L-Shaped Kitchen Planning Preparation Checklist

Measure the length of each wall the run would follow and note which of the two legs is the longer one.

The longer leg usually takes the main preparation area, and knowing which it is settles a surprising number of later questions.

Check in rough terms whether the two walls meet squarely, and note anything that looks visibly out of true along either of them.

An out of square corner affects how worktops meet and how units close up, and suppliers would far rather hear about it early.

Ask the supplier or fitter to establish the true geometry on a survey rather than relying on your own rough measurement.

Note anything interrupting either wall, such as a window, a radiator, a chimney breast, a meter box or a boxed pipe run.

Interruptions decide where tall units and appliances cannot go, and they are the detail most often left off an owner sketch.

Record the position of every door into the room and which way each one swings once it is opened.

A door swinging against the end of a leg removes usable run, and it is easier to raise now than after cabinetry is drawn.

Note whether either wall carries a step, a skirting build out or a change in floor level along its length.

Small variations along a long run show in how units line through, and fitters allow for them differently when warned in advance.

Write down which leg the window sits on, and whether the sink currently sits beneath it and whether you want that to continue.

Sink under a window is a strong habit rather than a rule, and stating your view prevents it being assumed either way.

Open the corner cupboard you have now, write down what is at the back of it and note how long since any of it was last used.

The contents of the existing corner tell you honestly whether corner storage works for your household or simply absorbs clutter.

Note how you currently reach into the corner and whether anyone in the household finds getting to the back of it difficult.

Reaching low into a corner is the task people quietly stop doing, which is how the space ends up wasted.

Where reach, mobility or physical comfort is a factor, discuss it with a suitably qualified professional rather than settling it from a list.

Consider what you would want the corner to hold if it were genuinely reachable, and whether those things are bulky, heavy or rarely wanted.

Naming the intended contents lets a designer choose between the available arrangements rather than defaulting to whichever is usual.

Ask what corner arrangements the supplier offers and what each of them gives up in usable space or in adjacent units.

Every corner arrangement trades something away, and hearing the trade in advance is better than discovering it once fitted.

Ask the supplier what space and adjacent units their corner options require before assuming any of them will fit this room.

Note whether the worktop will have a join near the corner, and write down where you would prefer any join to fall if you are asked.

A join placed at the busiest point of the run becomes a daily cleaning irritation, and owners are seldom asked their view on it.

Consider whether wall units meeting above the corner would be awkward to open, particularly where two doors or handles arrive together.

Units meeting at a corner can collide at the handles, which is a small detail with a consequence every time they are used.

Write down which leg you would want the hob on and which the sink, and what you would be carrying between the two.

The journey between water and heat is the one you make most, and around a corner it is shorter than along a straight wall.

Note where the main preparation surface would sit, and whether it falls between the sink and the hob or beyond one of them.

Preparation beyond the two fixed points means crossing the busy zone repeatedly, which is worth noticing while it is still a sketch.

Consider whether an oven or a dishwasher would sit close to the corner, and what its open door would block while it is standing open.

An open door near the corner can lock a person into the angle of the run, which is the classic complaint about this shape.

Record whether you want tall units grouped together on one leg or distributed across both of them.

Grouping tall units keeps one leg clear for working but concentrates the visual weight, which is a genuine preference worth stating.

Note which leg is closest to where food is eaten, and whether plates, glasses and cutlery should therefore be stored on that side.

Storage placed by habit rather than by journey is the usual reason people cross a kitchen more often than they need to.

Write down whether two people would use the two legs at the same time, and what each of them would be doing while they did.

This shape can take two cooks better than a straight run, but only if the work is deliberately separated between the legs.

Mark on a sketch the route people take across the room, and note whether it cuts diagonally through the angle of the run.

A diagonal route through the working angle is common, and it is what makes an island or table feel obstructive once it arrives.

Consider whether you want an island, a table, a trolley or nothing at all in the open floor, and name what it would be used for.

Naming the use rather than the object keeps the conversation open, since a designer may achieve the same thing another way.

What can sit in the open floor depends on the room and on services beneath it, which the supplier and qualified trades should advise on.

Note how far you would have to walk from the run to reach anything placed in the middle of the room.

Anything freestanding adds journeys, so it should earn its place rather than being added because the floor looks empty.

