CITY Issue 57

CITY LIFE / HOW WE LIVE / THE KITCHEN CHAOS THEORY To keep a kitchen running smoothly, you need the right tools and equipment. But if you’re really looking for a new way to keep order, a newly patented layout design inspired by restaurants will keep you from running in triangles. By Renee Lucas A kitchen is all about organization — and whether it’s a hectic restau ant kitchen du ing the dinne ush, o a home kitchen just befo e guests a ive, a poo layout design, o the w ong appliances, can inhibit even the most accomplished cook. Fo nea ly a centu y, a chitects have based thei kitchen floo plans on the “T iangle Design” fi st p esented in Ch istine F ed ick’s book, Household En inee in , whe ein the sink, stove, and ef ige ato a e placed in this geomet ic elationship to minimize c oss- oom movement. But with the ole of the kitchen — and the efficiency and mechanics of equipment — having changed so d astically in the inte vening yea s, at least one a chitect, and quite a few p ofessional chefs, insist this design theo y is p imed fo an ove haul. In p il, a chitect Ka l Hasz of Hasz Design Studio patented his “Wo k Ci cles” theo y, which essentially ethinks the way that kitchens a e a anged. e yea s of designing kitchens fo San F ancisco estau ants including Cy us, Baca , and T es gaves, Hasz concluded that a home kitchen would be best modeled a e that of a smoothly un estau ant. “It’s just been a ound fo so long that I neve hea d anybody question it,” Hasz says. “I ealized, a e having edone so many estau ant kitchens, that the t iangle design is not at all how we do it in estau ants fo eﬃciency. We do it in wo k stations.” Each of those stations is typically an individual ci cle of kitchen wo k, which can include p epping, cooking, food sto age, and dishwashing. Staﬀ membe s pe fo m thei duties in one a ea, with a close p oximity to all the tools necessa y to pe fo m that task, which p omotes and suppo ts these functions individually and at the highest levels of eﬃciency, e gonomics, and symbiance. “The whole idea is that once you a e at a station, o a wo k ci cle, you want to move out of the e as little as possible, and you also don’t want to be inte fe ed with,” Hasz explains. “So if you a e p epping, and you’ e wo king on the chopping block, you think, ‘What do I need ight he e?’ Well, you need t ash, and a ga bage disposal and you have to be close to the ef ige ato so you can each ove and g ab stuﬀ out of it, and be nea the knives.” Hasz points out that the t iangle theo y doesn’t even mention the p ep a ea, whe e the majo ity of a cook’s time is spent cutting, mixing, and even eading the ecipe. nd so, though the t iangle theo y connects the f idge with the stove, in the Wo k Ci cles design, the p ep a ea of the st-centu y home is placed between the two, as it is in the p ocess. Hasz isn’t the only one with these ideas. Elevating the p ep a ea to its p ope place in the cooking p ocess was of pa ticula impo tance fo Ma tin Heie ling, executive chef at Sensi in the Bellagio Las Vegas, who wo ked closely with cont acto Rob Mo ley of Colo c ete to emodel his kitchen in . His home counte tops a e made f om functional conc ete, and he had a knife block sunk into the actual counte , next to the stove and cutting boa d fo easy sto age and access. That cutting boa d is also sunk into the counte top, and is slightly tilted towa ds the t ough sink fo easy DISH CLEANING AREA OVEN & MICROWAVE DISHWASHER MICRO/ OVEN SINK STORAGE (DRAWERS) COOKTOP PREP SINK STORAGE (DRAWERS) PANTRY WINE COOLER THIS PAGE: KARL HASZ’S “WORK CIRCLES” THEORY RETHINKS THE WAY KITCHENS ARE ARRANGED. OPPOSITE: CHEF TIM GOODELL’S NEW KITCHEN IN NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF., INCORPORATES SOME, IF NOT ALL OF HASZ’S IDEAS. FOLLOWING PAGE: BECAUSE OF THE ONE-TON MOLTENI STOVE’S SIZE, GOODELL PLACED IT AGAINST HIS KITCHEN’S BACK WALL. STORAGE (SHELVES) TRASH COMPACTOR DRY GOODS & TRASH PASTRY & PASTA COOK AREA PREP AREA 42 CITY TY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 57

City Issue 57 Contents Letter from City Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment Temporary Contemporary In Rouge Fast Food The Amused Bouche How We Live/The Kitchen Taste Test Dessert Wine Going Local Expert Opinion Travel Employees Only Summer Showers Wild Things Be There at 10 P.M. Sharp If... Where To Buy It Icon

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