Kitchen planning - golden rules?

[mabelbabel]

We're in the final stages (I hope) of planning our kitchen. It's a small space, there will only really be a handful of cabinets. The sink is in the middle of one run. The cooker is in the middle of another, it is freestanding with an induction hob and will have base units and wall units either side with a chimney extractor above.
We will be producing our own drawings for the fitter.

In terms of details like:
Height of wall cabinets above work surface;
Space between base cabinet and free standing cooker;
(Horizontal and vertical) Space between wall cabinet and free standing (induction) cooker;
And anything else similar that I haven't thought of...

...Please could someone let me know if there are hard and fast rules about these things which we need to follow? OR if not rules exactly then any principles at least?

I've been using the Ikea planner but it seems to suggest, eg wall cabinets must be 51cm above work surface, and I'm not sure if that is necessarily true. We are probably not getting the actual kitchen from Ikea.

Also, whilst I'm at it, are there any other technical details like this that you are glad you got right, or gutted you got wrong? I mean things like spacing, corner posts, clearances, voids etc...

Are you tall people?

I am short-ish. DH is tall. We want as much cupboard space as possible. I will be buying a step!

think about plug sockets?

I have seen something on here about recommended distances between things but there is not chance of me finding it.

I'm interested in putting my kitchen together too so will be pleased go know how you get on.

Avoid dishwashers in corners or in a place that will be inconvenient if the door is left open for stacking .
Make sure you have good task lighting .
450mm is a good distance between worktop and underside of wall cabinets - but if you have tall cabinets, use the top of the tall cabinet to be same as top of wall units instead.
Keep electric sockets well away from sink areas.
Allow work surface either side of a cooker to put hot things down.
Try and allow work surface near fridge for easy loading of groceries.
Remember to plan enough space for recycling and rubbish .
Try, if you can to extract cooking vapours directly outside.
Try and allow a good sized space to walk around any islands - ideally 1000mm but if it's a mobile island ( ie butchers block) it could be less.
Try and keep walkways clear and to make it an easy task to strain a large pan of pasta ie so you don't have to cross an main walk route with a heavy hot pan.
Don't overlap wall units over your cooker ( as it's induction it could cope - but if you or anyone else changes the cooker to gas it's a fire hazard!) so choose a cooker hood the same width as your cooker .
If your worktop is available is 'over depth size' then it's always useful to have a bit of depth wiggle room for pipes and electrics etc.
for taller people a thick chopping Block on the worktop can make a big difference to the height ! Helps ease backs !!!
Never ever plan any type of oven (micro /steam / or convection) above the shortest users shoulder height, as this is very dangerous!

Kitchen planning is not always as easy as you think - so please ask a professional to check your plans before you order anything - never compromise on safety !! I will happily check your finished plans if you like ! Just find me on Houzz or inbox me for the email address ! :-)

As OnePlan said, ask a professional to check. As far as the distance between worktop and bottom of wall units goes, this is usually guided by the minimum legal distance required between a gas hob and anything above it. While your hob is not gas, it makes sense to follow the legal requirement as this is not only a sensible distance but will also look in proportion because it's the same size gap you expect to see, if you see what I mean.

No professional advice here, but having just bought a house with a lovely modern, recently fitted kitchen, here are the things that are driving me nuts about it:

Lighting is all 'behind' me when I'm at the work tops so I'm working in shadow. There are under-unit lights on one run but not everywhere.

Centre island has no electric sockets so can't use any appliances on it.

Family size kitchen yet was fitted with small oven, small under-counter fridge and tiny microwave, which is at my head height so feels v dangerous to me when removing hot dishes.

Larder cupboards are down the other end of the kitchen behind the table so it's a faff to get stuff out, especially when people are sitting there.

Thanks all! Love the list OnePlan! I think we can tick off most of the points that are relevant to us.
Happy to take any other advice! And I can't promise not to pester y'all further with more questions when I finish the plans.

I wish I had somewhere to hang a towel to dry my hands with next to the sink!

This is brilliant: www.kitchens.com/design/layouts/nkba-guidelines/nkba-guidelines

Plenty of stuff I hadn't even thought of in here.

http://www.kitchens.com/design/layouts/nkba-guidelines/nkba-guidelines for those with mobiles

www.kitchens.com/design/layouts/nkba-guidelines/nkba-guidelines