Key dimensions for Kitchens

Kitchen aisles/walkthroughs

These should be around 1100 mm wide. They can be a little wider but don’t make them too wide- it’s too hard to move from one area to another, especially when carrying a hot pan.

Kitchen islands

The height of this depends on what you are going to be doing. For kitchen preparation areas, the height should be 950mm high. For seated areas , around 750mm high is great. For the width make it at least 1000 wide.

Kitchen lighting

Ensure key areas have adequate lighting. I always suggest making sure that you have some recessed ceiling lights that are dimmable in key areas. Nothing worse than not being able to see what you are doing. Soft LED strip lighting underneath cupboards can be great too. For pendant lighting above the kitchen area, make sure that the base of the light is around 900mm above the surface. If the ceiling is extra high, you may have to raise the height of the pendant around 80mm. Rule of thumb, for every 30cm, we raise the light around 80mm.

Kitchen counters

This doesn’t look too bad a first glance, but hate that the range sticks out beyond the cupboards. It looks like this kitchen is large…why not widen the cabinet next to the range?

Ensure that the counters line up especially if you have deep cabinets that incorporate fridges and ovens. If they are standard widths , awkward angles are created and this can look terrible.

SPACE BETWEEN DINERS

Allow 600mm between diners to comfortably accomodate movement.

Leg Room

If your bench is 750 millimetres high (regular table height), 450 millimetres of legroom would be advisable to create enough room for someone to be comfortable on a standard chair.

You will need to consider the weight of the material that will need to be supported for an overhang. A heavy material, such as concrete or stone, will require extra support underneath if there is a significant overhang.

If your island benchtop is all the same level as the countertop height, 300-400 mm of legroom will be enough. If you have an 1100 mm servery benchtop, 300 mm of legroom will suffice. You can also go narrower if your seating has heel or footrests, around 200mm may be enough.

Remember that the narrower the benchtop, the more consideration you need for the chairs that you use. Consider the tasks that you will need to complete there and the seating you are choosing in order to use this space optimally.