The numbers behind the plan notes
As you draw, the Worth a look list (in My plan, under Measurements and tips) points out what the NKBA kitchen planning guidelines flag. Here is each check, the number it uses and how the plan measures it.
Counter beside the sink, the range, the refrigerator and the oven
Landing space is the counter you set things down on. The plan measures it along the run: the base cabinets and counter-height appliances that touch the piece, one after the other, until a gap, a tall cabinet, a range or the end of the run.
About 24 in of counter on one side and 18 in on the other, room to stack dishes and to prep.
At least 15 in on one side and 12 in on the other to set pans down. A tall cabinet right beside it is noted too.
15 in next to it, on its handle side if you can, makes unloading easier. Refrigerator drawers sit under the counter and need none.
15 in next to it, or a counter or island no more than 48 in across from it, to set hot dishes down. The same goes for an oven or a microwave in a tall cabinet.
The work triangle
The three legs between the sink, the cooking surface and the refrigerator, each measured from the center of the piece's front, the way NKBA measures it.
- Each leg from 4 to 9 ft.
- The three legs together 26 ft or less.
- A one-wall kitchen has no triangle: when the sink, the range and the refrigerator stand along one wall, the plan does not ask for one.
- The refrigerator in the triangle is the full-height one, or the fridge surround; refrigerator drawers under the counter do not count.
Aisles and walkways
Room to work and to pass, measured between the cabinet fronts.
Between two runs that face each other, as in a galley: 42 in for one cook, 48 in when two people cook.
From the island to the runs around it, so the doors, the dishwasher and the people working all fit.
The dishwasher
Beside the sink
The plan suggests the dishwasher right beside the sink, where the dishes come from. NKBA allows up to 36 in from the edge of the sink.
21 in of standing room
Leave about 21 in between the dishwasher's edge and the cabinets or appliances at a right angle to it. Closer than that, its open door blocks the corner and whoever loads it. A corner cabinet is measured at its leg, 24 in out from the wall.
Seats at an island or a peninsula
The seats are the Seating pieces around an island or peninsula. An island is 24 in of cabinets, and the rest of its depth is the overhang.
About 24 in of counter for each seat. The note says how many fit.
15 in of overhang under a 36 in counter, 12 in at the least on corbels. Too little and the note suggests a deeper island, or moving the seats.
From the counter edge to the wall or another island behind the seats: 32 in to sit down and get up, 36 in for someone to edge past, 44 in to walk past.
Above the counter and at the windows
What hangs on the wall has to clear what stands below it.
- A range hood at least as wide as the range or cooktop under it; 3 in more on each side is better.
- An over-the-range microwave wants about 30 in from the cooktop to the cabinet above it: use a 12 to 18 in over-range cabinet there. A pot filler goes under a hood, not a microwave.
- A wall cabinet over a refrigerator starts above its top: 70 in from the floor for a freestanding refrigerator, 84 in for a built-in or a column.
- The faucet at the sink has room under the wall cabinet above it to lift the spray head and swing the handle.
- No range under a window, and no wall cabinet, tall cabinet or refrigerator in front of one.
What the notes are, and are not
Guidelines, not code
Your local building code, the appliance maker's installation instructions and the cabinet maker's specifications come first. The notes help you plan; they do not approve a plan.
Sizes stay the maker's
Cabinet and appliance sizes come from the catalog and the manufacturer, and a note never changes them. It only says what to look at.
Nothing is blocked
A note is there to look at. Design around it, or keep the layout if it is right for the room and the people who cook in it.
Checked before each release
Every starter kitchen, and Design it for me in ordinary room sizes, is checked against these numbers in the test suite before a release.
NKBA is a trademark of the National Kitchen & Bath Association. OpalSketch is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NKBA; the numbers here follow its published kitchen planning guidelines as OpalSketch reads them.
Try it on your own room
Open the designer, start from a layout or draw your room, and watch the Worth a look list as you place the pieces. No sign-up needed to try it.