1)     A kitchen work triangle

a)     shall point from 1 linear foot interior to the centerlines or handles of all 3 components – stovetop, refrigerator, primary sink

b)     shall not intersect an active travel pattern

c)      shall, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association have –

i)       no leg in the triangle

(1)  less than 4LF

(2)  greater than 9LF

(3)  total of the three legs not greater than 26LF

ii)     work aisle at 48LI true width

iii)   passage aisle at 36LI true width

d)     additionally shall have –

i)       at least 1 microwave close to the refrigerator

ii)     the refrigerator nearest to community space

iii)   the major prep area

(1)  not obstructing the triangle

(2)  not pinned in tight by it and countertop

Kitchen Work Triangle, Plan View, Partial

Key to abbreviations: ABV=ABoVe; C/C=Counter ABV Cabinet; CLG=CeiLinG; DW=DishWasher; EXT=EXTerior; KSK=Kitchen Sink; LP=Load Point; MT=Masonry Tile; NGT=Not Greater Than; OFFL=Over Finish Floor Level; PRM=PeRiMeter; R&S=Racks & Storage; R/F=Refrigerator/Freezer; VERT=VERTical

Comment:  This last point about pinning involves matters of the inconvenience of obstruction in functional access to materials and safety of getting to close to prep activity, especially unannounced.

Comment:  Such intersection the AG finds is the most common failure in triangle layout, surely inconvenient, and, potentially, tragic.

Comment: The kitchen triangle’s place orders the relationship of major activity centers so the cook doesn’t do more walking than cooking and does it safely, conveniently . 

Indeed, the primary path to good kitchen design in the AG’s opinion is to carefully layout out the natural progression of work flow, respecting triangulation and distances between proximate activity centers. 

Nevertheless, however one arranges work centers and the paths between them; thou shalt never obstruct that path with an active travel pattern or anything else.

Natural progression?  Food and dry goods supply to long-, intermediate-, and short-term storage including cold hold to food prep to cooking to staging including warm hold to presentation and return to recycling and cleanup.  No path crossing one up and one down from wherever you are in the food preparation cycle.

e)     shall not be obstructed as by

i)       an island or

ii)     peninsula or

iii)   pantry or

iv)   desk or

v)     anything else

f)       may be, non-preferentially, compromised by a second sink’s substitution for a leg (like showing remorse after getting caught)

i)       Leg 1 = refrigerator to sink

ii)     Leg 2 = refrigerator to stovetop

iii)   Leg 3 = stovetop to sink

Comment:  The AG knows 2 things about this standard as stated. 

1. Other standards don’t give away that foot forward as does this one and the AG asks, “Then where do you stand in front of your kitchen appliances?”

2. If you don’t follow these rules, especially c., you’re in for a lot of inconvenience and safety troubles both short-term and long-term.  The illustration immediately above supports these kitchen triangle design specifications.

2)     A utility electric receptacle 

a)     shall not be placed flat to a counter in a kitchen counter area, peninsula, or island

b)     shall not be placed below countertop level, as on the side of a counter, peninsula, or island

Can you see the built-in misery in the making? . . .

c)      except a utility receptacle 

i)       may be placed in the parting wall of a two-tier counter, peninsula, or island

(1)  if set flush to that wall and

(2)  if protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter

d)     shall be spaced at not less than code in a kitchen to include depth of sidewalls and not just backwalls

Comment:  The AG knows that this receptacle limitation is off the National Electrical Code reservation, wherein below-counter receptacle placement may be made more permissively than the old boy’ll let happen on his watch.  Too bad for the folks who follow the code; a child playing in the kitchen may not be really familiar with that code and its implications and so, maybe too, for the adults thereabouts.  This is about painfully, even deadly serious safety concerns.