Church kitchens are as different as the people using them, so how can you cater for everyone?

From the elderly to five-year-olds – and even professional chefs – every church kitchen is used by different people on different occasions. And ensuring that yours provides the best possible space for everyone is the key to a happy and efficient kitchen. But how can you accommodate everyone?

Practical senior spaces
When you’re designing a kitchen that’ll predominately be used by the older members of your congregation, it’s important to make it safe and easy to navigate. With this in mind, we suggest the following:

• Install your sink close to the oven – this way, you avoid carrying pots of heavy boiling water across large areas. But always leave a workspace in between to allow for a place to set the pan down should it be too heavy.
• Opt for a shallow sink – it’s much easier for those with limited movement to rinse food and dishes in a shallower bowl. This also avoids bending stiff or painful backs.
• Step-free access – with a level floor, you can feel confident that your senior team will be less likely to trip or fall over.
• Good lighting – a well-lit kitchen is ideal for those with deteriorating eyesight, particularly in areas where safety is an issue, for example, above the hob.

Looking after little ones
It’s great fun for children to experience life in the kitchen, but keeping them safe should be your top priority. Whether you’re catering for Sunday school lunchtime, or the Brownies are baking fairy cakes on Wednesday evening, you can create a kid-friendly church kitchen with these tips:

• Install safety locks – these will prevent children opening things that are unsafe, for example, a hot oven or a cabinet filled with cleaning liquids.
• Knife storage – we suggest storing knives in a wooden block in an upper cupboard, or on a far counter.
• Rounded edges – when designing your kitchen, you might want to consider worktops with rounded edges to avoid little bumped heads.
• Avoid floor-standing ovens – if your kitchen is generally used by children, it might be an idea to invest in built-in ovens at a height that will be out of reach.

Professional areas
In busy church kitchens preparing roast dinners for the homeless on a Sunday afternoon, or serving up sandwiches and hot drinks for a community café, a smooth-running service is key. So always look out for:

• Spacious areas – crowded workspaces can result in dangerous collisions. Avoid this by creating enough space in your kitchen for everyone to work efficiently and safely.
• Machine knowledge – if you have professional appliances, made for preparing a large number of meals at once, make sure everyone that uses the kitchen (not just the professionals) know how they work, how to use them safely, and importantly how to turn them off.
• Rounded edges – when designing your kitchen, you might want to consider worktops with rounded edges to avoid little bumped heads.
• Fire extinguishers – the minimum requirement for every church kitchen is two. A water one for organic materials such as wood and paper, and a carbon dioxide one for electrical fires. But larger kitchens with a bigger team might need more.

Whatever your kitchen requirement, Steelplan Kitchens has you covered. And we can accommodate everyone who uses your space. Call us on 0844 809 9186 for find out more about our semi-commercial kitchens.