History of Indian kitchens designs
The story behind the evolution of Indian kitchen designs have always been fascinating because of India’s diverse culture and constant progress and change in the past centuries.
The history of kitchen designs in India goes back centuries to the royal families in different parts of our country. In those days, kitchens weren’t really called kitchens, but they were just an enclosed space in the palace.
These enclosed spaces were as big as three basketball courts put together or even the size of a courtyard. India’s kitchen in palaces was this huge to accommodate their massive utensils to cook for the entire ministry.
There were huge utensils like cauldrons placed right at the centre, and other preparations took place in the surrounding spaces.
Unlike royal families, the common man did have such enormous spaces in their households in those days. In one corner of their house, a hearth is placed with a few small utensils around, and it would quickly fill the stomach of three.
All preparations were done in this one corner of the house. Hence, there was no space allotted explicitly for storage. The family members used to sit down together around the hearth and were served fresh and hot food.
The golden triangle concept in designing kitchens did not exist in those days. Most of the kitchen spaces on those days were situated in an open area or outdoors because of the enormous amount of smoke emitted while cooking.
The smoke was caused due to usage of coal or wood fires to cook. There was no gas supply or any technological use and utensils were also kept on top of each other on the floor instead of separate storage space.
In terms of materials and appliances used, stone, hardened mud, and dried cow-dung were some of the materials used as a cooktop and appliances like mixer, water purifier, and cookware were once mortars, earthen pots and steel utensils. These traditional items are still used in many Indian kitchens today.
Developments in Indian kitchens
A kitchen in India is a space that reflects the family’s culture, and with India having such diverse culture, each household has a kitchen that reflects a different culture. As Indian families grew larger in size, the kitchens also grew more prominent and wider.
Spaces in homes began to grow from one room to many rooms with spacious kitchens big enough for joint families. The areas inside kitchen also began to grow and gave space to storage and cooking areas specifically. Kitchens were constructed in such a way that they had multiple entrances to different parts of the house.
The mortars, earthen pots and steel utensils used in Indian kitchens started to develop as new kitchen decorating ideas Indian came up. The hearth used was later replaced by coal stove and then electric stoves, due to which huge open spaces were not required anymore for the large amount of smoke to escape.
Large windows and exhausts started to play a major role in kitchen design in Indian style. Kitchen designs have evolved a lot in terms of space requirements, appliances used, fixtures, materials and home owners even started focusing on the aesthetic aspects of the space like colours and finishes. In a space where we sat on the floor next to the hearth to eat to having a separate standing kitchen for cooking, Indian kitchens evolved.
In recent years, joint families again broke down into nuclear families and due to lifestyle changes, other spaces in the house like living room and bedrooms started gaining more importance. Therefore, large kitchens didn’t matter anymore and importance was given to details like appliances, storage units, fixtures, and finishes.
Kitchen was the central space and was considered the most important space in a family in the olden days, but now the emphasis has been transferred to living rooms. In todays’ world and in the coming days, every inch of space in the Indian kitchen has been utilised and kitchen technology has helped this evolution become efficient.
Ideal design ideas for kitchens in India
Kitchen ideas Indian these days have become modern and are designed in a way to save our time and effort. They are designed in such a way that maximum use of space is achieved and at the same time provide an enjoyable cooking experience.
No matter how technology grew from time to time or how modern the kitchen designs became, Indian kitchens always have that traditional touch to it. Let us have a look at some of the kitchen ideas Indian style that involve in designing an Indian kitchen.
Kitchen design for Indian home is influenced by many factors like history, culture, cuisines and perspectives, but there are a few design aspects that are common in every Indian household. A closed kitchen layout is very rare as there are too many strong flavours brewing in the kitchen.
Indian kitchens are designed with plenty of storage space to hoard groceries. Colours used in these kitchens are mostly from the darker palette and backsplashes are made of easy-to-clean materials because of all the spices that fly and make the workspace oily very quickly.
Traditional kitchens usually involve conventional setups that are classic and timeless pieces of the Indian history.
Stainless steel appliances and granite countertops have always been the classic look of a traditional Indian kitchen, but a lot more goes into designing it rather than just the colour and appearance. From India’s past days till today, blue-accented kitchens have always been the choice in many households. A combination between these blue accents and the stainless-steel appliances is a go-to for the traditional Indian kitchen look.
Antique oak design is another Indian kitchen look which can add to the traditional inviting and comforting nature of Indian families. It gives a very old-fashioned look and also comes in various shades, tones and tints that can be used on flooring, windows, and cabinets. These kinds of look can be found in kitchen ideas magazine.
