Every set of design options, side by side.

Galley

Best for

Narrow plans.

Watch out

Whether two people can pass while cooking depends on the clear aisle left with appliance doors and drawers open, and on how many cook at once — check the illustrated 1,500 mm aisle against your appliances and household. Door swings at either end can also fight the run.

L-shaped

Best for

The general-purpose answer — works in most rooms and leaves a natural dining or circulation zone.

Watch out

The corner is dead volume unless a corner solution is specified with it.

Straight

Best for

Small apartments and utility runs where the kitchen is one wall.

Watch out

Everything competes for one run — sink, hob and fridge crowd each other and prep space suffers.

U-shaped

Best for

Cooks who want maximum storage and worktop with everything in reach.

Watch out

Needs real floor width; two corners means two corner problems and a closed-in feel in a small room.

Essential

Best for

A sound, honest kitchen where the budget is better spent on getting the wet zone right than on finish.

Watch out

The specification is decided for you; expect fewer choices in fronts, hardware and internal fittings.

Signature

Best for

The middle of the ladder, where finish and hardware quality start to show daily.

Watch out

Easy to spend here on what shows and under-specify what does not — the carcass matters more than the front.

Bespoke

Best for

Where the joinery is genuinely bespoke — non-standard dimensions, unusual materials, a specific detail.

Watch out

Bespoke means longer lead time and less margin for a late change; the drawing has to be right.

Island

Best for

Rooms with genuine circulation space on all four sides.

Watch out

Clearance is the whole question; an island in a room that cannot take it makes the kitchen worse, not better.

No island

Best for

Small kitchens where the floor is worth more than the extra worktop.

Watch out

Loses the social centre an island gives; the run does all the work.

End group

Best for

Keeping the worktop continuous — one unbroken prep surface, with the fridge and the tall storage standing together at the end nearest the entry or the dining side.

Watch out

The group is deep and tall; at the wrong end it blocks a window or crowds the door. The fridge door needs clear space to open fully against the run's end.

Split

Best for

Placing the fridge near the entry or dining side and the oven tower near the cooking zone, when one tall group would put one of them in the wrong place.

Watch out

Each tall unit breaks the worktop; two breaks means two shorter prep surfaces, and more end panels and junctions to detail.

Recessed niche

Best for

A flush, built-in read where the tall group sits back into the wall plane — the calmest result in a small kitchen where the group's full depth would otherwise intrude.

Watch out

The niche has to exist or be built, which depends on the wall being non-structural or on a pocket being framed. Its dimensions have to be exact; a niche a few centimetres out cannot be fixed with a filler.

Surface-mounted

Best for

Any wall, no builder's work — the usual approach, and the one that keeps the cabinetry independent of the building.

Watch out

The group's full depth projects into the room; its side is a visible end panel that needs a finish, and the junction with the ceiling needs its own decision (KIT-16).

Handleless / recessed (Gola)

Best for

A fully handleless look with a continuous horizontal line, and a good fit where circulation is tight because nothing protrudes.

Watch out

The aluminium channel collects dust and grease and must be wiped along its length; a door out of alignment telegraphs down the whole rail.

Integrated edge pull

Best for

A quieter line than a bar pull while keeping a real finger grip.

Watch out

The lip collects grease directly under the hand — the first place a wet kitchen shows wear.

Integrated J-pull

Best for

A handleless front with nothing to catch on — fingers hook into a J-profile cut into the door's top edge, so the line stays flush without a channel in the carcass.

Watch out

The recess collects dust and grease and needs wiping. On base units the grip is at the top edge and on wall units at the bottom, so the two feel different in use.

Bar pull (surface-mounted)

Best for

Everyday kitchens where a confident grip matters more than a flush line — and the easiest handle to replace later.

Watch out

Protrudes into circulation; in a galley it catches sleeves and pockets. Screw centres are fixed, so a later swap is limited to the same drilling.

Blind corner shelf

Best for

Accepting a lost corner to keep the budget in the doors and fronts where it shows.

Watch out

The space is genuinely unreachable — it becomes storage nobody uses, which is a real loss in a small kitchen.

Corner carousel (lazy Susan)

Best for

Getting usable access to a blind corner without bespoke joinery.

Watch out

The rotating tray wastes the corner volume it turns in, and heavy items unbalance it.

Magic-corner swing-out

Best for

Small kitchens where the corner has to earn its volume.

Watch out

The most mechanism in the kitchen, so the most to go wrong; alignment is fussy and service means a specialist.

Aluminium-frame ACP infill

Best for

The wet run and the sink base — the case aluminium composite exists for.

Watch out

It is a construction choice, not a finish: it does not change how the kitchen looks, so it is easy to cut and regret.

Aluminium-honeycomb panel

Best for

The wettest positions, and where weight matters as well as water.

Watch out

Cut edges and fixings need the right detail; it is not forgiving of on-site improvisation.

