Recently, a reader asked me which kitchen layouts and workflows function best in everyday life. It made me realize I haven’t talked in-depth about this incredibly important topic. Some layouts make cooking and daily routines feel fluid, while others can create constant frustration. I’d love to walk you through the differences and what makes a kitchen layout work well.
Hi Danica, I noticed you have the exact layout as the kitchen I am planning for my own home. How do you find the layout of the fridge, sink, and stove in terms of workflow and convenience?
– Nicole
This is a great question! And in short, we loved the layout of our old kitchen. I’ll explain why… Back when I was in college, my professor taught us a helpful tip about kitchen layouts called “The Kitchen Triangle.”
The Kitchen Triangle
Kitchens with the most efficient layouts have unobstructed pathways between the three major appliances – refridgerator, sink, and stove. If you were to draw a line from the fridge, to the sink, to the stove, and back to the fridge, it should form a triangle. This represents your walkway.
The reason “the triangle” works best is because it represents the traffic flow between your most used work zones. It allows you to easily move from one workspace to the next, even when multiple people are in the kitchen (you can both move in a rotation).
As far as spacing, your walkways should be 4 feet wide and ideally, your appliances should be neither too close (less than 4 feet) nor too far apart (more than 15 feet).
Inefficient Kitchen Layouts To Avoid
Avoid placing road blocks, such as an island, in your kitchen triangle. If your fridge and sink are on opposite ends of the kitchen with an island in-between, you’ll be walking a marathon around the island at every meal.
Efficient Kitchen Layouts
There are so many layout variations that you can create using “the triangle,” but I put together a few basic kitchen layouts (U-shaped, L-shaped, and galley) that you can use as inspiration. I hope this helps with your kitchen planning!
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Hello, I’m very pleased that I found your site. Actually, finding you brings me one step closer to doing my kitchen. I’m hoping you might be able to give me an idea how much it may cost to take a wall down.I have a very small galley kitchen and on the other side of the kitchen is a room which has become a storage room, I need a bigger kitchen and need to remove the wall.
I know I need an architect and I believe the isn’t weight bearing.
Hi Kristan! Sounds like an exciting project. There are so many variables that would affect the price so my estimate probably wouldn’t be accurate. I’d recommend either talking to a contractor if you hire out the project or using my "Renovation Budget Checklist" (found here: https://nadinestay.com/blog/free-renovation-budget-checklist) if you plan on doing the work yourself. Good luck! 🙂