What Kitchen Shape Is Right For You

A kitchen is a large space, but, in the best circumstances, it is also a space that caters to the specific needs of the people in residence. Kitchen renovations are often necessary to take an area used and loved by one family and make it ready for another. But one of the key factors of how best a kitchen serves a homeowner’s needs comes in the shape of that kitchen, which determines everything else about the overall design.

Here are the most common shapes homeowners implement when undertaking kitchen renovations.

The Single Wall Or Straight Kitchen

This is extremely popular in smaller, compact spaces such as apartments or condos. As the name implies, this design of the kitchen runs everything continuously along one wall. With proper planning, a fridge, sink, counter, and oven range all in a single “strip.”
This is a good choice for people who want a compact kitchen design with more open space beyond the appliances, such as cooking and eating in the kitchen.

Galley Kitchen

Where the previous design ran everything along one wall, the galley kitchen uses two. This is a more “traditional” kitchen design in older homes. It comes from a time when the kitchen concept was to minimize the amount of space it took up in the house and keep it as out of the way as possible compared to other rooms in the home.

Like the single-wall, however, the galley kitchen style is extremely space-efficient, taking its name from the design concessions made to build kitchens on ships, called “galleys.” This packs a lot into a small area and is perfect for people in smaller homes who may want to devote more space to other rooms.

L-Shaped Kitchen

This is a classic design and is still very popular today. As the name suggests, the kitchen is arranged along two walls that form an “L.” This often makes it very easy to optimize for the “kitchen triangle” concept of arranging the workflow in a roughly triangular shape. This kitchen triangle creates maximum efficiency when switching between different “stations” during food preparation, such as counter, stove, and fridge.

Many homes are still built using the L-shape configuration, so not much work may need to be done if this is your preferred layout.

U-Shaped Kitchen

The U-shaped kitchen is probably the ideal choice for someone who wants serious kitchen usage, with maximum space and efficiency. This puts everything within nearby, easy reach, but at the same time, having three dedicated walls for kitchen usage affords a lot of space and storage options.

This is recommended for people who are “power” kitchen users and want maximum convenience and efficiency.

Island/Peninsula Kitchen

A very popular contemporary choice, the island kitchen is widely seen in homes today. This is a more spacious and social kitchen experience, emphasizing accessibility and ease of interaction with others. While the space allotment might seem wasteful, compared to the U-shape, it still gets the job done in a more social space.

Ultimately, what you need and prefer will determine the kind of shape that’s right for your kitchen renovations.