The essentials in 1 minute
- The shape of the layout follows the width of the room, not your taste.
- A U-shape needs around 240 cm of clear width, so that two people can pass each other.
- A full island only becomes realistic from around 400 cm of room width, as circulation must stay all round.
- Below 15 m² it becomes a peninsula or an L with a breakfast bar, not a forced full island.
- The L-shape makes sense from about 9 m² and is the most flexible shape, with no critical cross-dimension.
Rusi KolevArchitect & Founder
Real Estate Economist (ebs)
Questions in this guide 13
- What decides the layout: one measurement, not five styles
- Single-line and galley: up to 240 cm of room width
- L-shape: from 9 m², the most flexible shape
- Planning a kitchen: U-shape from 240 cm of clear room width
- Peninsula or full island: from 12 and from 15 m²
- The mistake almost everyone makes: the shape before the measurement
- What it costs
- How we do it at Kolev
- Frequently asked questions
- Next step: the first consultation
What decides the layout: one measurement, not five styles
A kitchen layout is the arrangement of the runs within the room, and for that there is no binding standard in Germany: DIN 18022 was withdrawn in 2007, with no successor, and the standard dimensions in brochures are planning recommendations from the AMK (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Die Moderne Küche), not a rule. Anyone searching for “how to plan a kitchen layout” finds style galleries with five shapes and a few loose minimum areas, but rarely the one measurement that decides it. Two measured numbers decide the shape: the clear room width and the walkway in front of each run. For one person 100 cm is enough. Where two people pass each other or the oven and dishwasher stand open, you need 120 cm. The rest is arithmetic with 60 cm deep runs.
| Layout | Makes sense from | Critical measurement (clear width) | Walkway | Island possible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-line | approx. 5 m² | Run length 240 to 360 cm, no facing run needed | 100 cm in front of the run, 120 cm with an appliance open | no |
| Galley | approx. 7 m² | Room width from 220 cm (60 + 100 + 60), comfortable at 240 cm | 100 to 120 cm between the runs | no |
| L-shape | approx. 9 m², comfortable at 12 m² | two adjoining walls, no cross-dimension | 100 cm in front of each run | yes, from 15 m² and 400 cm width |
| U-shape | approx. 12 m² | clear width approx. 240 cm (60 + 120 + 60) | 120 cm between the legs | no, the U is the circulation |
| Peninsula | approx. 12 m² | one end at a run or wall, one end free | 100 cm, better 120 cm on the free side | the peninsula replaces the island |
| Full island | approx. 15 m², comfortable at 18 to 20 m² | room width approx. 400 cm (60 + 120 + 100 + 120) | 100 cm all round, 120 cm for comfort | yes |
The work triangle between sink, hob and fridge serves as the cross-check: the sum of the three legs at most around 7.9 m, a single leg 1.2 to 2.7 m (NKBA), ideally around 1.5 m. If you are planning the kitchen layout and one leg grows beyond 2.7 m, it is usually the shape that is wrong for the room, not the appliance position.
Single-line and galley: up to 240 cm of room width
A single-line kitchen works from about 5 m² with a run length of 240 to 360 cm and needs no second surface opposite, only 100 cm of clear walkway. The galley kitchen starts from about 7 m² and is purely a question of width: 60 cm run, 100 cm walkway, 60 cm run give 220 cm of clear width as the minimum, and with a 120 cm walkway it becomes 240 cm. Below 220 cm there is no 100 cm walkway left between two 60 cm deep runs, however long the room is. Then it stays a single line. With two runs the water and power are on two walls, which is why the layout comes before the electrical and plumbing plan, not after it.
L-shape: from 9 m², the most flexible shape
An L-shaped kitchen occupies two adjoining walls, makes sense from about 9 m² and is comfortable from around 12 m². It has no critical cross-dimension, because the second surface sits around the corner rather than opposite. That makes it the most flexible of the six shapes: it fits almost any rectangular room, leaves one wall free for a dining table or a window, and at 15 m² and 400 cm of room width takes an island as the facing element. Its weak point is the corner, and with us that is either planned out or built as its own carcass, not as a carousel: kitchen corner cabinet solutions. Below 15 m², an L with an attached breakfast bar is the honest alternative to an island: the same seats, one walkway instead of two.
