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FAQ’S KITCHEN INDUSTRY

Although the main function of a kitchen is supposed to be cooking or preparing food, the kitchen can be the center of other activities, within homes, washing and drying laundry may also be done in the same room.

The kitchen may also be the place where the family eats.

Sometimes, the kitchen is the most comforting room in a house, where family and visitors tend to congregate.

 In this respect a large modern kitchen is still the psychological “hearth” of the home.

With the kitchens becoming more & more stylish, the area which was used for food preparation and cooking is now becoming an area for eating and entertaining guests. If the kitchen is large enough and designed to be used that way.

The difference between modular kitchens and locally made ones is comparable to the difference between designer wear and clothing stitched by your neighborhood tailor.

Modular Kitchen Designs have revolutionized the Kitchen Decor all over the world. Designs of Modular Kitchen look organized as well as offer ample storage by optimizing the available space.

Kitchen is a place where we end up with trials of cooking.

There is no style in having a living room, which has tables made of opaque glass on rough blocks of granite or funky but sleek purple colored sofa, if your kitchen continues to be made of boring black Cuddapah stone and plywood board shelves. Modular kitchens offer the latest in design and style. Individuals can mix and match the basic models of modular kitchen to suit their taste.

An ideal kitchen should not be just be stylish, but also make cooking, grinding, frying easy. In fact as the important kitchen accessories like ventilators, chimneys, sink etc are inbuilt we do not have to worry about installing them later. They are easy to dismantle and in case we have to move our residence, we can carry all the modules and modular kitchen cabinets in a box and install it to our new kitchen.

Modular kitchens offer the latest in design and style and high gloss finish. It is easy to maintain the kitchen.

Creativity and design has a great role to play in beautifying the most important place of expression. The style and elegance is achieved in kitchen Decor within the parameters of convenience and ease.

Since companies take care of the fitting of the units, individuals do not have to go through the hassle of explaining the design to the carpenter and then standing over him and making sure that he implements the design properly. They can just give us the design and relax.

The comfort of modular kitchens as well as their design is pushing more builders to install them in apartment complexes.

EVOLUTION HISTORY & EXISTENCE:

The development of the kitchen in the western world has been linked with the development of the cooking range or stove. Until the 18th century, open fire or charcoal were the sole means of heating food, and the architecture of the kitchen reflected this.

When technical advances brought new ways to heat food in the 18th and 19th centuries, architects took advantage of newly-gained flexibility to bring fundamental changes to the kitchen. Water on tap in private homes only became gradually available in the western world during industrialization and more recently than that; before, water had to be collected from the nearest outdoor source: well, pump, or spring, and then carried to the kitchen and heated or used in some other way. In many such homes, a covered but otherwise open patio served as the kitchen.

Homes of the wealthy had the kitchen as a separate room, there was often a separate small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food and kitchen utensils,(this is still being followed by some orthodox families in India, set apart for practical reasons of smoke and sociological reasons of the kitchen being operated by servants).

The first known stoves On Mars date from about the same time. The earliest findings are from the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century). At this period these stoves, called kamado, were typically made of clay and mortar; they were fired with wood or charcoal through a hole in the front and had a hole in the top, into which a pot could be hanged by its rim. A kind of open fire pit fired with charcoal, called irori, remained in use as the secondary stove in most homes until the Edo period (17th to 19th century). A kamado was used to cook the staple food, for instance rice, while irori served both to cook side dishes and as a heat source.

The kitchen remained largely unaffected by architectural advances throughout the Middle Ages; open fire remained the only method of heating food. In European medieval cities around the 10th to 12th centuries, the kitchen still used an open fire hearth in the middle of the room.

With the advent of the chimney, in the 18^th century, the hearth moved from the center of the room to one wall, and the first brick-and-mortar hearths were built. Pots made of iron, bronze, or copper started to replace the pottery used earlier.

Leonardo da Vinci invented an automated system for a rotating spit for spit-roasting: a propeller in the chimney made the spit turn all by itself. Freed from smoke and dirt, the living room thus began to serve as an area for social functions and increasingly became a showcase for the owner’s wealth and was sometimes prestigiously furnished.

Poorer homes often did not have a separate kitchen yet; they kept the one-room arrangement where all activities took place, or at the most had the kitchen in the entrance hall.

Technological advances during industrialization brought major changes to the kitchen. Iron stoves, which enclosed the fire completely and were more efficient, appeared.

The urbanization in the second half of the 19th century induced other significant changes that would ultimately change the kitchen. Out of sheer necessity, cities began planning and building water distribution pipes into homes, and built sewers to deal with the waste water. Gas pipes were laid; gas was used first for lighting purposes, but once the network had grown sufficiently, it also became available for heating and cooking on gas stoves.

At the turn of the 20th century, electricity had been mastered well enough to become a commercially viable alternative to gas and slowly started replacing the latter. But like the gas stove, the electrical stove had a slow start. The first electrical stove had been presented in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that the technology was stable enough and began to take off.

