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?

Why not put the hob or sink on the island?

@ozanj - my experience hasn’t been great in the past. Cooker on hob can spit oil or cooking juices on those sitting there.

[quote MerthyrMum]@ozanj - my experience hasn’t been great in the past. Cooker on hob can spit oil or cooking juices on those sitting there.[/quote]
You could get a rising hood for a hob. They act like a splashback when cooking too.

Can you rotate the island so the drawers are on the sink side. It looks like this might allow you to push it back a bit and create more space the sink side. Also, could you go for chairs on just one side of the island to create more space.

I was going to suggest putting it on the lefthand side of the run of cabinets where the hob is, but see that you aren’t keen on that for line of sight.

I think you can probably get used to anything and won’t notice it after awhile. My MIL had a similar layout and I always found it so irritating to work around, though hers was worse as the sink and hob were on opposite ends of the island, so if you had a pan that needed to go from hob to sink quickly (like to drain spaghetti or something), you had to run around the island! She never seemed to mind, though. I think the most important things to have within working distance of each other are the hob/ovens and sink, which you have, so that’s good. If something is going to be outside of the triangle, the fridge is workable.

One bonus of your design is that when your kids get older and start to open the fridge and just stare inside for 10-15 seconds trying to decide what they want, at least they won’t be in your way. Ditto if you have some kind of house party and guests need to access the fridge for more wine or something. That’s nice I think.

I also think that what you have is better than trying to shoehorn your hob or sink into the island. It’s not big enough IMO to comfortably use as a heavy work area AND a seating area. Keep the island clear and keep the messy areas on the back cabinets if you can.

The key thing about designing a kitchen is to make it easy to make a cup of tea. Nothing else matters. So sink - work surface with plug for kettle, cutlery drawer under it, shelf for tea caddy above - fridge. I can make tea without moving from the spot!

Rather than an island in the middle have you thought about a peninsular to the left of the hob with seating on the side that looks towards the sink? That would give you a much better space to work in as with the island where it is it gets in the way and gives a galley like feel between the hob and the island. I personally don’t like islands unless the kitchen is massive.

Why not instead of having the island, have a peninsula on the run of units on the left. Which gives you a u shape kitchen area to work in and clear access to the fridge on the opposite wall?

Kitchen looks really lovely, but having to walk around the Island between fridge and hob would drive me mad. It would make meal prep unnecessarily longer and more convoluted. Depends how much you cook from scratch though.
You could put your kettle /tea/coffee to the right of the sink so that would be less of an issue if you decide to go with that design please don't

Can you not be watching what's on the TV using a tablet or a TV in the kitchen? Sorry I can't see your diagram. My kitchen is a distance from the main TV so I just have what we're watching on my tablet on an easel in the kitchen and I can move the easel around to wherever is most convenient.

If it's an important match there's no way I plan to be in the kitchen when it's on.

Our FF is similarly placed but without the island in the way. I really don’t find it inconvenient and it certainly doesn’t add time to meal prep