As nearlythere states above, as long as the kitchen is not in a position to compromise the means of escape, what's the problem?
Well, there are a couple of possible problems that may or may not be significant:
1. The first is the simplest one. The kitchen is a room where there is a higher risk of a fire starting. Therefore there is a higher risk of a fire spreading to the rest of the building. Therefore there is an increased risk to everyone in or around the building from fire.
On the other hand, a fire in a kitchen whilst the premises and therefore the kitchen are occupied is unlikely to be undetected almost immediately. Therefore the probability of a fire that starts in the kitchen spreading to the rest of the building is much reduced. The previous paragraph is countered.
On balance, the appropriateness of this line of reasoning will depend upon particular circumstances in the building.
2. The second potential problem is to do with assessing whether a fire in a kitchen is able to compromise the means of escape.
Just because the kitchen is located away from the means of escape does not necessarily mean that a fire in it cannot affect the means of escape. It usually depends upon the number of people in the same space as the kitchen.
If there are only 50 or 60 then they are likely to be able to get out of the room with barely no queueing and so will not be too concerned if the hot smoke from the fire is travelling fairly rapidly under the ceiling towards them.
Just as an aside, if there is only one door out of a room we limit the number of people in the room to only 60, not because we think they can all get out safely in 2 and a half minutes but because, if the fire is near the door, we know that they will have to get out of the room much quicker than that - say 1 and a half minutes.
So...... a button on your head....
No.........back to the point........
So, what if we have a restaurant with a capacity of one hundred people and two 750mm doors, one front, one back. The ceiling height is a typical 2.5m. If the population cannot use the rear exit because it is adjacent to the fire in the kitchen then they all have to go out the front. We know that they will take around about 2 and a half minutes to get out. In that time, a fire can grow pretty large in a kitchen (I'm assuming no Ansul, or similar system here) and the products of combustion can move pretty fast under the ceiling. Those at the back of the queue might be a little too close for comfort to the spreading smoke.
For me, this scenario could be similar to the single exit one. We want everyone out the room before the fire threatens their means of escape. Compensatory features for allowing large numbers of people in the same space as the kitchen are, suppression such as an Ansul system, high ceilings or overprovision of exit width (particularly the exit far from the kitchen).
Ok, you'd think we'd have shorter start up times if the people can see the fire. But, 1. It is often difficult to tell the difference between theatrical flambeeing by performing chefs and an actual fire; 2. People will always be reluctant to leave the meal they've waited so long for; and 3. the start up time is not important here - with largish numbers of people, start up times become unimportant and the time to empty a room depends more on flow times. The two and a half minutes flow time is plenty of time for a fire in the kitchen to spread products of combustion throughout a space.
Stu