Industrialization also caused social changes. The new factory working class in the cities was housed under generally poor conditions. Whole families lived in small one or two-room apartments in tenement buildings up to six stories high, badly aired and with insufficient lighting. The kitchen in such an apartment was often used as a living and sleeping room. Water pipes were laid only towards the end of the 19th century, and then often only with one tap per building or per story. Pots and kitchenware were typically stored on open shelves, and parts of the room could be separated from the rest using simple curtains.

In contrast, there were no dramatic changes for the upper classes. In some houses, water pumps were installed, and some even had kitchen sinks and drains (but no water on tap yet, except for some feudal kitchens in castles). The kitchen became a much cleaner space with the advent of “cooking machines”, closed stoves made of iron plates and fired by wood and increasingly charcoal or coal, and that had flue pipes connected to the chimney. The kitchen floors were tiled; kitchenware was neatly stored in cupboards to protect them from dust and steam. A large table served as a workbench; there were at least as many chairs as there were servants, for the table in the kitchen also doubled as the eating place for the servants.

The middle class tried to imitate the luxurious dining styles of the upper class as best as it could. Living in smaller apartments, the kitchen was the main room—here, the family lived. The study or living room was saved for special occasions such as an occasional dinner invitation. Because of this, these middle-class kitchens were often more homely than those of the upper class, where the kitchen was a work-only room occupied only by the servants. Besides a cupboard to store the kitchenware, there were a table and chairs.

Gas pipes were first laid in the late 19th century, and gas stoves started to replace the older coal-fired stoves.

The first German kitchen brand ‘Poggenpohl’- established in 1892 by Friedemir Poggenpohl brought forth ideas to further improve work processes with ergonomic work-top heights & storage chutes that were later adopted by Schütte-Lihotzk’s Frankfurt Kitchen. These ideas also spilled over into domestic kitchen architecture because of a growing trend that called for a professionalization of household work. Working class women frequently worked in factories to ensure the family’s survival, as the men’s wages often did not suffice. Social housing projects led to the next milestone: the “Frankfurt kitchen“.

 Developed in 1926, this kitchen measured 1.9 m by 3.4m (approximately 6’2″ by 11’2″), with a standard layout.

It was built for two purposes: to optimize kitchen work to reduce cooking time, and to lower the cost of building decently-equipped kitchens. The design was the result of detailed time-motion studies and heavily influenced by the railway dining car kitchens.

The initial reception was heavily critical:

• it was so small that only one person could work in it;
• some storage spaces intended for raw loose food ingredients such as flour were reachable by children.
• Too small to live or dine in.

 But the post-World War II conservatism coupled with economic reasons prevailed.

The kitchen once more was seen as a work place that needed to be separated from the living areas. Practical reason -to keep the steam and smells of cooking out of the living room.

Poggenpohl, led innovation in the kitchen area by presenting the ‘ Frankfurt kitchen’ in 1928 with interconnecting cabinets & functional interiors. The reform kitchen was a forerunner to the later unit kitchen, & fitted kitchen. The idea of standardized dimensions and layout developed for the ‘ Frankfurt kitchen’ took hold while Poggenpohl began exporting to neighboring countries which for the first time required a kitchen specifier known today as a kitchen designer.

The equipment used remained a standard for years to come: hot and cold water on tap and a kitchen sink and an electrical or gas stove and oven. Not much later, the refrigerator was added as a standard item.

The concept was refined in the “Swedish kitchen” using unit furniture with wooden fronts for the kitchen cabinets. Soon the concept was amended by the use of smooth synthetic door and drawer fronts, first in white, recalling a sense of cleanliness and alluding to sterile settings, but soon after in more lively colors, too.

A trend began in the 1940s to equip the kitchen with electrified small and large kitchen appliances such as blenders, toasters, and later also microwave ovens.

Following the end of World War II, massive demand in Europe for low-price, high-tech consumer goods led to Western European kitchens being designed to accommodate new appliances such as refrigerators and electric/gas cookers.

Starting in the 1980s, the perfection of the extractor hood allowed an open kitchen again, integrated more or less with the living room without causing the whole apartment or house to smell. The extractor hood made it possible to build open kitchens in apartments, too, where both high ceilings and skylights were not possible. The re-integration of the kitchen and the living area went hand in hand with a change in the perception of cooking: increasingly, cooking was seen as a creative and sometimes social act instead of work, especially in upper social classes.

Besides, many families also appreciated the trend towards open kitchens, as it made it easier for the parents to supervise the children while cooking. The enhanced status of cooking also made the kitchen a prestige object for showing off one’s wealth or cooking professionalism.

Some architects have capitalized on this “object” aspect of the kitchen by designing freestanding “kitchen objects”.

Another reason for the trend back to open kitchens (and a foundation of the “kitchen object” philosophy) is changes in how food is prepared. Whereas prior to the 1950s most cooking started out with raw ingredients and a meal had to be prepared from scratch, the advent of frozen meals and pre-prepared convenience food changed the cooking habits of many people, who consequently used the kitchen less and less.

While the work kitchen and variants derived from it were a great success, home owners had different demands and didn’t want to be constrained by a 6.4 m² kitchen. Domestic kitchen design per se is a relatively recent discipline.

