Kitchen Planning
Updated September 2026
Tight aisles, islands that fight the room, appliances with nowhere to land, and one switch for the whole kitchen. Here are the seven layout mistakes and the actual measurements that prevent each one, on three finished Johnson County kitchens.
9 min read
Written by Mike Schwartz, Built by Design | Published May 4, 2026
Most kitchen frustration is a layout problem, and most layout problems are measurable: an aisle four inches too narrow, an island six inches too long, a refrigerator door that opens into the only path, a cooktop with nowhere to set a hot pan. Finishes don't fix any of it. The good news is that the numbers are well established, and checking a plan against them takes an afternoon.
This guide lists the seven mistakes Built by Design sees most in Johnson County kitchens, the measurements that prevent each one, and how three finished BBD kitchens in Lenexa, Leawood, and Olathe handled them.
For what these decisions cost, read kitchen remodel costs in Kansas City. For whether to keep the cabinets, read cabinet refacing vs replacing.
The most common kitchen complaint is two people who can't pass. The National Kitchen and Bath Association's guideline is a 42-inch work aisle for one cook and 48 inches when two people cook at once, measured counter edge to counter edge (or counter to island). Walkways that aren't work aisles should be at least 36 inches. Those numbers exist because of doors: a dishwasher door drops 24 inches into the aisle, a refrigerator door swings 30 or more, an oven door drops 24. At 36 inches you can't open the dishwasher and stand in front of it. Test it on the drawing: draw every appliance door open and every cabinet door open, then see where a person stands. In the Lenexa kitchen below, the island sits far enough from the range wall that the dishwasher opens with someone seated at the island behind it.
See also: NKBA kitchen planning guidelines
Islands get sized from the largest quartz slab or the seating wish list, and then the aisles are whatever's left. Do it the other way: subtract the aisles from the room and the island is what remains. A 12-foot-wide kitchen with cabinets on one wall (25 inches deep) and a 42-inch aisle on each side of the island leaves about 45 inches for the island's depth. That's plenty for seating on one side and a sink or prep on the other; it isn't plenty for seating on both sides plus a cooktop. Seating needs its own numbers: 24 inches of counter width per person, and knee space 15 inches deep at a 36-inch counter (12 inches at a 42-inch bar height, 18 inches at table height). Four stools need roughly 8 feet of overhang. The Olathe kitchen's island seats the family on one long side and keeps the working side clear.
Every appliance needs a place to set something down within reach. The guidelines are specific: at least 15 inches of counter on the handle side of the refrigerator (or on both sides of a side-by-side), 15 inches on one side of the cooktop and 12 on the other, 24 inches on one side of the sink and 18 on the other, and 15 inches beside a microwave or wall oven, or on a counter directly across from it within a step. A refrigerator jammed into a corner next to a wall has zero landing space; the groceries go on the island, and the island stops being a place to sit. The classic work triangle still helps as a check: each leg between the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator between 4 and 9 feet, the three legs adding to no more than 26 feet, and nothing taller than 12 inches crossing a leg. It's a sanity check, not a rule; in an open kitchen the routes from the garage door and to the table matter as much.
| Appliance | Landing counter needed | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | 15 inches | Handle side, or both sides of a side-by-side |
| Cooktop or range | 15 inches one side, 12 inches other | Both sides, at the same height |
| Sink | 24 inches one side, 18 inches other | Both sides |
| Microwave or wall oven | 15 inches | Beside it, or directly across within a step |
| Dishwasher | 21 inches of standing room | Beside the door, clear of other doors |
Clutter lands in two places: the counter nearest the door you come in through, and the counter nearest the sink. Plan storage there. A pantry wall on the route in from the garage takes the grocery bags before they hit the island. Drawers rather than doors in the base cabinets near the sink hold the things that otherwise stack on the counter. Tall storage for small appliances near where they're used keeps them off the counter without a walk. The Lenexa kitchen put a pantry and storage wall on the garage side of the room and a separate bar area with a wine fridge on the living side, so groceries and guests enter from different directions. The Leawood kitchen hid the refrigerator behind cabinet panels and put the display items behind glass uppers, which is a storage plan as much as a look: the things worth seeing are visible and the rest is closed.
