You've taken the plunge: Having resigned yourself to life without a new home (and a higher mortgage payment), you've decided to remodel your kitchen instead. Kitchens are particularly difficult to remodel, however. For starters, chances are good that your kitchen is the most occupied room in your home. Homeowners who embark on kitchen remodeling projects often don't stop to consider beforehand that the layout they choose is one of the most important aspects of the project. Having to open your oven door into a high-traffic pathway, for example, may turn what was intended to be a veritable Martha Stewart-esque paradise into a certified hassle. After all, a plethora of state-of-the-art appliances, new flooring, and flashy countertops and tiles can't disguise a poorly designed kitchen. The United Homeowners' Association (UHA) suggests taking a number of factors into consideration before you even draw up the blueprints for your dream kitchen. Designing your plans around your typical navigational patterns will not only prevent you from wasting time with a series of "oh, wait -- do over" blueprints. Giving travel stave off the possibility of making expensive mistakes.

• Cold stuff, hot stuff, and wet stuff. Even the most novice cook knows that any culinary effort involves a bit of juggling and coordination. So it behooves all of us aspiring Julia Childs to provide fast and easy access to three primary things in the kitchen: the cold stuff (refrigerator/freezer); the wet stuff (sink); and the hot stuff (stove top). Those three imperatives -- the most frequent stops in the kitchen -- create the "work triangle," the backbone of all kitchen designs. Think about it: You head to the fridge and remove what you want, head to the sink and wash the food, then cook it up on your stove.

• Travel distance is key. Kitchen designers consider four to 7 feet as the ideal distance range between each of the three points of the work triangle. The kitchen is not where you want to try to start your new exercise program, so plan for just a couple of steps between work points, max. Any more than that, and you could film your own workout video. Although it may seem like a trivial issue -- even sheer laziness by unseasoned kitchen remodelers -- the more distance you have to hike, the longer it takes to prepare your meals. How many of us delight in that prospect, particularly when we've put in another long day at work, and the kids are tugging at our sleeves asking for an ETE (estimated time of eating)?

• Leave me alone. Before you pat yourself on the back for that ingenious work triangle you've designed -- complete with an average of two baby steps between work points -- make sure it's out of your kitchen's traffic flow. Otherwise, you're likely to experience the "sigh" phenomenon. That happens when you're hard at work and have to stop what you're doing to allow a family member access to the rest of your kitchen. Eventually, you're going to emit an exasperated sigh -- every time you're interrupted. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon ... and for the rest of your life. Or at least until you move.

• Efficiency squared. If you've got a particularly large family, or if you're blessed and often have additional hands helping you in the kitchen, you may want to consider including a second sink, or an island with a sink, which creates a double work triangle. Remember that your passing space should increase with a double work triangle. The UHA recommends expanding your passing space from 42 inches to 48-60 inches in a two-cook setup.

• Connect the conveniences. Open work spaces should connect the three stops of your work triangle. Dishwashers and microwave ovens should be placed somewhere over or under those spaces. Cabinets containing your plates and glassware should be built at the end of your work triangle, closest to the three areas where dishes are most needed: dining area, sink, and dishwasher.

• I need my space. Adjacent to your primary kitchen sink should be a minimum of 18 inches of counter space. The other side should be a minimum of 24 inches, in order to accommodate your dirty (or clean) dishes and pots, or a dish drain.

Your stove top should be a minimum of 12 inches from the window. (Imagine the frustration for any cook if a breeze blew out a burner or lowered the temperature of the stove's contents, therefore affecting the cooking results.) And according to the UHA, the rule of thumb for space allowance around your cooktop is 12 inches around the edges. This is particularly important in households with small children; allowing this degree of space prevents pot handles from sticking out into your kitchen's traffic areas.

Above your cooking surface, give yourself at least 24 inches from a protected surface -- for example, a range hood. If the surface above your heat source is unprotected -- for example, a cabinet -- give yourself 30 inches.

Cooks typically do not use their wall ovens as much as they do their stoves, so wall ovens may be placed outside the work triangle. However, a microwave oven should be strategically located close to the work triangle, and if you're designing a double work triangle, the microwave should be placed near to the serving area.

In order to avoid the multiple container juggling act, an occupational hazard attempted by so many cooks when they empty contents from their refrigerators, allow yourself at least 15 inches of counter space near your refrigerator's handle for loading and unloading purposes. If you've got a side-by-side model, counter space on both sides is ideal, but if you have to choose, go for the cold -- the freezer side. That configuration provides easier access to the refrigerator side, the side you use far more often.

At least 36 inches of uninterrupted counter space should lie between the sink and refrigerator or sink and cooktop. For double work triangles, increase that allowance to a single stretch of 60 inches or two stretches of 36 inches apiece.

Cabinets below your counters, according to the UHA, should measure an average of 96 lineal inches. Above-counter cabinets should measure the same distance. Total counter space, according to experts, should equal approximately 108 inches.

A few final suggestions: Play artist, and create a scale drawing that depicts your outer kitchen walls, being sure to include your electrical outlets and water supply. Make a scale drawing of your outer kitchen walls on graph paper with the water supply and electrical outlets noted. Lay tracing paper on top of your drawing, and pencil in the possibilities -- an island, for example, one stretch of counter, or two stretches of counters. Then open your Yellow Pages, find yourself a designer, and show the designer your sketches. Don't be bashful. Your kitchen may hold vast possibilities you hadn't even considered.

Published: February 23, 1998

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.