With so much emphasis today on kitchens as the beating heart of the home, it can be difficult to imagine a time when they were relegated to cramped quarters at the back of the house, or even to another building altogether (if you had the means). Now kitchens are central - both figuratively and literally - to the way we live. The New York Times takes a look at the transformation of the American kitchen over the last century (gift link).

The concept of the 'work triangle' seems timeless, but the term is less than 90 years old. It was defined by designers at the University of Illinois School of Architecture in 1940, and continues to the present day. Although some people think it's outdated, it is a practical way to think about kitchen design, especially when considering how efficient your movement will be in the space.

The article pays homage to Julia Child's iconic kitchen, now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Child, along with other seminal authors and television presenters, fundamentally changed the way we cook, and therefore, the way we think about kitchen design. Kitchens have come a long way from the closet-like space found in many older homes to become a space for gathering and entertaining. However, the pendulum may be swinging back to less open-concept plans because they are noisy (important if you are working from home) and because any mess is always on display.