In many homes, the kitchen is the most important room, the place where the family congregates, talks, eats and more. When considering a kitchen remodel, choosing between marble countertops or granite shouldn’t be the first decision. You should focus on a layout that will work best, as it’s crucial to consider the lifestyle of your family, how much traffic your kitchen gets, and of course, how many people are involved in the cooking of the food. Here are the pros and cons of popular kitchen layouts.
Island Kitchen Layout
This social layout is a great choice if friends are often hanging around at your place. The centerpiece is usually a large island countertop that affords plenty of space for dishes and glasses and bottles. If you have an open floor plan and a family room or dining room adjoins the kitchen, you can place the island so that it faces that room allowing you to interact with guests. Although not limited to big kitchens, this layout does require plenty of free space around the island, or else the kitchen will seem cramped.
U-Shaped Kitchen Layout
An extremely convenient layout that offers abundant work space, this layout is great if your kitchen is often crowded with friends and family or extra helpers. It’s one of the most effective layouts for cooks, and it usually spreads over three walls, making it an adequate solution for medium to large kitchens. When space is not a problem, the U-shaped layout allows you to create an effective and efficient triangle work space.
Single-Line Kitchen Layout
The ideal layout for small kitchens, the single-line layout takes up only one wall. It requires less space than any other layout type, but comes with some disadvantages as well. It limits the number of countertops and appliances you can have, and unless you place the sink and the stove at the center, you will have a distant work space. Also, since most of the time you’re with your back to the other people in the kitchen, it’s not the most social layout.
Galley Kitchen Layout
Featuring two rows instead of one, it’s a good layout for small and medium-sized kitchens, offering you basically double the space for cabinets, countertops and appliances than a single-line layout does. It’s a good choice if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. However, this layout is not generally the best if there are multiple cooks in the kitchen.
L-Shaped Kitchen Layout
Offering many of the benefits of the other layouts without requiring as much space as the U-shaped layout, this one requires two adjoining walls and leaves plenty of room for guests. It isn’t the best use of space for a large kitchen, but for a smaller space it allows you to create a work triangle that grants you quick access to the three essential kitchen activities: food preparation, cooking, and washing-up after. The main downside is that it isn’t the best layout for extra helpers in the kitchen.
Once you get the practical decisions out of the way you can focus on the fun stuff like what color cabinets or marble countertops will suit your design style.
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