Kitchen designers get this wrong constantly. This is because they are not there to design kitchens - they are employed to sell stuff. It will last a few years so they are not worried about repeat business. I went to a high end kitchen designer. They do top notch bespoke kitchens. The designer was a very nice bloke but he was clueless about c cooking workflow for an actual cook. His focus was aesthetics.
I have just done a very large kitchen and I made it myself. I have also done stages in a number of pro kitchens. And I cook a lot so I know exactly how I prefer to work. You may be very different. Your kitchen design should be based on your work flow. This is NOT the conventional triangle in my view. This is how I see work flow that obviously always starts with produce:
- Easy unloading and storing of dry and refrigerated and frozen produce. You will do this at least every week and maybe more often. You want bag drop, easy cleaning and easy access to fridge, freezer and larder. (In my case this is all in the utility area which is accessed directly from the parking area. I have a drawer pull prep fridge in the kitchen, beneath the prep area).
- Preparation (or mise en place). This involves gathering from storage, prepping the food ready for cooking, and disposal of waste (food and wrappings). Prep is the most important part of cooking and the prep area uses most space and is the part invariably missed out of the so called triangle. It may be slightly different too if you do lots of baking or pastry (cold area is best).
- For prep, you need to have easy access to water, and to the hob and ovens. Stuff that comes off the hob often has to go into the oven (colour meat then roast for example) and yet many designs do not address this. You also need somewhere to put hot pans down when they come out of the ovens. I use three ovens so I made sure that I have a "cook" area (hob, ovens and plating) that is listing from my prep area (directly opposite my sink and close to all bins).
- We need to plate up (service). So you need a clean space in easy reach of the ovens and hob. Usually the same as the prep area in domestic kitchens.
- Then we need easy access to dishwashing and somewhere to put the dirty stuff. In my case this is all in a clean down area in the utility room. This is because my kitchen is also a family room and I don't want the noise of dishwashers.
Before you do anything, think about extraction and drainage. Many good quality kitchens are now using downright extractors (eg Bora) built into the hobs. These are much better extracted to outside rather than recirculated, so if you want the hob in an Island, underfloor vent channels are necessary.
Think about drainage. I installed a grease trap. They are cheap and you will never get blocked drains.
If you want see a good set up, watch James Martin's weekend cooking show on Saturday morning TV. He is using super expensive gear: 3 phase Athanor commercial induction etc. plus Wolf ovens and sub zero cooling, but ignore that and look at the workflow. His is a square. Fridge and ovens and sink in a line behind him. Prep in front of him, and hobs, deep fryers etc. to his left directly off the prep boards. This is pretty similar to his set up in commercial kitchens. It's obviously compressed for TV and the arrangements are a bit odd at the moment due to Covid distancing (so he is using a silly little board and keeping gusts 2 metres away) but the work flow is clear. What you don't see is that he also has undercounted mise on place fridges.
Kitchens these days can be a huge investment. So I would plan by workflow, not by looking in showrooms.
In my build, in the actual kitchen, practically everything is in big drawers, using Blum push to open and soft close. Far more efficient than cupboards as there is no inaccessible back bit with a load of stuff in front.
