic use. The "Oberlin stove" was a refinement of the technique that resulted in a size reduction; it was patented in the U.S. in 1834 and became a commercial success with some 90,000 units sold over the next 30 years. These stoves were still fired with wood or coal. Although the first gas street lamps were installed in Paris, London, and Berlin at the beginning of the 1820s and the first U.S. patent on a gas stove was granted in 1825, it was not until the late 19th century that using gas for lighting and cooking became commonplace in urban areas.

Before and after the beginning of the 20th century, kitchens were frequently not equipped with built-in cabinetry, and the lack of storage space in the kitchen became a real problem. The Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of Indiana adapted an existing furniture piece, the baker's cabinet, which had a similar structure of a table top with some cabinets above it (and frequently flour bins beneath) to solve the storage problem. By rearranging the parts and taking advantage of (then) modern metal working, they were able to produce a well-organized, compact cabinet which answered the home cook's needs for storage and working space. A distinctive feature of the Hoosier cabinet is its accessories. As originally supplied, they were equipped with various racks and other hardware to hold and organize spices and various staples. One useful feature was the combination flour-bin/sifter, a tin hopper that could be used without having to remove it from the cabinet. A similar sugar bin was also common.

The urbanization in the second half of the 19th century induced other significant changes that would ultimately change the kitchen. Out of sheer necessity, cities began planning and building water distribution pipes into homes, and built sewers to deal with the waste water. Gas pipes were laid; gas was used first for lighting purposes, but once the network had grown sufficiently, it also became available for heating and cooking on gas stoves. At the turn of the 20th century, electricity had been mastered well enough to become a commercially viable alternative to gas and slowly started replacing the latter. But like the gas stove, the electric stove had a slow start. The first electrical stove had been presented in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but it was not until the 1930s that the technology was stable enough and began to take off.

Industrialization also caused social changes. The new factory working class in the cities was housed under generally poor conditions. Whole families lived in small one or two-room apartments in tenement buildings up to six stories high, badly aired and with insufficient lighting. Sometimes, they shared apartments with "night sleepers", unmarried men who paid for a bed at night. The kitchen in such an apartment was often used as a living and sleeping room, and even as a bathroom. Water had to be fetched from wells and heated on the stove. Water pipes were laid only towards the end of the 19th century, and then often only with one tap per building or per story. Brick-and-mortar stoves fired with coal remained the norm until well into the second half of the century. Pots and kitchenware were typically stored on open shelves, and parts of the room could be separated from the rest using simple curtains.

In contrast, there were no dramatic changes for the upper classes. The kitchen, located in the basement or the ground floor, continued to be operated by servants. In some houses, water pumps were installed, and some even had kitchen sinks and drains (but no water on tap yet, except for some feudal kitchens in castles). The kitchen became a much cleaner space with the advent of "cooking machines", closed stoves made of iron plates and fired by wood and increasingly charcoal or coal, and that had flue pipes connected to the chimney. For the servants the kitchen continued to also serve as a sleeping room; they slept either on the floor, or later in narrow spaces above a lowered ceiling, for the new stoves with their smoke outlet no longer required a high ceiling in the kitchen. The kitchen floors were tiled; kitchenware was neatly stored in cupboards to protect them from dust and steam. A large table served as a workbench; there were at least as many chairs as there were servants, for the table in the kitchen also doubled as the eating place for the servants.

The urban middle class imitated the luxurious dining styles of the upper class as best as they could. Living in smaller apartments, the kitchen was the main roomhere, the family lived. The study or living room was saved for special occasions such as an occasional dinner invitation. Because of this, these middle-class kitchens were often more homely than those of the upper class, where the kitchen was a work-only room occupied only by the servants. Besides a cupboard to store the kitchenware, there were a table and chairs, where the family would dine, and sometimesif space allowedeven a fauteuil or a couch.

Gas pipes were first laid in the late 19th century, and gas stoves started to replace the older coal-fired stoves. Gas was more expensive than coal, though, and thus the new technology was first installed in the wealthier homes. Where workers' apartments were equipped with a gas stove, gas distribution would go through a coin meter.

