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Rule 4 - Separating
work centers
Guideline: A full-height, fulldepth, tall obstacle should
not separate two primary work centers. A properly recessed tall corner
unit will not interrupt the work flow and is acceptable. (Examples of a fullheight obstacle are a tall oven cabinet, tall pantry cabinet, or refrigerator)
Guideline: The width of a work aisle should be at least 42 for one cook
and at least 48 for multiple cooks. Measure between the counter
frontage, tall cabinets and/or appliances.
Code Requirements:
Include a wheelchair turning space with a diameter of at least 60, which can
shaped clear space, which is a 60 square with two 12 wide x 24 deep areas
removed from the corners of the square. This leaves a minimum 36 wide base and
two 36 wide arms. T-shaped wheelchair turning spaces can include knee and toe
clearances.
Notes:
* Knee clearance must be a minimum 30 wide (36 to use as part of the T-turn)
and maintain a 27 clear space under the cabinet, counter or sink for a depth of 8.
The next 3 of depth may slope down to a height of 9, with a clear space of at least
17 extending beneath the element.
* Toe clearance space under a cabinet or appliance is between the floor and 9
above the floor. Where toe clearance is required as part of a clear floor space, the
toe clearance should extend 17 minimum beneath the element.
Rule 7 - Walkway
If traffic passes behind the seated diner, allow at least 36 to edge past.
If traffic passes behind the seated diner, allow at least 44 to walk past.
Comments:
area that has just one seat. If there are two seats, however, then the user of the
second seat will have to pass behind the user of the first seat to get to the second
seat, and the 36" clearance rule applies to allow the second dinger to edge past. A
44" clearance is better.
A seating area should never extend into a work aisle, but may extend into a walk
area if a minumum walk space of 44" is provided. This allows a walker to pass
behind the seated diners. A 60" space is better.
If traffic passes behind the seated diner, plan a minimum of 60 to allow passage
For 30" high tables/counters, a minimum 18" deep clear knee space
for each seated diner.
For 36" high counters, a minimum 15" deep clear knee space for
each seated diner.
For 42" high counters, a minimum 12"deep clear knee space for
each seated diner.
Measure knee space from the front edge of the table or counter top.
While a 24" wide space for each diner is workable, it is not very comfortable. A 28-
30" wide space is better and should be considered the minimum where space is
available.
The sink should be no more than 34 high or adjustable between 29 and 36.
Exposed water supply and drain pipes under sinks should be insulated or
Code Requirements:
maximum or adjustable from 29 to 36. Cabinetry can be added under the work
surface, provided it can be removed or altered without removal or replacement of
the work surface, and provided the finished floor extends under the cabinet.
Comments: There are very limited circumstances under which the countertop next
to a sink should be less than 30" wide. However, as a practical matter, it is
sometimes necessary to decrease the depth of the countertop (never to less than
21"). If this is the case, increase the width of the countertop work area to 36".
dishwasher door. The dishwasher door in the open position should not obstruct the
clear floor space for the dishwasher or the sink.
Comments: The modern dishwasher is an ergonomic disaster. It's much too hard to
use. You have to bend and stoop a lot to load and unload it. You have to spend a lot
of time opening and closing the top tray to reach the bottom tray. The bottomhinged drawer gets in the way of people moving around the kitchen and makes it
much harder for mobility impaired users to load and unload. It is not a very userfriendly or efficient appliance.
The solution is to faise the dishwasher off the floor so that the center of the
appliance is about waist high. In kitchens were it is possible, that's what we do. The
new drawer-style dishwashers are a vast improvement, but as of yet, very pricey.
For more information of dishwasher placement, see Mise-en-Place: What We Can
Learn About Kitchen Design from Commercial Kitchens. For more information
about ergonomic kitchen design, see Body Friendly Design: Kitchen
Ergonomics.
Universal Design Guideline: Plan a knee space at, or adjacent to, the
auxiliary sink.
