Type your kitchen's size, show the door and the window, and put the stove, the sink and the fridge on their walls. You see whether you cook with your back to the door, whether the stove meets the sink, and the best walls for the stove, drawn in your kitchen with the reason in plain words.
Your stove
Move the stove to the bottom wall (the wall with the door), near its left end.Where it stands now: you cook with your back to the door — worth changing. A shiny backsplash or a small mirror by the stove lets you see the door behind you.
Quick answer: in feng shui the cook should see the kitchen door from the stove, not stand with their back to it, the stove should sit away from the door, and the stove should not stand right next to the sink or fridge or straight across from them. Type your kitchen above and the checker draws it, checks the stove where it stands, and shows better places for it in plain words.
How to use the feng shui kitchen checker
- Type the kitchen’s width and length in feet (11 ft 6 in works) or, with the m button, in meters, wall to wall. The drawing is the kitchen seen from above: the top wall is the one at the top of the drawing.
- Show the door: which wall it is in, near which end, and which way it opens. Left and right are as you stand inside the kitchen, facing the door. An open doorway counts as Out, slides, or no door.
- Add the windows (up to two), then put the sink (single or double bowl) and the fridge on their walls, near one end or in the middle. No fridge in the kitchen? Pick Not in this room.
- Put the stove: a 30 in range, a 36 in range or a cooktop in the counter, on its wall and near one end or in the middle. A place the door, a window or another piece already takes moves it to the next free one, and the page says so.
- The answer is the stove’s worst check where it stands and, if a better place exists, the best one the checker found. The dot on the drawing is where the cook stands, the coloured lines are the checks worth a look, and the numbered outlines are better places for the stove; Put it here moves it onto one. Drag the stove to any wall, or use Next wall and the arrows to slide it along. Copy link to this kitchen keeps it all.
What the checker looks at
Each check gives one of three words, always beside its icon: Good, Tip (a small thing, often fine as it is) or Worth changing. The stove has three checks; the door has up to three more.
| Check | What it measures | The words you see |
|---|---|---|
| Sees the door | The angle between the way the cook faces at the stove and the door, from a spot 15 in in front of the stove | Up to 80°: Good. 80° to 110°: Tip, the door is off to your side. Past 110°: Worth changing, you cook with your back to the door |
| Across from the door | How far the cook stands from the door, against half the room’s diagonal | At least half: Good, the stove is well away from the door. Closer: Tip |
| Stove and water | The stove against the sink and the fridge | Within 1 in of either: Tip, right next to it. The sink or fridge in front of the stove, within 6 ft: Tip, they face each other. Neither: Good |
| Door and window | A window straight across from the door | Tip when it is; Good when not |
| The door opens freely | Anything in the door’s swing | Good when its swing is clear |
| Room to walk | The way in through the door | Good with at least 30 in free |
The checks are measured, not guessed: the room and every piece are drawn to scale, and to find better places the checker puts the stove on each of the 12 places the form offers (4 walls, 3 places on each), keeps the sink and the fridge where you put them, runs every check again and keeps the places that do better, fewest changes first.
Four kitchens, checked
A 12 × 10 ft kitchen, the door at the right end of the bottom wall, the sink in the middle of the top wall under the window, a 30 in range at that wall’s left end, the fridge at the top of the right wall. It is the classic “stove and sink on the window wall”, and the checker marks the stove worth changing: you cook with your back to the door. Everything else passes. The best place it finds is the left end of the wall with the door, where all three stove checks pass; the middle of the right wall passes two of three, close to the door. Keeping the range where it is? The fix is a shiny backsplash or a small mirror by the stove, so you see the door behind you.
An 8 × 12 ft galley, an open doorway in the middle of the bottom wall, the stove in the middle of the left wall and the sink straight across on the right wall. The sink faces the stove, 43½ in between their fronts: a tip. The door is off to the cook’s side (a tip) and close to the stove (a tip). Moved to the top end of the same wall, the stove is well away from the door, but in a galley this narrow the sink across the aisle still faces it, now at a slant. A rug or a wooden board between them softens it, as the check says.
A 12 × 8 ft one-wall kitchen, the door in the middle of the bottom wall, the window straight across from it. The range at the left end of the top wall has its back to the door (worth changing) and stands close to it in a room only 8 ft deep (a tip), and the door is in line with the window (a tip). Better places exist only on the wall with the door, so most one-wall kitchens keep the stove and add the backsplash.
A 10 × 10 ft kitchen, the door at the top end of the left wall, the range at the right end of the top wall, the sink under the window in the middle of the bottom wall, the fridge at the bottom of the right wall. Every check passes: the cook sees the door, the stove is well away from it, and the sink and fridge are clear of it.
Stove, sink and fridge: fire and water
- Right next to each other, within an inch, is a tip: leave a gap, or put a wooden board or a cabinet between them. A run of counter between the stove and the sink is also where most cooks want to chop.
- Straight across from each other, the sink or the fridge in front of the stove within 6 ft, is a tip too, common in galleys and kitchens with an island sink. A rug or a wooden board between them softens it.
- On different walls, or past each other’s front, is good. A stove on one wall and the sink on the next, with counter between, is the usual answer.
Common mistakes
- Putting the stove under the window. It is a fire-safety and cleaning problem before it is a feng shui one, which is why the checker never puts the stove or the fridge under a window. A sink may sit under one.
- Measuring to the cabinets instead of the walls. Type the kitchen’s size wall to wall; the checker draws the counters’ depth itself.
- Forgetting the doorway with no door. An open doorway is still the way in, and the cook’s back to it counts the same.
- Treating every tip as a problem. Feng shui is a set of layout habits, not rules you can fail. A tip you can’t fix in your kitchen is fine to live with.
Feng shui kitchen: questions people ask
Where should the stove be in feng shui?
Where the cook can see the kitchen door without turning around, away from the door, and not right next to or straight across from the sink or fridge. The checker draws the best places in your own kitchen.
Is it bad feng shui to cook with your back to the door?
It is the one the checker marks worth changing: people come in behind you while you are at the stove. If the stove can’t move, a shiny backsplash or a small mirror by the stove lets you see the door behind you.
Can the stove be next to the sink?
Feng shui likes a little space between fire and water, so a stove within an inch of the sink is a tip. A run of counter, a cabinet or a wooden board between them is the usual answer.
Can the stove face the sink or the fridge?
Straight across from each other within 6 ft, as in many galleys and island kitchens, is a tip. A rug or a wooden board between them softens it.
Can the stove go on an island?
This checker puts the stove on a wall. On an island, what counts is the same: the cook facing the door, not their back to it. To draw an island kitchen to scale, use the free 2D room planner.
Does the window matter?
A window straight across from the door is a tip in the door’s checks. A sink under a window is fine; the checker never puts the stove or the fridge under one.
What about the rest of the house?
For the bedroom, the bed placement checker; for a home office, the desk placement checker; for the whole home’s areas, the bagua map.
Read next
- Farmhouse kitchen layout: island, apron sink and the aisles between
- Creative tiny kitchen design ideas for small spaces
- Clever small apartment kitchen designs
- Small modern kitchen designs
- Earthy kitchen designs that embrace nature
Ready for the rest of the kitchen? Draw your whole kitchen in the free 2D planner: walls, doors, windows, the island and every cabinet to scale. For the bedroom, the feng shui bed placement checker; for mirrors, the mirror placement checker.
About these checks: they are layout suggestions from a centuries-old design tradition, written in our own words and the same checks our room-planner app uses. They are not predictions, and nothing on this page promises an outcome. A safe kitchen comes first: keep the stove clear of curtains and the window, and follow your range maker’s clearances and your local code.