Need more space? Want to have friends around while you cook? Opt for an open kitchen, says Aparna Karve

Give your kitchen the status of a full-fledged room. After all, this is the meeting place for you and your spouse, after a long day's work. Kitchens today, must incorporate your aesthetic sense and lifestyle as well as convenience and functionality.

Plan Your Dream Kitchen
• Figure out your needs, aspirations, likes and dislikes. Once you get a fix on these, manufacturers and interior designers can handle the rest.
• Things like colour preferences, textures and materials should be given equal importance because they affect your perception of space and mood.
• Keep in mind your storage requirements, accessories, your preferred method of cooking - whether you bake, microwave or use the cooker more.
• Consider some extras like a television or a music system for the kitchen to function as a family space.
• Be sure to demarcate your personal zone with things you like - kids' drawings, fresh flowers, potted plants or cookbooks.


Use Space Effectively
• Have a counter made to divide the space between the kitchen and drawing/ dining room. Make sure you have a window that can be closed at times when you don't want the domestic mess to be seen or the smells to permeate. Or, choose from a wide range of chimneys/ exhaust systems available.
• The kitchen area must function essentially for food preparation, even if guests prefer socialising here. Use the counter space as an eating area. This allows people to sit or stand at the snack bar while food preparation or service continues.
• Avoid floor plans and furniture placements that force traffic through the kitchen. The noise and clutter involved in food preparation and clean-up can be distracting. Therefore, some form of room definition should be used. You could achieve this by changing ceiling heights or placing an island or a counter.

Some Advantages
• The person cooking (your man, if you're lucky), feels connected to the world outside the kitchen. There is a flow in the entertaining area.
• The convenience of serving food from the fire to the plate literally!
• Open kitchens give smaller areas a feeling of space. The counter can be used to display artefacts or flowers when not in use. A well-thought-out concept offers infinite possibilities. One can combine or change things around and everything fits together perfectly.

What You Need To Know
Some 'bade khandans' have a closed kitchen for the cook and an adjoining open kitchen with all the gadgets for the host. She does the fun part of the cooking and serving. So...
• Understand your lifestyle
• Other than cooking, what are the activities that are likely to take place in the kitchen?
• What kind of entertaining do you like to do?
• How often do you entertain?
• If you and your family are casual entertainers, an open kitchen that connects with a great room or family room is the best choice you can make.
• If more formal affairs are the norm, you'll want to have easy access to the kitchen from your dining room, maybe via a pantry or wet bar.
• Think about all the things you do in the kitchen and then plan to build your new kitchen to accommodate them. These could include growing your own herb garden on a sun washed ledge, or accessing cookery videos over the Internet.

The writer has her design agency, Aesthete Interior Design in Hyderabad

Expert Speak
Interiors expert, Sonali Srivastava Rastogi, Morphgenesis, Delhi, gives tips:
Before deciding your kitchen type, consider a few facts like, who works in the kitchen? Is your cooking elaborate and messy? Is it a large family or a small? In the Indian context, open kitchens are ideal for people with less space and little or no help. It's for those who are willing to go that extra mile in terms of spending because these kitchens require the very best.

Keep In Mind:
• A fume extractor and large exhaust fans will draw the smoke and cooking odours away. You also need to adjust the kitchen air conditioning to the same level as the rest of house.
• The kitchen has to be aesthetically pleasing, slick and well designed.
• Ample storage in open kitchens ensures that everything is organised.
• An open kitchen needs to have a fully finished look like the rest of the house because it is open to all.
• Partially-open kitchens with some parts blocked from direct view by an alcove or niche works well.

Experts Speak
Interiors expert Sonali Srivastava Rastogi, Morphgenesis, Delhi, gives tips:
• Before deciding your kitchen type, consider a few facts like, who works in the kitchen? Is your cooking elaborate and messy? Is it a large family or small?
In the Indian context, open kitchens are ideal for people with less space and little or no help. It's for those who are willing to go that extra mile in terms of spending because these kitchens require the very best.

Architect and interior designer, Shobhan Kothari, Mumbai, says:
• Readymade kitchen accessories and gadgets like chimney hoods, hobs, etc, are user friendly and make the place look neat.
• Since our cooking includes a lot of oil and spices and splattering, use materials which can be cleaned easily.
• Bright colours and cheerful tiles can change the functional look of a kitchen.
• Everyday-use products must be at arm's length. The perfect kitchen is when the sink, hob and fridge are placed in a triangular configuration allowing for easy access and movement between them.
• Food storage and dead storage (party cutlery) must be hidden.
• Use glass shutters to highlight certain storage, for instance, crockery.