Code Requirements:
dishwasher door. The dishwasher door in the open position should not obstruct the
clear floor space for the dishwasher or the sink.
refrigerator/freezer with the centerline of the clear floor space offset 24 maximum
from the centerline of the appliance.
Note A: The 12 and 15 landing areas must be at the same height as the cooking
surface.
should also extend a minimum of 9 behind the cooking surface if the counter height
is the same as the surface-cooking appliance.
accordance with the appliance manufacturers instructions or per local codes. (This
may not provide adequate landing area.)
Comments:
exactly at the same level as the cooking surface. The guideline is met if the adjacent
surface is roughly at the same level as the cooking surface.
The purpose of the guidelines for cook surface landing areas is not just ensuring
enough working space on both side of the cooking appliance, but to ensure that
there is a sufficient space between the cooking appliance and any combustible
cabinet materials for safety.
A range with oven requies two landing areas, one for the rangetop and one for the
oven. These are consolidated as required by Rule 24, so a combined landing zone of
at least 27" is required on one side of the range.
provide knee and toe clearance and the underside of the cooktop should be insulated
or otherwise configured to prevent burns, abrasions, or electric shock.
The location of cooktop controls should not require reaching across burners
If a microwave hood combination is used above the cooking surface, then the
Comments:
Formerly it was permissible in most jurisdictions to recirculate vented air back into
the kitchen. The air was drawn into the ventilating device through carbon filters,
then blown back into the kitchen. Recirculation is now not allowed in most
jurisdictions. Air must be vented through and wall or the roof to the outdoors. The
earlier practice of venting into the attic is also no longer allowed due to the risk of
fire.
or system must be followed, even if they conflict with other building code
requirements. Where the manufacturer's specifications are silent, then guidance is to
be obtained from the applicable building code requirements.
Typically make-up air is required when the capacity of the ventilation system
exceeds 300 cfm. The belief is that at this capacity the house can no longer provide
enough air and there is danger of backdrafting gas appliances. Makeup air is merely
aid drawn from outside the dwelling through ducting that is installed by a mechanical
contractor.
Operable parts should be operable with one hand and not require tight grasping,
pinching or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate operable parts should
be 5 pounds maximum.
maximum and the low reach should be 15 minimum above the floor
Put the fire extinguisher in plain view even if you don't like the "industrial look."
National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) Guideline 10, Paragraph 6.1.3.1 states,
"Extinguishers shall be conspicuously located where they will be readily accessible
and immediately available in the event of fire." Paragraph 6.1.3.3.1 states, "Fire
extinguishers shall not be obstructed or obscured from view."
A kitchen fire extinguisher must be rated for class B fires. These are fires fueled
by flammable liquids and grease. Most fire extinguishes are rated for class B fires,
but check to be certain.
When you install your fire extinguisher, read the instructions for using it to fight
fires. Stopping to read the instructions while a fire is blazing is not a good idea, but
using it without reading the instructions is a worse idea.
Test your extinguisher at least every 6 months, or more often if the manufacturer
Guideline: Locate the microwave oven after considering the users height
and abilities. The ideal location for the bottom of the microwave is 3
below the principal users shoulder but no more than 54 above the floor.
If the microwave oven is placed below the countertop the oven bottom
must be at least 15 off the finished floor.
Comments:
intended to be mounted under the countertop and are accessed from the top, not
from the front. Until guidelines are developed, the best course is to carefully follow
manufacturer's instructions for placement and mounting.
Typically over the range micro-hoods will meet these requirements, but in a
contest between this guideline and safety guidelines, the safety guidelines win.
Always mount micro-hoods in accordance with the manufacturer's directions.
Guideline:
Comments: An oven in a range has to share the landing zone on one side of the
range. In accordance with rule 24, the combined landing zone has to be 27" or
larger.
Code Requirements: For side-opening ovens, the door latch side should be next to
a countertop
meet this requirement most are 25" deep. If a countertop is shallower than 24",
then, according to this Rule, it does not count toward the 158" of countertop
frontage. However, in remodeling older kitchens, shallow countertops are often
required to meet the 42" and 48" work-aisle requirements of Rule 6. This where the
designer's good judgment comes into play in making the trade-off. We recommend
any countertop at least 21" deep but less than 24" be counted as 2/3rds. So, 3' of
21" countertop would count as 2' of countertop frontage.
