GREEN AND WELL KITCHEN FOR RESIDENTIAL PREMISES

Abstract

In this study, greening of residential kitchens is explored along with health and safety aspects in residential kitchen design to establish the concept of green and well. Literature reviews and technical reviews related to residential kitchens are conducted. Research methodologies includes online questionnaires, structured interviews, interview with experts, and energy benchmarking of consumption in residential kitchens. Structured interviews were conducted with actual residential units to gain insights to the current conditions and for collection of households’ energy consumption data.

Background study of residential kitchens is done through literature reviews and technical reviews so that relevant recommendations can be made with reference to guiding principles for recommendations in this study. Benchmarking is conducted using energy data from 49 households to establish the relationship between energy consumption in kitchen and the whole household unit. From the computation of collected household data, the mean energy consumed in kitchens was found to be 32.17% of the total consumption in an average household. Subsequently, an evaluation protocol for green and well kitchen in residential premises is developed. It consists of an assessment plan with several parameters that can be used to conduct evaluation of a kitchen performance in terms of green and well. Furthermore, templates related to energy best practices and calculation of payback period that might be useful during kitchen retrofitting are also included to provide guidance for interested parties who wish to enhance performance of their kitchens.

To determine the viability of the developed evaluation protocol, 3 cases were selected for in-depth analysis. Recommendations in terms of products and layouts were proposed to show potential improvements to existing kitchens. Thereafter, a green and well residential kitchen for future new housing is proposed with the suggested optimal kitchen size.