Developed in the early 20th century, the kitchen triangle has become a staple in many of our kitchens. In fact what we know, love + have come to accept as being good kitchen design is anchored around this humble 3-sided geometrical shape better known as –– the kitchen triangle. 

While over here at the ES Headquarters we eat, sleep + breathe good design, maybe the kitchen triangle is something you’ve never noticed before. Or if, like us, you’re obsessed with maximizing efficiency, maybe you're somewhat familiar with the concept. In either instance, the kitchen triangle reigns prominent.

But, why? 

And, because we’re always challenging the way we think about home, is there a better way to design a kitchen that's beautiful functional + efficient without using the kitchen triangle as a baseline?

Spoiler alert: the answer is hell, yeah there is! So let’s dust off the ol’ apron + dig in, shall we?

What Is The Kitchen Triangle

For starters, the kitchen triangle is intended to make working in the kitchen more efficient by minimizing wasted space + movement between the 3 main work areas. More specifically –– the cooktop, sink, and refrigerator.  

In addition to the location of these appliances forming a triangle, each should be between three + nine feet apart where the total distance between all three is no less than 13 feet + no more than 26 feet. Pretty specific huh? 

Heck, the last thing you want is a kitchen triangle where everything feels spread out + too far apart or even worse a kitchen that’s the opposite + is too cramped. 

Where the efficiency of having a prep sink is thrown off because it’s literally on the other side of the kitchen + you have to walk across the entire kitchen in order to use the stovetop or store it in the fridge. 

Even worse is having a kitchen that feels overly cumbersome where the dishwasher is next to the sink but directly behind you is the oven which means that in a busy kitchen you’re rubbing shoulders + bumping into one another if you try to take the cookies out of the oven while someone else is unloading the dishwasher. Yikes!

While it’s likely, your kitchen was designed with the kitchen triangle, also known as the golden triangle, in mind. I’m also willing to bet that when more than one cook is in the kitchen — there’s some semblance of the crazy routine outlined above.

Am I right?

The Kitchen Triangle’s Prominence Today

Home to gourmet luxuries like pot fillers, prep sinks + motion sensor cabinetry lighting –– residential kitchens, as we know it today, have come a long way since the creation of the kitchen triangle.

Before the early 1930s-1940s, homes were built and sold time + time again having nothing more than a kitchen sink to wash dishes, a stove to cook food and a cabinet for storing dinnerware. Isn’t that crazy to think?

Well by the mid-1950s the kitchen triangle ruled kitchen design + it still does today. 

So, why is the kitchen triangle so prominent?

Who The Kitchen Triangle Was Designed For 

Anchored around the idea that kitchens were intended to be used by a single person, the kitchen triangle was developed during an era when most women were doing all the kitchen house chores. When one person was doing all the peeling, chopping, cooking + typically boo, they were doing it alone.

So, it makes perfect sense to have a kitchen designed with such rigid requirements. But in case you haven’t noticed, things have changed quite a bit since the mid-twentieth century. Families have evolved + so should the way we think about designing kitchens.

Why The Kitchen Triangle Is Dead — sort of.

Functionally speaking –– there are several reasons why the kitchen triangle is dead. 

FIRST

Let’s be real, for a majority of families today there’s more than one person moving about the kitchen on a regular basis. So how could a kitchen that’s designed entirely for the sole use of one individual function for an entire family? 

Truth bomb: It can’t.

SECOND

More + more families are having fun in the kitchen, making meals together which means that not only does more than one person use the kitchen but they’re using the kitchen at the same time. Creating a layout designed for the efficient flow of foot traffic with one person in mind doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

THIRD

Kitchens are often larger today than they’ve ever been in history which means the rigidity of the kitchen triangle requirements simply doesn’t work for some spaces.

FOURTH

And with more women working today (atta girl *wink*) than in the mid-twentieth century it simply makes the most sense to revisit how we layout a kitchen space to ensure it works for everyone.

If this sounds familiar, could the kitchen triangle still work for you? Absolutely! That said, there’s a better solution than driving the layout + design of your kitchen around a concept that’s built for a single person. 

So, what’s that better solution?

Kitchen Zoning Is What We Use Instead

At Elegant Simplicity, we think about space differently. We design spaces around a more evolved kitchen triangle than the one more commonly known. Instead of focusing simply on a few defined work areas –– the sink, stove + refrigerator –– we look at the entire kitchen by way of activity zones. 

Truth be told, we really look at your entire home this way, but when it comes to the kitchen we want to give some serious thought to how you actually use it, the activities that take place + how life actually unfolds in this area of your home. This way my friend, we’re making decisions about kitchen layout that are derived from the activity zones that best accommodate you, your family + YOUR everyday needs.

Ideally, these activity zones are self-contained spaces where there’s a space for everything you need + everything you could possibly need is at your fingertips. For instance, here are a few principles that we incorporate when designing or remodeling a new kitchen:

1. A food storage zone. Ideally, all dry goods should be stored in a walk-in pantry close to the refrigerator or a full-height cabinet right next to the fridge. This way, when you’re unloading groceries from the store or pulling things out to cook with, you’re operating in one specific space.

2. A baking station should have everything you could possibly want or need. From mixing bowls + measuring cups to special utensils, silicone baking mats, decorative sprinkles + your KitchenAid mixer. Everything that lives in your baking station should make it easy for you to fully engage in the activity of baking.

3. A beverage station — not only will your glasses + mugs live here but so does the espresso machine, coffee grinder + coffee. It has an electric tea kettle, tea bags + absolutely anything else you need to enjoy loose leaf tea.

4. A food prep station should include easy access to things like compost, recycling, trash, or even whisper-quiet garbage disposal. Ideally, it also has things like knives, peelers, etc. for slicing + dicing food. Space permitting, it should be large enough for more than one person to work 

5. If possible, the prep station isn’t on the same wall as upper cabinets as it can make it unpleasant to complete a lot of prep work for cooking looking at a cabinet door #WompWomp. Instead, an island or peninsula is an excellent space for prep work.

6. Fairly common but not always the case, a dishwasher should accompany the main sink + be out of the way of any main prep areas.

7. One really important thing to ensure is that every appliance should have extra space to set things down like pots, pans, heavy dishware, etc.

As interior designers + professional organizers, we create beautiful spaces but we champion the belief that the functionality of a space, specifically a kitchen, always precedes the aesthetics. So when it comes to your kitchen, our goal in designing is to really invest a ton of time in truly understanding how your family lives, what activities take place for you in the kitchen + then design to make those moments better. 

Though the kitchen triangle may absolutely work for you, we say the kitchen triangle is dead because each kitchen should be designed with immense thought + care in how it can be best used. While no one likes an inefficient space, we don’t believe in simply dropping a layout that hopefully maximizes efficiency when your family uses it.

So, if you’re thinking of embarking on a kitchen renovation of your own, don’t get caught up in the geometry of it –– instead, let’s chat. 

And if you liked this, you’ll absolutely love our 4 Day Video Course.