Kitchen working surface height?

[ignis]

I built mine like I wanted so mine are all 1 metre high yes @ 6'3 [189cm] I'm tall.. I built a platform for the cooker to that it is flush @ 1 metre high...  also non of the rubbish 60 cm wide, all mine I built @ 80 cm wide....  have lots of room kitchen self built 7 m X 3.5 m, that was 18 years ago and still very happy with the build.

[misterphil]

Western kitchen type and Western kitchen height. 

[GreasyFingers]

We have just put in a new kitchen this week, bench height is 85cm. A touch low for me but easy to adjust to it, suits the cook and bottle washer (average height for a Thai lady).

[rwill]

Most Thai installations are 85cm.  For Farang 90cm.

 

One of the reasons for the lower height is that they use a cooker that sits on the counter and then when you put a pot on top of that too it is too tall for them.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Much more important as this kitchen thing is:

Whenever I come back from Euroe and sit (YES, I do!) for a pee, I fall down and have a hard and painful landing on the seat.

Thailand's toilets are made for midgets.

It seems there is a new (?) standard called ADA Toilet, or maybe different names in different countries. 

[Cake Monster]

17 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

I'm in the dual surfaces camp or two sinks.

 

All very good until you slot in a standard Cooking Range or Fridge which is 90 CM high

[Yellowtail]

One wall of mine is 80cm X 330cm, and the rice-cooker, griddle, toaster & hobs are on it.

One wall is 94cm X 400cm, and the sink and worktop are on it. 

My wife likes the heights

 

The layout is much more important than the heights. Ideally, (IMO) you want to make a triangle with the sink, refrigerator and the the hob/stove.

 

You want counter on both sides of your hob/stove and on both sides of the sink. 

 

IMO the sink is the most important area of the kitchen. Big, deep, double (or triple) and a dish-drain. Hot water is a must as well. The easier it is to clean up, the more likely it is you will eat fresh meals daily. 

 

I'm planning to "move" the kitchen from one end of the floor to the other and I'm thinking the layout through now. I will absolutely add an island.

 

 

[Yellowtail]

9 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

All very good until you slot in a standard Cooking Range or Fridge which is 90 CM high

 

 

If your 'fridge is 90cm you don't have a kitchen, you have a breakroom. 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

4 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

One wall of mine is 80cm X 330cm, and the rice-cooker, griddle, toaster & hobs are on it.

One wall is 94cm X 400cm, and the sink and worktop are on it. 

My wife likes the heights

 

The layout is much more important than the heights. Ideally, (IMO) you want to make a triangle with the sink, refrigerator and the the hob/stove.

 

You want counter on both sides of your hob/stove and on both sides of the sink. 

 

IMO the sink is the most important area of the kitchen. Big, deep, double (or triple) and a dish-drain. Hot water is a must as well. The easier it is to clean up, the more likely it is you will eat fresh meals daily. 

 

I'm planning to "move" the kitchen from one end of the floor to the other and I'm thinking the layout through now. I will absolutely add an island.

The kitchen working triangle is a well known concept.

It seems in general almost all the details of kitchens are researched. 

 

This is one example:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/files/pdf/23/2c/232cec10/your_new_ikea_kitchen_bg_aug-2019-n.pdf

This drawing is from above:

 

[Freddy42OZ]

18 hours ago, MJCM said:

Ours is @90cm (believe standard height) and for me at 190cm it's no problem. My wife is 165cm and she is also happy with it!!

Mine are 80 cm and for me at 185 that is too low, I find myself bending over a lot. 

My GF is a Farang but she's not as tall as me and for her the counters are fine. 

[Yellowtail]

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The kitchen working triangle is a well known concept.

It seems in general almost all the details of kitchens are researched. 

 

This is one example:

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/files/pdf/23/2c/232cec10/your_new_ikea_kitchen_bg_aug-2019-n.pdf

This drawing is from above:

 

Thanks, I'm going with a long J. I have 4m x 12m to work with, but I have stairs along 4m of one long side and I want the sink on the 4m outside wall.

[vinci]

if you're going to built it yourself or contractor, why not just built the height you feel comfortable with, there is no right or wrong 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, vinci said:

if you're going to built it yourself or contractor, why not just built the height you feel comfortable with 

There is more than one "you" like I described above.

And my question is/was about other peoples' experience. And I think experience like that only comes after using a kitchen with a certain height for some time.

I.e. if a user writes: "we have xx cm and after a while my small gf and I got used to it" that is interesting information.

Or maybe: we need different heights. She is not comfortable with a high surface and I am not comfortable with a low surface.

Experience, that is what I ask about. Thanks.

[flexomike]

made one kitchen for me and one for the wife, problem solved

[Thingamabob]

Working surfaces world-wide are too low and lead to spinal malfunctions.

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

There is more than one "you" like I described above.

And my question is/was about other peoples' experience. And I think experience like that only comes after using a kitchen with a certain height for some time.

I.e. if a user writes: "we have xx cm and after a while my small gf and I got used to it" that is interesting information.

Or maybe: we need different heights. She is not comfortable with a high surface and I am not comfortable with a low surface.

Experience, that is what I ask about. Thanks.

To that end, there are general standards. Put a tape measure in your pocket, take your gal to HomePro or some-such and look around. Pretend to cook and wash dishes. 

 

Spend a LOT of time thinking. Plan it, and then think about it for weeks and then re-plan. No need to get in a hurry. 

[OneMoreFarang]

20 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

To that end, there are general standards. Put a tape measure in your pocket, take your gal to HomePro or some-such and look around. Pretend to cook and wash dishes. 