Planning a kitchen: U-shape from 240 cm of clear room width
A U-shape needs at least around 240 cm of clear room width, calculated as two runs of 60 cm each with a 120 cm walkway between them, so that two people can pass each other or a dishwasher can stand open. At 220 cm you are left with a 100 cm walkway, which is enough for one person, not for two on the same evening. The U makes sense from about 12 m². It has two corners instead of one, so two places where a catalogue corner unit eats up floor area. In return the U-shape replaces the island: it provides circulation and three work zones on three walls, without needing 100 cm free all round in the middle of the room.
Peninsula or full island: from 12 and from 15 m²
A full island becomes realistic from about 15 m² and around 400 cm of room width, because 100 cm of circulation has to stay all round, better 120 cm: 60 cm run, 120 cm walkway, 100 cm island, 120 cm walkway. The arithmetic minimum is 340 cm with an 80 cm deep island and 100 cm on both sides; the island becomes comfortable from 18 to 20 m². The island is therefore a question of circulation, not of floor area. The peninsula starts from about 12 m²: one end sits at the run or at the wall, the other is open to walk around, and so one of the two walkways falls away. For both, the same holds: water, waste and 400 V for the hob run in the floor and are fixed once the screed is down. The extracted air from a downdraught extractor (a hob extractor) runs, on a peninsula, along the wall through the roughly 10 cm plinth void, and only on a free-standing full island does it run in the floor before the screed or become recirculation with a plasma filter. Dimensions, connections and limits in detail: planning a kitchen island.
The mistake almost everyone makes: the shape before the measurement
The commonest mistake with a kitchen layout is to set down the desired shape from the gallery and then work the room until the walkway drops below 100 cm. That works in the rendering and fails at the first open dishwasher. The second mistake is the order: screed and tiles first, then the layout. After that every island position is a question of breaking up the floor and delay. What moving a connection costs is set out in the article on the electrical plan. If you want to work through the whole order once: 12 Kitchen-Buying Mistakes guide.
What it costs
At Kolev the layout is part of the planning, not a separate line item: a kitchen starts from €14,999 incl. VAT, including planning, delivery and installation, and the two or three layout variants in the video offer are included in that. Whether an island costs more than the same run length against the wall depends above all on the worktop and the floor connections. The final connection of water and power is in every case done by the registered specialist contractor. We prepare it.
How we do it at Kolev
With us the layout begins with the 3D site survey, not with the choice of shape: walls, angles, windows, doors and existing connections are measured, and only from that does it follow which two or three shapes the room will carry. These variants stand side by side in the video offer, with the walkway dimensions drawn in. Because every carcass is drawn individually in our Manufaktur (our own production facility), the runs end with 3 to 5 mm of clearance to the wall, with no cover panel, and a run length of 312 cm costs nothing extra on the workshop drawing: no standard forces us into a catalogue grid. We state the limit before the planning, not after it: below 15 m² we do not force a full island, and then it becomes a peninsula or an L with a breakfast bar.
Frequently asked questions
How wide does the walkway in a kitchen need to be?
100 cm in front of a run for one person, 120 cm where two people pass each other or the oven and dishwasher stand open. The same applies all round an island: 100 cm minimum, 120 cm for comfort. For a barrier-free kitchen to DIN 18040-2, the turning circle needs 150 cm.
Does a kitchen island fit in 12 m²?
A full island usually does not, because at 12 m² the 400 cm of room width for 100 cm of circulation all round rarely comes together. From 12 m² a peninsula fits, sitting with one end at a run or wall and needing only one walkway, or an L with a breakfast bar. From 15 m² and 400 cm width the full island becomes realistic.
L-shape or U-shape: when which?
The U-shape from about 12 m² and around 240 cm of clear width, so that 120 cm of walkway remains between the legs. Below that the L is the better shape: from 9 m², no cross-dimension, only one corner, one wall stays free. If you have the width and need storage in a small area, take the U; if you want a dining table or an island in the room, the L.
Is there a standard for kitchen layouts?
No. DIN 18022 for kitchens in residential building was withdrawn in 2007, with no direct successor. The dimensions in brochures are planning recommendations from the AMK; for coordinating dimensions of kitchen furniture and appliances DIN EN 1116 applies, and for barrier-free kitchens DIN 18040-2. That is why a made-to-measure run costs nothing extra with us: nothing forces catalogue widths.
Next step: the first consultation
If you would like to know which shape your room really carries, then let’s talk. In the first consultation we look at your floor plan, your wishes and your budget, directly with the architect, 45 to 60 minutes, for Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region.
And a piece of advice no kitchen studio likes to give: get three offers and compare them. We are one of them.
A real project with a site survey and workshop drawings: renovation in Frankfurt. Made to measure always also means a Maßküche.