By choosing the right theme, you can also choose the right furniture, appliances and lighting that goes well with the rest of the design. Cream and coffee theme is another well noted look used in an Indian kitchen. A mixture of materials like stone and wood for countertops and cabinets would be the perfect combination to enhance this design idea.
Rich and dark brown colour, like walnut is another choice for a traditional Indian kitchen look which gives a very elegant look and at the same time traditional. Rustic and wood colours add to the feel of an Indian kitchen by making the space relaxing and comforting.
Another aspect that can be seen in a lot of Indian kitchen designs are its artistically patterned tiles used majorly as a splash back. A minimalist kitchen or a go-all-white design is very rare to find in a common Indian household. Last but not the least, the golden triangle concept is applied in almost every kitchen design in India to save time, space and energy.
Incorporating Indian kitchen design in different kitchen styles
Most of the Indian kitchens these days are incorporating both modern and traditional features in their kitchen designs. A modern style Indian kitchen mainly includes a kitchen island that acts as a sensational statement at the centre.
A combination of vintage colours, monochromes and textured or brick splash backs with the stainless-steel appliances reflects a modern Indian kitchen look. Indian kitchens can be infused with an eclectic style by mixing and matching certain bold and vibrant colours with subtle colours. Steel chairs can be accessorised along with the stainless-steel appliances of an Indian kitchen.
Rustic style has a traditional and antique touch which gives the feel of an Indian kitchen by itself. The warm tones and tints used in a rustic style kitchen are quite similar to the ones used in a typical Indian kitchen.
Bohemian and minimalist styles are generally rare in Indian households but they can be infused by adding in a few plants and natural fabrics to the kitchen space. Monochromatic looks like all-white can really go well with the stainless-steel appliances of an Indian kitchen. The traditional touch to these styles can be added through lighting, appliances and furniture.
One of the most popular layouts in an Indian kitchen is the L-shaped kitchen because it is efficient and provides ample space to work. The major advantage of this layout is that it can be fit into any size of kitchen, whether small, medium or large.
Small kitchen ideas Indian for L-shaped kitchens are by providing a huge window opening to let the spices fly out and using the colour white to make it look spacious. L-shaped kitchens can be designed as an open kitchen to make it look less congested.
U-shaped kitchen layouts have parallel countertops and should be avoided as much as possible in an Indian setting, because it creates a congested space which makes the smoke and spices accumulate on the kitchen finishes and appliances.
Complementary colours can work well in this type of layout and huge dominating windows can add to its advantage. Open kitchen ideas Indian style is another excellent choice for an Indian kitchen as it can add elegance to the space, makes the kitchen look spacious, and helps you interact with people in the other spaces of the house. The design would work better if it goes along with the living room design. Check out a kitchen design magazine to get the idea.
Aesthetic aspects of kitchen design for Indian home
Indian kitchens design ideas in the past years were purely of functional importance and were designed just for the tasks, later transformations started taking place and home owners started considering aesthetic aspects of a kitchen too and giving it almost equal importance like the living room of a home.
We will be looking at some of the aspects one should not miss out on, for giving their kitchen that Indian look.
Indian cooking involves a lot of frying and prepping with variety of spices, because of which a durable and strong countertop is of prime importance so that it doesn’t cause any wear and tear of materials.
Durable countertops like quartz and granite are well suited for an Indian kitchen. One must opt for easy-to-clean materials for cabinets and splash backs as food stains, smudges, and fingerprints are likely to show up on these surfaces.
Indian cooking emits a lot of smoke due to the spices and frying, therefore, a good Indian kitchen design involves a passage to let out these smokes, gases, and spices. Installing windows or chimney can help extract this indoor air and keep the environment inside healthy. It is a known fact that joint families require a lot of prepping to cook food and involves more than just one cook, so providing more prep area can be the ideal solution for such kitchens.
Indian kitchens generally have a lot of utensils and most of them are large sized to cook for the entire family. It would be beneficial to provide drawers with depth to perfectly store these utensils. With more prep work in our cooking means more lighting, task lighting below cabinets can be a huge advantage to focus on your workspace.
Under-cabinet lighting helps in highlighting the backsplash and has aesthetic appealing properties as well. Last but not the least, a must have in Indian kitchen design is a spice rack. With the huge amount of spices that we use, we could accommodate a separate rack for it and provide quick access. Opting a traditional Indian kitchen design is completely based on the users’ choice, style and preferences. You can also go ahead and start experimenting.