Kitchen Layouts to Start From: Single Wall, L, U, Island, Peninsula

Every kitchen revolves around three points: the fridge (F), the sink (L) and the hob (C). The natural sequence of work is fridge → sink → hob, with a stretch of free worktop between one and the next: at least 60 centimetres between sink and hob, where you prepare. The three points draw the so-called work triangle: if no side exceeds 2.5–3 metres and nothing crosses it, the kitchen is comfortable. Keep in mind the fixed measurements that apply to every layout: base units 60 centimetres deep, worktop between 85 and 92 centimetres from the floor (depending on your height), wall units 50–55 centimetres above the worktop, at least 90 centimetres of clearance in front of the doors, 120 if two people use the kitchen.

In the plans below the letters F, L and C mark the three points (fridge, sink, hob); the dimensions are the recommended minimums, not those of your project, which is born from the real measurements of the room.

1. Single wall

Everything on one wall: fridge at one end, hob at the other, sink in the middle. It is the kitchen for narrow rooms and for spaces open to the living room, where a single tidy front makes a good impression. With 3 metres you get a complete kitchen; with 4 you have room to breathe. In marble it works best with a worktop in a single slab, without joints, and with a splashback in the same material rising to the wall units.

2. L-shaped

Two walls meeting at a corner: the hob on one, the sink on the other or vice versa, the fridge at the end of the longer arm. It makes use of the corner, leaves the centre of the room free and suits almost every floor plan. The delicate point is the corner itself: in marble we solve it with the 45° mitred joint cut into the slab, so the veins turn the corner without interruption.

3. U-shaped

Three walls of base units: the kitchen of those who really cook, with plenty of worktop and plenty of storage. It needs a room at least 2.4 metres wide so that 120 centimetres remain between the two arms. Here the marble runs on three sides: the worktop is drawn slab by slab so that the veins chase each other from one wall to the next.

4. Galley, two parallel runs

Two fronts facing each other with an aisle between them: the kitchen of through-rooms and of many city homes. Put the sink and the hob on the same side (the wet side) and the fridge and larder on the other. The aisle must never be less than 120 centimetres, otherwise two open doors touch.

5. With island

One wall of base units and, in the centre, the island: the queen of marble kitchens, because a block in solid stone or in waterfall slabs is an object you look at from every side. It needs space: at least 90 centimetres free all around, better 120 where you pass with chairs, so a room from 3.6 metres upwards. The island can hold the hob (a ceiling hood is needed), the sink (drains in the floor are needed) or just the worktop with a stool: the simplest choice and often the most beautiful.

6. With peninsula

It is the L-shaped kitchen that stretches towards the living room with a counter attached to the base units: it gives almost everything the island gives, but with less space and no services in the floor. In marble, the cantilevered peninsula with a waterfall edge is the most direct way to bring the stone into the living area.

Once the layout is chosen, the rest is a conversation: the doors (here we explain doors, Blum hinges and finishes), the marble (in the marble pages), the appliances, the light. Send us the plan of the room with its measurements, even hand-drawn, or a photograph: our technical office turns it into a three-dimensional design with the layout that suits you, the marble worktop and the doors in place, and tells you what it costs. The quotation is free; in Lazio the site survey is free as well. If you would rather see the units one by one, they are all on one page.