Kitchen Layout Mistakes: The Ten That Get Built Anyway, and What They Cost to Live With

1. The island in a galley. A 36 in. aisle each side of the island because the room is 11 ft wide and the island was non-negotiable. The dishwasher door blocks the aisle; two people cannot pass; the fridge door hits the island. On paper: a peninsula or a work table, free. After: a smaller island, $3,000 and a new counter. The island page is the arithmetic.
2. The fridge at the far end of the kitchen, away from the entry, so every drink and snack means walking through the work zone, and the person cooking is in the way of the person getting milk. The fridge goes nearest the door the family comes in through, at the end of a run, with 15 in. of counter beside it on the handle side. On paper: swap the fridge and the pantry. After: a tall cabinet moved, the electrical moved, $1,500 and a filler.
3. The dishwasher on the wrong side of the sink. Right-handed people rinse with the right hand and load to the left. More to the point, the dishwasher goes on the side away from the corner and away from the range, so its open door does not block the drawer you need or the oven. Within 36 in. of the sink, and never across an aisle from it. On paper: free. After: new sink base cabinet and a plumber, $1,200.
4. The corner that eats two cabinets. A base cabinet on each wall running right into the inside corner, so the two doors collide and the space behind is reachable by nobody. The fix is a corner cabinet (lazy susan or blind corner pull-out), or a 3 in. filler on each side so the doors clear, or, best, a plan that puts the range or the dishwasher at the corner with a filler. On paper: $150 for the filler or $600 for the pull-out. After: a cabinet pulled and reordered, $800 and three weeks. The storage page has the corner options.
5. The range under the window. No hood can go there, so it is a downdraft that does not work or a recirculating hood that does not work, and grease on the window. The range goes on a wall with the duct going up or straight out. On paper: free. After: a gas line and a duct moved, $1,500 to $3,000.
6. The door that hits the fridge. The fridge door, the oven door, the dishwasher door, the pantry door and the room’s own door, each drawn closed and never drawn open. A fridge against a wall with the hinge on the wall side will not open past 90 degrees and the crisper will not come out. A room door that swings into the fridge is a dent. Draw every door open on the plan; the measuring page says the same. On paper: free. After: the fridge hinge reversed if it can be, or a different fridge.
7. Uppers that go nowhere. A 12 in. upper over the fridge with the fridge sticking out 6 in. past it, or uppers stopped 6 in. short of the ceiling with a dust shelf on top, or an upper so high over the counter that the shelf is at 72 in. The fridge upper is 24 in. deep so the panels line up; the uppers go to the ceiling or to a proper crown; the bottom of the uppers is 18 in. above the counter, and 15 for a short household. On paper: $300 for the deep fridge cabinet. After: a new cabinet and a reinstall, $800.
8. The microwave at head height. An over-the-range microwave at 66 in. to its bottom edge, which means lifting a hot bowl of soup down past your face, and a “hood” that moves 300 cfm through a grease filter the size of a postcard. The microwave goes in a base drawer ($900 to $1,500 for a drawer microwave) or a cabinet at counter level, and the range gets a real hood. On paper: the cost difference between the two appliances. After: a cabinet reworked and an electrician, $1,200.
9. No landing counter where it is needed. 15 in. beside the fridge handle, 12 in. one side of the range and 15 the other, 18 in. one side of the sink and 24 the other, 15 in. beside a wall oven or at least across from it within 48 in. The kitchen without them has the groceries on the floor and the roast on the stovetop. On paper: moving a tall cabinet 15 in. After: living with it.
10. The pantry that is a closet. A 24 in. deep pantry with fixed shelves, where the back 12 in. is where food goes to expire. Roll-outs below eye level and 12 in. deep shelves above, or a 12 in. deep cabinet in the first place, which holds nearly as much and shows all of it. On paper: $500 for the roll-outs. After: $750 to retrofit them, which is still worth it.

The three that are not on the list but should be checked

• The work triangle, which everyone has heard of: sink, range and fridge, 4 to 9 ft between each pair, total 13 to 26 ft, with nothing crossing it. It is an old rule and it still works. A kitchen that fails it has the fridge across the room from the sink and counter, and that is the second mistake above.
• Lighting. Not a layout mistake, but drawn at the same time: a light over the sink, under-cabinet lights on the work counters, and nothing that puts the cook’s shadow on the cutting board. Decided before the electrician roughs in, which is before the drywall. The order of work has the date.
• The trash. A pull-out beside the sink, not across the room. It is the most-opened cabinet in the kitchen and in a surprising number of drawings it is not on the plan at all.

How to check a drawing in ten minutes

Take the shop’s drawing and a pencil. Draw every door and drawer open. Write 42 in every aisle and see if it fits. Walk the groceries from the door to the fridge to the counter. Walk a dirty plate from the table to the sink to the dishwasher. Stand at the range and see where the hood is and where the pan goes down. Count the landing counters. Find the trash. If any of those stops you, it is a change on the drawing, and the shop will make it for nothing, this week, before the order goes in. The same ten minutes after install is a change order with a number on it, and the contract checklist explains why that number is bigger than it looks.