Designs

The three main functions are storage, preparation, and cooking, and the places for these functions should be arranged in such a way that work at one place does not interfere with work at another place.

The distance between these places is not unnecessarily large, and no obstacles are in the way. A natural arrangement is a triangle, with the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove at a vertex each. This observation led to a few common forms, commonly characterized by the arrangement of cabinets and sink, stove and refrigerator.

The perfection of the extractor hood allowed an island kitchen, integrated more or less with the living room without causing the whole apartment or house to smell.

Island

The extractor hood made it possible to build open kitchens in apartments, too, where both high ceilings and skylights were not possible.

The integration of the kitchen and the living area went hand in hand with a change in the perception of cooking: increasingly, cooking was seen as a creative and sometimes social act instead of work, especially in upper social classes.

Besides, many families also appreciated the trend towards island kitchens, as it made it easier for the parents to supervise the children. The enhanced status of cooking also made the kitchen a prestige object for showing off one's wealth or cooking professionalism.

For others, who followed the cooking as a social trend the island kitchen had the advantage that they could be with their guests while cooking, and for the creative cooks it might even become a stag.

The Trophy Kitchen is highly equipped with very expensive and sophisticated appliances which are used primarily to impress visitors and to project social status.

Layouts

A single-file (or one-way galley) has all of these along one wall; the work triangle degenerates to a line. This is not optimal, but often the only solution if space is restricted. This may be common in an attic space that is being converted into a living space, or a studio apartment.

The double-file (or two-way galley) has two rows of cabinets at opposite walls, one containing the stove and the sink, the other the refrigerator. This is the classical work design.

In the L-shape design the cabinets occupy two adjacent walls. Again, the work triangle is preserved, and there may even be space for an additional table at a third wall, provided it doesn't intersect the triangle.

A U-shape design has cabinets along three walls, typically with the sink at the base of the "U". This is a typical work kitchen, too, unless the two other cabinet rows are short enough to place a table at the fourth wall.

The island designs is a more recent development, typically found in open kitchens. Here, the stove or both the stove and the sink are placed where an L or U layout would have a table, in a freestanding "island", separated from the other cabinets. In a closed room, this doesn't make much sense, but in an open kitchen, it makes the stove accessible from all sides such that two persons can cook together, and allows for contact with guests or the rest of the family, since the cook doesn't face the wall anymore