6 things to consider when planning a kitchen

5 things would have made a more catchy title, but I have 6 things to share with you! Kitchens are ergonomically designed spaces – they are (should be?!) designed around the user and how you need to move within the space. You may have heard of the ‘working triangle’. which is a rather outdated way of organising a kitchen layout by creating a triangle between the sink, fridge and cooker. Fortunately, the ergonomics of kitchen design has moved on, but the basic premise is the same – imagine yourself in the space and think about the most convenient place to put things for you to work easily, comfortably and efficiently. When people ask me about planning kitchens, there are certain points I make every time. Here they are for you.

1. Ask yourself what are you actually doing in the space?

Are you always cooking from scratch and doing lots of baking? Do you mainly cook on the hob? Do you cook alone or together? Do you grab breakfast in the morning and eat it at your desk, or do you sit in the kitchen with the morning paper and have 3 cups of coffee? Do you cook whilst your kids do their homework? Once you’ve thought about this, think about how you carry out each of those activities. What are the steps? Use this to plan your layout and especially your storage. I like my chopping boards, sharp knives, scales and cheese grater in a drawer under my main prep space. Plan where you will keep your cooking oil, salt and pepper, spatulas and wooden spoons so that they are in easy reach of the cooking area without cluttering up the worktop. Using a space becomes a pleasure once it’s planned for how you live. Try to ignore conventions and NEVER say “Isn’t it normal to have…” or “Won’t it be weird to have…” because it isn’t about what a kitchen usually looks like, it’s about what YOU need.

2. Plan usable worksurface

The old-fashioned ‘working triangle’ approach would have put the sink or hob in the middle of a run of worksurface. This actually makes for a terrible kitchen as you don’t have enough ‘usable’ prep space! I consider usable prep space to be at least 120cm uninterrupted worksurface – including no drainer grooves! That’s 2 standard size cupboards. In a galley kitchen, the best layout is to have the hob at one end and the sink at the other. You do need to consider a space next to the hob for a trivet to put hot pans on, which can be as little as 30cm. If space is tight, consider a smart sink with a draining rack over it such as this one, or a draining rack in a wall cupboard like this one where the clean dishes drain into the sink below.

3. Drawers drawers drawers!

Plan ergonomic storage. Drawers are the answer; you don’t have to crouch down to see into them and you don’t have to reach to the back of them. You can have several shallow drawers (hidden behind one drawer front if you like) so that everything can be laid out for you to see and nothing is hiding in an awkward corner. They cost a little more than regular cupboards, but this is where you should spend your money – if you aren’t planning a new kitchen to make it a better space, what’s the point? Whilst we’re on this note, try to avoid a corner cupboard if you can. If you have to have one, get a magic corner but know that they aren’t efficient use of space as don’t get a lot of storage for the size or the price.

4. Think hard about how you feel about mess

Firstly, are you a messy cook or do you clean as you go? If you always have a pile of washing up (clean or dirty!) by the sink, you might want to consider having this area separated from the rest of the kitchen. This can be tucked into a cabinet with pocket doors, in a utility room, or in a tucked away corner of an L-shaped kitchen – use whatever space you have to work with. If it’s got to be on show, how about an extra deep sink to hide the dirty dishes from view until they’re washed, or if space permits, a full double sink? I would never choose to put a washing-up sink on an island (see point 5 for why washing up with a view isn’t a thing), but I think it’s a great space to have a little sink for washing hands and rinsing veggies.

Sandrine’s peninsular kitchen with walk-through pantry and utility room. All the mess is tucked away, allowing the kitchen to be clutter-free sociable and family-friendly space.

5. There is nothing noble about washing up by hand

Dishwashers use on average 3 gallons of water per cycle. According to Finish, washing up the same number of plates by hand could waste as much as 13 gallons. I’m guessing they’ve taken into account refreshing the water and rinsing the suds off. So get eco, get a dishwasher and put everything you can in it. Then enjoy the extra half an hour of your day. Once you’ve got over washing up, you open up a world of layout options because you aren’t obsessing over siting the sink in front of the best view. You should, however, think about the placement of your dishwasher, including the plumbing. It makes sense for it not to be a million miles from your crockery cabinets and dining table, as these are the main places you will be carrying clean and dirty dishes to and from. However, unless you have a huge space, a utility room or pantry is never a huge walk and does keep the noise away from living spaces.

6. Plan an island properly

Points 1, 2 and 4 are never more important than when planning an island or peninsular kitchen. And for goodness’ sake, don’t ask other people what YOU should do with YOUR island! Here are the options and associated considerations for you to decide what will work best for you. An empty island can be useful if you want to have lots of other activities going on such as homework, eating, socialising, or laying out a party buffet. A hob on an island is great if you have a view to enjoy (i.e. into your garden) or you’d like to talk to people whilst cooking. It’s not a safety issue as long as you have an induction hob, you use lids on your pans, and ideally you aren’t inviting people to sit directly behind the hob. A small secondary sink on an island is useful for washing hands, rinsing vegetables and getting drinking/cooking water. I can’t think if any pros of having your washing-up sink on an island, it’s just messy! Finally, make sure you have enough space for movement around your island, considering how you get past if there are two of you and a drawer is open. 90cm is minimum but 110-120cm is more comfortable.

If you’d like help planning a kitchen, you can book my Spatial Planning service. Here’s what Sandrine has to say about her kitchen planning experience:

I’m so thrilled that you are helping me with this as your knowledge is incredible. … I would be absolutely lost without you!