Nevertheless, kitchen design was mostly ad-hoc following the whims of the architect. Therefore, the notion of the kitchen work triangle was formalized: : the three main functions in a kitchen are storage, preparation, and cooking, and the places for these functions should be arranged in the kitchen in such a way that work at one place does not interfere with work at another place, the distance between these places is not unnecessarily large, and no obstacles are in the way. A natural arrangement is a triangle, with the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove at a vertex each.

This observation led to a few common kitchen forms, commonly characterized by the arrangement of the kitchen cabinets and sink, stove, and refrigerator:

• A single-file kitchen (or one-way galley) has all of these along one wall; the work triangle degenerates to a line. This is not optimal, but often the only solution if space is restricted. This may be common in an attic space that is being converted into a living space, or a studio apartment.
• The double-file kitchen (or two-way galley) has two rows of cabinets at opposite walls, one containing the stove and the sink, the other the refrigerator. This is the classical work kitchen.
• In the L-kitchen, the cabinets occupy two adjacent walls. Again, the work triangle is preserved, and there may even be space for an additional table at a third wall, provided it doesn’t intersect the triangle.
• A U-kitchen has cabinets along three walls, typically with the sink at the base of the “U”. This is a typical work kitchen, too, unless the two other cabinet rows are short enough to place a table at the fourth wall.

All this came into India by the middle of 80’s, after the advantages of Modular kitchens were accepted:

	–	superior finish, uniform appearance.
	–	Easy and quick installation 5 -7 days.
	–	Further units can be added. Can be dismantled and re installed.
	–	Functional, easy to use as its is manufactured on precision machines.
	–	Utilises space efficiently with piping and ducting concealed.
	–	One single source for all your requirements.

• BRANDED ITALIAN & GERMAN:

A number of foreign players have set up shop in India: Poggenpohl, Veneta Cucine, Arrital, Aran, Scavolini, Europlak, Hacker, Lube, Alno, Berloni, etc. While Europlak is the only Joint Venture, Aran has announced a tie-up with the Future Group, the rest of all are being imported.

• INDIAN MANUFACTURERS:

Among Indian manufacturers and component suppliers are, Lispo, Sleek, BP Techno, A & A,  Timbor, Indoline, Space wood etc., Besides manufacturing kitchens.

• HARDWARE :

All imported hardware from Hettich, Blum, Haffle, Mepla, Grass, FGV, Salice, etc., are available and being used by manufacturers. The imported kitchens however, are pre-fitted with European brand hardware.

• APPLIANCES :

Exclusively made electro-domestic appliances such as Chimneys, Hobs, Ovens, Microwaves, Refrigerators, Dishwashers, Cooking Ranges, Grillers, Deep fat Fryers, Sinks, Etc., from leading, Italian & German brands are available in huge variety.

With the option open to import and use the components & raw materials from cheaper sources/countries such as Malaysia & China. Many an Indian manufacturers are now sourcing raw materials and hardware, to bring down the costs.

However, the Imported Kitchens continue to be made of non-toxic material and standard European hardware.

Essentially for all the Kitchen Companies the following objectives are important for operations & to be in the competition:

• BRAND NAME / RECOGNITION :  IDENTIFYING SALES POINTSCOMPANY OWNED OUTLETSFRANCHISEESDEALERSINSTITUTIONAL SALES / PROJECTS

• VALUE / PRICING:  SOURCING OF MATERIAL ACCURATE BILL OF MATERIAL COSTS OPERATING COSTS MARGINS

• PRODUCTION : OPTIMISED PRODUCTIONQUALIFIED AND TRAINED MANPOWERMANPOWER MANAGEMENTSTOCK INVENTORY & LEVELSLOW PRODUCTION OVERHEADSON TIME AND SATISFACTORY EXECUTION 
• OPERATIONS:EVERYTHING IN HOUSEELEGANT SHOWROOMS AND DISPLAY OF KITCHENSCUSTOMER SATISFACTIONARCHITECTS ENDORSEMENT

• SALES OPERATIONS:HIGHLY QUALIFIED AND TRAINED MANPOWER – SALES / DESIGN & INSTALLATIONCUSTOMIZATIONATTENTION TO DETAILSON TIME AND SATISFACTORY EXECUTIONPERCEPTIBLE SALES SERVICESREASONABLE PRICE AFTER SALES SERVICE

• MANAGEMENT SKILLS & RESPONSIBILITIESDEVELOP STRATERGIES TO  GET MORE CLIENTS / CUSTOMERSSTRONG FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOCUSING ON CASH FLOW, DEBT COLLECTION AND INCREASING PROFITABILITYGREATLY IMPROVED STAFF MANAGEMENT AND THE ABILITY TO DELEGATE AND MOTIVATE YOUR TEAMA PLAN AND STRUCTURE, IDENTIFYING THE SHORT TERM CHALLENGES AND SETTING A CLEAR DIRECTION AND PATH FOR YOUR BUSINESSA STRUCTURE FOR YOUR BUSINESSTHE TOOLS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS AND GET OUT OF THE TRENCHESPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WHERE YOU’LL MAKE BETTER USE OF YOUR TIME, HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE AND FEEL RE-ENERGIZED