Problem
Cooking is uncomfortable if the kitchen counter is too short and also if it is too long.
Solution
To strike the balance between the kitchen which is too small, and the kitchen which is too spread out, place the stove, sink, and food storage and counter in such a way that:
- No two of the four are more than 10 feet apart.
- The total length of counter—excluding sink, stove, and refrigerator—is at least 12 feet.
- No one section of the counter is less than 4 feet long.
There is no need for the counter to be continuous or entirely “built-in” as it is in many modern kitchens—it can even consist of free-standing tables or counter tops. Only the three functional relationships described above are critical.
Related Patterns
… within the Farmhouse Kitchen (139), or any other kind of kitchen, it is essential that the cooking area be fashioned as a workshop for the preparation of food, and not as some kind of magazine kitchen with built-in counters and decorator colors. This down-to-earth and working character of a good kitchen comes in large part from the arrangement of the stove and food and counter.
Place the most important part of the working surface in the sunlight - Sunny Counter (199); put all the kitchen tools and plates and saucepans and nonperishable food around the walls, one deep, so all of it is visible, and all of it directly open to reach - Thick Walls (197), Open Shelves (200) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 853.