The kitchen, and how we plan it.
A kitchen is a room before it is a set of cabinets. We draw the room first and the furniture second.
A kitchen is a room before it is a set of cabinets. We draw the room first and the furniture second, and we set it out again at full size on the bench before anything is machined.
The room before the furniture
We start with the fabric. Where the light comes from, which door you carry groceries through, whether the table has to sit in the room or can go next door, how far the floor falls across twenty feet. In an old house it usually falls three quarters of an inch to an inch and a half, and that has to be known before a plinth is cut.
Then we draw where a person stands. A kitchen is planned around four standing positions: the sink, the cooktop, the prep run and the cold store. Everything else in the room is storage, and storage can go almost anywhere.
We survey the room ourselves. Drawings are worked up in SolidWorks and SketchUp, then set out again at full size as 1:1 rods, pinned above the bench while the parts are machined.
Runs, heights and clearances
The default countertop height is 36 inches from finished floor. We set it anywhere between 34 and 38 inches to suit whoever actually cooks. Two heights in one kitchen is normal and costs nothing extra: a two-and-a-half-inch drop on the pastry end of an island suits most people who make bread.
Between opposing runs we want 43 inches clear, and 47 inches where two people work at once or where two appliance doors face each other. At 36 inches a dishwasher door stops the room. Below that it is not a galley, it is a corridor with cupboards in it.
A sink run of ten to twelve feet sits comfortably in most rooms. Past about sixteen feet an unbroken run reads as a wall of doors, so we break it with a tall housing, a dresser or a change of countertop. Base carcasses are 23 inches deep with the face frame forward of that and a 25-inch countertop. Tall housings are 24 inches deep, usually 90 inches high. Wall cabinets sit 20 inches clear above the countertop.
Islands
An island wants 39 inches clear on every side as an absolute minimum and 47 inches to work properly. Anything smaller than about six feet by three gives back less than the floor it takes. At eight feet by three and a half you can put a sink at one end and two stools at the other.
Forty-three inches is about the reach limit from one side, so a deeper island has a dead middle. Past twelve feet long, plan it as two zones rather than one. Seating overhang is twelve inches minimum for knees and fourteen to sit properly, with two feet of width allowed per stool.
Islands take services. Waste, water, power and sometimes gas all have to be in the floor before the slab goes down, which means the island position is fixed early. A cooktop on the island means ventilation over it, and that decision sets the ceiling detail for the whole room.
Appliances and ventilation
A range housing is drawn around the specific appliance, from its own dimensioned sheet, with the clearances the manufacturer requires. We do not build a generic opening and trim it on site.
Ventilation sits 24 inches above an induction cooktop and 26 to 30 inches above gas. Ducted out is better than recirculating, and the duct run and its route through the structure are drawn at design stage, not found later above a ceiling.
Integrated refrigerator and freezer columns are 24 inches deep and need ventilation front and back. Wine cabinets, instant-hot faucets, fireclay and apron-front sinks all have their own service requirements. The dishwasher goes within three feet of the sink, and the trash and recycling go in the same run.
Seating and light
If the room will take a table, seat people at the table. Island seating is second best for eating and first best for talking to the cook. Allow 43 inches behind a dining chair to pass comfortably, 32 at a squeeze.
Light is three layers. Task light on the front edge of the shelf above every working surface, general light for the room, and something low and warm for the end of the evening. A single grid of recessed cans puts you in your own shadow at the sink.
Outlets, switches and light positions are drawn on the elevations and agreed before rough-in.
Which range suits the room
The Suffolk is the in-frame (inset, in American terms) painted kitchen and the one we make most. The Essex adds carved and molded detail where the house asks for it, usually in a period room with moldings already in it. The Scandi is handleless solid timber, oiled, and suits a plainer building. The Kensington is sprayed and veneered with book-matched fronts, and reads better in an apartment than in a farmhouse. The Farmhouse is built around the range and the sink; the Norfolk sets painted color against unpainted oak; and Freestanding is furniture rather than a fitted run.
One room can hold two of them. A painted perimeter with an oak island is a common answer, and both are made on the same benches.
Tell us about the room.
Where the house is, roughly when you would like to be cooking in it, and what you have in mind. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it.
Make an inquiry