There are three primary kitchen work station which create the work triangle; Refrigerator, Sink, and stove top. They are designed to assist providing comfort zone – make it easier for the chef or cook to operate during cooking.A kitchen work triangle is an important concept. It forms the basis of this book (Professional Unit Conversion Guide) and is used by both professional chefs and chefs in training.
A kitchen work triangle is formed by three different station points that are used to prepare, cook and serve food in a restaurant kitchen. Although the kitchen is the heart of your home, it can also be one of the most dangerous places to work. If you’ve ever spent time in a commercial kitchen, you’ll notice a common setup for dependable and efficient production of food. The professional kitchen workstation is designed to provide optimal conditions for workers to do their best work with the least number of accidents.
Table of Contents
Cleaning station
The three primary kitchen work stations are the refrigerator, sink and stove. These three appliances form a triangle in the kitchen, with your counter space fanning out from there. If you’re looking to remodel your kitchen, you can choose to put things in a different location, but it’s likely to be much more efficient to work within this triangle. The triangle is often called the “work triangle,” and there are rules that go along with how it should be laid out.
The range
The first work station is the range or cook top. This is where you will cook food, so it should be set up near a sink and counter space for prepping food and storage for utensils and cookware. Try to position this work station near an exhaust fan or window, so steam from cooking doesn’t build up in the kitchen.
Food Storage
The food storage area of your kitchen is a very important area to consider when designing a new kitchen or renovating your old one. Not only does it need to be as efficient as possible to store all of your food items, but it also needs to be convenient and easily accessible for everyday use when cooking.
Food Cleanup
Cleaning up after a meal can be time consuming, so having a well thought out cleanup area will make this process easier and more efficient. Your cleanup area should have enough space for dirty dishes and utensils as well as room for drying them off, so they’re ready to use again later on in the day if needed.
Cooking area
The three primary kitchen work station that create the work triangle are the sink, refrigerator and cooking area. The corner sink is located at the end of the counter where there are cabinets. The refrigerator is in another corner and the cooking area is across the room from it. There should be no obstacle between any of these areas.
The work triangle is an imaginary line that is created when you draw a triangle between these three areas. It is meant to make your movement around the kitchen easy, fast and safe as possible. People tend to not have an issue with this design because even though it was first introduced in the 1940s, it has not changed much since then.
Refrigerator
The refrigerator and pantry are the two storage centers for the kitchen. The refrigerator is often located in one corner of the kitchen, and has plumbing connected to it for water and ice makers. The pantry is a large cabinet that has numerous shelves on which to store dry goods, canned goods, and other food items. Many of these cabinets have pull out drawers that enable you to easily see what is stored inside them.
The refrigerator is typically positioned opposite of the sink or dishwasher. This allows you to have easy access to both areas while cooking a meal or doing dishes. The stove is usually placed close to the refrigerator as well.
Sink
The sink is the most used station in the kitchen. It is where we prepare food, wash dishes, and clean up after meals. The sink works best when it is located in or near the preparation area, within arm’s length of the stove and refrigerator. If a dishwasher is used, place it next to the sink for convenience.
Stove
The stove is usually located near a supply of water so that it can be hooked up to a gas or electric line. Some people prefer to have the stove near an outside door for carrying out ashes and for ventilating smoke and odors but this location should not interfere with other activities in the kitchen. If you use your kitchen table for meal preparation, locate your stove near the table so that you will not have to carry hot pots and pans across the room while preparing meals.
Conclusion
Each of the three interfaces will be used. The three primary work stations form a triangle. By creating rules of thumb, we are able to design a kitchen that uses each space to its maximum efficiency. This means less movement on the part of the user which translates into more time in the kitchen and less fatigue due to unnecessary movement and more work completed leading to a better lifestyle.
Good planning is always important and having a work triangle in place makes more sense than not having one. Whether you are doing the actual preparation or the family is the difference can be small if the plan is strong.
An organized house will have an easier time keeping itself organized.
Whether they have a kitchen that is in need of improvement or they are thinking about remodeling a kitchen, will know if it is time to redo. Why so? Because they will be able to create a functional kitchen with an effective workflow.
