If you’re a proud owner of a large kitchen, you may be at a loss on how to use up that space efficiently and so help your workers do their jobs the best way they can.
Plus, making the sanitary inspectors happy and giving your kitchen a certain aesthetic je ne sais quoi is always a challenge of finding ways to create a unique atmosphere for your entire restaurant.
Now, in case you aren’t sure on what on Earth you should go about improving your kitchen and making it a better place for everyone involved, we’ve prepared this article to give you a better idea of what matters to pay attention to, so your kitchen can assume a new grandiose look it always deserved to have.
1) Kitchen Island
One of the most commonly found solutions for giving your kitchen more room would be to equip it with a so-called kitchen island.
As you may already know, kitchen islands are elevated spaces in the kitchen onto which can place various objects. They’re usually narrow and elongated, so you can navigate around them – but they still offer plenty of space you can work with.
For example, you can place a microwave oven on it, a couple of cutting boards, and even some racks with pots ‘n’ pans. What’s more, many kitchen islands have additional compartments down below where they are hollowed out, so you can place even more items there if you so desire.
All in all, setting up a kitchen island can not only be a great way to use the space, but also the new area will be fairly useful, too.
2) Set up a Mean Kitchen Triangle
If you’ve ever worked in a kitchen, or desire to start running a business with a kitchen as a central piece, so to speak, you may already have a certain idea about what a kitchen triangle is.
To put it simply, it represents the special correlation between three important ‘workstations’. (Let’s call them that.) These would include your fridge, the stove, and the sink, over which you scale your fish, clean the veggies and wash the meat before cooking it.
Now, the idea of a kitchen triangle is that of mutual coordination, so that these three are never too far away from each other. This is why it’s not recommended to install them one after another in a row o’ three – because you’ll have to make an extra-long journey from the stove to the fridge. (If your row would be something like 1) refrigerator, 2) sink, 3) stove.)
If it’s a triangle, each of these stations is close, so you don’t have to waste time navigating around these for too long.
3) Industrial Build
If you’re a food business owner and you want your employees to feel like professionals working for you, you can opt to decorate the kitchen so that it assumes a certain industrial build.
What this means is that you should always go with stainless steel when various appliances are in question and that the floors and the walls should be a neutral color. Nothing too artsy or domestic-looking.
The accent should be on efficiency, professionalism, cleanliness, and results.
Workplace safety is another important point in this arrangement. Visible medkits with red crosses on the wall, the zero accident sign, as well as safety systems such as sturdy kitchen fire ducts all play a role in both the workplace safety AND in the professionalism these represent.
The irony is, of course, that many designers today intentionally go with exactly this solution because it has that sort of a counterintuitive, aesthetic appeal. The less domestic it looks, the more at ease you feel in it. (It’s a reverse psychology thing, no doubt.)
4) Horseshoe Design
Here’s a great way to make all of your cooking tools and appliances at your fingertips, while saving space and making your kitchen look well-organized.
Plus, you can still pull off that all-important kitchen triangle.
The idea here is to use three walls of the room for everything you need in your kitchen. The last wall should be used to install a large window in it or use it to enhance the entire kitchen visually.
As far as the actual kitchen arrangement goes, though, the great thing about the horseshoe design is that the chef and the helping cooks are within the horseshoe, so whatever way they turn, there’s something they can use.
All in all, setting up a large kitchen can be quite a challenge but still immensely rewarding once you finish everything up and when the place is ready to take on the next culinary challenge. Bottom line, whether it’s an industrial design you’re going for or a simple but spacious kitchen that you feel familiar with – as long as you respect the triangle, and ensure to leave some breathing space, as well – you’ll be on the right path of kitchen decoration.