The Kitchen Triangle – History, guidelines, and everything you need to know

Working in a kitchen necessitates several tasks to prepare a meal, the most obvious and common of which are cleaning, food preparation, and cooking. The idea behind the kitchen work triangle is to clearly define distinct locations for each of these basic tasks, as well as to design an optimal work area to minimize the distance and effort required to work efficiently in the kitchen.

By Peter Oreilly – drawn myself, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12696663

Consider a triangle formed by your cooktop, sink, and refrigerator. The work triangle looks like this. The kitchen working triangle will always be popular because it is designed to make meal preparation and cooking easier. It is a tried-and-true kitchen design guideline that can help you plan productive kitchen workspaces.

It dates back to the 1920s and essentially describes the imaginary lines between the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator, which are the three primary workstations in any kitchen. So, regardless of the size or shape of your space, the kitchen work triangle is all about creating the optimal layout to maximize efficiency.

Key points to remember while applying the Kitchen Triangle

  • The total length of the triangle’s three sides, measured from the center front of each appliance, should not be less than greater than 3.5 m in length or greater than 6.5 m in length
  • The work surface will be insufficient if the distance is shorter.
  • If the distance is longer, there will be too much walking, making the process slow and exhausting.
  • Avoid circulating water through the triangle, particularly between the sink and the cooker. These should be linked by a continuous worktop no longer than 1.8 m long to limit the distance between the two when carrying heavy pots filled with liquid.

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Origin of the kitchen triangle concept

The kitchen work triangle was first introduced as “circular routing” in 1929, at a women’s exposition. The concept is consistent with popular “scientific management” concepts at the time, which emphasized labor efficiency and production but were later criticized for treating people like machines.

The Illinois School of Architecture refined the concept in the 1940s, bringing it to its current form. The outdated assumptions of the work triangle theory could be problematic. Kitchens used to be primarily functional spaces where the “housewife” could prepare food.

Is the Kitchen Triangle Concept Still Applicable?

The kitchen work triangle was designed to help single cooks working in small kitchens maximize productivity by placing the most frequently used parts- cooking, food preparation, and storage next to one another and making it a great kitchen.

According to most kitchen experts, the kitchen triangle is a smart design tip and guideline, but the changing demands of modern family home design mean you don’t have to follow it rigidly. Because many households today have multiple cooks working at the same time, the three points of the triangles are more likely to be ‘working zones’ within a kitchen – particularly in larger kitchens with plenty of space.

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