As a general rule, an L shaped kitchen layout works in a room that passes three tests. Two adjoining walls are free to build along. The way in and out doesn’t cut through the work area. And the corner where the two runs meet can be made usable. When all three hold, the L is a sound shape to draw. When one fails, ask a designer about a peninsula or another shape before the plan is set.
A layout isn’t only a shape on paper. It fixes the cabinets, the counters and the appliance spots drawn on top of it. Picture a doorway that sends people through the work area. Or a corner nobody can reach. Or no floor left for the island you’d pictured. Those turn up after the drawings are set, and fixing them means drawing again.
An L Shaped Kitchen Layout Starts With Two Adjoining Walls
An L is two runs of cabinets that meet at a corner. One run follows one wall. The other follows the wall beside it. That leaves the other two sides of the room free, and as a general rule those free sides are where a doorway, a window, a table or an opening to the next room can sit. Nothing has to go there. That’s the point. The shape doesn’t ask for a third wall of cabinets, so the room can stay open on two sides.
The description is simple enough: cabinets along two walls that meet at a right angle. That’s how one cabinet maker’s planning page puts it, and that page also says L-shaped layouts are great for kitchens that open to a dining or living room. That’s its view, not a rule. But it lines up with what the open sides do — they let the kitchen read as part of the room next door instead of a box with a door.
Layout comes before cabinets for a plain reason. The shape of the room sets where the sink, range, refrigerator and prep counter can physically go. Draw the boxes first and you’re stuck defending them later. Our post on choosing the right kitchen layout sets the layouts side by side. This one stays on the L and tests it against your room.
Will the Sink, Range and Refrigerator Fit Across Both Runs?
Yes, when those three points form a work triangle that is neither cramped nor stretched. For planning figures, one university extension guide prefers a total of 15 to 22 feet across the three sides of that triangle. It sets a floor of 12 feet and a ceiling of 26 feet. Those are that guide’s numbers, not a rule.
That cabinet maker’s page puts the sink on one run and the stove on the other. The refrigerator can go on either run, and on the longer one if there’s a choice. Take that as a starting sketch. The plan decides, not the sketch. A window, or the length of one run, can send the refrigerator across to the other side, and the triangle has to survive the move.
Our post on where the refrigerator goes in your kitchen plan puts it at the end of a run, or in its own bay near the way in, so those trips stop short of the cook. In an L, the end of a run is worth testing first. Ask your designer to place it there, then look at what the triangle does. Then try the other run.
Where Does Foot Traffic Go Past the Corner?
Foot traffic should pass the corner, not cut through it. The way in and out needs to skirt the work triangle rather than cross it. That guide advises planning major traffic routes outside the work triangle. An L gives you somewhere to put that path, because two sides of the room stay open and free.
A doorway can undo the shape. One at the corner, or at the end of a run, can send people right between the cook and the sink. Picture a back door that opens at the end of the long run. Every trip to the garage crosses the triangle. Every bag of groceries, too. Ask your designer to draw the path from each doorway to the table, the hall and the back door, straight over the plan. You’ll see the crossings before a single cabinet exists.
The free walls do real work too. A window on an open side lets the room breathe. A table or a bench can sit there, outside the triangle, so someone can keep you company without standing in your path. That’s the quiet advantage of the two runs. They give the room somewhere to put people.
What Happens in the Corner Where the Two Runs Meet?
Left alone, it can turn into dead space. Our own layout post is blunt about it: the dead corner where the two runs meet either needs a blind-corner pull-out, a lazy Susan or a diagonal cabinet to stay usable. A plain box cabinet can leave a deep pocket that is hard to reach. In an L, it can be a hard spot to use.
So ask a different question. Not what fits in the corner, but what will live there. Pots? Mixing bowls? The stand mixer that comes out and goes back? Then ask whether a person can reach it from where they stand. A corner nobody can reach is storage in name only. Those fittings exist for a reason, and it’s on the plan that you pick one.
