The best kitchen layout planner starts from your real walls

The six kitchen layouts, and what each one needs

Every kitchen layout is one of six shapes. Which one fits is decided by the room: how wide it is, where the window and the doors are, and where the water and gas come in.

Clearances: NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines.^[1] Corner cabinets: Kitchen Cabinet Kings.^[2]

Layout	Fits	What it needs
One wall	A narrow room or an open plan	Sink, range and refrigerator on one run, with counter between them
Galley	A long, narrow room with a door at one or both ends	A work aisle between the two runs of at least 42 inches for one cook, 48 for two
L-shape	A corner, often open to a dining area	One corner cabinet: a lazy Susan 33 to 36 inches wide, or a 36-inch blind corner pulled 6 inches off the wall
U-shape	A room closed on three sides	Two corner cabinets, and the same 42 or 48-inch aisle between the legs of the U
Island	A room wide enough for an aisle on every side	42 or 48 inches of work aisle around it; the work triangle should not cut through it by more than 12 inches
Peninsula	A room too narrow for an island	A run joined to one wall, with a 36-inch walkway past its open end

How wide does the room have to be?

Base cabinets are 24 inches deep.^[3] Two runs facing each other with a one-cook aisle need 24 + 42 + 24 = 90 inches, 7 feet 6 inches, wall to wall. For two cooks it is 24 + 48 + 24 = 96 inches, 8 feet.^[1] That one sum decides between a galley and a one-wall kitchen, and between an island and a peninsula.

Which is why the room's real width matters more than any layout idea. A plan drawn from a guessed width can put an island where the aisles will never fit.

The rules a good kitchen layout follows

• The work triangle. Sink, cooktop and refrigerator should be no more than 26 feet apart in total, with each leg between 4 and 9 feet.^[1]
• Room to work at the sink. At least 24 inches of counter on one side of the sink and 18 inches on the other.^[1]
• The dishwasher next to the sink. Within 36 inches of it, with 21 inches to stand in front of the open door.^[1]
• Aisles. 42 inches for one cook, 48 for two, and 36 for a walkway.^[1]
• Stock widths. Cabinets come in 3-inch steps, so a run is built from boxes and fillers that add up to the wall.^[3]

These are the National Kitchen & Bath Association's planning guidelines, the ones kitchen designers work to. Our standard kitchen cabinet sizes chart has the boxes.

Most kitchen planners start from a room you type in

Every planner below can lay out cabinets. The difference is where the room comes from, because that decides whether the layout fits.

Facts from each company's own website, read November 8, 2026.^{[4][5][4][6][7][6][8][9][10][11][12][11][13][14]} PlaceAnew: Scanning, floor plans, 3D, editing, the kitchen designer with prices and exports are free.

Planner	How the room gets in	Price
PlaceAnew	One LiDAR walk through the kitchen: walls, doors, windows and appliances where they are	Free
IKEA kitchen planner	Pick a room shape, then type in your measurements	Free, IKEA cabinets only
Planner 5D	Draw the walls and type the dimensions; Scan Room on LiDAR iPhones	Free with half the catalog
RoomSketcher	Draw the walls, or upload a plan for AI to convert	Free to start
SmartDraw	Draw walls with the wall tool, or type the room as text	$7.95 a month billed yearly, introductory; $10.95 regular
Houzz Pro	A RoomPlan scan in its app, or walls you draw; editing on a computer	Free plan with the 3D Floor Planner
KraftMaid visualizer	A ready-made kitchen that resembles yours, not your room	Not stated

A typed-in room is only as good as the tape and the person holding it. IKEA asks you to have your measurements ready before you start,^[4] and Lowe's asks you to take them and email them to the designer before the first meeting.^[15] A planner that starts from a scan skips that step and starts from the room as it is.

Plan a kitchen layout on your real walls with PlaceAnew

1. Scan the kitchen. Walk it once with an iPhone or iPad Pro. Apple's RoomPlan finds the walls, doors, windows and openings and recognizes the refrigerator, stove, oven, dishwasher, sink and cabinets.^[16]
2. Open the Kitchen tab. The designer starts from the kitchen as the scan saw it, in 3D.
3. Try the layout. Add, move and remove base and wall cabinets, counters and appliances. Cabinets come in stock US widths, with fillers where a run meets a wall and a corner cabinet that fits each corner: Lazy Susan, blind corner, corner drawers, a diagonal corner or a corner sink.
4. See the price and the look. Styles and colors for doors, counters and floors, and the price of the layout in the Cost tab.
5. Hand it on. Shop drawings for the cabinetmaker, a PDF of the plan, a DXF for CAD.

How good is the room it starts from? In our own office, every wall we could compare with a hand-measured plan came within 2.5 inches, and the longest, 17' 2", came out a third of an inch long.^[17] That is the width an island decision is made on.

Questions people ask

What is the best kitchen layout?

The one the room allows with full-width aisles and a short work triangle: at least 42 inches of aisle for one cook and no more than 26 feet around sink, cooktop and refrigerator.^[1] In a narrow room that is a galley or one wall; in a squarer room, an L or a U; an island only where every side keeps its aisle.

Is there a free kitchen planner?

Yes. PlaceAnew is free from the scan to the shop drawings. IKEA's planner is free for IKEA kitchens,^[5] Planner 5D is free with half its catalog,^[6] and RoomSketcher can be started free.^[8]

Can I plan a kitchen layout online?

Yes, in IKEA's planner in a computer's browser; IKEA says it is not for phones.^[18] PlaceAnew plans on the phone in the kitchen itself, from a scan.

How do I plan a kitchen cabinet layout?

Start with the room's real wall lengths, place the sink, range and refrigerator, then fill each run with stock widths and a filler where it meets a wall. Our design a kitchen from a room scan guide walks through it, and standard kitchen cabinet sizes lists the boxes.

Which phones can scan a kitchen?

PlaceAnew runs on iPhone 12 Pro or a newer Pro model, or an iPad Pro from 2020 or later.

Plan the layout on the kitchen you have

Choosing software rather than a layout? See the best kitchen design app. Planning IKEA? See IKEA kitchen planner alternative. Or get early access to PlaceAnew.