Inside corners do not count toward the minimum counter space specified in this
guideline.
The guideline allows counting the countertop in front of appliance garages and
other similar storage that rests on the countertop, even though this reduces the
usable countertop area.
The guideline is not clear how island countertops are to be counted. Do you count
just the one side or both sides. If the countertop is accessible from both sides, we
count both sides.
Rule 26 - Countertop
Corners
The guideline does not provide a minimum radius for rounded corners. On a 1"
overhang countertop, the typical overhang, the largest radius is about 2".
Rule 27 - Storage
Guideline: The total shelf/drawer frontage is:
A. 1400 for a small kitchen (less than 150 square feet);
B. 1700 for a medium kitchen (151 to 350 square feet); and
C. 2000 for a large kitchen (greater than 350 square feet).
Guideline Distribution of Shelf and
Drawer Space
Small Medium Large
Wall
300
360
360
Base
520
615
660
Drawer
360
400
525
Pantry
180
230
310
95
145
Miscellaneous 40
Notes:
Shelf and drawer frontage is determined by multiplying the cabinet size by the
number and depth of the shelves or drawers in the cabinet, using the following
formula: Cabinet width in inches x number of shelf/drawers x cabinet depth in feet
(or fraction thereof) = Shelf/Drawer Frontage.
Do not apply more than the recommended amount of storage in the miscellaneous
category to meet the total frontage recommendation.
Storage areas that are more than 84 above the floor must be counted in the
miscellaneous category.
calculation may serve the need to have some math problems on the various NKBA
certification examinations, it has little real world utility because it does not
distinguish between accessible and inaccessible storage.
A 24 inch-deep base cabinet with two shelves has the following frontage: 24" x 2' x 2
= 96 inches.
A 24 inch-deep base cabinet with two drawers has the same frontage: 24" x 2' x 2 =
96 inches.
But all of the drawer space is accessible storage. To reach the back 12", just pull the
drawer out. Only the front 12" of the shelves is useful storage, the back 12" is
inaccessible. To treat the two storage modalities as if they provided the same
amount of useful storage is misleading. The drawers are more useful storage and
their higher utility should be accounted for in calculating minimum frontage.
We use a calculation that weights inaccessible storage at only 1/2 the value of
accessible storage.
The formula for the accessible part of the shelf remains the same: (width in inches)
(depth in feet) (number of shelves), but it applies to just the front 12" of the
shelf. So using the above example, the frontage of the accessible part of the base
cabinet shelves is
24" 1' 2 shelves = 48" of frontage.
The revised formula for the back 12" of shelf is (width in inches) (depth in feet)
(number of shelves) 2. This gives the back half of the shelf a frontage of 24",
calculated as follows:
24" 1' 2 shelves 2 = 24" of frontage.
The total frontage for the base cabinet with two shelves is 48" + 24" = 72". The base
cabinet with drawers retains its original frontage of 96". Now the comparison of
frontage scores clearly shows the drawer cabinet to be more useful storage.
Code Requirements: No national code requirements.
maximum and the low reach should be 15 minimum above the floor.
Where a 20 25 deep counter obstructs a forward or side reach, the high reach
should be 44 maximum.
Operable parts should be operable with one hand and not require tight grasping,
pinching or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate operable parts should
be 5 pounds maximum.
maximum and the low reach should be 15 minimum above the floor
Comments: For more information on the structural components of the kitchen; the
piping, heating and cooling, electricity and lighting, see Behind the Scenes - The
Hidden Kitchen.
