Function: One of the Five Building Blocks of Kitchen Design

Of the five building blocks of kitchen design, function comes first. Every decision you make about how you want your kitchen to work affects the aesthetics of your design, and every decision you make about aesthetics affects important functional issues as well.

The first and most fundamental question is "What’s it for?" How do you want to live and work in your new kitchen? Is this a room for cooking or just for warming and serving, where all you need is a telephone and a few take-out menus? Is this a kitchen for Thanksgiving dinner or just for snacks? Is it "only for show" or a vital arena in which to conduct all the complex business of daily life? The way you want to use your new kitchen will inspire, and may even dictate, many of your design choices.

It’s best to begin by considering broad functional issues such as these:

• How important is cooking? Are you a gourmet chef, or would you be just as happy if you could turn your range into a planter and use your dishwasher as a file cabinet? (Don’t laugh; I know someone who did just that!)
  
• Do you like to entertain lavishly, in small groups, or not at all? Are holiday dinners always at your home, or do you wish they were? If you entertain a lot, do you use caterers?
  
• Do you want to eat in your kitchen? If so, how much seating do you need, and what kind of seating should it be? Should you have a large or small table, a counter with stools, a nook, a banquette, or perhaps a cozy lounge chair or two?
  
• Do you have a large family or do you live alone? Is your family growing or are you an empty nester?
  
• Does your family include pets whose needs must be accommodated in the design?
  
• How much storage do you require? Do you need a large butler’s pantry for storing silver and glassware, or just a small cabinet for a few canned goods?
  
• Do you dream of your new kitchen as a busy gathering place for friends and family, or a quiet place for a cup of tea and a good book? Does either dream include a fireplace?
  
• Is ease of maintenance a high priority?
  
• Do you want a wet bar in your kitchen?
  
• Will your kitchen serve as an office for household management or a home-based business, or as a message center with space for a calendar, phone, and computer?
  
• Do you envision using your kitchen for hobbies? Do you want a place for your wine collection or a potting sink? Would you like your children to do their homework or arts and crafts projects in the kitchen?
  
• How should your kitchen relate functionally to your other rooms? Should it open onto, or be part of, a family room, dining room, mudroom, or laundry room? I know of one kitchen in a large, turn-of-the-century Boston home where a mother of three young boys included not only a washer and dryer but also her kids’ closets and bathroom. Coming in from playing, the boys dump their dirty clothes right in the hamper, bathe, and put on clean clothes without tramping mud through the house!
  
• How do you want your kitchen to relate to the outdoors? Should it open onto a patio, or should part of the cooking function, such as a grill, be outside? Is there a particularly beautiful view that can be captured through thoughtfully placed windows?
  
• Do you require, or anticipate the need for, wheelchair accessibility or accommodations for other special needs for you or members of your family?