Kitchen layouts basic design

Surprisingly, efficient use of a kitchen space depends more on how it is laid out than how big it is. The layout of a kitchen, both horizontal and vertical, should always be designed around your needs and the architecture of the room. There are six basic layouts that, working within the work triangle, will give you a practical kitchen.

The single-line (or one-wall) kitchen allows any room with a 3m (10ft) run of uninterrupted wall space to work as an efficient kitchen. Plan with ingenuity and allocate as much worktop as possible. The entire kitchen can be screened off with sliding, folding or pocket doors, shutter or partitions, when necessary.

The gallery kitchen provides the most efficient use of space. Understandably, this is the layout most covered by professional chefs. A gallery is comprised of counters on both sides of the room with a corridor down the middle. The only time this layout shouldn’t be considered is if the corridor is open at both ends, since it then results in general congestion. Plan to eat elsewhere, unless a pull-out or flap-down tabletop can be incorporated at one end. A window somewhere, with lots of natural light, keeps a gallery kitchen from being claustrophobic.

The island kitchen is usually only an option where you have quite a lot of available floor space. Islands create a separate working area while allowing for a feeling of openness. This layout hungers for plenty of room and careful design to ensure economy of movement. Guests can participate socially with the cook working in the kitchen, but stay of harm’s way seated on the other side of an island, which can also double as a room divider. At its simplest, the island may just be a wooden table around which several people can gather to do the peeling, chopping and slicing.

The L-shaped or peninsular kitchen is a versatile layout. It combines well with a sitting area integrated into the same room, overcomes any shortage of wall space, and is most at home in a large or long, narrow kitchen or an awkwardly shaped corner.

The U-shaped kitchen groups units and appliances around three sides of the room. Size is less of an obstacle than ill-sited doorways in creating a U-shaped kitchen. It’s safe, efficient, offers maximum storage and work space, and suits large and small rooms.

The perimeter kitchen positions fittings around most of the walls. Expanded shaped and L-shaped kitchens are forms of a perimeter kitchen, ideally the refrigerator, sink and cooker should be situated at on end of the room so you can get to them and move between them without having to circumnavigate obstacles such as a central dinning table, work table or chair.