Spatial habits in residential kitchens and the searches for flexibility in kitchen design

Abstract

While rising urban populations, as a result of industrialization, narrowed the buildable areas in cities, at the same time the World Wars I and II increased the demand for housing. In addition, the change of social dynamics and production models and the development of technology have also been influential in the search for flexibility. Flexibility, which can be considered in many ways, is examined in this article with the space organization, equipment/outfit and time in kitchen design. At this point, the research aims to measure user-specific expectations about flexibility in kitchens design. A survey was proposed in the study, considering that the determination of spatial habits in the kitchen is determinative in terms of which parameters should be taken into account in flexibility. The aforementioned survey was applied to people between the ages of 25 and 40 who live in apartments in Istanbul and work overtime. The survey has revealed that spatial habits in the kitchen vary with the square-meter of houses and their organization scheme according to it. For example, in 1+1 and studio apartments, the connection of the kitchen with daily life is stronger, however there are difficulties in use in terms of equipment and spatial organization. On the other hand, in relatively larger residences, it was seen that not preferring to spend time in the kitchen is due to the fact that the psycho-social requirements of the functional and flexibility of the kitchens were ignored during the building production process. In the study, it is argued that while it is possible to develop more creative and multifunctional kitchen solutions in changing square-meters, it is due to the imitation of the same plan templates of build-and-sell managerships in the apartment building process in big cities.