In theory, I bake bread or sweets at least a couple of times a month. In ambition, I bake more often. In reality, until the kitchen is truly finished I can't really get organized to bake at all. (Sigh.) That's bread, cakes, pies, cookies, etc., but includes things like pizza crust or pirozhki or puffs or any other savory baked thing.

In terms of "normal", outside of the group who think there's nothing more interesting and productive than to talk online about remodelling kitchens, by far and away the most baking done is Pop'n Fresh biscuits and school fundraiser cookie dough (though people usually just eat that raw -- EEEWWW!). Fancy "normal" bakers make a cake mix with canned frosting. None of them would know how to make a cobbler out of real fruit that doesn't come from a factory.

Yes, my baking area has the KitchenAid on the counter, all my measuring things, scrapers, pastry blender, rolling pins, pastry cloth, mixing bowls, baking pans, flours, sugars, etc.

Of course it isn't too confusing to have your trays elsewhere!!! Who's going to be confused? Your family know where things go. Anyone else can ask. My cookie sheets are mostly used for cookies and hors d'oeurve, which are also a baking type thing really, but they're currently in the butler's pantry because that's just the best place to store them. My spare oven racks may go there too.

If the kitchen were huge for large scale, multi-person catering often, then, of course, you'd buy more baking sheets and have some in each zone. But in every home kitchen, big things go where they fit.

On the other hand, when I was at the outlet sale, I bought a couple of open stock table knives with heavy stainless handles. The only thing I've "baked" so far was a biscuit topping for a chicken pie (which didn't even rise!). It convinced me that walking across the kitchen for a table knife with a fancy acrylic handle, or into the far end of the butler's pantry for a stainless knife, was just stupid. I use the blades for opening containers and levelling cups, and the handles for tamping. It was worth a couple of dollars to have dedicated knives. :)

I think what is in your baking center depends on your needs and your layout. Mine is a 4 ft section of counter between my cooktop and my ovens. The cabinets below have my flours, sugars, chips, chocolate, dried fruit, etc. as well as drawers that hold utensils, spices (for baking and cooking), hot pads, silicone sheets, and a deep drawer with my "fat" pans -- bundt, loaf, and such. The baking sheets and flatter pans are in the vertical slots above my ovens and roasting pans and racks are under the ovens. The cabinet above that 4 foot section has mixing bowls, spare bowl for the KA mixer (on the counter), my food processor, scale, extracts, decorating items and other assorted stuff. Prep sink, trash pullout and fridge are esentially across the aisle and the micro is on the other side of the cooktop, so everything is handy.

Mine is just a low section of counter under a low window. I'm pretending it's a baking center. I didn't want to move the window, and I'm short so I kinda like having a low place to work. It's about 7 feet long and 30" deep. Half of the cabinetry is two drawers, the other half is (my only) cabinets, but they are only 18" deep so one could sit there if one wanted. Actually, the cat has dishes there, so one would have to be a little kid.

So, in the drawers are canisters of flours and sugars, cans of baking powder, salt, soda, etc., vanilla, some mixing bowls, stand mixer parts, a small food processor, cake decorating stuff, and some toy cars. In the cabinets is cat food, cat dishes, bottled water (for the impending earthquake), canning supplies, random manuals, tools I need to put away, and two dishwasher toekicks.

On top of the counter (which is currently covered in a Marmoleum remnant since I don't enjoy marble shopping) is a big stand mixer, a laptop connected to a kid thing, a fruit bowl, two hubcaps, mail, toy cars, and a ton of miscellaneous junk.

I haven't rolled anything out on it, but I've decorated a cake, done cookies, and chopped stuff. It's great. I wish I could keep it from being covered with STUFF! I also make bread and other things in the mixer. I can see inside it much better at a low height!

All my baking pans, though, are over or under my oven which is at the complete opposite end of the kitchen. Zones schmones. My kitchen is small enough I don't need no stinking zones. :)

My kitchen is too small to have a dedicated baking section, although I do tend to group together many of the implements required for that function. I have a tiny butcher block topped island (25"x 32") with two drawers under it. The top drawer contains a mess of dry ingredients like spices, baking powder & soda, cornstarch, cocoa, and similar stuff in similar containers. Also my hand mixer - no stand mixer in my kitchen, and I don't covet one. The bottom drawer contains measuring cups, cookie cutters, rolling pin, and mixing bowls. I have a LOT of mixing bowls.

It is just a short pivot-and-reach to get to my lower corner pullout where flour/sugar/oatmeal/etc canisters are kept. If I pivot in the other direction, I'm at the range. At 36" wide, it is a bit of an extravagance in a kitchen of this size, but I like to cook. Beside it is a narrow lower cupboard where the cutting boards, cookie sheets, and muffin tins live. Less used baking pans stand on edge in the cupboard above the fridge.

Besides the island top, I have plenty of prep/landing space beside the stove. The main thing I got out of my remodel was more prep space, and organized, easily accessible storage.

I think that is one of the biggest challenges about having 'zones'...where to keep things that are needed in more than one area.

My 'baking center' is 4 ft of base cabs/counter (33" high), and uppers to the left of my ovens and across the aisle from the island where we load pans, roll out dough, etc. On the counter is my KA mixer and my blender (so it doubles as smoothie making area). In the uppers I keep all the baking ingredients: flour, sugars, coconut, oatmeal, vanilla and other flavorings, leavening agents, raisins, etc., etc. (It was difficult in some cases to decide which spices should be in the baking area and which should be handy to the stove. We have baking soda in both places.)

