There has been a slow but sure evolution in kitchen design layout over the decades. Your  grandparents'  and great-grandparents' kitchens definitely look different from the kitchens of the modern home. Some of their kitchens may have been located in basements or in more secluded parts of their homes. The availability of more state-of-the-art high technology kitchen appliances has definitely influenced the look of the modern kitchen. Improvements and developments in building and designing kitchens have also made their respective marks. 

These factors have resulted in a modern kitchens design layout that is constructed to be displayed rather than hidden away at the back of the house.  This trend of having kitchens at the centerpiece of living spaces in a modern home can be traced back to the periods of time when family lifestyles began changing. In the olden days, the kitchen mostly belonged to female members of the house – grandmothers, wives, mothers and daughters.  But these days, kitchens have become more communal and more social living spaces as families discovered the pleasures of preparing meals together.

Also, the kitchen has moved away from its traditional and almost exclusive role as a food preparation area to a place in the house where families can gather, kids can do homework and parents can set up impromptu home offices. Therefore a kitchen design layout with more ergonomic features and less restrictive floor plan has to be designed to accommodate the kitchen's increasingly multi-purpose role.

Specific features for a kitchen design layout have to be considered to cater to the increasing number of home owners who engage in cooking as a hobby.  For example, lighting, shelves and storage spaces need to resemble those found in professional kitchens. Kitchen utensils that are used more frequently should be easily accessible for the home-based recreational cook. These storage areas can be installed near the stove or hung from the ceiling for easier visibility and access. Customized measurements are also necessary for residential kitchens to accommodate appliances that were once exclusive to restaurants and catering companies.

Majority of home owners do not notice how kitchen design layouts have changed. However, it is necessary to anticipate the direction of trends that will affect how kitchens will be designed in the future. To keep up with the times, home owners need to anticipate that kitchen design can possibly go full circle, go retro and resemble the kitchens that were once popular a hundred years ago.