Leading French kitchen manufacturer Mobalpa has launched The Mobalpa Diaries, which offers a unique insight for consumers who are looking to purchase a new kitchen. Their survey into the way we use our kitchens makes for interesting reading…

The number of British households dedicating time to family meals is declining according to the survey with only 35% of us sitting down together of an evening. It’s also revealed that 45% of conversations at the dinner table are about work.

The survey of 1,000 people was taken by OnePoll and was commissioned to mark the launch of the Diaries – a series of guides offering advice on getting the most out of kitchen planning and design. Similar to Blum’s Dynamic Space concept, it prompts consumers to consider the amount of time they spend in the kitchen, how they make the most of the space and what they do within it.

Did you know that…

• A whopping 65% of us use the kitchen for heated debates and important decision making.
• Only 35% sit down as a family at mealtimes.
• 58% spend between one and three hours a day in the kitchen.
• Besides cooking and eating, 56% of people listed their most common kitchen activities as washing and ironing.
• 46% use the kitchen to listen to music or watch TV.
• 32% of respondents with under 18s living at home use their kitchens to practise cooking or baking with their children.
• 17% of children do their homework or creative hobbies in the kitchen.

The most surprising statistic is that just 28% of 1,000 respondents use their kitchen for entertaining, which goes against all my preconceived ideas of everyone sitting around in an open plan space for hours on end, eating, drinking and catching up with family or friends. Is this through a lack of space, bad design or a slow retreat to the living room for a TV dinner?

It seems that the trend for quality time in the kitchen is on the wane, so let’s all do our bit to bring it back. With careful, thoughtful planning and design, the kitchen can and should be the hub of the home.

You can download the Diaries at www.mobalpa.com