In the base cabs I have 3 smallish drawers with measuring, mixing, and serving tools and utensils. I have 2 large drawers...One holds mixer and blender accessories, as well as the food processor. The other large drawer holds pie plates, spring-form and round cake pans. One cabinet holds cookie sheets, pizza pans, pizza peel, and roasting pans.

I keep rectangular cake pans (9x13" etc.) with my other baking pans and casserole dishes...in a cabinet on the stove run, which is 90 degrees to the oven run, and across an aisle. So kind of close, but where they're also in the cooking area, and near the microwave.

I keep my bread mixer and bread pans in the island. My whole grains and grain mill are in the pantry, as are any bulk and extra baking supplies that I fill from for the baking ctr.

I keep my oils to the right of the stove, so it's a walk if I need them for baking. The glass measuring pitchers (Pyrex) are also nearer the stove, while plastic and metal measuring cups live in the baking area. Most of it works, but some of the organization still seems a little disjointed to me.

My baking station is still being built, but it will be a 36" wide base cabinet that is lower than the counters around it (32" high vs 36" for the regular counter, I think). It will have a different granite than the rest of the kitchen (black galaxy vs lapidus). Directly underneath the baking station will be two high strength deep drawers, and I will put all my bowls, measuring cups, etc. Directly next to the dropped counter will be a base cabinet that is regular height, split in two vertically, with twin mixer lifts - one for my cuisinart and one for my stand mixer. Under each respective mixer lift will be a pullout shelf holding the accessories for the relevant mixer.

My sheet pans will be across the kitchen, next to the range in vertical pan lower cabs (2x 1'+). It made more sense for me to keep all pans that go in the oven near the oven. I'm toying with having one of the big drawers below the baking station hold flour etc. bins, but I'm really on the fence about whether I want that and my husband says he can build in an insert if I decide on that later (my cabs are totally custom, being built by him).

All told, including pizza dough, cookies, cakes, bread, etc., I probably bake at least 3 times a week.

J

Mine is in my pantry and has my KA mixer and cusinart. It has my cannisters with flour, sugar, etc. It has a cabinet with my tart, bundt, brownie pans. The rest of the items are out in the kitchen. I suppose I could move them in the pantry but it is working fine for me this way. Here is the link to my butler's pantry which is also my office area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baking area of pantry

I make 3 loaves of bread at least once/week. Plus biscuits, muffins, occasional goodies and birthday cakes. Pies all year. I do it in this corner, between the cook top and sink. I love being able to wipe any mess into the sink. With everything in close proximity I can keep an eye on the melting chocolate while creaming the butter and sugar. All the baking supplies stay on the counter in glass canisters  bleached and ww flours, gran and brown sugar and salt. Big bread bowl is in the super susan below although I have rarely used it since I treated myself to the biggest stand mixer KA made when my remodel was finished (2005). I keep that in a pull-out base cabinet but one of these days I will get tired of lifting it and then leave it on the counter on the far side of the cooktop. I have a divided vertical baking sheet and pan storage above the refrigerator. Since this is a galley kitchen, nothing is more than 4 steps away. Love to have a marble surface for pastry but had no room for that so I am thinking about just getting a large marble tile and tucking it away when not in use.

This link is to my baking area but the previous photo on this site is my side-swing Frigidaire convection oven which I just love for its even baking.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2612095180102582466TpiDAF

Here is a link that might be useful: Bake much?

Everything I prepare, cook, bake, etc. gets made at my island. I consider sections 1 through 6 (below) as my prep zone, 5 is really only baking supplies.

A baking center wasn't a "must have" for me, or even one of the priorities, but it made sense as our kitchen came together. In an attempt to maximize the use of wall space, we put a tall cabinet in a 2-ft wide space between a run of windows and our mudroom doorway. I really wanted canisters off the counter so we planned to put them on a pull out shelf, at counter height, in the tall cabinet. Then it made sense to put the mixer next to the flour. Then, since they needed to be stored somewhere anyway, it made sense to keep all of the other baking supplies and pans/dishes in the tall cabinet and the base cabinet under the mixer. Thus a baking center was created.

I only really appreciated the baking area after we started using it. Our main work area is basically a "U" and the baking area is in a run of cabinets outside of the U. It's next to the small sink (usually called a "prep" sink but the big sink in the prep/cooking area is used more often for prep) and dw which makes clean up easy. My daughter is able to make dessert while I prepare a meal and we never need to cross paths.

I have multiples of some items such as meas cups & spoons, rubber spatulas & scrapers, whisks, salt, cinnamon, so that I can have them in both the baking area and prep area. I have a cabinet at the elbow of our peninsula that can be reached from both areas and I keep some dishes that I use in both places there (ramekins, custard cups, liquid measuring cups, small prep dishes.) Stainless steel mixing bowls are in a cabinet that is easily accessible from both area.

Kitchen storage was a matter of priorities and compromises for me. After 5 years, I'm still tweaking it. Some things had to be stored outside of the main cooking/prep area--and it made sense to keep all of the baking pans/supplies in one area. I tend to roll out crusts and fill muffin tins and cookie sheets on the wider peninsula in the cooking area but I don't mind walking around the peninsula to get the rolling pin and pie plates, cookie sheets, (for either baking cookies or roasting veggies), or other baking pans. Even though the cookie sheets are used a couple of times a week, they're not used everyday.

The baking area is the approx 4 feet of counter to the right of the sink along with the base cabinet and tall cabinet to the right of the dw.

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