A kitchen fails in the gaps, not in the finishes. Two kitchens can have the same marble, the same cabinet fronts and the same appliances, and one is a pleasure to cook in while the other has you sidestepping a drawer and an open dishwasher at the same time. And they’re the cheapest thing to control at design stage and impossible to fix after installation.
These are the dimensions we design to, and the ones worth arguing about with a contractor who proposes a standard layout.
The work triangle, used properly
The old rule still works: sink, hob and fridge form a triangle, and the sum of the three sides should sit between 4 and 8 metres. Shorter and two people can’t pass; longer and every meal is a walk.
The triangle is a starting point, not a verdict. What matters more in a modern open-plan Dubai apartment is the path between the cooking zone and the table. If the shortest route from hob to dining carries plates through a walkway where people stand, you’ll feel it every evening. Keep the service path along one wall, not across the island where guests lean.
Aisle widths: where small kitchens break
This is the number that decides everything else.
One cook, one aisle: 90 to 105 cm is workable. Two cooks, or a kitchen where children pass through: 120 cm minimum. In front of an oven with a drop-down door, remember the door itself eats 50 cm when open, so leave the aisle plus that depth if you ever want to reach inside while it’s open.
The island gap gets under-planned most often. The working side of an island needs 90 to 105 cm to the run behind it for a person to stand and work, and the walkway side needs at least 90 cm for passage. A 100 cm gap between island and wall units on both sides means nobody can open a drawer while someone else passes. In most apartments, an island is worth having only if the total kitchen width allows 105 cm plus island depth plus 90 cm. If it doesn’t, a peninsula or a single galley run works better, and saves the money the island would have cost.
Counter heights, and the 10 cm nobody talks about
Standard counter height is 90 cm. That suits a person of roughly 165 to 175 cm. If you’re shorter, 85 cm is kinder on the shoulders; taller, 95 cm. A full-height custom run at your own measurement isn’t expensive, and if two cooks of very different heights share a kitchen, dropping the prep zone 5 cm while keeping the hob and sink at 90 is a sensible split.
The step that most Dubai plans miss is the 10 cm difference between counter height and the standard 80 cm under appliances. A built-in oven at eye level, a raised dishwasher platform and a side channel for the kettle and toaster each remove a daily bend. For a household that cooks daily, the raised dishwasher alone saves thousands of bends a year and costs one platform at first fix.
Depth, overhang and the hob edge
Counters run 60 cm deep as standard, and 65 cm behind a hob gives room for a row of prep bowls and a safe gap to the wall. The 40 cm question is the island overhang. 25 cm supports plates and elbows for eating; 30 cm with a knee space is the minimum for sitting comfortably on a normal stool, and that knee space needs a 25 cm clear height, which pushes the counter surface above 90 cm or requires a dropped ledge.
Hob placement deserves a rule of its own: never in the aisle-side edge of an island where a handle or a sleeve catches passing traffic, and never hard against a wall run corner where two cooks can’t share it. A 30 cm clearance to a window that opens, and to any tall unit door swing, avoids the two most common service callbacks we see.
Sinks, bins and the landing rule
Every work surface needs a landing. Groceries coming out of the fridge want 40 cm of counter beside or opposite the door. Dishes coming out of the dishwasher want 45 cm beside it, or the sink itself within reach. A hob wants 30 cm on each side, and never place a hob directly under an openable window where a gust kills a low flame.
The bin is the most under-designed object in the kitchen. A 30 cm drawer with an internal pull-out near the sink and prep zone handles a family’s daily waste; a bin freestanding in the aisle is a tripping hazard that also smells. Plan the bin and the cleaning caddy into the sink cabinet run on the plan, not after handover.
What to check on the drawing before joinery starts
Ask for the joinery drawings marked with the aisle widths, the appliance clearances from the manufacturer sheets, the door swing arcs, and the landing zones beside the sink, hob and fridge. Manufacturer clearance sheets aren’t decoration: built-in appliances have real ventilation gaps, and a tight 60 cm plinth run behind an integrated fridge shortens its life. Confirm the position of every appliance door swing against every adjacent drawer, because a fridge door that blocks the pantry run at 90 degrees is a daily irritation that costs nothing to fix on paper.
Bring the plan to the room with tape on the floor at the real aisle widths and walk it. Open an imaginary dishwasher while someone passes. Carry a tray from hob to table. Five minutes with masking tape catches what months of rendering won’t.
Kitchen layouts succeed on numbers like these, and the finish selections come after. Our project gallery shows kitchens we have built in Dubai apartments and villas with these clearances applied, and if you’re at the drawing stage, send us the plan through the contact page and we’ll mark up the problem dimensions before any joinery is ordered.
