After: Maxey had the space knocked back to the studs and addressed the water damage. She kept the location of the main components mostly the same but moved the microwave and oven elements to the left of the fridge and replaced the former slide-in range with a cooktop and stainless steel vent hood. After ditching the island, Maxey created an updated G-shaped layout with a peninsula that seats three. She took the white Shaker-style cabinets to the ceiling to maximize storage and make the kitchen appear taller. A new stainless steel French door refrigerator coordinates with the vent hood and other new appliances. The steel joins brass pendant lights, a champagne bronze faucet and polished nickel cabinet pulls for a mixed-metals look.
Rob and Martha Carlin tapped designer Jaclyn Lankiewicz to create a new look and layout for their 120-square-foot New York kitchen. White Shaker-style cabinets with some glass-front units, a marble tile backsplash and a blue-gray peninsula with beadboard paneling gave the medium-size space tons of style and personality.
Small U-shaped kitchens can be restricting, particularly if there’s no space for a table and chairs. But sometimes it’s possible to arrange the U shape so that one of the legs extends into open space (even if this means restructuring to take down a wall). While you would lose the upper cabinets, the lower cabinets could then form a highly efficient kitchen peninsula. You could add stools to make the space more sociable, and it would offer a useful platform for dining, working or socializing. Alternatively, you may put your sink or range in this area. Peninsulas can be great for open-plan spaces and offer a physical separation between the kitchen and living area, which a lot of homeowners desire.
As mentioned, one of the great advantages of a U-shaped kitchen is that having three runs of cabinetry provides ample opportunity for storage. Having said that, the two corners in a typical U-shaped kitchen take up significant floor space. So to achieve an ergonomically sound design, it’s important to select a specialist kitchen corner solution, such as a carousel or LeMans corner unit (seen here, and so called because its shape and curves are reminiscent of the famous French racetrack). These make use of the otherwise dead space within corner cabinets. Without these options, you’d lose this space or the back of your cabinets would be extremely difficult to access.
Whatever the size, a well-planned U-shaped kitchen design will ensure that only a limited number of steps are needed between cabinets and appliances. This makes the kitchen a much safer place during cooking, especially when other people are present. In addition, having generous counter space and storage means everything’s within reach and easily tidied after use to maintain a clean and uncluttered look.
If the sink sits in the middle run of a U-shaped layout, then your stove can be located on either of the other runs. However, if these two runs vary in length, the longer wall would usually house the range to allow more space on either side of it. Meanwhile, if the sink is on a run other than the middle one, as pictured here, we would try to ensure a continuous flow of countertop from this point onward, and around the U. So if you were including tall cabinets, this would mean locating them together at the farthest end of the cabinetry run (as in this kitchen). This deliberate spacing ensures that the counter isn’t interrupted and the kitchen’s functionality (in the form of a galley layout) is unhampered.
The cabinetry lengths on a U-shaped kitchen can be roughly the same or vary; in both cases, there’s opportunity for flexibility within the design. Where all walls are the same length (for example, 10 feet), your starting point for planning usually depends on where the windows are located. If one of the walls has a window, this usually would be the run we’d suggest for your kitchen sink. Not only will a window offer natural light for washing up, but there’s also the romantic notion of gazing outward while doing the dishes. This, of course, very much depends on your view.
Generally, U-shaped kitchens provide lots of storage and work surface. They’re also very safe since they have only one entrance and no through traffic. This last point, however, also means that within small U-shaped layouts, there may be space for only one cook at a time. It’s also worth noting that U-shaped layouts are typically more expensive than others, such as galley or L-shaped designs, because they require more cabinetry and countertop material for the additional run of cabinets.
The peninsula pendants have a nautical-style design that pairs with the light blue walls, blue-gray stools and crisp white cabinetry for breezy coastal style. The end of the peninsula includes paneled detailing that coordinates with the cabinets. “Instead of doing a waterfall-edge countertop detail, this was an attractive way to close it off,” Maxey says. Dark engineered hickory flooring provides a rich, grounding counterpoint to the mostly white palette. “They wanted to go with something durable and not worry about the nuisances of pure hardwood,” Maxey says.
Q