The concept of the kitchen triangle has been around since 1944 where it was developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Triangle was developed not so much with the cook in mind, but as a means to standardize, and thus reduce cost.
This doesn't mean that the Triangle is a bad thing. In fact the Triangle is one of the best ways to to create an efficient kitchen. But it's not the only way, and that's an important concept to keep in mind. Your designer may create a kitchen for you that employs the Triangle, but also adds to it.
So what about a kitchen that has more than three work centres? What about the coffee machine? The deep fryer or grill? How about that second sink on the island with the extra dishwasher? Pretty soon that triangle is starting to look like a trapezoid or hexagon.
Relax. The same rules still apply. What's important here is not the shape, but the proximity of each work centre to the other. Sometimes you may have two work centres you use together all the time ... a coffee maker and a beverage fridge (for cream, Irish or otherwise). You'll never get 2 work centres to make a triangle, but if the two items are further apart than 9 feet ... even 4 feet ... you're going to need running to shoes for all the travelling you'll do!
In a perfect world that island should cut into the path no more than 12" (30.5 cm). However, it should be noted that avoiding this situation is not always possible. We try, really we do. But sometimes you just run out of room to work, or moving the cooktop towards the left side of the island (the simplest solution) will break some other guidelines we haven't addressed yet. There's a lot going on in your kitchen and sometimes something's got to give.
Illustrations (C) NKBA.org
