THE CLASSIC WORK TRIANGLE
Placing your sink, range and refrigerator in a convenient arrangement that fits in your space will naturally result in a "work triangle". Your job is to make that the best triangle possible. Here are some factors to consider:
•The length of the three sides added together should be less than 26 feet, with each side being 4-9 feet. This will give you a work area which is not too cramped, but not so large that you waste time and energy hiking from one place to another.
•Main traffic route should not pass through the triangle. Sometimes this is impossible to achieve, but redirecting traffic outside the triangle is much safer and more convenient for the cook.
•An island or peninsula should not interrupt the triangle. A "barrier island" between major work areas or appliances causes a lot of extra walking (and maybe bumped hips as you swing past the corners of the island on the way to somewhere else).
Kitchen floor plans
However the work triangle in kitchen remodeling is not the only concept...
There's more than one way to approach creating a floor plan for your new kitchen. The classic "work triangle" method dates from the 1950's and involves optimizing the triangle formed by the three main kitchen appliances - sink, range and refrigerator. Your job is to make sure the legs of the triangle are neither too long (too much walking) or too short (everything feels cramped and people get in each others way). Since the 1950's we've added many more possible appliances, and kitchens nowadays can have more than one of some types and more than one cook - so more recently the concept of "work centers" has come into use.
CONTEMPORARY PLANNING: Work Centers
Nowadays the work triangle is not always enough to describe how a kitchen will function. Adding appliances (extra sink, dishwasher(s), separate cooktop and oven(s), microwave oven, etc.) adds extra work stations which the simple triangle can't account for. Adding cooks to a single triangle is a recipe for tripping over each other. The concept used to solve these problems in design is that of work centers or zones. A work center groups everything needed to do a specific type of task into a single area. The three major ones are:
Food Prep Center
Near fridge, near sink (may have its own sink separate from the main cleanup sink), near trash and compost containers: needs counter space, knife storage, cutting boards, measuring and mixing utensils, small appliances such as food processor or blender, casseroles and baking dishes, flavorings, cookbook storage, graters.
Cooking Center
Range (stove) or cooktop and ventilation: oven may be located separately if it's not part of a range (possibly near the baking zone). If you cook using your microwave, you might include it in this zone (possibly mounted over the range), but if you mainly use it for heating up snacks it could be better located outside the main work triangle where non-cooks can access it without getting in the way. Close to the food prep center so that food can go directly from prep to cooking. If you do a lot of cooking involving large pots of water (pasta for 12, canning, etc) a faucet nearby can be very useful. Small cooking appliances like the toaster, toaster oven, convection oven, deep fryer etc might be located here or in a separate snack center. Storage for frypans, possibly saucepans, pot lids, cooking utensils, salt, pepper and spices (away from heat), oils, vinegars and other flavorings, oven mitts and gloves, fire extinguisher.
Cleanup Center
Main sink, dishwasher, garbage disposal, trash and compost bins, recycling bins, waste compactor; storage for cleaning materials, dishtowels, food storage containers and materials, paper towels, garbage bags, colanders and strainers, possibly everyday dishes and flatware (near dishwasher), possibly saucepans (near water source).