HPL-faced EN 636-3 plywood

Best for

A middle path where a timber substrate is wanted and exposure is real but not constant.

Watch out

Grade and glue line vary widely between suppliers — the name on the sheet is not a specification.

Stacked top box (720 + 300 mm)

Best for

Using the ceiling height for long-term storage — the top box takes what is used rarely, and the run reads floor to ceiling.

Watch out

Whether the top box is within comfortable reach depends on the underside height above the finished floor, the gap above the worktop and the person using it, so plan it for rarely used items and check it against the user. Two boxes stacked show a horizontal joint line unless the fronts are made as one tall door.

Standard 720 mm

Best for

The reference carcass height, with whatever sits above it decided separately. How comfortably the top shelf is reached depends on the underside height above the finished floor, the gap above the worktop and the person using it, not on carcass height alone.

Watch out

The space above is either wasted or has to be closed; left open it collects dust and, in a wok kitchen, grease.

Hinged doors

Best for

The default — a simple build, typically lower cost and easy to service.

Watch out

The open door sits at head height over a work zone.

Lift-up (stay-open)

Best for

A clean opening above a work zone with nothing at head height.

Watch out

Gas stays are a wear part and a heavy front will drift as they age.

Adjustable shelves

Best for

Tall and base cabinets holding tall or irregular items, where flexibility over the years matters more than reach.

Watch out

In a deep base cabinet, shelves swallow what is at the back. Shelf pins are the weak point, and a loaded shelf sags over a wide span.

Full-extension trays

Best for

Deep base cabinets — the back becomes as reachable as the front, so pots and stacks stop hiding.

Watch out

The runners take width and depth from the carcass, and they are the wear part; a tray behind a door needs the door open first, so a drawer front is usually the better pairing.

Inner drawers

Best for

A second tier behind one front — cutlery, spices and utensils in fixed lanes without adding a door or drawer face to the elevation.

Watch out

Two actions to reach the inner drawer, and the internal height is split, so tall items no longer fit in that cabinet.

Vertical dividers

Best for

Trays, chopping boards and baking sheets stored on edge — visible and reachable in a narrow cabinet.

Watch out

Only for flat items; a divided cabinet is single-purpose and cannot easily be given another job later.

Single tone

Best for

A calm, continuous kitchen that lets the worktop or backsplash lead.

Watch out

A long single-tone run can read flat without a change of material somewhere.

Two-tone horizontal

Best for

Grounding the run with a darker base and lifting the uppers.

Watch out

A horizontal split can lower the apparent ceiling in an already low room.

Open gap

Best for

A ceiling that is uneven or high, where closing the gap would cost more than it returns — or a kitchen that is not meant to be permanent.

Watch out

The gap collects dust and grease and is awkward to clean, and it reads unfinished in a kitchen that is otherwise fitted.

Plasterboard soffit

Best for

A painted bulkhead that meets the cabinet top squarely — the fitted read, and a place to run ducting and lighting.

Watch out

Built by a plaster trade before the cabinetry, so the cabinet height has to be known first; a bulkhead built to a drawing with cabinets fitted later can leave a step or a gap.

Scribed infill

Best for

A filler in the cabinet material cut to the ceiling line, so the run reads as one fitted piece in one finish.

Watch out

A wide infill shows a ceiling that is out of level as a tapering strip; it is cut on site and depends on the fitter's scribing.

Shadow reveal

Best for

A deliberate recessed line between cabinet top and ceiling — it reads as intended, and it hides a ceiling that is slightly out of level.

Watch out

A reveal is a detail, not a gap: it needs a return panel set back to read as one, and it still collects some dust.

Geometric tile

Best for

A dry pantry where the backsplash is the room's one graphic moment.

Watch out

Pattern needs set-out; a pattern cut awkwardly at the ends undoes the effect.

Matching oak

Best for

Continuing the joinery material behind the counter for a seamless run.

Watch out

Timber behind a counter is a dry-zone decision only — keep it away from a sink or kettle station.

Stacked tile

Best for

A quiet, orderly backsplash that reads as texture rather than pattern.

Watch out

Stack bond shows any wall out of plumb along the vertical joints.

Washable paint

Best for

The simplest and most changeable option in a genuinely dry pantry.

Watch out

Not a splash surface; behind a kettle or sink it will not last.

Large-format slab

Best for

The easiest wet-kitchen surface to keep clean — the fewest joints to hold grease.

Watch out

Handling and cutting are specialist; a single damaged slab is a whole-panel replacement.

Small-pattern feature tile

Best for

Bringing character to a working wet kitchen.

Watch out

Small tiles mean a lot of grout, and grout plus wok grease is the hardest combination to keep looking new.

Stainless steel

Best for

Behind a heavy-use hob.

Watch out

Shows every smear and scratches with abrasive cleaning; it reads commercial, which not every client wants.