Rule 31 - Lighting
Guideline: In addition to general lighting
required by code, every work surface should be
well illuminated by appropriate task
lighting. Photo: Merillat
Code Requirements:
Operable parts should be operable with one hand and not require tight grasping,
pinching or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate operable parts should
be 5 pounds maximum
maximum and the low reach should be 15 minimum above the floor
(or the flatter T5 lamps if the light valance is very narrow). These lamps are
hidden up under the wall cabinets they are attached to, so the don't have to be
pretty (which is a good thing, because they're not). Photo: Brilliant
Lighting
Good design floods every surface of this kitchen with multiple sources of soft,
shadowless light.
You want to get the fixture close to the task area, so the underside of the wall
cabinets is where most designers put the lights. Where there are no upper
cabinets, then there are two choices: projecting light from a ceiling mounted
fixture, or using pendant lamps that hanging on long cords from the ceiling.
Island lighting and lighting over the sink is often done this way. The key is to use
soft, shadowless light and to direct the light so your body does not cast a shadow
on the work area, to use soft. Making sure there is enough light is also critical.
Lighting experts use special meters to measure the amount of light falling on the
work surface and from this information have produced tables that tell us how
much light we need to provide in each situation.
If buying a new fixture, choose one made specifically for a CFL. Almost all
lighting manufacturers how make their lamps adaptable to CFLs. And even in
fixtures not specifically designed for CFLs, a fluorescent bulb can now be found
that will work. There are even dimable CFLs now, something unheard of as little
as three years ago.
Since CFLs produce little heat, they are especially suitable for recessed fixtures.
incandescent lamps produced so much heat that special recessed fixtures were
needed for contact with insulation in the ceiling to prevent fires. CFLs don't
produce nearly ass much heat, but most electrical codes have not caught up yet,
so these special fixtures are still required.
Incandescent lamps are also suitable for task lighting just more expensive to
operate. Recessed incandescent lights above counters, usually in the form of
halogen or xenon low-voltage lights, can provide good task light especially if
limited "spot" lighting is required. Many manufacturers make a line of lowvoltage halogen lamps especially designed for this application. But, unlike the
softer fluorescent lamps, these lights cast very hard shadows which make their
placement critical to avoid eye strain and even headaches in some people.
Ambient Light
The term "ambient lighting" is just lighting-engineer-speak for general
room lighting. It is the overall light that fills in shadows, reduces
contrast, and lights vertical surfaces to give the space a brighter feel.
This background light is what you need for casual activities in the
kitchen. If the kitchen has light colored surfaces and lots of windows you
should have plenty of natural ambient light during the day. But kitchens
are used from before dawn until after midnight -- we can't rely on
windows and skylights.
Fluorescent tubes are well suited to the job of providing general room
illumination or "ambient" light. They provide broad, even illumination and
their efficiency makes it possible to fill the space with light without
turning it into an oven in the Summer.
You can put the tubes in a central fixture but you may want to try some
other approaches, like placing them on top of the upper cabinets to
reflect light off the ceiling. This technique is called "cove lighting". If you
have at least 12 inches of space from the top of the upper cabinets to
the ceiling, this is an inexpensive way to brighten up a kitchen. But it
works best if the kitchen cabinets are especially designed for cove
lighting, including placing a reflective surface on the top of the cabinet.
Another nice thing about cove lighting is that you can buy the cheapest
fixture that works it will never be seen. A fluorescent fixture so ugly
that you wouldn't install it in your garage is perfect for cove lighting and
costs about $15.00. Photo: Merillat
Accent lighting is used to highlight special features, create lighting effects and provide
visual depth.
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is used to illuminate a key feature of the kitchen. This
lighting gives your room a sense of depth and dimension, adding to the
quality of the space. It is used very sparingly to emphasize those special
home objects that you want people to notice and admire. You may be
lighting artwork, architectural details, collectibles, or a food presentation
area. Lights in glass-front cabinets used to store fine china, or lights in
display alcoves are examples of accent lighting. To be completely
effective, accent lighting should be 3-5 times brighter than the
surrounding ambient light.
Night lights under the toe-kick clearly define the perimeter of the walk path in this small
bath created by Kitchens by Design.For accent or small area lighting, use CFLs
are still much less efficient than fluorescents. Their main advantage is a
crisper, white light and better control over the light beam.