One of the first things that Morris Black designers learn while studying kitchen design (yes, there is a college course leading to a Certified Kitchen Designer degree) is the work triangle. The kitchen work triangle is the path between work surfaces; food preparation, refrigeration, and cooking surfaces. You can have a gorgeous kitchen but if it is designed inefficiently it can make your time spent in the kitchen a nightmare.
In a good kitchen layout, we try to ensure no more than twenty-six feet total between your refrigerator, food preparation area, and cooking surface, with not less than four feet between these areas. If you have less than four feet between each the space will feel cramped – especially when there is more than one cook in the kitchen. The furthest distance between work areas should not be more than nine feet.
While designing a kitchen for two cooks working together, we recommend a design with two separate work triangles. Neither path should intersect one another when sharing work stations.
Correcting Bad Kitchens
We’ve had clients come to us where oven doors opened onto dishwasher doors, where no one could exit the room when the refrigerator door was open, and, saddest of all, where it was impossible for the husband and wife to cook at the same time.
As design professionals, Morris Black designers have created kitchens in basic shapes such as L-shape, U-Shape, galley, G-shape, double L, even one wall kitchens. We even designed a kitchen for an octagon-shaped geodesic dome home. If your current kitchen design feels crowded or is difficult to work with a second person, call Morris Black Designs. We can recommend an alternate kitchen layout- using the principle of the work triangle- that will be a joy to use.
Elizabeth A Kerkusz, AKBD
