Summary: A well-designed custom kitchen begins with usage flows — who cooks, how, and with whom — before defining the layout, heights, and finishes. The work triangle (sum of the three sides between 4 and 7 metres), heights adjusted to the cook's actual stature, and the breakdown into five functional zones (the Blum method) are the three pillars of serious kitchen design. A cabinetmaker who draws thoughtfully spends several hours with their client before a single line is put to paper.
Custom kitchen design is not decided by door fronts or the choice of quartz. It is decided by what you cannot see: the distance between the hob and the sink, the height of the worktop, the depth of the pan drawer, the position of the oven at shoulder height. A poorly designed kitchen remains a bad kitchen even with an American walnut front. A well-designed kitchen lets you forget it is there — you cook in it without a second thought, for twenty years.
This article goes through, point by point, what a cabinetmaker looks at when drawing a kitchen: the work triangle, the five classic layouts, normalised heights and why they are only a starting point, the zone method proposed by Blum, the technical details that change daily use, and the recurring mistakes we find when visiting clients' homes. You will come away with a framework for evaluating any kitchen project — including ours.
Why ergonomics takes precedence over style
A domestic kitchen accumulates between 1,500 and 2,000 hours of use per year: meal preparation, washing up, putting things away, the morning coffee, unpacking the shopping. It is the room in the house where gestures are repeated most often. A worktop at the wrong height causes chronic back pain. A poorly placed sink means five unnecessary steps at every peeling session. A cutlery drawer 80 cm from the hob adds a hundred extra back-and-forth trips per week.
A kitchen's style dates in ten years. Its ergonomics, however, stays with you for as long as the kitchen itself — often twenty to thirty years for a quality bespoke piece. That is why custom kitchen design always begins with a reversal: usage flows are drawn first, then the layout, then the heights, and door fronts are chosen last.
When a kitchen retailer presents a polished 3D render at the very first meeting, be cautious: the visual seduces, but serious design starts from an analysis of gestures, not a moodboard. In our workshop, we spend several hours with each client before the first line is drawn. We ask who cooks, how often, who does the washing up, where the coffee is stored, whether the children fetch their own glasses. These questions determine the entire project long before anyone mentions door fronts.
The work triangle: a classic that still holds
The work triangle is a design principle developed by the Illinois Institute of Technology in the 1940s. The idea: cooking, washing, and cold storage — hob, sink, refrigerator — form the three vertices of a triangle whose perimeter should remain between 4 and 7 metres. Below 4 metres, people get in each other's way. Above 7 metres, unnecessary steps multiply.
In practice: between the hob and the sink, the aim is 1.2 to 2.1 metres of clear worktop — enough to set down a dish rack, a chopping board, and move a saucepan without contortion. Between the sink and the fridge, 1.2 to 2.1 metres as well. Between the hob and the fridge, 1.2 to 2.7 metres: this is generally the longest side, and the one that suffers most in poorly thought-out kitchens.
The triangle remains fully relevant, but today it is enriched by a more nuanced reading. Modern kitchens incorporate secondary cooking zones (steam oven, microwave), specialist storage zones (larder, wine cabinet), and a coffee or breakfast zone that is often kept separate to free up the flow around the main meal area. A well-designed kitchen actually contains two or three interlocking sub-triangles to resolve together.
An important limitation: the work triangle assumes a single cook. If two people regularly cook at the same time, the logic shifts to one of double zones: two distinct hob-sink-worktop stations, or a washing station and a cooking station clearly separated. This is precisely why island kitchens have become the standard for high-end bespoke work: they make it possible to separate the cold and washing zone along the wall run from the hot and preparation zone on the island, while maintaining fluid circulation.
AI-generated illustrationThe five layouts: real strengths and limitations
All kitchens derive from five basic layouts. Knowing them allows you to assess quickly whether the plan you are being shown is coherent with your room.
The single-wall kitchen
All units on one wall. It suits small spaces — studio flats, lofts, 60 m² apartments — and open-plan areas where the kitchen needs to recede behind the living space. Minimum recommended length: 3 metres. Below that, the hob and sink end up side by side, and the work triangle becomes a straight line. Clear worktop space remains limited.
The galley kitchen
Two runs facing each other, separated by a corridor. Compact work triangle, excellent ergonomics. This is the preferred configuration in professional kitchens. For domestic use, allow a minimum of 1.2 metres of corridor between the two runs — 1.4 metres if two people work there simultaneously. It is also the layout that offers the most storage per square metre of floor area.