In rural areas, the older technology using coal or wood stoves or even brick-and-mortar open fireplaces remained common throughout. Gas and water pipes were first installed in the big cities; small villages were connected only much later.

The trend to increasing gasification and electrification continued at the turn of the 20th century. In industry, it was the phase of work process optimization. Taylorism was born, and time-motion studies were used to optimize processes. These ideas also spilled over into domestic kitchen architecture because of a growing trend that called for a professionalization of household work, started in the mid-19th century by Catharine Beecher and amplified by Christine Frederick's publications in the 1910s.

A stepstone was the kitchen designed in Frankfurt by Margarethe Schtte-Lihotzky. Working class women frequently worked in factories to ensure the family's survival, as the men's wages often did not suffice. Social housing projects led to the next milestone: the Frankfurt Kitchen. Developed in 1926, this kitchen measured 1.9m by 3.4m (approximately 6ft 2in by 11ft 2in, with a standard layout). It was built for two purposes: to optimize kitchen work to reduce cooking time and lower the cost of building decently equipped kitchens. The design, created by Margarete Schtte-Lihotzky, was the result of detailed time-motion studies and interviews with future tenants to identify what they needed from their kitchens. Schtte-Lihotzky's fitted kitchen was built in some 10,000 apartments in the housing projects erected in Frankfurt in the 1930s.[5]

The initial reception was critical: it was so small that only one person could work in it; some storage spaces intended for raw loose food ingredients such as flour were reachable by children. But the Frankfurt kitchen embodied a standard for the rest of the 20th century in rental apartments: the "work kitchen". It was criticized as "exiling the women in the kitchen", but post-World War II economic reasons prevailed. The kitchen once more was seen as a work place that needed to be separated from the living areas. Practical reasons also played a role in this development: just as in the bourgeois homes of the past, one reason for separating the kitchen was to keep the steam and smells of cooking out of the living room.

The idea of standardized was first introduced locally with the Frankfurt kitchen, but later defined new in the "Swedish kitchen" (Svensk kksstandard, Swedish kitchen standard). The equipment used remained a standard for years to come: hot and cold water on tap and a kitchen sink and an electrical or gas stove and oven. Not much later, the refrigerator was added as a standard item. The concept was refined in the "Swedish kitchen" using unit furniture with wooden fronts for the kitchen cabinets. Soon, the concept was amended by the use of smooth synthetic door and drawer fronts, first in white, recalling a sense of cleanliness and alluding to sterile lab or hospital settings, but soon after in more lively colors, too[citation needed]. Some years after the Frankfurt Kitchen, Poggenpohl presented the "reform kitchen" in 1928 with interconnecting cabinets and functional interiors. The reform kitchen was a forerunner to the later unit kitchen and fitted kitchen.

Unit construction since its introduction has defined the development of the modern kitchen. Pre-manufactured modules, using mass manufacturing techniques developed during World War II, greatly brought down the cost of a kitchen. Units which are kept on the floor are called "floor units", "floor cabinets", or "base cabinets" on which a kitchen worktop originally often formica and often now made of granite, marble, tile or wood is placed. The units which are held on the wall for storage purposes are termed as "wall units" or "wall cabinets". In small areas of kitchen in an apartment, even a "tall storage unit" is available for effective storage. In cheaper brands, all cabinets are kept a uniform color, normally white, with interchangeable doors and accessories chosen by the customer to give a varied look. In more expensive brands, the cabinets are produced matching the doors' colors and finishes, for an older more bespoke look.

Starting in the 1980s, the perfection of the extractor hood allowed an open kitchen again, integrated more or less with the living room without causing the whole apartment or house to smell. Before that, only a few earlier experiments, typically in newly built upper-middle-class family homes, had open kitchens. Examples are Frank Lloyd Wright's House Willey (1934) and House Jacobs (1936). Both had open kitchens, with high ceilings (up to the roof) and were aired by skylights. The extractor hood made it possible to build open kitchens in apartments, too, where both high ceilings and skylights were not possible.

