Kitchens must be designed so that they can be easily managed. The management must have easy access to the areas under their control and have good visibility in the areas which have to be supervised.

The various preparation processes require different areas, depending on what food is involved. A vegetable preparation area, for example, needs water, sinks and good drainage. Pastry preparation on the other hand entails mainly dry processes. Whatever the processes, there are certain basic rules which make working conditions easier and help to ensure that the food hygiene regulations art complied with.

•        Personnel: how people move within the kitchen; for example, staff working in dirty areas (areas of contamination) should not enter areas of finished product.

•        Containers / Equipment / Utensils: equipment should, where possible, be separated out, into specific process areas.

•        Refuse: refuse must be kept separated and should not pass into other areas in order to get to its storage destination.

Adequate work space must be provided for each process and every effort must be made to separate dirty and clean processes. Vegetable preparation and wash up areas should be separate from the actual food preparation and service areas. The layout must ensure a continuous work flow in one direction. The staff should not hamper each other by having to cross each others' paths more than is absolutely necessary.

Actual work-top areas should be adequate in size for the preparation process and should have all equipment and utensils needed dose to hand.

The layout of the kitchen must focus on the working and stores area, and the equipment to be employed. Kitchens can be divided into sections; these must be based on the process.