The L-shaped kitchen
Two perpendicular walls. It frees up the rest of the room and works well in open living spaces. The corner remains the technical point to handle with care: modern hardware — Blum LeMans II rotating trays, Hettich corner drawers — makes this zone far more usable than it was fifteen years ago, but it requires detailed design to avoid losing tens of litres of usable volume.
The U-shaped kitchen
Three runs. Best storage density, compact work triangle. It requires a room of at least 3 × 3 metres to avoid feeling cramped, and calls for two technical corners, each treated with care. In larger spaces, the U becomes the basis of a project that is very comfortable in daily use.
The island kitchen
The most requested configuration in high-end bespoke work. The island can house the hob (with a Bora or Falmec ceiling extractor), the sink, a worktop, or all three functions. The key rule: between the island and the wall run, allow a minimum of 1 metre of circulation, ideally 1.2 metres. Below that, you knock into things; above 1.4 metres, you cover too much distance between the two stations. For an island to be ergonomically worthwhile, the room should measure at least 3.5 × 4 metres.
Heights and dimensions: beyond the standards
The standard heights of an off-the-shelf kitchen are calibrated to a user of 1.72 metres — the European male average in the 1970s. If you are 1.60 metres or 1.90 metres tall, these standards condemn you to permanent discomfort. Custom kitchen design allows you to move precisely beyond these norms.
Worktop height: the reference formula for the peeling and chopping zone is (cook's height ÷ 2) + 5 cm. For 1.72 m, that gives 91 cm — close to the standard 90 cm. For 1.80 m, it rises to 95 cm. For 1.65 m, it drops to 87.5 cm. The cooking zone, however, benefits from being 5 to 10 cm lower than the chopping zone: you work with your arms raised over the pans, and a worktop at 95 cm with a cooking corner at 87 cm measurably relieves the shoulders over time. A serious bespoke kitchen accepts this difference in height between zones — it goes unnoticed by the eye but transforms daily use.
Height under wall units: 50 to 60 cm between the worktop and the underside of the wall unit. Below 50 cm, you knock the stand mixer every time you use it. Above 60 cm, you lose access to the upper shelves.
Extractor height: 65 cm minimum above an induction hob, 75 cm above a gas hob. For ceiling extractors above an island, 110 to 130 cm depending on the model. Too low, and the extractor overheats and you knock your head. Too high, and you lose a significant portion of the extraction capacity.
Oven at shoulder height: an oven installed with the open door axis at 90–100 cm from the floor is a comfort you will never want to give up. You load and unload without bending. The tower column with oven, steam oven, and microwave aligned at working height is one of the clearest markers of a kitchen designed for real use, rather than for photography.
Snack or bar zone: 110 to 115 cm for occasional standing use, 90 cm for standard bar stools, 75 cm if the island incorporates a proper dining area with dining chairs. Mixing these three heights on the same island is almost always a poor choice, both aesthetically and ergonomically.
AI-generated illustrationThe five-zone storage method
The Austrian hardware manufacturer Blum formalised in the 2000s a design method now found among all good cabinetmakers: breaking the kitchen down into five zones of use. It goes beyond the traditional work triangle by integrating specialist storage, which accounts for the majority of a kitchen's volume.
- Zone 1 — Provisions: tins, pasta, rice, coffee, biscuits. To be placed near the entrance so shopping can be put away without crossing the room. Ideally in a tall larder unit with deep drawers (Blum Tandembox or Legrabox).
- Zone 2 — Non-food storage: crockery, glasses, cutlery, containers, serving dishes. Between the sink and the table — this is where you set and clear. Cutlery in a drawer directly under the worktop, immediately adjacent to the dishwasher.
- Zone 3 — Washing: sink, dishwasher, recycling bin, cleaning products. An integrated bin under the sink or in the adjacent drawer is non-negotiable. Allow a minimum 60 cm sink and 60 cm of clear worktop to the right (for a right-handed person) for draining and drying.
- Zone 4 — Preparation: peeling, chopping, mixing. This is where 60 to 70% of active time in the kitchen is spent. It should offer 90 to 120 cm of clear worktop minimum, positioned between the sink and the hob, with knives, boards, food processor, and scales within easy reach.
