The Design Column - June 2007

The perfect kitchen is one that is central to family life. A well-designed space not only provides a place to cook and eat, but will positively promote a more sociable way of living by drawing people into the room.

It seems to me that rarely a day goes past without a politician from one party or the other bemoaning the lack of traditional family values. One of the things that I, and many of my contemporaries, grew up with was the family meal. No matter what day of the week or time of day, we always sat, ate, talked and interacted together as a family at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So what’s changed?

Today, many parents feel under pressure, from their employers or from the demands of their own business and mealtimes can become purely functional or spread out with children and parents eating separately. As children grow up they become increasingly independent and have got used to ‘doing their own thing’, especially if they have TVs, entertainment systems and PCs in their bedrooms.

So if politicians can’t do anything about getting back some of the traditional aspects of family life, what can design do?

In my view….everything.

As well as some of the modern lifestyle pressures mentioned earlier, when I meet new clients for the first time it becomes clear that as a family they do not spend time in their kitchen simply because the space they currently have doesn’t meet their needs, practically or emotionally.

Good design can change the way people think, the way they feel and the way they act. A well-designed space is somewhere you enjoy spending time and therefore when faced with choices, we all naturally gravitate to spaces which make us feel better. Think about your favourite restaurant, hotel, or holiday location. In each case, design will have played an important part in how a product, building or place makes you feel and inspires you to return to experience those feelings all over again.

In any home the kitchen is the hub and central to family life. Consumers today are searching for modern kitchen design that inspires and excites whilst also ensuring the utmost practicality in terms of storage, work areas, people traffic and interaction. Good kitchen design not only creates the perfect place where the family gathers to cook and eat, but it can also extend its use throughout the day.

Creating different zones in a design scheme will ensure that your kitchen is also a place for relaxing from morning to night, a place where children can do their homework or catch up with their parents over a snack, a place where friends can sit and gossip within a café bar buzz, a place for more formal entertaining and a place for cosy, romantic meals.

In short, good design creates a kitchen where people want to spend more time, throughout the day, and by doing so, can help bring families back together.