Results

These principles organize kitchen planning so that the result achieved through their application allows users to move gracefully through a functional, aesthetically pleasing, task-sequence-based arrangement where things come naturally to hand when, and as, they are needed. The principles can also be applied to the programming of residential architecture, but that’s another story for another time.

Bobsleds and Project Management

This systematic approach to kitchen design has been developed over the course of 35 years, but the work actually began in 1968. In his ninth grade wood shop class, when the rest of the kids were making salt shakers and fruit bowls, Pete built a bobsled. The die was cast.

After serving in the US Navy, Pete Walker returned to his home town in Michigan, selling what was called at the time “high fidelity equipment”, working various construction jobs and a chef’s apprenticeship, finally starting a small cabinetmaking business in Pontiac, MI.

Moving from fabrication to design and sales, he followed up with a retail enterprise called Kitchen Studio in nearby Sylvan Lake in 1986. Not satisfied selling mass-produced, cookie-cutter kitchens, he then launched Walker Design Group in 1990, spending the next 15 years providing design of various kinds, management and owner’s representation, as well as cabinetry and fittings for the execution of his projects.

A Better System

It was during this time that he became increasingly focused on developing a systematic approach to kitchen design that would reflect the modern home and lifestyle. His proximity kitchensystem® would go on to challenge the widely-held industry dogma surrounding the so-called “work-triangle”.

Seeking a wider audience, Pete moved the Walker Design Group to Los Angeles in 2005. There he continues to design and execute unique and functional environments grounded in his copyrighted First Principles and incorporating the range of products he has developed.