IF PRESIDENT OBAMA CAN GET HOME FOR DINNER, WHY CAN’T YOU? – Part 2: The kitchen is the new bazaar
If you are married
with children and pursuing a career, and have two cars in the family, then the
opportunities for sitting together as a whole family are greatly reduced.
Chances are that you don’t speak to
your children as much you would like, or you communicate mostly through
telephone calls and text messages.
The probability that you have dinner as
a whole family during a week day is almost nil.
By the time you get home the kids are
either asleep, or doing their homework, or it is time for the news bulletin and
the whole family is glued to the TV.
What remains of human contact is mostly
deferred to the weekends.
And even then, this comprises mostly of
church services and occasional Nyama Choma joints.
The opportunities for the deep and intimate
conversations associated with the family are usually very few.
In most cases, the household is run by
house-help.
You eat what she cooks.
You dress in what she has washed.
Your house looks and feels the way she
wants it.
That is the life of a majority of
middle-class families today.
This is the reason why there is a
growing movement to relook at how working and living spaces are designed with a
view to increasing the amount of human contact people can have in a day.
At home, the kitchen has been the focus
of attention. But this is not surprising.
As a child growing in the country side,
the kitchen was the centre of the action, particularly in the evenings.
We would all congregate at the fire
place and listen to adults telling stories - the women and children in the
kitchen, and the men around a bonfire, roasting yams or just telling stories.
As I remember it, meals were served and
eaten at the fire place.
The open-kitchen concept is therefore
not new to most people.
Indeed it is catching up rather fast in
the restaurant industry as well.
Many eateries are now adopting show-kitchens
where food is cooked as the diners watch.
So, don’t be left behind.
If you are considering building your
own house or renovating one, it is important that you to consider how people
will relate and interact within the house.
Design your house in
a manner that promotes human contact and interaction.
An open kitchen offers the exceptional
opportunity to be at two places at a single time and not feel isolated.
For instance, you can keep an eye on your
children while cooking, or plainly watch television while your cakes get baked.
Moreover, food can be served fresh and hot at
the kitchen island and you can reach out instantly in case you forget something.
It also provides you with a platform to display
your appliances as decoration items.
You can spruce up your lounge area by exhibiting
crockery, glassware and cooking utensils.
When the walls of the kitchen are removed, the
area opens up to other parts of the house. The kitchen looks larger, and the
entire dining area appears spacious.
Finally,
you get the chance to interact and converse with your guests while you prepare a
welcoming cup of tea.
Guests
will love to hang around the kitchen and chit-chat with you.
It’s
simply one of the best ways to enrich the number and depth of family
conversations!
Below is an open kitchen concept at Ritam Getaways. Let us get those conversations going!
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| Open Kitchen concept at Ritam Getaways |
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