Kitchen work triangle

The kitchen work triangle is a planning approach that treats the three main work points of a kitchen, the fridge (storage), the sink (washing) and the hob (cooking), as the corners of a triangle. The idea is simple: these are the spots you move between most while cooking, so they should be neither too far apart nor crammed together, and the path between them should stay clear.

How it works in practice

In a single-wall kitchen the three points sit in a line, so the order matters more than the triangle: a flow from fridge to sink to hob. L-shaped and U-shaped kitchens make the triangle easy to form. In island kitchens, putting the sink or hob on the island can balance it. In every layout, the main walkway should not cut across the triangle, so someone passing through does not block the cook.

Leaving some counter beside each point is part of the rule too. Food from the fridge needs a landing spot, vegetables washed at the sink need room to be chopped, and the hob needs space on both sides to set pans down.

The triangle in larger kitchens

In big kitchens used by several people at once, designers often think in work zones instead of a single triangle: prep, cooking, cleaning and storage. Even so, the triangle remains a quick and useful check for small and medium kitchens. Seeing a planned kitchen in 3D makes these relationships obvious at once; for layout ideas, see kitchen interior design ideas.