The re-integration of the kitchen and the living area went hand in hand with a change in the perception of cooking: increasingly, cooking was seen as a creative and sometimes social act instead of work. And there was a rejection by younger home-owners of the standard suburban model of separate kitchens and dining rooms found in most 1900-1950 houses. Many families also appreciated the trend towards open kitchens, as it made it easier for the parents to supervise the children while cooking and to clean up spills. The enhanced status of cooking also made the kitchen a prestige object for showing off one's wealth or cooking professionalism. Some architects have capitalized on this "object" aspect of the kitchen by designing freestanding "kitchen objects". However, like their precursor, Colani's "kitchen satellite", such futuristic designs are exceptions.

Another reason for the trend back to open kitchens (and a foundation of the "kitchen object" philosophy) is changes in how food is prepared. Whereas prior to the 1950s most cooking started out with raw ingredients and a meal had to be prepared from scratch, the advent of frozen meals and pre-prepared convenience food changed the cooking habits of many people, who consequently used the kitchen less and less. For others, who followed the "cooking as a social act" trend, the open kitchen had the advantage that they could be with their guests while cooking, and for the "creative cooks" it might even become a stage for their cooking performance.

The "Trophy Kitchen" is equipped with very expensive and sophisticated appliances which are used primarily to impress visitors and to project social status, rather than for actual cooking.

The ventilation of a kitchen, in particular a large restaurant kitchen, poses certain difficulties that are not present in the ventilation of other kinds of spaces. In particular, the air in a kitchen differs from that of other rooms in that it typically contains grease, smoke and odours.

The Frankfurt Kitchen of 1926 was made of several materials depending on the application. The built-in kitchens of today use particle boards or MDF, decorated with veneers, in some cases also wood. Very few manufacturers produce home built-in kitchens from stainless-steel. Until the 1950s, steel kitchens were used by architects, but this material was displaced by the cheaper particle board panels sometimes decorated with a steel surface.

Domestic (or residential) kitchen design is a relatively recent discipline. The first ideas to optimize the work in the kitchen go back to Catharine Beecher's A Treatise on Domestic Economy (1843, revised and republished together with her sister Harriet Beecher Stowe as The American Woman's Home in 1869). Beecher's "model kitchen" propagated for the first time a systematic design based on early ergonomics. The design included regular shelves on the walls, ample work space, and dedicated storage areas for various food items. Beecher even separated the functions of preparing food and cooking it altogether by moving the stove into a compartment adjacent to the kitchen.

Christine Frederick published from 1913 a series of articles on "New Household Management" in which she analyzed the kitchen following Taylorist principles of efficiency, presented detailed time-motion studies, and derived a kitchen design from them. Her ideas were taken up in the 1920s by architects in Germany and Austria, most notably Bruno Taut, Erna Meyer, and Margarete Schtte-Lihotzky. A social housing project in Frankfurt (the Rmerstadt of architect Ernst May) realized in 1927/38 was the breakthrough for her Frankfurt kitchen, which embodied this new notion of efficiency in the kitchen.

While this "work kitchen" and variants derived from it were a great success for tenement buildings, home owners had different demands and did not want to be constrained by a 6.4m kitchen. Nevertheless, kitchen design was mostly ad-hoc following the whims of the architect. In the U.S., the "Small Homes Council", since 1993 the "Building Research Council", of the School of Architecture of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was founded in 1944 with the goal to improve the state of the art in home building, originally with an emphasis on standardization for cost reduction. It was there that the notion of the kitchen work triangle was formalized: the three main functions in a kitchen are storage, preparation, and cooking (which Catharine Beecher had already recognized), and the places for these functions should be arranged in the kitchen in such a way that work at one place does not interfere with work at another place, the distance between these places is not unnecessarily large, and no obstacles are in the way. A natural arrangement is a triangle, with the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove at a vertex each.

This observation led to a few common kitchen forms, commonly characterized by the arrangement of the kitchen cabinets and sink, stove, and refrigerator:

In the 1980s, there was a backlash against industrial kitchen planning and cabinets with people installing a mix of work surfaces and free standing furniture, led by kitchen designer Johnny Grey and his concept of the "unfitted kitchen". Modern kitchens often have enough informal space to allow for people to eat in it without having to use the formal dining room. Such areas are called "breakfast areas", "breakfast nooks" or "breakfast bars" if the space is integrated into a kitchen counter. Kitchens with enough space to eat in are sometimes called "eat-in kitchens". During the 2000s, flat pack kitchens were popular for people doing DIY renovating on a budget. The flat pack kitchens industry makes it easy to put together and mix and matching doors, bench tops and cabinets. In flat pack systems, many components can be interchanged.

