Design A Kitchen For Baking

Design a baker's kitchen with areas for preparation, cooling, assembly and storage.

A baker's kitchen has specific needs for work space, storage and food preparation. Locations for spices, flour, sugar and other ingredients need to be easily accessible during the preparation process. Large counter areas are important for cooling racks and cake assembly, and refrigerators need to have ample space for items that need to be kept cool. Designing a kitchen for those who love to bake means providing enough specialized work areas for each step of the baking process.

Instructions

1. Design your kitchen in a triangle, with the refrigerator, sink and range at the points. Make sure that islands and other large items don't interrupt the flow within the work triangle.

2. Build in a pop-up mixer stand. This allows the mixer to be ready to use without taking up counter space.

3. Provide several drawers for small item storage. These should be easily accessible from the baking preparation area. Drawers should be large enough to hold cookie cutters, measuring cups and measuring spoons easily, but be small enough to keep items well organized.

4. Include large bins for staple items such as flours and sugars. These large bins need removable liners for cleaning and plenty of room at the top, for scooping and measuring without spillage.

5. Insert a tray divider in a low, roll-out shelf for baking sheets, baking stones, pizza pans, muffin tins and cookie cooling racks.

6. Install a pull down cookbook rack in a well-lit spot. This allows the baker to see the recipe, without placing it on the preparation surface, keeping the cookbook clean.

7. Plan a special drawer for various sizes of rolling pins and baking prep items, such as spatulas and rubber scrapers. This drawer needs to be wide and shallow. Prepare another shallow drawer next to the oven for oven mitts, pot holders and trivets.

8. Make counter tops a bit lower than standard, for ease of use in kneading doughs and decorating cakes.

9. Install marble inserts in counter tops for cookie rolling and bread making.

10. Use cabinet space above the counter top for casserole dishes, mixing bowls and pie plates. Having these heavier items at arm's length means less bending and stooping.

Tags: baker kitchen, cooling racks, counter tops, easily accessible, items such