Kill the work triangle

Please? Let it die. Stab it if you have to.

Here's why: the term is a time-warp from a 1940s design study--University of Illinois Small Homes Council-Building Research, 1946-1949, if you want to be specific. Note the date; also note the term small. There was a housing shortage after the Second World War and the race was on for affordable housing.

 

(An old ad from Magic Chef, circa 1946)

There's a bit more to it than the glossing I'm providing here, but the gist is the work triangle was an efficient way of working between all three work/prep areas of a kitchen, which were defined by the stove, a refrigerator that wasn't a tribute to the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the sink. One person (usually "mom") cooked, canned, ironed, and served the family meals. You could count your cookbooks on one hand and a typical dinner consisted of meat, potatoes, and one other vegetable. Vegetables weren't necessarily bought at a store; they might have been supplied from a home garden or a neighbor. 

Contrast this with today. Kitchens can be two or three (or four or five) times larger. Our list of cooking tools and small appliances are easily doubled, if not quadrupled, from 1946, and I joke that getting some clients to admit how many cookbooks they truly have involves a therapy program. A kitchen where the clients are from Mumbai is completely different from the clients from Hong Kong, and many of my friends and clients can cook a few recipes from both.

All of which makes the work triangle about as useful as following a recipe from the 1856 Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book (pages 83-84):

"...The fire must be made the back side of the oven...

If you sprinkle flour on the bottom, and it burns quickly, it is too hot.

If you can't hold your hand in to count to twenty, moderately, it is hot enough.

If you can count to thirty moderately, it is not hot enough for bread.

These last are not very accurate tests, as the power to bear heat is so diverse in different persons..." 

Gee. Can't wait.

In the early '90s, the NKBA was onto a good thing with a multiple rectangle concept - the idea being where the microwave or separate ovens were considered a fourth or fifth element, taking into account families who didn't always eat together and the assumption that there might be multiple cooks. It never caught on - I suspect partly because of insufficient p.r. and partly due to too much flexibility in deciding what the four corners of the rectangle actually were.

Here: if you're going to use the work triangle, have another look at the Beecher cookbook -- it actually has some useful tips. I learned how to turn sour milk back to normal, or at least as soon as I can figure out where to find carbonate of magnesia...

Comments

[Paul Anater]

Amen sister. I just had this conversation with two new clients last night. I was standing in their home talking about breaking their massive kitchen into efficient work zones and they wanted to hear how a work triangle was going to fit into my work zone theory of kitchen design. I swear, people who don't know better treat that idea like it's on par with the Golden Ratio or something. And why?

People hear that nonsense on HGTV. That network needs easy concepts to build half-hour programs around and the work triangle an easy concept to invoke when some hack is slapping together a bunch of product placements and calling it a designed kitchen. Please. Along the way though, it takes on the weight of dogma.

Thanks for writing this post Kelly.

[Lisa Albert]

The kitchen triangle is dead, long live the work zones! But you'd hardly know it. Count me as one of the clueless but now that I know a little bit more, it makes complete sense to design a kitchen around work zones. However, there's so little information out there to help us laypeople. It's all about the triangle. No wonder your clients seem hesitant, Paul.

Kelly, how on earth did you find out about Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book? What a interesting little trip back in time (so glad I live now).

[Kelly]

Paul, my pleasure. Let's consider a co-post on work zones!

Lisa, over 10 years ago, my mother bought another old cookbook from 18-something which discussed the proper way to feed the poor was to collect dining crumbs off the table into a bag, and we've been fascinated with old cookbooks ever since. One could really count the number of old cookbooks from the 1800s on one hand, but I was delighted to find that one online.

[Paul Anater]

Lisa,

There's no easy information about work zones because there's no one-size-fits-all approach to them. Every kitchen and every client is different and pretty much all we do to design work zones is talk to the users of the space, find out what tasks need to be done, find out how many people are involved in those tasks and then design a room that will allow multiple people to perform multiple tasks without tripping over one another. That's about as good a definition as I can think of without showing some floor plans with the zones marked off in them.