- Zone 5 — Cooking: hob, oven, extractor, frying pans, saucepans, spices, oils. Saucepans in a deep drawer (minimum 220 mm height) below the hob, spices in a narrow drawer alongside, oils in a 150 mm pull-out adjacent.
The logical sequence of these zones in the natural direction of circulation (right to left for a right-handed person taking food from the fridge) is: Provisions → Storage → Washing → Preparation → Cooking. A well-designed kitchen follows this flow. When the fridge ends up next to the hob, this logic has not been respected — cold food and heat do not coexist without consequence.
To find out more about having a custom kitchen made in our workshop, the dedicated page details materials, finishes, and the project journey.
Lighting, ventilation, sockets: three decisions to lock in early
These technical details are rushed in off-the-shelf kitchens. They deserve genuine thought during the design phase, before the electricians and plumbers are committed.
Three-layer lighting
General ceiling lighting (recessed LED or pendants above the island), task lighting under the wall units (LED strips at a minimum of 2,700 K, ideally 3,000 K, with a CRI above 90 for accurate colour perception of food), and ambient lighting inside glazed units, under the plinths, or within the extractor. The classic mistake: a single central ceiling light that casts the cook's shadow directly onto their own worktop. For a 12 m² kitchen, allow 800 to 1,200 lumens of ceiling light, plus 600 to 900 linear lumens under the wall units.
Ventilation
An extractor ducted to the outside — recirculation is a degraded solution — with a flow rate of 400 to 600 m³/h for an enclosed kitchen, 600 to 800 m³/h for a kitchen open to the living space. The duct should be a minimum of 150 mm in diameter, running in straight lines or with 45° bends: each 90° bend loses approximately 20% of airflow. In Switzerland, SIA standards 180 and SIA 380/1 impose airtightness requirements that make mechanical ventilation compatible with the extractor essential in recent construction — a dedicated air supply or a window opener linked to the extractor must be provided to prevent any negative pressure.
Electrical sockets
Allow a minimum of 6 sockets on the main run, plus 4 on the island. Recommended height: 110 to 115 cm from the floor, i.e. 15 to 20 cm above the worktop. On the island, retractable sockets such as Evoline or integrated socket rails under the worktop. A dedicated 16 A circuit for the oven, another for the hob (or 32 A if the oven and hob share the circuit), and a third for the dishwasher. The position of every countertop appliance — food processor, coffee machine, toaster — is decided at the design stage, not after installation. This detail may seem trivial; it nonetheless determines the day-to-day practicality of a worktop.
Recurring mistakes we correct on site
On our projects and during site visits, we regularly encounter the same problems in existing kitchens. Noting them here will help you spot them in any plan.
- Fridge placed directly next to the hob without a buffer zone: the radiant heat puts the compressor under strain and accelerates its wear.
- Bin under the sink but on the opposite side from the dishwasher: you carry plates from one side to the other to rinse, sort, and load them.
- Kitchen corner fitted with a standard unit and no rotating tray or corner drawer: a blind zone of 60 to 80 litres that cannot be used.
- Oven installed low, at 45 cm from the floor: you bend down every time you put something in or take it out, and you cannot see the dish clearly. An oven at 90 cm axis height changes use entirely.
- Uniform worktop at standard height throughout, with no account taken of the main cook's actual height — and sometimes a 20 cm difference between two people who both cook regularly.
- Extractors too narrow relative to the hob: the extractor should cover at least the full width of the hob, ideally 10 cm more on each side to capture lateral vapour plumes.
These corrections are straightforward to plan on paper, and costly to fix once the kitchen is fitted. That is why our projects go through several validation stages — brief, cross-section drawings, 3D image — before any cutting begins in the workshop.
Key figures to keep in mind
The benchmarks to remember: the work triangle should remain between 4 and 7 metres; worktop height is calculated from the cook's actual stature, not an industrial standard; the preparation zone requires 90 to 120 cm of clear surface between the sink and the hob; the island demands 1 to 1.2 metres of free circulation. Lighting, ventilation, and sockets are decided before the tradespeople arrive, not after. And the design phase — analysing usage, drawing cross-sections, iterating before sign-off — is the moment when a custom kitchen truly earns its price.
Tell us about your project
At our workshop in Gingins, every kitchen begins with a conversation: who cooks, how, in which room, and with what constraints. We respond within 48 hours with a first estimate or a proposal for a site visit. Describe your project in a few lines via our contact form — or call us directly on +41 79 367 26 99, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00.