The wall cabinets above the corner raise the same question. Reach, again. A deep upper corner can hold things you can’t get at without a step stool. Ask your designer what goes up there, and whether the person who cooks can get it down one-handed.
Does an Island or Peninsula Fit an L Shaped Kitchen?
Maybe, when the floor allows it. That cabinet maker’s page says that if the kitchen is large enough, an island or a table can sit near the middle of the L for extra counter or seating. It also says a peninsula can be added to an L to form the third side of a U.
Then get it drawn to scale. That guide says clearance between base cabinets or appliances opposite each other should not be less than 48 inches. An island set too close to a run turns both of them into a squeeze, and you’ll feel it every time two people cook. So ask for the island or the peninsula on the plan, drawn against both runs, before anyone treats it as settled.
Design planning and custom cabinetry selection are part of what we offer under kitchen remodeling and cabinetry planning.
When Should You Look at Another Shape?
When a test fails and the plan can’t fix it. The way in cuts through the work triangle. The room has no second free wall. The two runs can’t hold the three work points inside the triangle. Or the cook wants a third wall of cabinets. That page notes a peninsula can close the open side into a U.
Shape follows the room. A narrow room with two facing walls is a different animal. A room with three free walls may suit a U. Neither of those is a call to settle from memory, and neither is one to settle from a drawing you’ve made at the kitchen table. Bring the floor plan to a designer and let someone test the shape against the room and the way you cook.
Frequently Asked Questions About L-Shaped Kitchens
Can an L-shaped kitchen open to the dining room?
That cabinet maker’s page says L-shaped layouts are great for kitchens that open to a dining or living room. The two free sides are what make that possible. What’s left to settle is where the edge of the work area falls. Ask your designer to mark that edge on the plan, so the table sits outside the triangle instead of on its edge. A chair pulled out shouldn’t block the cook.
Where does the refrigerator go in an L-shaped kitchen?
That page puts it on either run, and on the longer one if there’s a choice. Our own refrigerator post puts it at the end of a run, or in its own bay near the way in, so those trips stop short of the cook. Both are starting points, not answers. Ask your designer to test the door swing and the landing counter on the plan before the spot is fixed.
Can the sink and the range sit on the same run?
They can, on some plans. But then the triangle leans on its third point, the refrigerator, to keep any shape at all. That guide defines the work triangle as the lines joining the center fronts of the refrigerator, the sink and the range or cooktop. Ask your designer to draw those three lines on the plan and look at what comes back. A flat, stretched triangle is a sign you’re not done.
Is an L-shaped kitchen a fit if the walls stay where they are?
It can be. With the walls and doorways staying put, the first test is whether two adjoining walls are free for cabinets. The second is whether the doorways leave a path that skirts the work area. If a doorway lands right on the corner, ask your designer about moving it, or about a different shape for the room. That’s a question for the plan, not for a hopeful guess.
Will Kitchen Design Partners help me decide on the layout?
Design planning and custom cabinetry selection are among the services we offer. The first step is to contact us to schedule an appointment. We’ll discuss your needs, tour our showroom and start developing a customized design plan. That visit includes the showroom, where you can explore different kitchen layouts and materials in person rather than on a screen.
Test the L Against Your Room Before the Plan Is Set
Kitchen Design Partners specializes in kitchen and bath design, remodeling, custom and semi-custom cabinetry, countertops and tile, and guides each choice in the right order.
The layout sets where the cabinets and counters land, and where each appliance goes, so it’s worth testing the L while the drawings are still open. Once the cabinets are drawn, the shape has already settled a lot of things.
That order is the whole idea behind Kitchen Design Partners’ design process.
Bring what you have. A floor plan works, and so do photos of the room with the wall lengths and doorway spots you know. Then schedule a design consultation to test an L shaped kitchen layout against your room before the cabinets are drawn. You can also see different kitchen layouts, styles and materials in person at our Northbrook showroom.