Floor plan analysis of kitchens and dining areas in small urban homes

In increasingly small urban homes, open-plan kitchens have become a new norm, serving as a pivotal design strategy to maximize space efficiency and reduce apartment floor area. This study investigates the housing design quality of kitchens and dining areas in 948 recently constructed one-bedroom apartments in Helsinki, Finland. Through analysing floor plans based on evaluation criteria derived from national housing design guidelines, the findings reveal significant deficiencies in functionality, furnishability, incidence of daylight, and kitchen type adaptability in these key domestic spaces. Moreover, the overlap of cooking, dining, and living areas resulting from insufficient space was found to hinder everyday use. Conversely, these findings underscore the need to address multiple quality criteria when designing multifunctional domestic spaces. The study further emphasizes kitchen type adaptability as a critical aspect of design quality in open-plan kitchens, which are present in 99 per cent of the units sampled. The departure from normative design guidelines evidenced by the findings calls for revised standards that respond to contemporary design challenges. Finally, while the discussions around small homes often focus on apartment size, this study underscores the impact of design choices, such as the shape and orientation of spaces. The findings thus suggest that floor area alone is not the defining factor in improving housing design quality. The insights from this study contribute practical knowledge that can be applied to responsible housing design, urban housing development, and the setting of standards.