Our kitchens have long been the heart of our home. This past year, many of them also became its brain centre, with improvised home offices and classrooms, all while we were using these essential spaces to hold more groceries for fewer supermarket trips, and cook and eat more meals.

Hopefully, our kitchens can get back to being our home’s fuelling stations full-time again soon. Fuelling our bodies with healthy food and drink is the kitchen’s most important role, and optimizing it is the best thing we can do for our well-being.

One of the ways to achieve that is with zoning the space. (FYI, no renovation required)

Kitchen Work Triangle

If you’ve ever planned or renovated a kitchen, you probably came across a concept called the work triangle.

The triangle’s three points are the refrigerator (food preservation), range or cooktop (cooking) and sink (prep and cleanup) – and moving between these essential functions was intended to be easy and convenient.

The kitchen work triangle was created in the 1940s to maximize efficiency in the typical one-cook, L-shaped or galley kitchen.

Those were the days before the popularity of islands and secondary sinks, when parties ended up in the kitchen, but didn’t start there.

Evolution of the Zone

In the go-go years of post-World War II, new appliances like dishwashers and microwave ovens arrived to make Mom’s life easier – and it was mostly mothers doing all of the cooking and cleanup back then.

Islands didn’t make the kitchen work triangle obsolete but well-equipped versions have created more points of use. Second sinks and refrigerator drawers have become additional features that expand space planning opportunities.

Those three basic work areas of food preservation, cooking and cleanup still exist, but they have gotten better-equipped and larger.

Island can create kitchen work zones on their own with performance elements that make them more useful and convenient. Let’s look at each of the three essentials, and the opportunity to create specialized zones for your health and hobbies.

Food Preservation Zone

Your refrigerator is the heart of your food preservation zone. It’s where you store most of your produce, along with meat and dairy foods, and leftovers to reheat. Most freestanding refrigerators combine fresh and frozen food sections. Some also have purified water dispensing.

A food preservation zone should also include non-refrigerated food storage. If you’ve ever been in a poorly-designed kitchen with the pantry at one end and the refrigerator at the other, you know the inconvenience of grocery unloading and meal preparation.

Put the refrigerated and non-refrigerated food storage centres close to each other if you can! Your food preservation zone may also have wine refrigeration and storage space for the food containers and wine accessories.

Cooking Zone

Your cooking zone will encompass your cooking appliances (range and microwave or ventilation hood, cooktop and ovens), but also the pots, pans, utensils and small appliances (e.g., stand mixer and food processor) that you use for cooking.

It may also have storage space close by for spices and potholders.

Prep and Cleanup Zone

Your cleanup zone includes your sink and faucet, soap dispenser, dishwasher, disposal, recycling, composting and trash bins. It also includes storage for our dishes, glasses, cleaning supplies and cutting boards.

It’s handy to have all of those close to the dishwasher for quicker cleanup and unloading. It’s also handy if your serving set storage is located near your seating area for more convenient table setting and clearing.

Specialty Zones

A larger kitchen gives you the luxury of creating specialty zones. Many include coffee centres, with a countertop or built-in coffee maker, coffee grinder and storage for bags of coffee beans.

Another popular specialty zone is the wine bar. In this setup, wine refrigeration moves out of the preservation zone into its own area, accompanied by storage for wine glasses, openers, stoppers and even specialty wine dispensers.

Baking saw an increase in popularity during the pandemic and having a designated baking zone can include a mixer lift, convection-steam oven, stone countertop and storage space for rolling pins, baking trays and non-refrigerated ingredients.

Those devoted to juicing can create a juicing zone with a refrigerator drawer for produce, juicer on its own pull-out shelf, cutting boards and prep sink. This concept of zoning can also be applied to those who love smoothies or salads with specialized appliances and storage for those.

Final Thoughts

Even if you’re not planning on renovating your kitchen, you can still improve the functionality of your space by optimizing your storage next to the appliance or fixture where it’s most convenient for you – e.g., utensils moving into the cabinet closest to the cooktop with organizers – plus adding task lights above your work surfaces, laying down an anti-fatigue mat where you spend the most time standing on hard floors, and generally decluttering and refreshing your kitchen.

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This article via Jamie Gold does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from an appropriate trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property or interior design specialist.