Kitchen interior design

Kitchen interior: the building services hidden behind the cabinet fronts

The work triangle is measured in centimetres

In a kitchen, the distance between the sink, hob and fridge isn't an aesthetic choice but a calculation: too far apart adds steps to every day's cooking, too close means two people crowding the worktop. The worktop height is set to suit whoever does the cooking rather than the default 85 cm; for anyone taller than average, a standard-height worktop soon becomes uncomfortable for the back. The walkway by the island is sized to allow for the oven and dishwasher doors being open at the same time, not just for a person walking past.

The extractor hood and splashback deal with grease, not appearances

In a kitchen project, the type and extraction rate of the hood are chosen for the volume of the room and the length of the duct run to the ventilation shaft, not for how the appliance looks: with too little extraction, cooking smells linger in the fabrics of the next room for hours. The splashback behind the hob is made from a material that resists grease and high heat: a thin decorative laminate doesn't hold up here, however good it looks as a showroom sample.

Sockets and lighting line up along the work surface

Sockets for small appliances run in a line under the wall units at a set height, so the cable from a kettle or blender doesn't trail across the worktop or get in the way of a chopping board. Under-cabinet lighting is on a separate circuit from the kitchen's ambient lighting: without it, in the evening you end up chopping in your own shadow under the wall units instead of under proper task lighting.

Storage is planned around what goes in it, not around the cabinet fronts

What goes inside the units (how many drawers for crockery, where the built-in bin goes, where small appliances are kept) is worked out before the cabinet fronts and the kitchen's colour are chosen. Corner units get pull-out mechanisms rather than a fixed shelf lost in the dark of the corner; otherwise part of the kitchen becomes a place where things are put away and forgotten.