Kitchen Layout: Choosing Between Galley, L, U and Island

Last updated: 23 August 2026

Your room dimensions choose the layout, not the other way round. A galley needs 2.40 m of width, an L-shape works in almost anything above 2.40 × 2.40 m, a U needs 2.70 m across, and an island needs a room at least 3.60 m wide before it stops being an obstacle. Fit the layout to the space you have and the kitchen will work; force the layout you wanted and it will not.

The work triangle still matters, but not for the reason it is usually quoted — see below.

The five layouts, and what each needs

Layout	Minimum room	Comfortable	Best for
Single run	1.80 m wide	2.20 m	Narrow rooms, studios, utility
Galley (two facing runs)	2.40 m wide	2.70 m	Efficient cooking, one or two cooks
L-shape	2.40 × 2.40 m	3.00 × 3.00 m	Most rooms; open plan
U-shape	2.70 m across	3.00 m	Storage-heavy, one cook
Island	3.60 × 3.60 m	4.00 × 4.00 m	Sociable, open plan

The width figures assume 0.60 m worktop depth, which is near-universal because appliances are built to it.

Where the minimums come from: a galley needs 0.60 + 1.20 + 0.60 = 2.40 m — two runs plus the 1.20 m gap that lets two people pass and a dishwasher door open. An island needs 0.60 + 1.00 + 1.00 + 1.00 = 3.60 m at the very least. The numbers are not arbitrary; they are the clearances in room clearances added up.

The work triangle, honestly

The rule: sink, hob and fridge should form a triangle whose sides total between 4 m and 8 m, with no side shorter than 1.20 m, and no through-route crossing it.

Its origin matters for how much weight to give it. It came out of American domestic-efficiency research in the 1940s, designed around one person working alone in a closed kitchen, with a fridge, a sink and a stove — and nothing else. It is often quoted as though it were a law.

What it still gets right: the three things you move between most should be close, and you should not have to walk round anyone to do it. That is true and it is worth designing to.

Where it no longer fits:

Kitchens now have more than three stations. A dishwasher, a microwave, a coffee machine and a bin all sit in the flow.
Two people cook. The triangle assumes one, and a second person makes the through-route problem worse, not better.
Island kitchens break it geometrically and often work extremely well.

The more useful modern framing is zones: a wet zone (sink, dishwasher, bin), a hot zone (hob, oven), and a cold/prep zone (fridge, worktop). Keep each zone internally tight, and keep the wet and hot zones within a few steps of each other — most cooking moves between those two.

In short: use the triangle as a sanity check, not as a design method. If your sides total 12 m you have a problem. If they total 6 m and the layout works as zones, you are fine whatever shape it makes.

Galley

Two runs facing each other. The most efficient layout per square metre, and the one professional kitchens use, because everything is within a turn.

Needs 2.40 m of room width minimum, 2.70 m comfortable. Below 2.40 m the kitchen has one cook and no open appliance doors.

Get right: put the sink and hob on the same run if you can, so you are not carrying full pans across the gap. Put the fridge on the opposite run — fetching from it is a step, not a journey.

The failure mode: a galley that is also a corridor. If the kitchen is the route to the garden, traffic crosses the working space constantly. Where that is unavoidable, keep the through-route at the end rather than the middle.

L-shape

Two runs meeting at a corner. The most adaptable layout and the right default for most rooms.

Needs 2.40 × 2.40 m minimum. It works in a square room, an awkward room, and an open-plan corner where a galley would not.

Get right: the corner cabinet. A standard corner unit is where storage goes to die — fit a carousel or a pull-out, or design the corner as an appliance position rather than a cupboard.

Also: allow 0.90 m from an internal corner before any appliance door, or it will foul the adjacent run. This is the single most common fault in fitted kitchens and it is free to avoid on a plan.

U-shape

Three runs. The most storage and worktop per room, and the tightest workflow for one cook.

Needs 2.70 m across minimum, measured between the two facing runs, plus whatever the third run takes.

Get right: two corners, so two corner problems. And a U in a small room can feel enclosing — if the third run is under a window, it opens up considerably.

Not for: two cooks. The U works because everything is within reach of one person standing in the middle, which is precisely the spot a second person needs.

Island

A freestanding run, usually with seating.

Needs a room at least 3.60 m wide, and 4.00 m to be comfortable. This is the number people wish away, and the reason so many islands are too tight to walk round with a tray.

Get right:

1.00 m minimum all round, 1.20 m on the side you work from.
Decide what the island is for before drawing it. Prep? Then it wants worktop and a bin, not stools. Sociable? Then it wants seating and an overhang — 0.30 m of overhang for knees, and 0.60 m of width per person.
Putting the sink or hob in the island means plumbing or extraction through the floor. It is normal, and it is the expensive decision on the page.

The honest version: an island in a room under 3.60 m wide is a table you have to squeeze past. A peninsula — an island attached at one end — does most of the same job and needs a metre less.

What you cannot move cheaply

Layout freedom is limited by four things, roughly in order of cost to change:

The waste pipe. Moving a sink more than a metre or two often means re-running a fall, which may not be possible in a flat.
Extraction. An external wall or an existing duct route.
The gas supply, if there is one.
Windows and doors. Positions decide where runs can go and where wall units cannot.

Mark these on the plan first, then design. Choosing a layout and discovering the drainage afterwards is how kitchens end up costing twice the estimate.

The numbers, in one place

Element	Standard
Worktop depth	0.60 m
Worktop height	0.90 m
Base unit depth	0.58 m
Wall unit depth	0.30–0.35 m
Worktop to wall units	0.50–0.60 m
Hob to extractor	0.65–0.75 m
Between opposite runs	1.20 m
Run to island	1.00–1.20 m
Clear before an appliance door	1.10 m
From an internal corner to an appliance	0.90 m
Island overhang for seating	0.30 m
Width per seated person	0.60 m

Frequently asked questions

What is the best kitchen layout for a small kitchen? A single run below 2.40 m of width, a galley from 2.40 m, and an L-shape from about 2.40 × 2.40 m. The L is usually the best small-room choice because it puts worktop on two walls without needing the width a galley does.

How wide does a kitchen need to be for an island? 3.60 m minimum, 4.00 m comfortable — 0.60 m worktop plus 1.00 m clearance, 1.00 m island, 1.00 m clearance. Below that, use a peninsula instead; it does most of the same job in a metre less.

Is the kitchen work triangle still relevant? Partly. Its core insight — keep the things you move between close, and keep traffic out of the working area — holds. Its specific geometry assumes one cook and three appliances, which describes few kitchens now. Design in zones (wet, hot, cold) and use the triangle as a check.

How much space between kitchen counters? 1.20 m between opposite runs. That allows two people to pass and a dishwasher or oven door to open fully. 1.40 m is comfortable; beyond about 1.60 m the kitchen becomes inefficient because you walk rather than turn.

Should the sink go under the window? It is the convention and it is a reasonable one — you spend time there, so the view and daylight are worth it. It is not a rule. Putting the hob under a window is generally avoided: extraction is harder and reaching over a hot pan to open a window is a genuine hazard.

What is the standard kitchen worktop height? 0.90 m, set by appliance dimensions rather than ergonomics — dishwashers and ovens are built to slide under it. For a taller or shorter cook, 0.95 m or 0.85 m is achievable in a bespoke kitchen, but check the appliances first.