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Joys and Perils of Open Kitchens
August 8, 2022
What has led to the increasing acceptance of open kitchens in urban India? Does the preference for an open kitchen have something to do with the education and economic status of the family? Does the open kitchen suit Indian cooking habits? Is the open kitchen good for a tropical country like India? The panellists discuss all this and dwell on the pros and cons of having an open kitchen.
A panel discussion on the joys and perils of the open kitchens was held as part of the Design Dialogues, Bengaluru with Leena Kumar, Principal Architect, Kumar Consultants as the moderator. The panellists in the discussion were Kanan Modi, Principal Architect, EL Plus D, Kalpak Bhandari, Principal Architect, Vikas studio, Sunitha Kondur, Director, Hundredhands, and Dinesh Varma, Principal Architect, Ace Group Architects.
If space is not a constraint, I personally prefer an open kitchen because I think it is the soul of the house. I think that is where most of the family spends most of the time when you have the open space where you can interact with your kids, you can watch them play or do their homework.
Sunitha Kondur
Director
Hundredhands
Leena Kumar, Principal Architect, Kumar Consultants opines, “Traditionally, the Indian kitchen was always a small part of the house, very often located away from the house because cooking was perhaps done on open firewood with no piped water. Water was fetched from outside – from wells, ponds etc. But that’s all changed and we have piped waters, we have a lot of appliances and a lot of automation and the kitchen has moved inside.”
She further adds, “By and large in the Indian system masalas or spices or grinding was done manually or even for that instance the cooking itself. Now the mixer grinders, use of readymade spices and availability of various utensils and appliances have made cooking less cumbersome. This changing Indian palate, taste, the Indian cuisine along with the lack of quality family time has pushed the concept of open kitchens in India, especially in the metro cities. By and large, the change of lifestyle where people are less concerned about privacy at any place except the bedroom has opened up the idea of an open kitchen where the family comes together.”
Cooking and eating habits also determine the scope of having open kitchens. Photo Courtesy: Christian Mackie on Unsplash
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Kanan Modi, Principal Architect, EL Plus D says, “I think the amount of cooking done in the kitchen has definitely gone down over the years. Our mothers used to grind masalas at home and all of that and we don’t grind all of it anymore. So, the amount of cooking that a kitchen does is far less than a kitchen used to do earlier and I feel that now we are going into an era where it would be nice to have seamlessness amongst the various functions that a family performs at home. Whether it is playing a game with each other or watching something on a television or cooking, it has to be a very seamless integration of all the functions so in that sense, an open kitchen really helps because it is opening out into an already open living or dining space. You do all your functions together as a whole.”
I think open kitchens make conversations very easy with people working full time, and have limited time to be at home. I think interactions during that one hour or two hours that each one gets is very relevant.
Kalpak Bhandari
Principal Architect
Vikas studio
Talking about the benefits, Kalpak Bhandari, Principal Architect, Vikas studio says, “I think open kitchens make conversations very easy with people working full time, and have limited time to be at home. I think interactions during that one hour or two hours that each one gets are very relevant. So, if everyone can be together in an open kitchen rather than the human being inside, tucked away working, it makes more sense.”
“At my place, I have an open kitchen, dining, and living room. It‘s all in one space. A lot of it has to do with one’s own lifestyle. Whether it is a maid or servant-driven kitchen, whether it is you or the wife or everyone’s doing. I personally feel an open kitchen works well even if it is servant driven. If the help is working, I don’t look at them as someone different because eventually they are part of the house and you want them to imbibe the same culture that you believe in. If that differentiation is there then they are never going to be fitting in. So, I think an open kitchen works well but for some families, I think a closed kitchen works well where all is servant driven, maybe they would prefer a closed kitchen,” he adds.
In terms of gadgets having the basic things that you really require would suffice. Photo Courtesy: Andre Francoise Mckenzie on Unsplash
Sunitha Kondur, Director, Hundredhands opines, “If space is not a constraint, I personally prefer an open kitchen because I think it is the soul of the house. I think that is where most of the family spends most of the time when you have the open space where you can interact with your kids, you can watch them play or do their homework. So, you know you are a part of their lives though you are cooking. So, I think it doesn’t have to have the economic status involved in that sense.”
“But at the end of the day if you think about Indian cooking, if I want to deep fry a fish or something, obviously it is going to give out fumes. So, if you have the option and the space then maybe you can have a small little kitchen where you can do deep cooking and stuff. I don’t think there is any economic status or anything that holds back having an open kitchen as an option as a primary option of the kitchen,” she adds.
