Kitchens come in all shapes and sizes and some work better than others. The layout of a kitchen will obviously play a big role how the kitchen functions and how you cook. If you’re remodeling your kitchen you’ll most likely be limited to the physical dimensions your current kitchen has. That is, unless you want us to dust off the sledge hammers and knock a few walls down. However, if you’re doing a new construction kitchen your options are typically much more open.
Zones
Our personal favorite and, in our humble opinion, the most efficient kitchen layout. Creating designated work zones for cooking, cleaning, eating, and prep allows the kitchen to highly function and will let you have more cooks in the kitchen at once. Regardless of the shape of the kitchen, we almost always try to incorporate work zones into our kitchens.
L-Shaped
These kitchens utilize two walls of cabinetry forming an L in the corner, and typically have an island adjacent from the corner. If you like an open concept and are keen on entertaining, L-shaped kitchens might be for you. The combination of the long countertops and a large island give you plenty of room for cooking and storage.
Galley
Some refer to a Galley kitchen as a corridor kitchen, and frankly that name might be more descriptive. Whatever you care to call it, these kitchens use two straight walls fairly close together. Traffic flow is often a problem in galley kitchens because of the close quarters.
U-Shaped
A U-shaped kitchen is just an L-shaped kitchen with one more leg. By adding this extra leg you gain storage and countertop space, but you lose the open concept. One way you can remedy this is by making the third leg a peninsula instead of a wall. This gives you the best of both worlds, plenty of storage and an open concept.