Kitchen design without the recommended ‘triangle’

[MerthyrMum]

I’ve been doing my own kitchen design using online design tools and the layout I think works best for our family, doesn’t have the traditional triangle flow between cooking, washing, fridge. How big a problem to people think this is? Does anyone else have a kitchen that does not conform? Does it still work for you?

We’re designing ours and have the same problem. But we’ve had 3 separate kitchen designers have a go and they’ve all come up with a similar layout so figure we either need to knock our house down to rebuild the kitchen the ‘correct’ shape or accept we can’t have the triangle!

OK where's the diagram?
Only thing I couldn't do is fridge I another room, or dishwasher, both of which I've seen. When you cook your next meal go through it in your head in the layout recommended- does it work in practice?

Just think about they layout if there is two of you in the kitchen. There are times when my L shape kitchen does my head in as we’re often in the way of each other.

I guess it depends on how you use your kitchen. For me it makes more sense for the sink, hob and dishwasher to be close to each other because I rarely do hob to oven cooking; that is my main triangle. As long as the oven and fridge are fairly close to the worktop it doesn’t matter where they are in relation to anything else.

We have our big fridge in the utility room next to the kitchen (and a smaller fridge in the kitchen) works for us. Didn't realise it should be in a triangle

We don't really have a triangle, but I think we need a diagram from you.

When we moved into this house, the previous people had a dishwasher tucked into the understairs area at the opposite end of quite a long kitchen, when the sink was under the window. Really didn't work.

Thanks all, I’ve been to the usual suspects, wren, magnet, howdens etc. And they all come up with the same ‘triangle’ design but it blocks a line of sight from the cooking area to the sitting area. I’d have to move the built in fridge freezer to get the line of sight but then this breaks the triangle because the island is between them.
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As a a newbie, I’m not sure how to add a diagram but hoping the link above works.

Looks like it would be a pain having to go around the island getting things from the fridge. Ideally you want the fridge next to where you prepare the food.

We don't have the triangle and it's not a problem at all! I did worry about it but it doesn't bother us!

I didn't know about the triangle, and I can't open your link. I dose I do have a triangle. Oven on one wall, sink on another and fridge on another. I don't have a central island to walk around but I do think the doesn't aid me in anyway.

We designed ours so the fridge was missing from the triangle. Sink is on island on left and hob is opposite against the wall on the right, oven is at the top. To get to the fridge you have to walk around the island as it's on the same wall as the oven but further to the left almost in the dining area. It works well for us because we get everything out of the fridge before we start prepping food anyway. The main reason for doing it that way was that we'd have to pay thousands to move our gas and electric which are in a cupboard next to the oven. Weighing up the cost vs supposed inconvenience it just wasn't worth it.

Honestly, that design would annoy me, having to walk round the island to get to the fridge all the time. My friend has her fridge freezer on the other side of a peninsula to her cooker and sink and every time I go in her kitchen I think to myself "that must be annoying" however like you it would have been hard to see where else it could go. Could you have the hob on the island or isn't it big enough? Then you could have the FF at the end of the run of counter where the hob is now. Or is that where the designers want to put it.

We've got a triangle at the moment and its brilliant apart from the counter space between cooler and fridge is too small. We are about to redo the kitchen and we will have a stretched out triangle with cooker and fridge on the same side and sink on the wall at 90°.

Just saw your diagram. Basically imagine the fridge where your doors are and that is what we have with a sink on the island. Then ideal is the triangle but from experience I don't think the fridge is essential in the triangle. It's not like you have to go on a ten minute expedition to get there.

My fridge/freezer is the other side of the island. I've just learnt to think when I go to the fridge and get everything I need at the same time.

Yes, the link works for me.
I would get mightily annoyed with that island blocking my path to the fridge all the time, but, I am not a fan of islands generally.

Could the fridge not fit on the bottom left, sort of to your left as you stand at the hob ? Then you can have more storage (for less regularly used stuff) over where the fridge is.

Mine was inherited and didn’t have the triangle. Walked a mile to cook a meal (sink one end, then fridge, cooker in the middle and oven at the other end, about 4-5 metres from sink).

Ripped it out and shuffled for refit. Now sink still at one end, cooker and oven in the middle with fridge opposite with island between - much better, layout works. No choice on the island, doesn’t drive me nuts like it did before.

Do what works for you. My fridge and cooker are separated by one cupboard, but on the same wall sink on wall behind. Works for me

The designers have all suggested that the FF should be at the end of the run on the left, that’s where it is today. We watch a lot of sport and movies and so I find I’m permanently leaning of stepping back when I’m cooking. I just wanted to keep it open if I could. I don’t think it will bother we to get all the items out of the FF before cooking. Sounds like I need to decide what’s more important, line of sight or convenient FF.

How big will the island be? We have a very similar layout. With the fridge the opposite side of the island to the hob. It works well for us. We stand at the fridge and pull out all the things we need onto the island, then stand on the hob side for chopping/preparing. Might not work if you can’t reach across the island from one side to the other though.

I suppose you do get used to getting everything you need out first. I've never done that because in our current layout the fridge is on the same side as the cooker and counter space is very limited so I stand on the spot getting things out, using them and popping them back in again. I do see what you mean about the line of sight.

My kitchen (redesigned two years ago) has two triangles but shares one fridge. One cook uses the LH side of the cooker and the kitchen sink; the other uses the RH side of the cooker and the utility room sink. Both cooks have their own work surfaces (and power points) to the left and right of the cooker. But DS is a chef and I think his understanding of how professional kitchens are laid out influenced the design more than I realised at the time. It works very well when cooking multiple dishes.

That would drive me nuts.

Are the doors and windows all already there? (Like, you’re not building this room right now?)

What’s round the corner at the right hand side? Because that would be a marginally less annoying place for your ff.

@Konga The island will be about 1.5m wide. I think you’ve convinced me that it’s actually going to work for us.

@womanity - the doors and windows are already there, to the right is a door to the hallway and access to all other rooms, so it can’t go there.