Kitchen Essential

If you’re planning your kitchen from scratch, there’s no substitute for an accurate floor plan on which you can mark existing fittings, furniture and immovable features such as windows and plumbing points. Draw it to scale and mark all the measurements clearly.

The basis of a practical kitchen layout is the arrangement described by kitchen designers as the ‘work triangle’ — the space between cooker, sink and fridge. Your kitchen plan should allow for clear access to all three. You should be able to turn quickly and easily from one to another without the risk of dropping a hot pan or spilling an ice-cube tray. It’s an easier arrangement to achieve in some kitchens than in others: long, thin kitchens have a natural tendency to line up all the appliances in a row, and in very small kitchens you really won’t have much choice about what fits where. But if you aim for the triangle — even an elongated one — you’ll have a good basis for the rest of your kitchen.

Individual requirements will vary according to how frequently — and what sort of food — you cook. If you’re a keen gourmet you’ll appreciate a good, long run of work surface. If, on the other hand, most of your meals go straight from the fridge into the microwave and on to a plate, you can make do with considerably less work space.

Cooks are always divided about whether things should be stored away or near at hand on open shelves, but they all agree that order is important. Work out what you’re going to need most often and keep it where you can get at it.

Kitchen Planning Notes

• Take each room measurement (for example, floor to ceiling, wall to wall) at several different points to check for any inconsistencies and unevenness.
• Remember to take account of all projections such as pipework and meter housings.
• Mark the existing plumbing points on your plan — if you want to install a washing machine, for instance, you will need to run pipework to the sink wastepipe.
• Mark the position of existing power points: it’s not usually difficult to add more, but you may as well make the best use of what’s there.
• Work out which way you want cupboard and fridge doors to open for easiest access.
• Plan where you are going to need task lighting — this can be fixed discreetly under wall cabinets to illuminate work top areas.
• Don’t site a hob or cooker top under a window where a draught might fan the flames of a gas ring, or curtains could be swept across the hob.
• Make sure that you leave a clear stretch of work top next to ovens and hobs as put-down space for hot pans and dishes.
• Don’t plan for wall cupboards to be fitted above a hob.
• Don’t site a fridge next to a cooker — it will have to work overtime to keep its cool.

If you’re replacing an existing kitchen, it’s worth living with it for a while before you scrap it, to get an idea of exactly how you want to improve on it: where you’d prefer cupboards, and where drawers would be more practical; whether it’s easier to stretch up or bend down to reach essential cooking items.

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