 

Spend a LOT of time thinking. Plan it, and then think about it for weeks and then re-plan. No need to get in a hurry. 

I am not sure if you are joking or not.

 

Recently I bought a new office desk and a chair which can be adjusted in many ways.

I made sure the desk has the optimal height for me and I set all those settings on the chair the way they are supposed to be optimal for me.

At the beginning I was not really sure if those settings are really the best for me and I experienced a little. Buy now my chair is set nearly according to recommendation but a little different - just like I like it.

 

The problem with the kitchen is that with 99% of the kitchens the height is fixed once it's installed. It is very difficult to decide later to change the height. That's why I thought/think it's good to ask here about peoples' experience.

Because on a European or American website I won't find information about the optimal height for a 150cm person.

[khunPer]

21 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

What are the options? What did you do?

Standard European kitchen table height (90 centimeter) and a few hundred baht stool post for small Thais, children can also use it...

 

[OneMoreFarang]

4 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Standard European kitchen table height (90 centimeter) and a few hundred baht stool post for small Thais, children can also use it...

 

I am not so sure if that will work...

 

[brianthainess]

3 hours ago, rwill said:

Most Thai installations are 85cm.  For Farang 90cm.

 

One of the reasons for the lower height is that they use a cooker that sits on the counter and then when you put a pot on top of that too it is too tall for them.

Yeh that's the problem i had my work surface at 89 cm/35'' was to high to look in the cooking pans, for Mrs B, i solved it by changing the counter stove to a slimmer one with the knobs on the front, it reduced the height by about 5cm., in hindsight i would have got one set into the concrete work top.   

 

 

[SunsetT]

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Insist on her wearing heels!  And a pinny.

....and nothing else.....????

[SunsetT]

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Insist on her wearing heels!  And a pinny.

....and nothing else.....????

[SunsetT]

http://salonserve.com//wp-content/uploads/2020/08/915.jpg

 

 

[Yellowtail]

16 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am not sure if you are joking or not.

I am not joking. 

 

16 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Recently I bought a new office desk and a chair which can be adjusted in many ways.

I made sure the desk has the optimal height for me and I set all those settings on the chair the way they are supposed to be optimal for me.

At the beginning I was not really sure if those settings are really the best for me and I experienced a little. Buy now my chair is set nearly according to recommendation but a little different - just like I like it.

 

The problem with the kitchen is that with 99% of the kitchens the height is fixed once it's installed. It is very difficult to decide later to change the height. That's why I thought/think it's good to ask here about peoples' experience.

Because on a European or American website I won't find information about the optimal height for a 150cm person.

If your gal is 150 she is short for a Thai woman, average is (per the BOI) ~157,  (men are ~169) so even the standard Thai kitchen products (80cm) may be high for her. 

 

Does she like the height you have now? I do not know why you think taking her down to look is silly. She will likely just pick the standard Thai height as that is likely what she grew up with. 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

35 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I am not joking. 

 

If your gal is 150 she is short for a Thai woman, average is (per the BOI) ~157,  (men are ~169) so even the standard Thai kitchen products (80cm) may be high for her. 

 

Does she like the height you have now? I do not know why you think taking her down to look is silly. She will likely just pick the standard Thai height as that is likely what she grew up with. 

In the moment we rent an apartment and the kitchen work surface is 90cm. I plan to buy an apartment and renovate it from scratch, including kitchen. And because I am a nice guy I asked my gf about what she wants in the new apartment. And she told me she likes a lower work surface in the kitchen. If she would work alone in the kitchen then there would be no discussion. But maybe 20% of the time I also do some cooking. So now the question is if we find a compromise which is acceptable for both of us or maybe one side one height and the other side another height. It seems putting a pot on the 90cm high stove is not the issue. But i.e. cutting vegetable on that high is uncomfortable for her. 

[DJ54]

If room punt island in middle at height that works for you..t

[mauroest]

https://bim.acca.it/come-progettare-una-cucina-guida-tecnica-per-il-progettista/

[Yellowtail]

16 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

In the moment we rent an apartment and the kitchen work surface is 90cm. I plan to buy an apartment and renovate it from scratch, including kitchen. And because I am a nice guy I asked my gf about what she wants in the new apartment. And she told me she likes a lower work surface in the kitchen. If she would work alone in the kitchen then there would be no discussion. But maybe 20% of the time I also do some cooking. So now the question is if we find a compromise which is acceptable for both of us or maybe one side one height and the other side another height. It seems putting a pot on the 90cm high stove is not the issue. But i.e. cutting vegetable on that high is uncomfortable for her. 

 

So it seems pretty easy to me. Assuming you're not short, less than Thai height is going to be low for you, You show your gal the Thai height at HomePro and she will likely love it. 

 

You buy whatever cabinets you like and have them installed at the Thai height and everyone is happy. It's a little lo for you, but it's what she's used her whole life and she'll love it. 

 

If she cooks in a wok, a wok on top of a hob, on top of at 90cm counter is going to be too high. 

 

 

[david555]

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Ok, fair enough.

 

My gf is a very good cook and I want that she is comfortable in the kitchen actually cooking. ???? 

Now i notice Gf .... not wife ????...., so that could be  "volatile for future "..... so i would keep it standard height .... fitting for average future replacements ????

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, david555 said:

Now i notice Gf .... not wife ????...., so that could be  "volatile for future "..... so i would keep it standard height .... fitting for average future replacements ????

Gf since many years. I don't see any advantage of (ever) marrying. And she accepts that - not that it would make much sense to complain.

And just in case if I ever change gf A to gf B: I love cute girls. I would be surprised if I even look for one who is taller than 160cm.