Kitchen Layouts and Work Triangle Checker

Almost every kitchen layout is one of six shapes: one-wall, galley, L-shaped, U-shaped, island or peninsula (G-shaped). The shape decides where the sink, cooktop and fridge can go, and so how far you walk between them. Pick one in the tool to see an example plan drawn to scale with its work triangle.

An L-shaped kitchen layout is the most flexible: it fits small rooms, leaves one side open for a table or island and keeps traffic out of the work area. A galley gives the shortest steps for one cook. A U-shape gives the most counter. Islands and peninsulas add prep space and seating when the room has space for the aisles around them.

The kitchen work triangle joins the three places you use most: the sink, the cooktop and the refrigerator. The NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines say each leg should be 4 to 9 ft (1.22–2.74 m) and the three legs should total no more than 26 ft (7.92 m). Shorter legs leave too little counter between work centers; longer ones add steps to every meal.

The NKBA PDF itself could not be read as text, so the values come from two reproductions that credit NKBA: CRD Design Build (opens in a new tab) and The WC Supply (opens in a new tab). They agree on the legs and the 26 ft maximum.

1. Can the legs meet? No leg can be longer than the other two together (the triangle inequality). Equal is allowed: that is a one-wall kitchen, where all three sit in a line.
2. Each leg passes at 4 to 9 ft and fails outside it.
3. The total fails over 26 ft. Under 13 ft it is a warning, because summaries of the guidelines give a minimum of 12 ft or 13 ft and we could not confirm either in the NKBA text.
4. Island, traffic and aisles are checked when you enter them: a leg may cut into an island by up to 12 in (30 cm), and a work aisle needs 42 in (107 cm) for one cook or 48 in (122 cm) for two or more.

The drawing uses the law of cosines. With legs a (sink to cooktop), b (cooktop to fridge) and c (fridge to sink), the angle at the sink is cos S = (a² + c² − b²) ÷ 2ac. That places the fridge, and the longest leg is turned to sit flat at the bottom.

The triangle was developed for smaller, closed-off kitchens where one person did most of the cooking. For larger and open-plan kitchens, kbb (opens in a new tab) describes task-based work zones (prep, cooking, cleaning, storage, serving) as a natural evolution of the triangle.

Use both. Check the main cook’s triangle with the NKBA values, then group tools and storage into zones around it. With two cooks, give each a zone with its own counter, and keep any added leg (a prep sink to the cooktop, say) within 4 to 9 ft too.

A kitchen work aisle should be at least 42 in (107 cm) for one cook and 48 in (122 cm) for two or more. A walkway, where people pass but don’t work, needs at least 36 in (91 cm). The same aisle values apply around an island; add room behind stools if people walk past them.

• Fridge buried in the corner of the U. Put it at the end of a run so people can grab a drink without entering the triangle.
• No landing space. Leave counter beside the sink, cooktop and fridge handle side (see the table above).
• An island in the way. Check that no leg cuts into it by more than 12 in, and that every side has its aisle.
• A door route through the triangle. Doors to the garden, garage or dining room should lead around the work area, not across it.
• Measuring wall to wall. Aisles are measured between counter fronts or the island edge, not between walls.