Kitchen Floor Plan Thinking: Traffic Flow
Your floor plan sketch is undoubtedly getting pretty complex with a mishmash of traffic lines, areas for cabinetry and other functions, doorways and windows, outlines of existing utility lines and areas for passage in and out of the space. You have also undoubtedly run into numerous conflicts with windows where counters want to be, doors right where you’d really like to put a range and immovable objects like staircases and chimneys getting in your way each time you try a new approach.
Resolving these conflicts is an exercise in creative thinking and, especially when starting out, requires a lot of trial and error. Experience helps a lot and this is one area where an experienced designer can iron out a lot of problems. Often they can see a solution that you’re not aware of as a possibility that resolves and integrates many of these concerns. Throughout this site we’ll be continuing to help you think creatively and to learn more about the many problem-solving options possible. For now we suggest you play with your floor plan sketches, keeping them very simple and trying various layouts. It may help to use cutouts of various fixed elements like cabinets and appliances, moving them around your floor plan to see how traffic flows can be successfully rearranged.
For now, don’t get bogged down in details about appearances, styles, brands and other considerations that can come later. Stick to the issues covered in this and the next chapter, traffic flow and existing systems that must be considered early in the process. You’ll have plenty of time to decide on a cabinetry style later. Planning the layout has to happen before construction is even considered.
Work Triangle
The traditional model for traffic flow in a kitchen is the classic work triangle describing the relationship between stove, sink and refrigerator as seen from overhead. The work triangle is a viable way of evaluating a design at the basic level because it does keep you from making one of these areas inaccessible to the others or creating long walks with hot pans, sinks far from food prep areas, etc. However we’ve found that it works better to consider the sink as the primary staging area for preparation and clean up.
The Sink and The Spaces Around It
As we’ve seen, sink areas tend to be used at the start, middle and end of the cooking process. For this reason your work triangle or traffic pattern should focus on the relationship between the sink area and the counter or work spaces in between it and other appliances. Place your sink so you can easily access it from the refrigerator and the stove, preferably with dedicated work spaces in between. Imagine you are removing vegetables from the refrigerator for a recipe. They go to the sink for rinsing and then to a cutting board for preparation. Then into a pan for cooking, then into an oven for more cooking, to keep warm or directly to a serving dish or plate. That in turn goes to the table and then back to the sink area to complete the cycle. It turns out that the spaces in between the appliance work triangle are just as important as the appliance placement itself.
