Kitchen working 'triangle'.

[burnishedsilver]

I am in the process of designing a new kitchen. Every article I read mentions the perils of ignoring the work 'triangle' between the sink, cooker and fridge. Magazines have floor plans with triangles drawn between the 3 items. I am reading up to date articles but wonder if the concept is dated. Hobs these days are often in seperate locations to ovens. We also now have a microwave to consider. I have 4 or 5 working items to consider depending on whether I pair the microwave with the oven. Can I dismiss the triangle idea altogether?

think about how you use your kitchen currently -my fridge and microwave are in the utility room and this works for me. The proximity of sink to hob is important (think draining heavy pan of pasta) as is work surface either side of your hob. What things will you need to keep on your worktop (food processor, weighing scales, etc) and where would you be using them. Your layout will also be determined by the location of windows and doors and existing services. I wouldn't stick ridgedly to a triangle layout. Only you know how you use your kitchen - and how you think it could be easier for you.

What do the magazines say? I guess I have a triangle if I link them up, but so would everybody, I think!
Tell me more about what the magazines say about the triangle

To me the triangle is weird. When you think about it, the only kitchen that can't have a triangle is a galley. Other than that you can pretty much make a triangle with 3 points anywhere in a kitchen.............
do what works for you. Bet the triangle just happens anyway.

I agree you should consider it, but as one of many factors as Milly says. I was very concerned about unloading my dishwasher and have everything with reach except glasses are across the room. At my DMs everything is stored 5 paces away from the dishwasher, all in seperate directions and it drives me crazy!

I was going to say what ghost said. Any three things are in a triangle - unless you have a galley kitchen. It's a silly thing magazines say to take up space in a "how to plan your kitchen" article. Also people never include the bin in the triangle but I probably travel to the bin when cooking more often than I travel to the oven.

My only important tip in kitchen planning is not to have your dishwasher in a corner where, when the door is open, it will obstruct access to cupboards and shelves you need to get to to put things away. I used to have this and it drove me bonkers.

Even Ikea is on about the triangle being the ideal workflow. here
A triangle can be made of any 3 things but I have 6 things (now that the bin has been included ). I can make a hexagon, or two triangles! I think I'll disregard it. I think its a left over from the pre-microwave, pre-recycling bin days where you had a hob attached to an oven with a grill on top.

Thanks for the point about draining pasta....I think I have my sink drawn in too far away.

I think you have to consider activities in your kitchen and then try to group stuff together eg

• prepping the meal eg chopping boards fridge cupboard worktop.
• making a snack eg kettle toaster bread teabags condiments
• cooking at the hob eg hob utensils oils
• clearing up after meal eg sink dishwasher cutlery crockery

Therefore if these things are geographically near each other you should have a pretty ergonomic kitchen for you. Oh and I had a great galley kitchen in our small terrace, the triangle is still there! Very ergonomic for one person but a disaster for anyone else to be doing something else in the space.

think logically - plan the space to suit you and your family - it needs to be safe - needs sufficient work surface either side of sink and hob - ideally you'd have a worktop near the oven -for setting down hot things - fridge need to be close enough to use easily - DW need to be away from corners by at least 300mm preferable 500mm and not to obstruct the main walkway when open, especially between hob and sink it's not all about triangles - the triangle has been banded about for years - but any three points in a room that's not a straight run can be joined to form a triangle ! use common sense and have it safety checked by a proper professional before you order anything !! ( happy to check plans for you FOC - been a designer for 29 years !!)

The point is to consider which activities you need to do together, or in a fairly rapid sequence, and minimise the difficulties.

So - peel the spuds at the sink and put them into a pan of water - you don't want to carry a big heavy pan around interesting peninsulas and islands to get it to the hob. Even more so on the return journey when it is hot.

But I agree the sink/cooker/fridge are not the only things you need to include.

Oven - useful to have worktop to either side where you can put the hot roasting tin/casserole dish.

Hob - good to have elbow room.

My main triangle some nights is fridge/microwave/bin for the empty dish

My last kitchen did have the "triangle" and I have to say I really miss it - basically, fridge / freezer and double oven were on one wall. Then just over 1 m floor space then an island with sink for washing veg etc and hob - meant I basically barely had to move my feet when preparing dinner - brilliant. (microwave was on opposite side but not used much - and bin and main sink were slightly to right but still close enough)
New house has a much smaller kitchen with barely any workspace and I find it so frustrating.

I need to know this as I'm planning my new kitchen soon.

The idea behind the triangle is that when you connect all the items via the triange, there shouldn't be anything in the way (like an island or a kitchen table). Also the max distance between lines on the triange should be 9 ft or something like that. I have been in kitchens that ignore these rules and its a nightmare. You don't want to walk around a table to get from the fridge to the stove. You also don't want to have to cross a 16ft wide room to get from the fridge to the sink. The basic idea as that the working parts of the kitchen should be close together and easily accessible to be efficient and functional. Of course there are other points to consider like where you bin is, your microwave if you use it a lot, where you store your pots but I wouldn't design a kitchen where the fridge, sink and hob weren't in a working triangle as described above.

Thanks for the explanation!

I have the pefect triangulated kitchen then - it's so small, if I stand in the middle I can touch the cooker and the sink and it takes one step to reach the fridge!

(but we are moving because we need more space generally!