Independent homes
Kitchen Furniture Planning for Independent homes
Specify the occupied size, operating clearance and route into the building before choosing furniture by catalogue dimensions.
Explore the ideas
Compare the options
- Set the brief
- Use templates at the size of the actual furniture. Include seated users, open drawers and reclined positions where relevant.
- Compare
- Decide which items need to move independently and which benefit from built-in anchoring.
- Before buying
- Confirm that the largest pieces can turn at the entrance, lift lobby and corridor, or specify assembly in place.
Worked example
A family wants a movable island, but stools and open drawers could occupy the same aisle.
Mock up the island, seated knees and fully extended drawers together; choose a smaller cart if the cook cannot pass while someone sits.
How to test it
Overlay the furniture in its stored and in-use positions, then check both against the measured plan.
Apply it to this space
- Layout
- Separate hot cooking, wet cleanup and pantry access; keep the yard route clear of the work zone.
- Detail
- Use robust counter surfaces, task lighting and a ventilated pantry for dry goods.
- Trade-off
- An open kitchen improves connection but carries cooking noise and smells into living space.
- Trace grocery and waste routes
- Check daylight and exhaust outlet location
The Elixir portfolio
Details worth a closer look