Restaurant and canteen kitchens found in hotels, hospitals, educational and work place facilities, army barracks, and similar institutions are generally (in developed countries) subject to public health laws. They are inspected periodically by public health officials, and forced to close if they do not meet hygienic requirements mandated by law.

Canteen kitchens (and castle kitchens) were often the places where new technology was used first. For instance, Benjamin Thompson's "energy saving stove", an early 19th-century fully closed iron stove using one fire to heat several pots, was designed for large kitchens; another thirty years passed before they were adapted for domestic use.

As of 2017, restaurant kitchens usually have tiled walls and floors and use stainless steel for other surfaces (workbench, but also door and drawer fronts) because these materials are durable and easy to clean. Professional kitchens are often equipped with gas stoves, as these allow cooks to regulate the heat more quickly and more finely than electrical stoves. Some special appliances are typical for professional kitchens, such as large installed deep fryers, steamers, or a bain-marie.

The fast food and convenience food trends have also changed the manner in which restaurant kitchens operate. Some restaurants to only "finish" delivered convenience food or even just reheat completely prepared meals, maybe at the utmost grilling, a hamburger, or a steak.[citation needed]

The kitchens in railway dining cars present special challenges: space is limited, and, nevertheless, the personnel must be able to serve a great number of meals quickly. Especially in the early history of railways this required flawless organization of processes; in modern times, the microwave oven and prepared meals have made this task much easier. Kitchens aboard ships, aircraft and sometimes railcars are often referred to as galleys. On yachts, galleys are often cramped, with one or two burners fueled by an LP gas bottle, but kitchens on cruise ships or large warships are comparable in every respect with restaurants or canteen kitchens.

On passenger airliners, the kitchen is reduced to a mere pantry, the only function reminiscent of a kitchen is the heating of in-flight meals delivered by a catering company. An extreme form of the kitchen occurs in space, e.g., aboard a Space Shuttle (where it is also called the "galley") or the International Space Station. The astronauts' food is generally completely prepared, dehydrated, and sealed in plastic pouches, and the kitchen is reduced to a rehydration and heating module.

Outdoor areas where food is prepared are generally not considered kitchens, even though an outdoor area set up for regular food preparation, for instance when camping, might be referred to as an "outdoor kitchen". An outdoor kitchen at a campsite might be place near a well, water pump, or water tap, and it might provide tables for food preparation and cooking (using portable campstoves). Some campsite kitchen areas have a large tank of propane connected to burners, so that campers can cook their meals. Military camps and similar temporary settlements of nomads may have dedicated kitchen tents, which have a vent to enable cooking smoke to escape.

In schools where home economics, food technology (previously known as "domestic science"), or culinary arts are taught, there will be a series of kitchens with multiple equipment (similar in some respects to laboratories) solely for the purpose of teaching. These consist of multiple workstations, each with their own oven, sink, and kitchen utensils, where the teacher can show students how to prepare food and cook it.

Kitchens in China are called chfng). More than 3000 years ago, the ancient Chinese used the ding for cooking food. The ding was developed into the wok and pot used today. Many Chinese people believe that there is a Kitchen God who watches over the kitchen for the family. According to this belief, the god returns to heaven to give a report to the Jade Emperor annually about this family behavior. Every Chinese New Year Eve, families will gather together to pray for the kitchen god to give a good report to heaven and wish him to bring back good news on the fifth day of the New Year.

The most common cooking equipment in Chinese family kitchens and restaurant kitchens are woks, steamer baskets and pots. The fuel or heating resource was also important technique to practice the cooking skills. Traditionally Chinese were using wood or straw as the fuel to cook food. A Chinese chef had to master flaming and heat radiation to reliably prepare traditional recipes. Chinese cooking will use a pot or wok for pan frying, stir frying, deep frying or boiling.

