Single Wall kitchen layout, illustrated cutaway
Kitchen Layouts · Single Wall

Single Wall Kitchens in London

One run of base and wall units along a single wall, tall units at one end, and the rest of the room left for the table. The layout for a narrow room, an open-plan flat or a side return, where one long wall is all the kitchen needs.

Single Wall kitchen · In plan

The single wall kitchen, in plan

Everything sits on one line: tall units at one end, the hob in the middle with worktop either side, the sink under the window and the dishwasher beside it. The run needs at least 2.4 metres to hold a hob, a sink and a fridge; 3.0 to 4.5 metres is typical. In front of it, 1.2 metres of clear floor lets an oven door and a dishwasher door open with someone standing at them.

Run length 2.4m minimum, 3.0 to 4.5m typical · Depth 600mm base units, 350mm wall units · Clear in front 1.0m minimum, 1.2m comfortable · Room any width

Single Wall kitchen · What to get right

Getting a single wall kitchen right

Six things a designer checks before a single wall kitchen is drawn.

01

Tall units at one end

Fridge and oven tower together, at the end furthest from the window, so the worktop runs unbroken from there to the sink.

02

The order along the run

Fridge, worktop, hob, worktop, sink, dishwasher. Cold storage to cooking to washing, in the order a meal is made.

03

Worktop either side of the hob

At least 300mm each side; 600mm is better. A hob against a tall unit or a wall has nowhere to put a pan down.

04

The sink under the window

The one place a wall unit cannot go is the best place for the sink. The dishwasher goes beside it, on the same drain.

05

Full-height storage

One wall has to hold everything, so wall units go to the ceiling and drawers replace cupboards below: a drawer uses the full 600mm depth.

06

Clear floor in front

Twelve hundred millimetres. Less than a metre and the oven door meets the table; more than 1.5 metres and the room can take a second run.

Room sizes

Room sizes for a single wall kitchen

What each size of room holds, and the clear floor it leaves. Your designer measures the room and adapts the layout to it.

RoomWhat fitsClear space
Minimum · 2.4m run Fridge, 600mm of worktop, a 600 hob with the oven under it, a 600 sink1.0m in front
Typical · 3.6m run Most roomsFridge and oven tower, hob with worktop both sides, sink under the window, dishwasher1.2m in front, a table opposite
Long · 4.5m run or more Two tall units, a 900 hob, 1.2m of prep worktop, sink, dishwasher and a drawer bank1.2m, or 1.0m and an island
Minimum · 2.4m run
What fits Fridge, 600mm of worktop, a 600 hob with the oven under it, a 600 sink
Clear space 1.0m in front
Typical · 3.6m run Most rooms
What fits Fridge and oven tower, hob with worktop both sides, sink under the window, dishwasher
Clear space 1.2m in front, a table opposite
Long · 4.5m run or more
What fits Two tall units, a 900 hob, 1.2m of prep worktop, sink, dishwasher and a drawer bank
Clear space 1.2m, or 1.0m and an island
Single Wall kitchen · Where everything goes

One wall, in elevation

With one wall the order matters, because there is no second run to balance it. Tall units group at one end so the worktop is unbroken; the hob sits in the middle with at least 300mm of worktop either side; the sink takes the window and the dishwasher sits next to it so the plumbing runs once. Wall units carry the crockery above the worktop, lit from beneath.

Worktop 910mm high, 600mm deep · Wall units from 1450mm, 350mm deep · Tall units 2150mm, grouped at one end · Hob 300mm of worktop either side, 900mm to the sink

Single Wall kitchen · Planning

Planning a single wall kitchen

Five decisions, in the order your designer makes them.

01
Measure the wall
Length, ceiling height, and where the window, the door, the boiler and the soil pipe fall. Each one fixes something on the run.
02
Fix the sink
Under the window if there is one, over the existing drain if there is not. Moving a drain is the most expensive change on a single wall.
03
Place the hob
In the middle of the run, with worktop both sides and a route for the extract to the outside wall.
04
Group the tall units
Fridge and oven tower at one end, together, so the worktop between them and the sink is continuous.
05
Light the worktop
LED under every wall unit on one dimmer. A single run is lit from itself; a ceiling light behind the cook puts a shadow on the board.
Single wall kitchen layout, illustrated cutaway: one 4.2m run with tall units at one end, hob in the middle, sink under the window and a table opposite
Single Wall kitchen · Built

The single wall, built

A single wall kitchen is the layout that keeps the room a room. The cabinetry takes one wall; the table, the sofa or the garden doors take the rest. In a mews house or a lateral flat it is usually the only layout that fits, and in an open-plan extension it is often the best one, because the kitchen becomes a piece of furniture on one side of the space rather than a room within it.

When the room is wide enough, a single wall grows an island: our Belgravia kitchen is a single run of matt black units with a large island in front of it, which is how a single wall becomes a kitchen for a family. Where the width is not there, a table where the island would go does the same job. See the island layout for the widths that make the difference, and the galley for a room with two long walls.

See the Belgravia kitchen
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Single Wall kitchen · FAQ

Questions about the Single Wall layout.

At least 2.4 metres to hold a fridge, a hob and a sink with a little worktop between them. Three to four and a half metres is typical, and gives room for a tall oven housing, a dishwasher and a run of drawers. Beyond about five metres the walk from the fridge to the sink becomes tiring and an L-shape or an island is the better use of the wall.

Yes, if the run is long enough and the storage is full height. A 3.6-metre run with wall units to the ceiling and drawers below holds as much as a small L-shape. What a single wall lacks is worktop, so the run is planned with the hob in the middle and prep space either side, and a table or an island in front of it takes the overflow.

Cold to hot to wet: fridge, worktop, hob, worktop, sink, dishwasher. Food comes out of the fridge onto the worktop, is cooked on the hob, and the pans go to the sink and the dishwasher at the end. The oven sits under the hob or in a tall housing next to the fridge, so both tall units stand together at one end.

It is the layout most open-plan rooms are best with. The kitchen sits along one wall as a single composition, the extraction runs straight up that wall, and the rest of the room stays free for dining and sitting. Handleless doors and wall units in the same finish as the base units let the run read as one piece of furniture rather than a kitchen.

A metre at the least, so that an oven door, a dishwasher door and a person can all be in front of the run at once. Twelve hundred millimetres is comfortable and is what we plan to. If the room gives you more than 1.5 metres, the space can take a table; more than 2.4 metres and it can take an island, at which point see the island layout.

Straight up the wall behind the hob, through the ceiling or the wall to the outside. A single wall usually has the hob against an external or a party wall, which makes a ducted hood simple. Where the wall is internal, a recirculating hood or a downdraught extractor in the worktop avoids a long duct run across the ceiling.

It is the most economical layout we build, because there are no corners to solve and the run is one continuous piece of cabinetry. Our kitchens start from £3,900 for a single wall of about eight units in a slab door, delivered and fitted; a wall of tall housings, or shaker doors at 20 to 30% over slab, moves the figure from there. Prices include VAT, delivery and installation by our own fitters; worktops, appliances, sink and tap are quoted separately. A design visit gives you a fixed written price for your room.

One wall. One design visit.

Our senior designer measures the wall, checks the services and draws the run to it, free, at your home, with the door samples.

All six kitchen layouts