The kitchen is described as the heart of the home, which is why people have a strong desire to make it look the very best they can. It has evolved to accommodate living and cooking in the most efficient way possible, so it’s important to keep track of the latest design ideas. With that in mind, we bring you kitchen layout ideas for rooms large and small, with design notes to help you execute the look in your own home.
A Galley Kitchen
A galley kitchen is usually very narrow, with units fitted along one or both walls.
Floor space between the units needs to be at least 1.2m to ensure comfortable access to cupboards and drawers. With units on both sides, the sink, cooker and fridge are best positioned conveniently close on either side, not directly opposite each other. On a single run, place the sink in the middle with the fridge and cooker on either side, leaving at least 1.2m between them if possible.
L-Shaped Kitchen
An L-shaped layout is an open arrangement with a table or island added if space allows. It's easy to retain the work triangle of sink, fridge and oven by spacing them out on both walls – in amongst them, combining a section of tall cupboards with floor and wall units creates varied storage and breaks up the layout. If you're choosing where to position your L-shaped kitchen, consider your windows first and foremost. This is a great example from Pluck – here cabinets are placed directly opposite a large source of natural light, brightening up work surfaces and leaving space under the window for a small bistro table or window seat.
U-Shaped Kitchen
This wraparound layout is formed by lining three walls with cupboards or by lining two walls and installing a peninsula. The U-shaped kitchen takes the most planning in terms of flow and layout. They tend to be very large, so there are lots of decisions to be made when it comes to positioning appliances and adding storage. The size of the U-shaped kitchen does mean you can forgo some overhead cupboards in favor of decoration or open shelving.
Kitchen with an island
The kitchen island is a great spot to experiment with color – a totally different color to the rest of your kitchen won't look jarring, and in fact it makes for a great feature. Match your countertops to create some cohesion with the rest of the space.
An Open-Plan Kitchen
As our homes become smaller, it's increasingly common to have an open-plan kitchen/living room space. Here, the kitchen units are usually contained to one wall, occasionally a modest island or peninsula will act as a divider.
The dilemmas here are usually less concentrated to the layout of the cupboards and appliances, and more in the division of the space into distinct living/cooking areas without forgoing some design cohesion.
There is usually sense in creating a single color palette for both spaces – the deep blues and a touch of burgundy are used in both kitchen and living room here – and in the absence of a kitchen island, a large sofa is a sensible way to divide the space.
Sources:
https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/decorate/kitchen/a3246/kitchen-layout-ideas/