Working Around Fixed Elements in Your New Kitchen
Besides the areas you defined as isolation/staging areas for traffic to stop such as desks and counters, there are a number of fixed items in every kitchen. These include cabinetry, major appliances permanently connected to household systems and sinks. Certain small appliances like computers and countertop mixers may be immobile because of their weight or size or required connections and will require dedicated areas. You will also require a large amount of surface area dedicated to food preparation, casual eating, socializing over drinks, speaking on the phone, homework, crafts and other functions that find their way into the kitchen.
These fixed areas should not block the traffic flow. For this reason it is common to run them along walls resulting the typical modern kitchen look of runs of cabinetry surrounding the perimeter of the room. In effect they shrink the interior space of the room and replace it with work surfaces over and under storage areas. These cabinets also serve to hide ducts, pipes and other systems, making it possible to run these utility lines into areas of the room that would not be possible in an open space.