Kitchens in Japan are called Daidokoro (; lit. "kitchen"). Daidokoro is the place where food is prepared in a Japanese house. Until the Meiji era, a kitchen was also called kamado (; lit. stove) and there are many sayings in the Japanese language that involve kamado as it was considered the symbol of a house and the term could even be used to mean "family" or "household" (similar to the English word "hearth"). When separating a family, it was called Kamado wo wakeru, which means "divide the stove". Kamado wo yaburu (lit. "break the stove") means that the family was bankrupt.

In India, a kitchen is called a Rasoi (in hindiSanskrit) or a Swayampak ghar in Marathi , and there exist many other names for it in the various regional languages. Many different methods of cooking exist across the country, and the structure and the materials used in constructing kitchens have varied depending on the region. For example, in north and central India, cooking used to be carried out in clay ovens called Chulhas, fired by wood, coal or dried cowdung. In households where members observed vegetarianism, separate kitchens were maintained to cook and store vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Religious families often treat the kitchen as a sacred space. Indian kitchens are built on an Indian architectural science called vastushastra. The Indian kitchen vastu is of utmost importance while designing a kitchens in India. Modern-day architects also follow the norms of vastushastra while designing Indian kitchens across the world.

While many kitchens belonging to poor families continue to use clay stoves and the older forms of fuel, the urban middle and upper classes usually have gas stoves with cylinders or piped gas attached. Electric cooktops are rarer since they consume a great deal of electricity, but microwave ovens are gaining popularity in urban households and commercial enterprises. Indian kitchens are also supported by biogas and solar energy as fuel. World's largest solar energy[6] kitchen is built in India. In association with government bodies, India is encouraging domestic biogas plants to support the kitchen system.

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Kitchen - Wikipedia

KBR Kitchen and Bath (KBR) specializes in full scope kitchen and bathroom remodeling. Along with that, we have the expertise to reconfigure spaces and make your area open concept or build walls to give you more storage and functionality. You may want to take out a tub and add a stand up shower or extend your existing shower area. With its award-winning bathroom remodeling services, KBR can provide you with modern, frame-less glass shower door options, or sliding glass doors. We also do drywall repair, painting, add closets, install hardwood flooring and refinishing, recessed lighting and more.

When it comes to our state-of-the-art kitchen remodeling services, KBR offers many options in cabinetry and material choices from marble and travertine surfaces to porcelain selections with many sizes, colors and styles. We provide granite or quartz counter-tops for your kitchen -- whatever works best for you. We have the resources and vendors to give you the flexibility to help you create the best kitchen or bathroom renovation of your dreams that fits your taste and style. We know you're busy so take advantage of our one-stop shopping kitchen and bathroom remodeling services and we'll assist and guide you each step of the way - from the early planning to five-star satisfactory completion.

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Best Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling in Virginia, Maryland ...

Kitchen cabinets hugely influence the look and feel of your kitchen as do the kitchen cabinet colors you choose. And, since cabinets typically occupy the largest area of visual square footage in the kitchen, youll want to select a cabinet color and design that will set the tone for the style of your space.

Timeless kitchen cabinet colors - from gleaming whites and tranquil grays to honey-toned or rich, dark, cabinetry - offer amazing versatility and complement almost any dcor style.

Grey and white are perennial favorite kitchen cabinet colors, easily adaptable to a traditional, modern or traditional kitchen. The same is true of light, medium, and dark cabinet finishes. With the right style of cabinet door and hardware, you can create a stunning and contemporary look or one that speaks to traditional warmth and charm.

As the #1 Cabinet Retailer in the US, we can help you find the perfect kitchen cabinet colors for your homes dcor. Nobody has more cabinets or more top cabinet brands to choose from. And, you can also use our Estimator Tool to calculate the cost or your project as well as our free design service to customize the new look of your kitchen.

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Kitchen Cabinets Color Gallery at The Home Depot

Unlike pre-made stock cabinets from a home supply store, custom kitchen cabinetry is built to your exact specifications to fit a specific space in your home, whether it is the kitchen, or any other area where you may require storage. There are a wide variety of available styles, wood types, and finishes to choose from to suit your unique needs and blend seamlessly into the look of your home.

