If you’re thinking about a building a new kitchen, you’ll want an efficient design that makes cooking a pleasure. That’s where the work triangle comes into play – that imaginary line that travels from the sink to the range and then straight to your refrigerator. Most work triangles are great in an open kitchen plan. However, try to introduce a center island and the design falls apart – unless you know the secret. Here’s the perfect center island work triangle design for your kitchen.
• Start with a Right Angle
I’ve worked in many kitchens – in almost every shape and size imaginable. From small to large, each one seemed to lack something that made prep, cooking or even retrieving items to set the table a bit awkward.
Galley kitchens drove me crazy; I always felt like I was running back and forth to get what I needed. U-shaped kitchens were pretty good; but, I always wished I had a center island. And when I finally got a center island, it seemed like I constantly had to walk around it to get what I wanted and it was hard to cook with anyone else in the kitchen. We were always tripping all over each other.
Then I got my first right angle kitchen. I called it my “right angle” kitchen because the design started with two walls that had base and wall cabinets in a right angle configuration – with the cooking range in the middle of one wall of cabinets and the refrigerator in the middle on the other side.
• Install a Center Island on the Diagonal
The right angle kitchen was made perfect with the addition of a center island which housed the sink. But, it wasn’t installed in the conventional way – this center island was installed on the diagonal. Now it may sound a little funny and may not be how you envision a traditional kitchen design, but I can tell you – without a doubt – that this layout was the best I ever had.
It was a relatively small, 12-foot-by-12-foot kitchen; but, it felt like I had the ideal working space. My friends called it the “two-step kitchen” because no matter where you were in the kitchen, you were only two steps away from what you needed. And the added bonus was that I got the perfect work triangle – not to mention room to spare with extra cooks in the kitchen.
• Well-Planned Storage and a Counter with Bar Stools
What could make this design any better? How about a fabulous cabinet layout and a counter with bar stools to seat guests for a chatting session while you cook?
The corner of the right angle cabinets had a carousel unit that held a ton of canned goods. The carousel was flanked with door-front cabinets on either side for small appliances. The right side of the range had two pull-out pot and pan drawers and the left side of the refrigerator had a pantry closet. With additional sets of drawers on either side of the sink base in the center island, you couldn’t ask for better storage. Add to that, upper cabinets for dinnerware and special serving pieces.
Could it get any better? Absolutely! The center island was made complete with a long, elevated counter top on the back side of the sink that sat four bar stools where friends and family gathered to socialize. This kitchen design had it all.
If you’d like to seek a nice example of a right angle kitchen with a diagonal center island, check out the kitchen by Custom Designs Cabinetry posted on Houzz. It’s the best example I’ve seen pictured on the Internet – less the bar stool counter. Once you’ve had the perfect center island work triangle design for your kitchen, you’ll be hard-pressed to want another.