Kelly, I think a co-post on work zones is a terrific idea. I am putting together a plan for a pair of empty nesters and in their case, he cooks and she cleans. I put together a rectangular room that let's them do their respective jobs without killing one another and still lets the grand kids run into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge without tripping anybody. Let's do it!

[Lisa Albert]

Paul, as a writer I can see why it's difficult getting work zone information out to the public. Work triangles are neat, tidy packages easily expressed within limited print space (if you haven't noticed, article length is getting increasingly shorter all the time). Explaining work zones to the reader in concrete terms without too many vague parameters in the same amount of print space is definitely trickier.

I've seen only two articles on work zones that I've found helpful. One was published in Fine Homebuilding's Kitchen & Bath Planning Guide 2009. It listed the zones, what needed to be in those zones (appliances and kitchen tools), and a rough idea of how much square footage was needed for each zone. I realize this isn't the final word, that the advice of a professional is not only helpful but can be cost effective. It's the same for garden design, a subject I'm much more familiar with. There are general guidelines but each garden's unique character and the garden owner's lifestyle play a role in the finished design. That doesn't mean, however, that the lack of a one-size-fits-all approach should deter delivering the basics of the work zone approach to the public. An educated public is always going to be a better consumer and customer.

I look forward to your co-post on this topic, Kelly and Paul.

[Kelly]

Lisa, you're awesome. Thank you for digging that up.

[GW Friend]

Wonderful! If you've ever visited the Kitchens Forum on GardenWeb you've probably noticed that many of us have been trying to do just what you're trying to do...let people know that the work triangle is "old design". However, I don't think I'd say it's completely dead...b/c you still want to keep the refrigerator, for example, not too far away from both the Prep & Cooking zones which means not too far from the prep (or sole) sink and cooktop/range...at least for most people. So, I think it's a combination of the two, but with the Zones the more important design concept.

[Kelly]

Hi GW Friend!

Of course you're correct: the work triangle isn't truly dead for all - it works particularly well for a tiny or galley kitchen - but as a general application it has done its time.

(I got grief from my mother this morning: "Why didn't you say that in your post?"

"Because I was thinking about larger scale kitchens and trying to get people talking."

"You should have said so. 'Kill the triangle' is very misleading.")

I keep joking that my middle names should be "It Depends" because for every rule or guideline, there's always an exception.

Welcome. I'll have to pop by Garden Web - it's been awhile.

[HeidiRenee]

Hello Kelly - google reader suggested your blog to me today and boy am I grateful! We are just moving into our first home and it has an 85 year old kitchen in a cute little craftsman bungalow. Unfortunately all of the cupboards are shallow and low, so we're needing to redesign the whole kit & kaboodle - and we'll have to use all of our available funds on supplies instead of design.

The space is complicated - and I love the idea of work zones instead of a work triangle - if you can expand of this I would be oh-so grateful! My husband and I both love to cook, and do it many times together. Each having our own space instead of tripping over each other would be amazing. It's a nice roomy kitchen, 11 x 18, but it has 4 doorways & 2 double windows - 1 set over the sink area and 1 floor to ceiling at the end. Tricky, tricky, tricky. Zones would be a life saver, I just don't have a clue where to start.

[Richard Edic]

Hi Kelly-My two cents-I like the concept of multiple triangles based on lifestyle, like end-of-counter prep area/outside grill/dining table, or homework area/microwave(for popcorn)/refrigerator(without getting in the way of the cook). Two triangles in the main area for two cooks, meeting at the refrigerator. There's still something about triangles that I like, maybe it's some asian concept of the balance of "Threes"

[Lisa Albert]

You're welcome, Kelly! Consider it my return favor for the advice you've provided here.

Judging by the comments, it seems I'm not the only layperson puzzled by these design concepts.

