appliances.php

<?php
class KST_Kitchen {
protected static $_appliances;

// Registers a loadable appliance and shortname for it
public function registerAppliance($shortname, $path, $class_name=false) {
    if (array_key_exists($shortname, $_appliances)) {
        // collision!
    } else {
        self::$_appliances[$shortname] = [];
        self::$_appliances[$shortname]['path'] = $path;
        self::$_appliances[$shortname]['class_name'] = $class_name; // FALSE if appliance is not a class
    }
}

// Load classes and instantiate
/**
 * load appliance
 * 
 * @param $shortname String or Array The appliance shortname or an array of the shortname and the property you want to use to access this appliance
 * @params *args Variable amount of remaining arguments will be passed to the constructor
*/
public function load($shortname) {
    $args = func_get_args();
    shift($args); // get rid of $shortname
    if (is_array($shortname)) {
        list($shortname, $property) = $shortname;
    } else {
        $property = $shortname;
    }
    if (array_key_exists($shortname, self::$_appliances)) { // Find the known appliance to load
        $appliance = self::$_appliances[$shortname];
        require_once $appliance['path']; // Load the file
        if ( $appliance['class_name'] ) { // FALSE if appliance is not a class
            $reflection = new ReflectionClass($appliance['class_name']);
            $this->{$property} = $_reflection->newInstanceArgs($args);
            return true;
        } else { 
            return TRUE; // Just tell them we finished
        }
    } else {
        return FALSE;
    }
}
}

// All bundled KST loadable appliances would just be set during the main init
// So we could just load any of the bundled like so...
$my_kitchen->loadA('asides', 'gallery', 'tweets');
// $my_kithcen->asides->something();

// A plugin needing to add an available class that a kitchen needs to know about would...
$twitter_sidebar_kitchen->registerAppliance('twitter_sidebar', '/their/absolute/path/TwitterSidebar.php', 'TwitterSidebar');

$my_kitchen->load(array('twitter_sidebar', 'my_twitter'), 'foo', 'bar');
$my_kitchen->my_twitter->foo();

// Or 
$metabox_kitchen->registerAppliance('MetaBox', KST_DIR_VENDOR . '/WPALCHEMY/MetaBox.php', 'WPAlchemy_MetaBox');

$args = array (
	'id' => '_custom_meta',
	'title' => 'My Custom Meta',
	'template' => TEMPLATEPATH . '/custom/meta.php'
);
$my_kitchen->loadAppliance('MetaBox');
$my_kitchen->MetaBox->the_meta($args);
// and so on...


// I didn't update below here

// If it is a static class like ZUI_FormHelper.php
// Mainly just a convenience I think to have one method for loading everything
$my_kitchen->load('asides', $args, FALSE); // Where false means just require the file and don't instanitate


// Similarly...if it is just a functions library or possibly even (heaven forbid procedural code)
// It just gets loaded 
$my_kitchen->load('sensible_defaults');


// And otherwise if you need to create multiple instances you could...
$my_metabox_1 = $my_kitchen->load('MetaBox', $args1);
$my_metabox_2 = $my_kitchen->load('MetaBox', $args2);
// And then themes can load and use all the bundled stuff in multiple ays without knowing where anything is