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Organizing Kosher Kitchens Course Part 4

Posted on 18 July 2010

Organizing Kosher Kitchens Course Part 4

Organizing Kosher Kitchens Course part 4 is all about the actual function of your kitchen and where it makes the most sense to put things.

In the past weeks, you’ve thought a lot about how you cook, what your kosher style is. And what you like about your kitchen and want more of from it, with allowances for your own personal constraints.

This part is going to focus on where it makes most sense to put the Milchig, Fleishig, and Pareve sections of your kitchen.

A couple of points I want to make before we get into the layout.

In a non Kosher Kitchen, there is room to seperate the chopping and prep work that needs to be done on counter space, from the dishwashing area. That is an ideal situation where you have plenty of room for chopping and prepping and it does not take away from your dishwashing area. Try to seperate your prep are from your cleanup area. Rolling carts are great for separating areas .

It is easier to keep kosher if you have 2 seperate sinks. If you are the type that likes to throw everything into the dishwasher, you may not need 2 sinks, only 1, and this would free up space for you to have other things you might want (like another dishwasher or 3 seperate sinks)

Items stored out in the open are definitely more accessible than everything stored out of sight. Even though you don’t want others to see your clutter, know that keeping the things you use most frequently, out and accessible, is much more practical and can save you time and energy. There are definitely ways to do this (see part 2) in attractive ways.

The trend now is in “open planning”. You may have seen a kitchen that is open to the living room and dining room with not as much as a door seperating anything. That looks beautiful and when thinking about your own life, know that there may be some times you want privacy or some sense of having your own space. It will not feel right if you cannot “get away” and withdraw when you need to. (based on my conversation with Ellene Newman, kitchen space planner)

So where should everything go?

I cannot see your kitchen, so it would be difficult for me to give each of you your own layout.

The main way you can do this is combining the 3 courses we had prior to this one.

Here’s the formula:
Your new and improved kitchen = Your milchig/fleishig/pareve style + And what you want more of

Or in plain english, the end result of your newly designed kitchen is based on your kosher cooking style and what you want more of.

So, if want more countertop space AND you rarely cook milchigs, make ALL of your countertops fleishig with a little rolling butcher block cart for dairy and you’ll get the kitchen you want.

Or, if you want more seating AND you also are a pareve person, wanting a seperate sink and prep area for pareve, perhaps you only need one small sink instead of a double, leaving more room for a table.

Once you have both factors in the equation, your cooking style and what you would like more of, you can create your floor plan.

Here’s how to create a floor plan: I like to draw first the outer parts of the room and then go on to the internal features of the room.

First outline all of the external features of the room.

the shape of the room
doors, windows, fireplaces, closets, ceiling height, and permanent fixtures
vents, jacks, outlets
options for lighting
- tables, chairs, island, refrigerators, cabinets
- Your focal point-your kitchen table or whatever you want to bring attention to
- Your traffic pattern- how do people come into the kitchen? Is there enough room for 2 people to work in the same spot? Can the kids sit while you are working
- Proportions-having a teeny tiny object near a large one could look funny. I’ve seen a large table with a teeny tiny light fixture above it. Start looking at the proportions of your objects, you’ll see what I mean.

Now, draw all of the features than will go into the kitchen:

Use correct measurements and then rearrange all of your pieces based using design software, I like Home Design Quick and Easy, get it cheap off of eBay!.

Consider these factors for the rearrangment:

Click here to go to Kosher Kitchens Perfectly Organized Part V.