The most effective kitchens are divided into 5 areas, typically cooking, cleaning, preparation, consumables storage, and non-consumables storage, and getting the relationship between these areas right is key to how well your kitchen flows. The path between your oven or hob, fridge and sink is the one you will tread most frequently.
The path you will tread most frequently in your kitchen is between the oven/hob (cooking zone), the fridge (consumables area), and the sink (cleaning zone).
For the most efficiency in the kitchen, this journey needs to be optimised. Not too far, or you’ll waste time and energy. And not too close, otherwise the kitchen will feel cramped. This is known as the working triangle.
Consumables Area
Preparation Area
Cleaning Area
Non-Consumables Area
Cooking Area
This is the area where you store your food including fresh (fridge), frozen (freezer) and dry goods (larder / pantry). It is where all the items you need on a daily basis are kept for cooking and feeding you and your family. These should be stored in drawers or easy-to-access cabinets.
This is where all the work happens: where you prepare the raw materials before cooking, so it’s where you need your pots and pans, knives and other cooking utensils easily to hand. This area is best placed between the fridge, cooking and sink zones. You may also want to store small appliances close by such as mixers and blenders plus cutting boards and mixing bowls.
Your sink and dishwasher: it the hub where everything eventually ends up! With plumbing, the sink and dishwasher should be adjacent or very close to each other. In addition you may also want to consider storing recycling, tee-towels, cloths and other cleaning materials here.
This is one of the most-used and frequented areas where all your crockery, glassware and cutlery is stored. Think about how you would like to access mugs, cups and plates – whether in cupboards or drawers underneath the bench or from overhead cabinets with functional pull-down mechanisms. This area holds around one third of everything you will have in the kitchen so it is important to consider the most comfortable and ergonomic way of utilising it.
Here is your oven, hob and extractor fan: the heart of every kitchen. You would typically store cooking utensils, pots, pans, baking trays and even spices nearby the Cooking Area. It can also be useful to keep baking papers and tee-towels close too.
Where space is limited, the straight line kitchen is the most space-effective layout option. It’s also pleasing to look at. The triangle gets reduced to a straight line in this case, but where possible you should keep some space between your fridge, sink and hob so that you don’t feel too cramped.
Ideal for small and medium size kitchens, the L-shaped kitchen is one of the most popular kitchen layouts. It makes everything easily accessible and is a good way to make the most of a corner. If there’s often more than one cook in your kitchen at a time though, this isn’t the optimum layout; think instead about adding an island or the u-shaped layout so you’re not fighting for the same preparation area.
Adding an island unit to either a straight-line or L-shaped kitchen gives extra storage and worktop space and can provide a great entertaining area. However, you need to allow at least 1200mm of space on each side for an island to work well and not feel cramped.
For a large kitchen the U-shaped layout is great. It will give you plenty of storage and worktop space. Watch your working triangle in a large u-shaped kitchen
though – don’t have the points too far apart. This is especially important if you want to add an island unit or table to a large U-shaped kitchen; keep the points
of the triangle shallow so you’re not walking round the table constantly.
Perfect for kitchens that are enclosed in a separate room, and where you want to maximise your storage space – the G-shaped kitchen wraps around all 4 walls. Only really suitable for medium to large kitchens, ensure that there is still plenty of space in the middle of the room for easy movement around the kitchen. You also need to make sure the points of the working triangle don’t end up too far apart. If you need a dining area then this layout probably isn’t for you – opt instead for a U-shape or L-shape and plan in a table instead.
The Parallel kitchen, also known as the Galley kitchen is perfect for smaller kitchens where you want to reach all areasof the room with minimal walking distance between them. It’s an efficient use of space and allows you to easily divide up your zones. But watch the space between the counters – you need at least 1.2m to allow easy movement and for opening doors and drawers, but too wide and you’ll be constantly back and forth. Integrating a dining area can also be difficult in a galley kitchen so avoid this layout if that’s high on your list of priorities.
