Efficient kitchen design : The kitchen work triangle

What the Kitchen Triangle is All About & Why you Need it

The core concept of the Kitchen Work Triangle is based on the idea that there are three primary work zones in the kitchen and simplifying the movement between them – ensuring that they are at the optimum, equal distance and that the pathways between them are clear – will make your workflow in the kitchen more efficient. Of course, since you have three points that need to be equidistant, a triangle is formed, creating the Kitchen Triangle rule.

The three areas that make up this Kitchen Golden Triangle are the refrigerator (food storage), the stove (cooking range), and the sink (prep work and cleaning). 

Why these three? Well, not only are they the three areas that are used the most frequently in any kitchen, but they also can’t generally be right next to each other due to their functional aspects (heat, water, electricity access, etc). Since a cook’s major walking time and movement in the kitchen is between these stations, with the Kitchen Triangle in place, you can ensure that they are neither too close together or far apart – so that a cook can easily reach their food storage, cooking, and cleaning areas, but still have enough space between them to avoid creating a bottleneck or feeling crowded – cutting down on time, effort and general bother.

How the Kitchen Triangle Works Today

An important point to keep in mind is that while the concepts behind the triangle kitchen layout are very applicable when creating a practical design plan for a modern kitchen design, the size and style of kitchens and even the way we use them has changed a lot from the early 1920s. So you can follow the tenets of this design concept, but treat them more like guidelines rather than hard rules or laws.

The ideal outcome that you want to achieve with the modern Kitchen Work Triangle is an easy, rotational movement between the main kitchen tasks of cooking, cleaning and storage, and each section of the triangle represents this traffic flow within a kitchen. So, the main points to keep in mind are that your three key sections are a comfortable distance from each other and that there are no other major traffic patterns that cut through or block the work triangle in kitchen design.

By sticking to these points and being a little less rigid about the other specifics, even with open-plan layouts and the larger kitchens of today, you can still have a version of this golden triangle. You can even create multiple types of Kitchen Work Triangle within your available space. In fact, creating a second triangle is a good way to achieve a workable Kitchen Triangle with island or peninsula kitchen layouts – you could use this method to set up a speciality workstation for prep work or desserts/baking. One thing to keep in mind with this, is that the two triangles should not cross the traffic flow of each other, this will prevent possible accidents from movement being blocked, and also make it convenient for more than one person to work in the kitchen at one time.

• The total distance of the Kitchen Triangle shouldn’t exceed 26  feet. Ideally, staying in the range of 13 - 26 feet works best.
•  The distance between each of the three points (i.e. the length
   of each side of the Kitchen Triangle) should be between 4 an 9 feet.
• Major traffic pathways should be clear of obstructions and ideally around 3 feet wide to allow for easy movement and increase the safety of the space.

Planning Storage & Placing Appliances in the Work Triangle

When planning out your kitchen design, triangle points should align with the storage needs of those areas – spices and large utensils around the cooking section in shelves and drawers; prep tools (like knives, colanders, peeler, etc) and waste bins near the sink/preparation zone; dry goods and other pantry items within easy reach of the fridge, creating a clear storage zone.

Obviously when the Kitchen Triangle was first thought up, there were no modern appliances such as the dishwasher or microwave, so how do you make them work in the design?