As custom cabinets from Affordable Kitchen Designers are built to your own specifications, you benefit from not only a design that perfectly suits and fits your own unique space, but you are also provided with a customized storage solution that can enable you to more efficiently access and arrange your belongings. In addition, custom cabinetry is perfect for rooms with odd-shaped architectural details as we can easily build cabinets to fit your space (something that would be virtually impossible with off-the-shelf cabinets).

Cabinets are 100% american made solid wood, custom sized to any demension without the need for fillers or spacers.

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Kitchen Remodeling - Affordable Kitchen Designers

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1.The Budget; It always starts with the budget, and with doing a kitchen remodel it's no different. Las Vegas has some of the most amazing kitchen remodeling jobs and it seems like every year the consumers are trying to out do themselves so make sure you have a budget in mind that allows you to renovate before you start your amazing kitchen project.

2.To island or not to island?Kitchen islandshave become the most requested additions in Las Vegas when doing a kitchen remodel. There agreat place to prepare a meal or gather with friends and family, But todaymany kitchen islands are also used to store kitchen appliances such as dishwashers, stoves, as well askitchen sinks. It makes the kitchen a social site. So if you have the space you might consider this in your next Kitchen remodel.

3.Appliances;And speaking of building appliances into yourisland, appliances are a place in your budget that you can eithersplurge or save during the kitchen remodel project. It almost seems that most Las Vegas kitchen remodeling are done do to consumers wanting amazing appliances. But don't worry if that's what you wish for we have the connections for that as well.

4.Backsplash Beauty. Similar to popularity of the kitchen island, backsplashes have become increasingly more popular in kitchen remodels in Las Vegas. Backsplashes are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Tiles and glass are two fashionable choices but vary fromhomeowner to homeowner. Theunique design skills mean the versatility of these materials are endless. But one thing is for sure most people think that adding backsplash to your kitchen remodel is a plus.

5. Flooring; flooring is the one thing that is more about your style than current trends. It seems like no two people have the same style when it comes to flooring. Some people like dark colors some people like light colors and of course there's the type of flooring as well; hardwood, tile, bamboo,concrete, marble and laminate. So make sure when budgeting yourLas Vegas kitchen remodel project to have all these things in mind.

Considerations When Tackling a KitchenRemodelLas Vegas

1.The Budget;First and foremost you need to set a budget for your Las Vegas bathroom remodeling project. Second, you need to stay withinthat budget. Itscritical that you determine what youre willing to spend, do a little research to see if your budgetis realistic, and pinpoint the twothings in your project that are the most important to you. Onceyouve determined your priorities you can startcomparison shopping and endup with the bathroom remodel that fits your needs and desires.

2.Layout And Functionality;Are you planning on changing the location of the sink or toilet? This can require additional workand is often overlooked when planning a bathroom remodel. Itsimperative that your bathroom remodeling water flow and drainage are up to Las Vegas code book. Moving fixtures can increase the budget and the time lineof theproject. Butif a layout is in need ofreconsideration do toaccessibility issues its important to factor that into your overall planand budget from the beginning.

3.Increased Property Value;If youll be staying in the home for more than five years thanyou can make more personal choices in regard to your Las Vegas bathroom remodeling renovations. However, if you'replanning on movingsoonthan youll want to consider your budget a little bit more carefully. Most Las Vegasbathroom remodeling will impact your propertys value.Realtors often warn that you should be cautious when it comes to fixtures and colors becausebeauty is in the eye of the beholder. So remember when remodeling your next Las Vegas bathroom make sure you know for who and for how long.

4.Aesthetic Appeal;Is your Las Vegas bathroom incredibly outdated? You should determine whether or not its visually or functionallyoutdated before remodeling. Perhaps its both? It could be that with a little bit of paint and some new fixtures youllbe good, but it might need a little bit more. The most important aspect ofa Las Vegas bathroom remodel is to know the latest trends. Maybe the tileof your outdated bathroom are orange and we know that's not going to work these days. Become familiar with all the trends andoptions available toyou. Maybe the paint andtiles are the only things that need to be updatedand maybe it's just time to start getting your Las Vegas bathroom remodeling going, but either way know all your options.

