How to Fall In Love With Your L-shaped Kitchen

In this series, we look into how to optimize the design and space of the most important room in your house — the kitchen. If you’re in the market for a kitchen renovation, you might know that there are typically six kitchen layouts: the L-shaped, U-shaped, straight line, island (or peninsula), and the galley kitchen. L-shaped kitchen layouts are quite a popular choice for homes across the country and many homes, especially apartments, come with one by default. Once you examine the various benefits an L-shaped kitchen has, the reasons for its popularity become clear for all to see. 

There’s a reason that L-shaped kitchen designs are a top choice for homes throughout the country. It’s a great choice for anyone who wants a fully functional kitchen that can fit their space constraints. As such, it is a paragon of practicality and a monument to convenience and efficiency. Plus, this is a kitchen layout that gives you exactly what you want without breaking the bank.  

What Is an L-Shaped Kitchen Layout

As the name suggests, an L-shaped kitchen consists of two adjacent sides in the shape of an L. This kitchen layout idea is a prime example of the sheer elegance of simplicity, and a great solution for anyone who wants all the luxuries of a full kitchen in an ergonomic and logical setup. While the average size of kitchens has grown in recent years, many of us do not have room for kitchen islands and peninsulas. Kitchen countertop space can also come at a real premium, especially when you’re trying to cook every day to feed a growing family. The L-shaped kitchen offers the perfect solution for all these problems, giving you a versatile kitchen layout that can fit in even an apartment-sized kitchen. 

L-shaped kitchens can lend a sleek and elegant touch to any home.

Why are L-Shaped Kitchens Good? 

Enhanced Practicality

An L-shaped kitchen layout will do more than just fit in your kitchen; it will also be a lot more practical, giving you enough room for decent-sized cabinets and reasonably wide countertops. It is also the perfect kitchen floor plan if you’re aiming for an open concept living space, as it allows the kitchen to seamlessly transition into an adjacent room or dining area.

Efficient Space

The L-shaped kitchen design also allows for an efficient kitchen work triangle, putting the refrigerator, stove, and sink all within easy reach. That means you have to take fewer steps overall when going back and forth between kitchen tasks, saving time. 

More Options for Appliance Placement

This layout also gives you a lot of options when it comes to where to place appliances. Your stove, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, and kitchen sink can all be placed based on whatever setup works best for you.

Ideal for Smaller Kitchens

In smaller kitchens, the L-shaped kitchen maximizes the space you have to work with, whereas other layouts might make things feel too cramped.

Kitchen designs with an L-shaped layout can open up plenty of space.

What Are the Disadvantages of an L-Shaped Kitchen?

Not Much Space

Multiple cooks might have trouble working in this layout at the same time. This is especially true in smaller kitchens where space may not support the shuffling around of more than the head cook.

Potentially Unwieldy Layout

If the layout has to be stretched to fit a large, longer space it can reduce efficiency by making the distance between different points of the work triangle too long. If this happens, using this kitchen design can become tiring due to all the walking back and forth. This makes this layout somewhat unwieldy for a standalone kitchen space.

Complicated Corners

Corners can get complicated in an L-shaped kitchen design. Specifically, using corner space can be difficult because it often isn’t big enough for wall-mounted kitchen cabinets and won’t fit most appliances. There are, however, in-cabinet solutions for tough corners you can easily employ.

There are many ways to keep an L-Shaped kitchen organized and decluttered.

Design Ideas 

The versatility of the L-shaped kitchen design is another reason to love it, as there are simply tons of different ways to tailor this layout to fit your exact requirements. These can include anything from an L-shaped kitchen island to a more classic layout.

Horseshoe Layout

The L-shaped already gives you half a horseshoe, so why not go for the full U? The benefits of this horseshoe design are evident the moment you consider how much more worktop and storage space it gives you. This design maximizes the use of space while making the L-shape layout even more usable (provided you have enough space). So if you’re interested in an L-shaped design for your kitchen renovation, or if you have one and want to expand, consider doubling the L-shaped kitchen with an island, or even a peninsula. 

Horseshoe kitchen designs are quite popular among homeowners.

Open Kitchen + Dining Area

The open concept works well with L-shaped kitchen designs. The classic L layout pairs very nicely with a medium-sized dining table, allowing for a seamless flow from the stovetop to the tabletop. Dining areas aren’t the only option when it comes to open concepts though, and an L-shaped kitchen can also be integrated into a combined open concept which includes a living room, dining room, and tv room all in one space. At the end of the day, space is the only limit to how ambitious your open concept gets.  

Kitchen and dining area combo designs can allow for a more convenient dining experience.

The Classic 

If you don’t have much room to work with, or just want something simple, you can’t go wrong choosing the classic layout. You’ll still get plenty to work with, including a design that maximizes the opportunities for storage space, all while giving you a clean and logical layout. 

Classic and rustic kitchen interiors can be both charming and functional.

How to Overcome The Drawbacks of an L-Shaped Kitchen

All designs have some drawbacks, but there are always ways to get around them, and L-shaped kitchens are no different. 

Don’t Spread Everything Too Apart

This is key to avoiding some of the disadvantages that the L-shaped layout can have. In general, the bigger an L-shaped kitchen becomes, the less efficient it becomes. This doesn’t mean that a large kitchen is impossible with an L-shaped design, but it does mean that it shouldn’t be too big, especially if you want it to be part of an open concept. In general, if you have to walk more than 10 steps to reach from one end of the kitchen to another, your space is probably too big for an L-shaped kitchen design to be practical — in which case you can look into some open kitchen ideas instead.

How can you make the most of your compact L-shaped kitchen?

Don’t Make Things Too Cramped, Either

At the same time, you want to avoid making things too small. An L-shaped kitchen works well in small spaces, but you’ll quickly start to have problems if the space is too small. This is especially important to bear in mind if you want the kitchen to be usable by more than one person at one time.  

Tackling the Corners 

The best way to make use of corner space is to know what it can be used for. Corner space in this kitchen layout idea isn’t enough to support cabinets or appliances bigger than a microwave. However, it can be a good place to use for decor or a turntable spice rack. A corner is a good place to put power outlets as it is out of the way and won’t disrupt whatever aesthetic you’re going for. It also allows for much deeper cabinets below your countertop, maximizing storage space.

Bonus Ideas On a Budget 

There are also plenty of ways to make an L-shaped kitchen feel cozy, warm, inviting, and practical without spending a fortune. 

Use Color to Open Up the Space

You might have a small L-shaped kitchen, but there are plenty of ways to make it feel more spacious using aesthetics. A neutral color palette, with whites for walls and appliances, bluish grays for cabinets, and wood or granite countertops all help make the space feel airier. Flooring can also be used to make space feel bigger, especially if you put in a multi-faceted flooring material such as parquet or ceramic tile. Keeping the space minimalist with clean lines and low clutter will also help a lot. 

Go for kitchen interior colors that open up the space.

Maximize Storage 

You may not have space for corner cabinets in your L-shaped kitchen, but getting cabinets that stretch to the ceiling is the next best thing. To add to the minimalist aesthetic, consider installing some simple floating shelves so you have a place to put pretty little things, like handmade coffee cups or crystal glassware. 

If your L-shaped kitchen is blessed with a window, make sure not to block it with fixtures such as cabinets.

Make Use of a Window

If you have a window in your kitchen, be sure that you don’t block it with cabinets or other fixtures. Letting more light flow into the room will help enhance the feeling of spaciousness you're aiming for. LED light accenting can also help to achieve this.

All in all, there is plenty to be grateful for when working with an L-shaped kitchen, it just comes down to how creative you get with what you’ve got!