A kitchen needs three layers of light on separate switches: general (recessed cans laid out on the aisles, not the cabinets), task (under-cabinet lights on the counters and pendants over the island), and accent (inside glass cabinets, over open shelves). One overhead fixture on one switch lights the middle of the room and shadows every counter, because the person standing at the counter blocks it. Lighting is a layout decision because it's roughed in before drywall. Decide the pendant positions when the island size is final, the under-cabinet runs when the uppers are final, and put dimmers on the general layer so the kitchen can drop to dinner levels. Every BBD kitchen on this site has pendants over the island and under-cabinet lighting; the Leawood kitchen added recessed lighting and under-cabinet lighting as part of the same scope as the flooring.
The residential code requires receptacles along kitchen counters so that no point is more than 24 inches from one, which works out to an outlet roughly every 4 feet, and all of them GFCI protected. Islands and peninsulas have their own rules that changed in recent code editions, so ask your electrician which edition your city adopts and plan the island receptacle location before the cabinets are built; a pop-up or a side-mounted outlet is a cabinet detail, not an afterthought. The Lenexa island has integrated outlets for exactly this reason. While the walls are open, add the circuits the kitchen will want in ten years: a dedicated circuit for a second refrigerator or a wine fridge in a bar area, and outlets in the pantry for the appliances that live there.
See also: ICC: IRC Chapter 39, Power and Lighting Distribution (receptacle spacing and GFCI)
Opening a wall is the most requested kitchen change and the one most likely to create a new problem: the kitchen becomes the route to everywhere. Before the wall comes out, draw the routes people will take through the open room: from the garage door with groceries, from the front door to the family room, from the table to the patio. If a route crosses the cook's side of the island or the space in front of the range, the layout needs another pass. The Lenexa kitchen is the worked example. It opened to the dining and living areas, but the pantry wall took the grocery route, the beverage bar took the guest route on the living side, and the island kept the work zone on the range side. Opening a room is useful only if the new walking routes work with cooking and storage.
See also: Which walls carry load: what to check before opening a kitchen wall
Built by Design's documented kitchens are the evidence for everything above. Lenexa: an upstairs kitchen opened to dining and living with a blue-gray island with seating, a pantry and storage wall, a separate bar area with a wine fridge, an appliance wall, and brass pendants over the island. Leawood: a kitchen and flooring remodel with white cabinetry, glass-front uppers for display, a cabinet-front refrigerator, built-in wall ovens, a black range, and a sunny seating area at the end of the work run, recorded at 9 weeks of construction. Olathe: a kitchen with pale green cabinetry, a large island with family seating, a copper-toned hood, and an open layout, remodeled together with the primary bath and a second bathroom. Open each case study for the full photo set and the materials list; the layout decisions read differently once you've seen the room.
Built by Design meets homeowners at the home, writes one scope before finishes are chosen, and builds with the same trade partners named in the case studies above.
FAQAnswers, by design
The layout questions homeowners ask before a kitchen remodel, answered with the planning guidelines designers use and three finished BBD kitchens. Your project team confirms the numbers for your room.
A work aisle, the space between counters where someone cooks, should be 42 inches for one cook and 48 inches when two people work at once. A walkway that is only for passing through should be at least 36 inches. Both are National Kitchen and Bath Association guidelines, and both exist so appliance doors can open with a person standing there.
As big as the aisles allow. Subtract the perimeter cabinets and a 42-inch aisle on each side from the room width and what remains is the island depth. For seating, allow 24 inches of counter per stool and 15 inches of knee depth at counter height; four stools need about 8 feet of overhang.
As a check, yes: legs of 4 to 9 feet between the sink, cooktop, and refrigerator, adding to 26 feet or less, with nothing tall crossing them. In an open kitchen the routes from the garage door and to the table matter as much, so check those too.
At least 15 inches on one side and 12 inches on the other, at the same height, so a hot pan has somewhere to land on either side. The refrigerator needs 15 inches on the handle side; the sink needs 24 on one side and 18 on the other.
Yes, because it is roughed in before drywall. Pendant positions depend on the final island size, under-cabinet runs depend on the final uppers, and recessed lights should sit over the aisles where people stand. Plan three layers on three switches: general, task, and accent.
Often, but two things get checked first: whether the wall carries load, which means a beam and posts, and where the new walking routes go. If the route from the garage or the front door would cross the cook’s side of the island, the layout needs another pass before the wall comes down.
Keep planning with these related guides.
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