3D Thinking: Up and Down, Open and Close
Floor plans typically focus on two dimensional floor plan traffic patterns of motion. These are basically movements across a room or side to side. Now its time to consider your range of motion up and down. Storage in kitchens is typically above shoulder level or below waist level, meaning you must have the space to bend over and reach up without required stools or ladders. Narrow passageways make this difficult or impossible especially when two or more people are working together.
This range of motion up and down means placing items like pot racks and wall mounted cabinets at a height that is reachable by an average person. If you have a unusually short person regularly using the kitchen you’ll want to consider how they will function in the space. This may mean storing frequently used items in lower cabinets and reserving higher storage space for longer term storage. We can’t recommend building to a lower than recommended (or higher) height unless the user plans to own the property for a long time. An unusually high or low work surface could be a major liability when selling a house.
Open and Close: Watch those cabinet door, appliance and drawer requirements
There is another range of movement in kitchens that if not carefully considered can result in many problems during daily use. This is the motion of doors as they swing through their radius while opening and closing and drawers as they are pulled out. This is not limited to cabinetry; dishwashers and ovens also have doors that require considerable space to open fully.
It is tempting to consider the width of a door plus a few inches enough space to leave open in front of a cabinet. However you may want to pass by an open door or open a door or drawer opposite while the other is open, effectively doubling the clear space required. This is common around dishwashers whose door remains open during loading while the user is moving in and out of the room bringing in dishes from another area. Without careful planning you’ll find yourself opening and shutting these doors to maneuver around them.
When planning your kitchen layout, sketch in a radius of operation or range of movement for all doors and drawers to ferret out conflicts. Sometimes you can use bi-fold or accordion-style doors or sliding doors to work a cabinet into a tight space but in general you want to avoid these problems and design a kitchen that is comfortable to work in. Specialized doors also have their share of challenges as the usually require extra space, limiting the interior size of the cabinets they are part of.