5.Why Do You Want To Undertake This Bathroom Remodel? Las Vegas

Are you a new homeowner that wants to bringa horribly outdated bathroom into the current era? You have areason and that reason will highly motivate the choices youll make during this process.

Considerations When Tackling a Bathroom RemodelLas Vegas

''THE KITCHEN IS THE HEART OF THE HOUSE''

Kitchen remodeling in Las Vegas have some ofhighestexpectations, it even seems that Las Vegas is the Kitchen remodeling capital of the world. Las Vegas kitchens remodeling standards have changed over the years as customers now expect everything from the best appliances to unbelievable architecture, as they should. The kitchen is the focal point of your home and will always be the one thing that will leavea lasting impression.

Bathroom remodelingin Las Vegas seems to be one of the mostrequested remodeling projects. It's where most of us are able to get away from it all. So it's very important when we remodel a bathroom that it all comes together as our Las Vegas clients had hoped for. Most bathroom remodeling projects starts with our clients vision and end up as our clients oasis. Every Las Vegas home should have a retreat room lets make it with your next bathroom remodeling project.

General Contractor Kitchens remodelBathrooms remodelAdditions & renovationsComplete renovations

Whether it's getting your Las Vegas home a new kitchen remodeling project done, or getting your bathroom a new remodeling look, we're here to help you every step of the way.

HRBuilders has beenRemodeling Bathrooms and Kitchens for over twelve years in Las Vegas, so we really mean it when we say we're here to helpyou. As a general contractor we understand the meaning of complete capability needs. What that truly means to us is putting a project together as a whole. So if your Las Vegas kitchen remodeling needs require cabinetry wood work, plumbing, electrical, counter tops for example, we'll get it all done so you don't have to chase many different contractors to get it all completed.

We can also do the same things for your next Las Vegas bathroom remodeling project. So whether it's tile work, granite, glass, plumbing, fixtures ect. We'll coordinate the project as well as help you design it to your desire.

Getting a bathroom remodeling contractor in Las Vegas?

When hiring a Las Vegas remodeling contractor to do your bathroom remodeling you should always make sure of a few things. Does the remodeling contractor have the experience to do your bathroom remodeling, do they have pictures of bathroom remodeling that where done in the past. What sub-contractors are they going to use on your bathroom remodeling. In most cases Las Vegas contractors or General Contractors will use different companies to do certain parts of the remodeling project. It's also wise to know the remodeling contractors product distributor. In most cases the product distributor will have a showroom floor to show you most of their products allowing you to make a better decision on what's better for you.''Not all Las Vegas remodeling contractors have our bathroom remodeling experience''.

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When hiring a Las Vegas kitchen remodeling contractor or a Las Vegas bathroom remodeling contractor you should understand that the Nevada Contractors Board does not give anyone the right to say they are a specialty contractor for kitchens as well as bathrooms. There for you should always ask about that contractors past history work as well as do some good looking into there past work ethics as well as see what kind of work has been done by the contractor who's offering Kitchen and Bathroom remodeling work (You should always look into any contractor or General contractor before hiring them to do any work in Las Vegas).

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Tanna VillarrealBetter Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Gary Greene

A local realtor answers questions about trends and offers tips to homebuyers and sellers.

Tanna VillarrealBetter Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Gary Greene

What should homeowners know before deciding to remodel a kitchen in terms of cost?Typically, remodeling a kitchen and master bath provide a good return on investment, but with the escalating price of construction and limitless options for finishes and amenities, its important to know how much is too much. Before beginning the project, talk with a Realtor and ask for sold comparables in your area. This will help establish your budget and provide information on what to expect the value of your home to be once the work is completed.

When installing new appliances or cabinets, what designs will add appeal to a home?I think its important for cabinetry to have clean lines and simple finishes. When cabinets are flocked with ornate designs and heavy finishes, they feel outdated and will more adversely affect the sellers ability to sell their home. When selecting appliances, try to splurge where possible. Find that signature piece and make it your centerpiece.What are current popular kitchen design trends homeowners should be aware of?Trends are nice, but try to avoid them. Many of todays styles are updated versions of classic designs. As a homeowner, its important to convey your style without going so far into whats trending that you have to remodel again in five years. Keep your finishes clean and decor simple. For many, this means nixing the greenery. Get it out of there because nothing dates your home faster.

