7 Rules to Keep in Mind When Designing Your Kitchen
Are you designing your kitchen from scratch or are you planning to remodel the existing kitchen? Before you do, read these rules and keep them in mind as you come up with a design that will make your new kitchen not just beautiful but functional and safe. Remember, these rules aren’t set in stone, so you can adjust them here and there to suit your specific circumstances and needs.
Rule #1: Door Entry and Interference
It is advisable to have a 34-inch opening into your kitchen. This entry will be wide enough to permit the unfettered carrying of various items, such as appliances, into and out of the kitchen when the need arises.
Additionally, experts at Tureks Plumbing Services recommend that the door should not interfere with the operation of any appliance inside the kitchen. If your kitchen is small, then install the kitchen door in such a way that it opens outwards. This will ensure that the area close to the doorway can have an appliance, such as the fridge.
Rule #2: The Work Triangle
The work triangle refers to the three major work centers in your kitchen. These are the main cooking appliance, the sink, and the refrigerator. These work centers should form a triangle. The distance from one leg of the triangle to another should not be less than 4-feet or more than 9-feet.
Fox Valley plumbers explain that a distance which is shorter than 4-feet makes it hard to work freely if another person is using one of the work centers. Conversely, longer distances between the work centers aren’t efficient because one will cover long distances when moving between those different legs of the work triangle.
Most importantly, traffic should not travel across the work triangle. For instance, a family member who wants to pick something from the refrigerator should not move across the path of someone who is using the kitchen sink and the oven.
Rule #3: Separating Work Centers
Another guideline which you need to keep in mind when designing your new kitchen is that no full-depth or full-height obstacle should exist between two work centers in the kitchen. For example, the need for more storage space in your kitchen should not motivate you to place a tall oven cabinet between the kitchen sink and the refrigerator. A respected plumber in Appleton, WI says that such separation makes it very hard for someone using the kitchen to access the different legs of the work triangle.
Rule #4: Traffic Clearance in Seating Areas
Imagine someone trying to squeeze behind your seat in the kitchen in order to go to the refrigerator and pick a drink. This inconvenience can spoil your mood if you were enjoying a delicious meal. It is therefore advisable for you to allow ample clearance in seating areas if there will be traffic there. For example, Fox Valley plumbers have observed that a clearance 44 inches are sufficient if people will be walking behind someone who is seated in the kitchen. 36 inches are sufficient if all you can manage is space for someone to edge past the seated person.
Rule #5: Prep/Cleanup Sink
If you intend to have only one sink in your kitchen, it is better for that sink to be located across from or adjacent to the cooking area. This placement prevents you from covering long distances as you move the prepared food to the stove or oven.
Tureks Plumbing Services also recommends that the sink should have a landing area that has at least 24-inches of clearance on either side so that you have a wide enough surface onto which to place cooking pots after removing them from the stove. The space also allows you to work comfortably as you prepare the different food items which you are going to cook.
Rule #6: Cooking Surface Safety
In the kitchen, you will have electricity, water, and open flames in the same room. This increases the potential for fire hazards in your kitchen. To minimize this risk, avoid locating the cooking surface, such as a stove top, under an operable window. Additionally, the windows above the cooking surface should not have treatments, such as window film, which are flammable. Plan the layout of different kitchen features with these guidelines in mind and place a fire extinguisher close to the kitchen entrance and far from the cooking surface just in case you have to deal with a minor fire in this room.
Rule #7: Cabinet Height
You should also pay attention to the height of the upper cabinets in your kitchen during the remodel. A Fox Valley plumber advises that you consider two key aspects in this regard.
First, the distance between a countertop and the cabinet above it should be at least 18 inches. This distance allows the countertop to be used without any interference from the cabinet above.
Secondly, think about your maximum reach when designing the upper cabinets. As a general rule, keep upper cabinets at no more than 7 feet so that you can access stored items easily. Anything higher than that may require you to use step ladders or climb onto a stool.
Many more kitchen design guidelines exist. The seven guidelines above are just intended to draw your attention to some of the considerations that you should keep in mind as you plan a kitchen remodel or new construction. Of course, we at Tureks Plumbing Services will be more than happy to share more planning rules as well as help you to get the plumbing aspects of your kitchen in order. So, give us a call today!