Record whether chairs or stools would be pulled back into the walking route, and where people would actually sit while using them.

Seating is what turns an open floor into an obstruction, and the pulled back position is the one that matters.

Consider whether the open floor has to stay clear for something specific, such as reaching a back door or bringing shopping in.

Most rooms have one journey that must not be blocked, and saying which prevents a well meant addition from spoiling it.

Note whether the floor finish would run continuously through the room or change where the kitchen area ends.

A change of finish marks the kitchen zone but also fixes where cabinetry can stop, so the two decisions are connected.

Note what each leg runs into at its far end, whether that is a return wall, a doorway, a window reveal or simply open floor.

An open end needs a finished side and a decision about what sits there, whereas a wall end simply stops.

Consider whether an exposed end of the run would be seen from a seating or dining area, and from which angle it is usually viewed.

The end panel is what people look at from the sofa, and it is frequently specified as an afterthought.

Write down whether you would want the end of a leg to become something else, such as shelving, a shallow cupboard or a seat.

The end of a run is a natural place to change function, but it has to be planned rather than added on afterwards.

Record whether either leg has to stop short of its end wall for a door, a radiator or a route through to another room.

A leg that cannot reach its end wall loses more storage than owners expect, so the reason should be stated plainly in the brief.

Whether a radiator, door opening or service can be relocated is a question for qualified trades rather than something to plan around unasked.

Note whether a tall unit at the end of a leg would block daylight or make that corner of the room feel closed in.

Tall units at the ends bookend a room neatly on a drawing and can feel considerably heavier in the actual space.

Consider what would sit on the worktop at the very end of each leg, since those are the calmest surfaces in the room.

The quiet ends are the natural home for things left out, and deciding that prevents them landing in the working zone instead.

Sit where you usually sit in the adjoining space and write down exactly what you can see of the kitchen from that position.

The view from the sofa or the table is what the room gets judged on, and it is rarely the view a plan drawing shows.

Note whether the worktop clutter, the sink or the cooking area is the thing most on show from the adjoining space.

Knowing which of the three is most exposed tells you which one needs screening, a return or a raised element in front of it.

Consider whether anything should sit behind doors purely because it is visible from the seating area rather than for any practical reason.

Concealment takes storage depth and adds doors, so it is worth deciding deliberately rather than assuming it either way.

Record whether noise from the kitchen carries into the adjoining space while machines are running or a meal is being prepared.

An open arrangement makes appliance noise part of the living space, which is easier to plan for than to remedy afterwards.

Ask the supplier and the appliance manufacturer about noise characteristics rather than assuming a quieter machine can be swapped in later.

Note how lighting in the kitchen would read from the adjoining space after dark, and whether you would want them controlled separately.

Bright task lighting seen from a dim seating area is a common complaint, and switching can address it if it is raised early enough.

How lighting circuits and switching could be arranged is for a qualified electrician to advise on.

Write down whether the kitchen finishes need to sit alongside furniture, flooring or joinery already present in the adjoining space.

A kitchen opening into a furnished room has to work with things you already own, which narrows the finish decisions usefully.

Sketch both walls with their lengths, the corner between them, and every interruption marked in roughly the right place along each.

A two-wall sketch with the interruptions marked is the single most useful thing to bring to a first design conversation.

Photograph the room from the open corner looking back at both legs, and again from the adjoining seating or dining space.

These two views show the relationship between the legs and the room, which individual wall photographs never manage to convey.

Note the position of visible service points on both walls as far as you can see them, without opening anything up.

What is visible gives useful context, and what is hidden stays a question for a professional to establish on site.

Never open boxing, floors or walls to trace services; ask a qualified professional to establish what is present.

Write down which leg matters more to you if the room turns out not to allow both to be treated equally well.

Compromise in this shape usually falls on one leg, and choosing which keeps that decision with you rather than with the drawing.

Record any appliance or piece of furniture you intend to keep, with its actual measurements rather than an estimate from memory.

Retained items constrain the corner and the ends of the legs, which are already the tightest parts of this shape.

Ask what the designer would want before surveying, and whether they would also want to see the adjoining space it opens into.

Where the run opens into another room, that room is part of the brief, and some suppliers will ask about it while others will not.