Throughout history the kitchen has continually evolved. No longer is it in the back, or in the basement of the house, but it has gradually moved into the center of the home. Not only this, but it has also changed in function. Today the kitchen is more than a place to cook food, it has become a place to store food, a meeting place for family, used to entertain, used as an office, and it is even used to communicate social status. Even the way people cook has changed, there is more of a variety in how people cook. Whether people want to just heat up leftovers, or cook a feast for guests, it has to be able to perform all of these functions. This has changed the way kitchens have to be designed. The domestic kitchen has to be flexible and adhere to people’s different preferences, there is no one size fits all when it comes to kitchen design these days.
This new role of the kitchen in people's lives all started with the children. Today children are being encouraged to take a greater interest in what they eat. A commitment to healthier eating suggests people are living longer. Which means the use of the kitchen is no longer somebody's sole responsibility, and it now has a lot of users all with different and varying skills. It has to be suitable for small, large, and elderly hands. This is demonstrated in the appliances within the kitchen, which now have to be able to perform multiple functions. A domestic kitchen has to be flexible and do many things well, which is why the technology within the kitchen has grown to what it is today. Cooking is no longer a task to do as quickly as possible. It has become a collaborative act and is the reason the trend of a large open kitchen has become so desirable. The kitchens of today not only have to look good, but they have to fit people's multi-faceted lifestyles. It has become a space designed for creative use rather than for tasks!
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