I think the amount of cooking done in the kitchen has definitely gone down over the years. Our mothers used to grind masalas at home and all of that and we don’t grind all of it anymore. So, the amount of cooking that a kitchen does is far less than a kitchen used to do earlier and I feel that now we are going into an era where it would be nice to have seamlessness amongst the various functions that a family performs at home.
Kanan Modi
Principal Architect
EL Plus D
Talking about the concept of open kitchens, Dinesh Varma, Principal Architect, Ace Group Architects says, “The concept of the open kitchen is still very, very urban as far as India is concerned. If you look at the entire cross-section of the country you will find open kitchens doing very well in the large metropolitan areas, even in A1, A2 maybe even B+ places. The moment you go slightly below to smaller places there is no concept of open kitchens. The day someone invented that yes you can cook without lighting fire that day I feel was the start of the concept of open kitchen. If you don’t intend to do heavy cooking and all you want is a showpiece, an open kitchen is definitely an option.”
He adds, “Today there is something that is called “Wake up time”. And all of us are consciously working towards it. That’s why bathrooms are becoming bigger than bedrooms because in bedrooms you just go and sleep in whereas you are actually spending your wake-up time, a real good time in the bathroom. The same thing is happening with the kitchen. The amount of family wake-up time which is being spent in the house is all around the kitchen and one major advantage of an open kitchen is that is right there and anybody can do anything and walk in there. “
Open kitchens are the soul of the house. Photo Courtesy: Mike Gattorna on Unsplash
“I think with sizes becoming smaller open kitchen does make sense. However, one concern is that the chimneys that we have are not fully functional for the Indian way of cooking. Even the better ones make such noise that it is not very comfortable. Also, open kitchens may not work well in all the apartments because your wind direction plays a very important role as to where you place it so generalising and saying that open kitchen works well with all the apartments will be the wrong thing. So apart from the interior designing, the planning, the wind direction, all of it has to be taken into consideration,” says Bhandari.
The concept of the open kitchen is still very, very urban as far as India is concerned. You look at the entire cross-section of the country you will find open kitchens doing very well in the large metropolitan areas, even in A1, A2 maybe even B+ places.
Dinesh Varma
Principal Architect
Ace Group Architects
With a similar context, “I have a large and very unusual kitchen in my house which is very open and bang on the first thing that you see as soon as you get in from the doors and it is like an island. It is a 17-foot island that divides the rest of the spaces. And, I have heard so many critical remarks about this. People say you know you got to do something about this. This is not really the traditional way of living but it has been amazing. We have had deep conversations across the counter; we have played table tennis on the counter; we have had the “Panja” between my kids and their father and all that. We have literally grown up around this island counter. And we have cooked together, we have learnt a lot of things together and I think it has become an integral part of who we are today,” says Modi.
Open kitchens make conversations very easy with people working full time and having limited time to be at home. Photo Courtesy: sidekix media on Unsplash
“The preference for an open kitchen also depends on the economic status of the family. Normally, open kitchens are equipped with a lot of gadgets like mixies, grinders, and microwave ovens which are largely tied up to economic status. And, the family need to be affluent enough to be able to invest in those fancy appliances,” says Kumar.
She further adds, “On the cons side, an open kitchen is not ideal for heavy-duty cooking where a lot of fumes are generated. Also, being a part of the drawing room it has to be kept clean all the time. But, then again for the hygienic reasons, it is true for all types of kitchens; in fact not only the kitchen but the entire house.”
By and large, in the Indian system masalas or spices or grinding was done manually or even for that instance the cooking itself. Now the mixer grinders, use of readymade spices and availability of various utensils and appliances have made cooking less cumbersome.
Leena Kumar
Principal Architect
Kumar Consultants
Varma opines, “Cooking and eating habits also determine the scope of having open kitchens. If some of the family members eat non-veg while others don’t, having an open kitchen and mixing things up certainly won’t help.”
“However, one thing we should consider is whether an open kitchen is good for a tropical country like India. We have always been comparing open kitchens with the western world which are cold countries. They have their own ventilation systems; they have their own inputs, their extracts and everything whereas in India it is tropical,” he adds.
“If you are a nuclear family you are cooking a lot more another cuisine too which don’t require heavy fumes or frying; so I think it is like what you are cooking and how you like it in terms of gadgets having the basic things that you really require would suffice. But you can obviously have fancy gadgets which you may not be using often. But as long as you have some simple basic gadgets, I think you are all set be it a confined kitchen or an open kitchen,” opines Kondur.
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