The History of Furniture Construction

Errors in Measuring Kitchen Areas

In contrast to designing home, school and office furniture, where operational space can be developed freely along with the migration of furniture, designing kitchen furniture requires taking into account its inseparable relation to the walls of the building. Therefore, when designing kitchen furniture all kinds of problems arising

from the unevenness of walls must be solved. Their deviations from the vertical, horizontal and angles in relation to the values assumed in project. Underestimating this issue ultimately reduces ergonomic values, loss of functionality and the inability to mount furniture.

Despite the different systems of walls in rooms intended for kitchens (one and two walls situated at any angle in relation to one another, three walls oriented towards each other in the shape of the letter U or Z, as well as four and more walls situated freely in relation to one another), a general pattern of the layout of walls can be assumed to analyse design errors. On the basis of this pattern, Fig. 3.36 illustrates building construction errors that affect the dimensions of kitchen furni­ture. In other wall layouts, both building errors and their consequences in the dimensions of building a kitchen are analogous.

Figure 3.36 shows that not taking into consideration dimensional differences dL and dS will cause the following errors in producing furniture:

• assuming the dimension of the built-up space L + dL or S + dS, the designer will commission the manufacturer to build a set which will have larger width in relation to the primary dimension L or S,

• assuming the dimension of the built-up space L or S, after mounting the fur­niture, free spaces dL and dS will be left between the furniture pieces and the walls of the building, while the worktop will be too short.

A common mistake made by designers is the failure to take into account the height of the sill, as well as situating the sink in the light of the window, which makes it impossible to open the window wings. However, the omission of instal­lations protruding from the building’s walls will enable to mount cupboards manufactured in accordance with the previously adopted depth of the bodies.

The issue of the correctness of construction of a set of kitchen furniture does not end with properly carried out inventory of the room. In practice, it turns out that the dimension of the wall, as defined earlier, is not the only parameter on which the correctness of the construction of a set of kitchen furniture depends.

Failure to take into account in the design stage of the free space intended for distance strips between the bottom cupboards set in a corner results in the inability to open fronts, as there will be a collision of handles. Therefore, the designer should adjust the width of distance strips, which also fulfil the function of elements reducing the impact of hot air emitted when opening the oven on the fronts of kitchen cupboards.