Kitchen layout decides how a room works long before anyone chooses a door colour. Get the arrangement right and an inexpensive kitchen feels excellent. Get it wrong and the most beautiful cabinetry is annoying every day.
Here are nine layouts that work, with what each one needs from the cabinet order.
1. The single wall kitchen
Everything along one wall. It suits studios, small apartments and open plan rooms where the kitchen should stay quiet. The key is to keep the sink and the hob apart with a working surface between them, and to use full height cabinets at each end so the storage lost to the small footprint is recovered vertically.
2. The galley
Two parallel runs with a corridor between. It is the most efficient layout for cooking, because everything is within a step. Allow at least 1.1 metres between the runs, and 1.2 if two people cook together or a dishwasher door has to open. Put the sink and hob on one side and the fridge and tall storage on the other.
3. The L shape
Two runs meeting in a corner. Comfortable, flexible and the most common layout for a reason. The corner is the point to plan carefully, since a standard corner cabinet wastes a surprising amount of space. A pull out corner mechanism or a diagonal door both solve it.
4. The U shape
Three sides of work surface, which gives the most storage and counter space for the floor area. It suits family kitchens and holiday homes where several people cook. Keep the opening at least 1.5 metres wide so it does not feel enclosed, and consider open shelving on one upper run to lighten it.
5. The island kitchen
A run along the wall with a freestanding block in the middle. The island becomes the social centre of the room. It needs floor space, at least a metre of clear walkway all round and 1.2 metres on the side people sit or work. Decide early whether services run to it, since a sink or hob in an island changes the plumbing and ventilation plan considerably.
6. The peninsula
An island attached at one end, which gives you the same social surface in a room that cannot spare the circulation for a full island. It also defines the edge of the kitchen in an open plan space without a wall. Specify a supported overhang if people will sit at it.
7. The broken plan kitchen
Open to the living space but partly separated by a half wall, a tall unit or a change of floor material. It keeps the sociability of open plan while hiding the working mess from the seating area. Cabinet backs that face the living room should be finished as furniture rather than left plain.
8. The larder wall
A run of full height cabinets, all doors, holding food, appliances and equipment behind one clean surface. The working part of the kitchen stays uncluttered because everything has a home. Internal drawers within the tall units make this far more useful than shelves alone.
9. The two zone kitchen
Separating wet from dry. Sink, dishwasher and bins in one area, hob and preparation in another, often on opposite sides. It allows two people to work without crossing, which matters in a household that cooks together or in a small commercial setting.
Getting the numbers right
A few dimensions apply across all of these layouts. Standard worktop height is around 90 centimetres, and it is worth adjusting to suit the main cook. Leave at least 40 centimetres of landing space beside the hob and the fridge, since that is where things get put down. Allow 60 centimetres of clear worktop between the sink and the hob for preparation. And plan the bin position before anything else, because the bin is the most used fitting in the room.
Ordering the cabinets
Once the layout is settled, four decisions carry most of the quality. Board type and thickness, with a moisture resistant grade anywhere near water. Edge banding, where a 2mm ABS edge outlasts a thin foil. Hinges and runners, where a soft close mechanism from a known specification is worth the small extra. And handles or a handleless profile, decided early because it changes the door manufacture.
Send a dimensioned drawing of the room with window, door and service positions marked. That single document prevents most of the problems that appear during installation.
If you are planning a kitchen or a run of them for a project and want help turning a layout into a cabinet order, our team in Foshan is glad to help.