Very small kitchen Designs

Older homes with smaller kitchens sometimes have the refrigerator inside the "U, " but that really eats into the counter space. Most often you'll see a U-shaped kitchen with the refrigerator on the adjacent wall right outside the "U, " which is fine. It's still within the work triangle.

One signature of the U-shaped kitchen is the peninsula. In this case, it doesn't have seating due to the passageway between rooms. The lack of kitchen seating is often the reason people prefer the L-shaped kitchen with an island to the U-shaped kitchen.

As you can see, the dishwasher is in the peninsula and not next to the sink. That's due to a lack of room, unless you choose to not center the sink. This is one complaint about the U-shaped kitchen. One solution would be to put the sink in the peninsula, but that would leave a long empty counter on the short section of the U. At least here a cook can use the peninsula for prepping and serving.