Kitchen Plans
Planning your next kitchen renovation is one of the most important moves your can ever make. Every large remodel project should be carefully thought out. The kitchen is widely considered to be the heart of the home, and it is, by far, the most complex room in the modern house. You have cook tops, refrigeration units, sinks, running water, and more appliances than most people know what to do with. Since the kitchen is the most important room in most homes, a detailed floor plan should be drawn up before you start anything. In this floor plan, you should include everything and exact measurement, including things like the table, dishwasher, major appliances, and any island or bars you plan on including. There is nothing worse than completing your renovations and discovering your table will no longer fit in your kitchen.
The Triangle
This is still very important as far as design elements go. The Kitchen Triangle was developed in the 1950s as a tool to aid designers in creating an effective kitchen layout. The triangle has a corner at the sink, the refrigerator, and the stove, the three essential locations in the kitchen when cooking. Most kitchen plans still include this today. The idea is to have them close enough that they can easily be moved between, but not too far away to reduce the amount of movement while cooking. The general rule is that the triangles perimeter must be at least 12 ft., but should be larger than 26 ft.
The area inside the triangle should be completely open, making movement between each of these easy. Most modern kitchen plans still include this.
Types of Kitchen Plans
There are essentially five types of kitchen plans, each having its own advantages and disadvantages. These styles often work best in their own special situations. Here are those layout styles, starting with the most basic.
Single Wall
Everything in this type of kitchen, the stove, refrigerator, the sink, and the cabinets are all located on one wall. Typically, the sink is located near the middle of the counter top, with the stove and refrigerator on either side. This design is simple and effective, but counter space and room can be big issues. However, this style of kitchen is often found in homes and apartments where space is an issue to begin with.
Galley
The galley kitchen plan is the next step up. This involves two counter top areas that run parallel to each other. In most galley kitchens, one of the wall is the wet wall, meaning it has the sink and the refrigerator, while the other is home to all of the cooking surfaces and appliances. The plan tend to make a very tight kitchen triangle, which makes cooking easier. This kitchen plan works well in longer rooms, and has a nice and direct path of movement. The issue, this clear path cuts right through the middle of the kitchen triangle.
L-Shaped
This is just like it sounds. The counter space makes an L shape by occupy two walls of a square room. Like the galley plan, one wall is normally designated as a wet well, while the other it used for the cooking surfaces. This type of kitchen plan will require a considerable amount more room and a decently squared room. The work triangle is often very tight and long in this type of layout, but can remain relatively undisturbed due to foot traffic. This style of kitchen plan is much better on space than more complex plans, and it makes good use of the space it does take up.
U-Shaped
One of the most versatile plans made, this involves counter space going along three of the four walls in the room. It eliminates foot traffic interrupting the kitchen triangle, and it provides one of the most balanced triangle of any other design. There is plenty of counter space, but this is best as a kitchen only, since including a table or other entertaining space will take up most of the extra room. With this design, each wall plays home to one of the three essentials, with the refrigerator going on one wall, the sink in the middle counter, and the sove going on the final wall.
Island or Peninsula
This is the stand L or U shaped kitchen with an additional counter space either as an island located in the middle of the kitchen or as a long peninsula style bar replacing one of the walls. This does provide more counter space, and the peninsula is great for entertaining, but the island can obstruct the normal flow of the kitchen. If the stove or sink is moved onto the island, the triangle can be made almost perfect. The peninsula version does not offer an additional workstation, but does give you additional counter space.
No matter which type of kitchen plan you decide one, each will have its own advantages and disadvantages depending on your type of home and the size of your home.