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3 tips for remodeling a kitchen in the Tomball, Magnolia areas - Community Impact Newspaper

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

RAYNHAM Theres nothing like a fire to speed up a remodeling job in a restaurant.

They planned to remodel in August, but this kind of pushed it up a month or so, said Dawn Souto, who works as a waitress at the IHOP at 235 Route 44.

The restaurant recently reopened after closing for nearly three months due to a fire that broke out May 31 in the kitchen area.

Assistant manager Nicole Rolls said there was a soft opening with shorter hours of operation on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Management since then, she said, has conducted interviews to fill a handful of positions.

The fire was the second fire within a span of a year to damage the building, which before becoming an International House of Pancakes in 2006 had been a Bickford's Family Restaurant.

A fire in August 2016 damaged a rear portion of the IHOP building and led to water and smoke damage. The IHOP reopened days after that fire.

Rolls said the cause of the May 31 overnight fire was a piece of floor-mat carpet that an employee placed too closely to the pilot light of a hot-water heater in the kitchen.

The non-stick rug piece, which typically is placed in front of the restaurant's entrance, ignited. No one at the time was in the building, she said.

The silver lining, Rolls and Souto say, is a newly designed IHOP with a centrally situated, blue-tiled hostess booth; new seating accommodations for customers waiting for a booth; and a washable faux-tile floor taking the place of old carpeting.

Rolls says dining room seating has expanded from 132 to at least 162 seats.

Customer reaction, she says, has been encouraging. "The first thing they notice is, 'Wow, it's been redone,'" Rolls said.

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Raynham IHOP reopens nearly three months after kitchen-area fire - Wicked Local Taunton

Ernest Gilbert knows that a kitchen or the bathroom remodel can help update any house and built his Bradenton-based business, Gilbert Design Build, on such remodels.

Gilbert, 48, started his full-service business in 2001 and has showrooms at 816 Manatee Ave. E. in the Central Plaza and at 4049 Clark Road in Sarasota.

We are a design, build and remodeling company. We specialize in remodeling, Gilbert said in his Bradenton showroom, accompanied by his son, Evan, who works in accounting and purchasing.

Gilbert Design Build is a licensed contractor with interior designers on staff, and the company recently was a finalist in the annual Manatee Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year awards in the category for firms with more than $1 million in annual revenue.

Ernest Gilbert got into the business at age 17. When he bought his first house, it was a 1920s-era fixer-upper located in the Wares Creek section of Bradenton.

I had no money, he said of the initial challenge of updating the house. I learned how to do things and realized I enjoyed it.

We want to create an environment where our team members like to come to work. We want an environment where they can be creative.

Ernest Gilbert, Gilbert Design Build

His wife Jessica encouraged him to pursue home remodeling as a career.

We grew faster than most businesses should, and pretty soon I was in the office running things, Ernest Gilbert said.

Like many during the Great Recession, the company had to downsize, but it has rebounded and now counts about 25 on its payroll. Among them is Evan Gilbert, who thought he might become an architect but gravitated to the family business by working in the office doing computer-assisted design and getting involved in the financial side of the operation.

The creative urge to improve a home is reflected in the Gilbert Design Build showroom, which showcases modern kitchen and bathroom designs while fostering a happy work atmosphere.

We want to create an environment where our team members like to come to work. We want an environment where they can be creative. We encourage creativity to improve our system, Ernest Gilbert said.

That translates into a pleasant experience for the client.

We are trying to operate with integrity and create a relationship with the client so they will want to come back to us, Ernest Gilbert said.

Being in the remodeling business, Gilbert donates many serviceable fixtures taken from the homes he upgrades to Habitat for Humanity, giving them a second generation of use.

Occasionally we will work on one of their builds, he said.

Gilbert Design Build has also supported Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Toys for Tots.

For more information, visit gilbertdesignbuild.com or call 941-757-3395.

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Assembling ideal creative team for home renovation projects - Bradenton Herald