[cheryl]

Whoa!! Thanks Kelly...I was starting to think I was only one who wanted to strangle the next person on HGTV who talked about the sacred "triangle"! I have been trying to bury the concept, or at least drastically modify, for years. Most clients understand easily once I explain how zones work and ask them strategic questions on how they "live" in their kitchen space. I think this concept was really booming in the 40's and 50's ...when we lived vastly different lives. I have a wonderful collection of lace aprons and love my high heels but I don't wear them in the kitchen!:) The truth is our society is quite different and have different needs...such as workspace/counter area for small kids to do their homework while mom (or dad) is preparing dinner...and egads! dad is actually in the kitchen these days so need to worry about climbing over each other if kitchen not properly organized/zoned. I just wish the NKBA would not emphasize it quite so much as they seem to do...big yawn!! --Cheryl

[Kelly]

Heidi, welcome! Your home sounds charming - but I sure know what you mean by the kitchens in a Craftsman bungalow.

There has been a certain amount of interest in the concept of zones, like Lisa comments below you. Between the comments and the e-mails, I'm definitely working on a post.

Richard, that's a good thought about the concepts of 3--I think if we all parsed it out, we're only far away in terms of names more than concepts. It *is* definitely all about lifestyle and another detail: lifestyle particular to a certain area of the country. Fascinating food for thought. We sure never get bored in this industry, that's for sure.

Cheryl, now I want to see the aprons!

I don't find the NKBA emphasizes the work triangle as much as they did in the early 80s, but that could be me. I grew up with the guidelines, but my style is a bit life-long cook: I like to modify the recipe to suit the occasion. *grin*

[Julia @ Hooked on Houses]

Loved this post! I hadn't heard that the kitchen work triangle was dead, but it makes sense. Got a kick out of Mrs. Beecher's recipe, and that old ad from Magic Chef is fun!

[Joseph]

I come to this discussion from a somewhat different place. I'm a cabinetmaker and remodeling my kitchen is very high up on my list of things I want to do—make that will do for our home. Actually, I'm a cabinetmaker who really does not want to make kitchens for a living, because the most of what is done in the U.S. is just boxes with a "choice of doors and drawer fronts," the most of which are made in a factory somewhere. Boring. I want to do something else if I can, but what?

So, in a sense, I suppose, the door is wide open. But it's really not. Ours is a very small kitchen that we are not going to remodel into something larger, because we're a childless couple who lives in the adjoining family room, not the kitchen. As for the kitchen itself and its work triangle… HAH!

I did find the NKBA's guidelines on kitchen design (31, I believe) to be somewhat helpful, but the work triangle itself is much too small and always will be. The refrigerator is next to the stove which is next to the sink. The only saving grace is plenty of counter space for food preparation and a marriage harmonious enough for the two of us to work together without clobbering each other after the seventeenth "oops, didn't know you were there."

But, really, as an old Army cook, I can honestly say I can, and have, worked in just about any kind of kitchen, up to, and including, my mother-in-law's which has NO counter space except a freestanding chopping block about thirty inches square and low to the ground. Try that if you're six feet tall!

I do think, though, that it is well worth the effort to carefully think through everything you like and do not like about your kitchen and how you would rearrange things if you had the luxury of doing so. But if, in the end, I have a nice counter on which to work—and I will—and wonderful cabinets and countertops—which my wife has let me know I'd darned well better!—then I'm happy. As for killing the work triangle, it is certainly dead in our home!

[Kelly]

Joseph, welcome!

I have nothing but respect for Army cooks -- you can indeed cook anywhere.

And a cabinet maker too: there is something wonderful about creating your home with your own hands and skill, isn't there? If you can, consider some of the wonderful interior fittings that are available. Those are a charm in every kitchen, work triangle or not.

From the sounds of it, it'll be a quick kitchen to remodel (but never quick enough!) I wish you luck; hopefully you may find something here to help and if not, check some of my design compatriots blogs in the sidebar.

Cheers!

[Paul Lesieur]

Ha, Ha, I hold the triangle while you stab.
Excellant article.