Quick answer
A single-wall (one-wall) kitchen puts everything on one straight run, usually 2.4 to 3.0 metres, and it is the default Auckland new-build townhouse layout. On a 2.7 metre wall you fit a fridge bay, a drawer bank, a double-bowl sink, a dishwasher, a 600 mm cooktop and base cupboards below overheads. Water and heat sit in a line with prep bench between them. MTN Kitchens supplies and installs these to a locked spec, plus GST, appliances by others.
Key points
- A single wall of 2.4 to 3.0 metres is the workhorse of the compact Auckland townhouse: one straight run open to the living space.
- On a 2.7 metre wall you fit a fridge bay, a double-bowl sink, a dishwasher, a cooktop and a drawer bank, with overhead cupboards above.
- The work triangle collapses to a work line, so order matters: fridge and sink close, clear prep bench between the sink and the cooktop.
- Appliances, plumbing and electrical are by others, so lock the model numbers and rough-in points before the cabinetry is built.
- A standard single-wall townhouse kitchen lands at roughly 4.5 to 7k supply-only, 6.5 to 9.5k installed, plus GST, appliances excluded.
The wall is 2,700 mm long. That is the actual run an architect handed us on a recent block of two-bedroom townhouses in Mount Wellington: one straight wall between the entry and the sliders to the deck, open to the living room the whole way. There was no second wall to use and no floor to give up to an island. That one wall had to hold the fridge, the sink, the dishwasher, the cooktop and enough storage to run a household. It does, and it is the most common kitchen we build for Auckland new-build townhouses right now.
Why townhouses default to one wall
The single-wall kitchen, one-wall or straight-run if you prefer, puts everything along a single line. It is the least floor-hungry layout there is, which is exactly why the compact Auckland townhouse keeps landing on it. A modern two-bedroom terrace gives the kitchen one wall of an open-plan living space, and the brief is usually to make that wall read as part of the room rather than wall off a separate kitchen. A straight run does that. It sits as joinery along the edge of the living area, not as a room you walk into. If you want the layouts side by side, our rundown of straight, galley, L-shape and U-shape layouts walks through where each one earns its place.
The zone order along a 2.7 metre single wall, read left to right.
What fits on a 2.4 to 3.0 metre wall
Start from the fixed parts. Base cabinets are 600 mm deep and the finished bench sits at 900 mm, which is the settled NZ standard and the depth every appliance is built for. So the depth is spoken for and the only real choice is how you spend the length. A single wall is a sum of modules and appliance gaps read left to right: a fridge bay at one end, the wet zone of a double-bowl sink and a dishwasher, a stretch of prep bench, the cooktop over an oven cavity, and base cupboards or a drawer bank filling the rest under the overhead cupboards. The standard cabinet widths, 300, 400, 450, 600, 800 and 900 mm, are set out in our guide to standard NZ kitchen sizes for townhouse developments.
| Wall length | What fits comfortably | What you give up |
|---|---|---|
| 2,400 mm | Fridge bay, sink, dishwasher, 600 cooktop, one base | Little prep bench and almost no drawers |
| 2,700 mm | The above plus a drawer bank and real prep bench | A tall pantry has to live elsewhere |
| 3,000 mm | Fridge, wet zone, cooktop, oven tower and a pantry | Not much; this is the comfortable single wall |
| 3,000 mm+ | Everything above plus a wider appliance bench | Wall runs out; an island or second run beckons |
The honest read is that 2,400 mm is the floor, not the target. It fits the appliances and little else, so prep bench and drawers are the first casualties. At 2,700 mm the kitchen starts to breathe, and 3,000 mm is where a single wall holds a full household without apology. Past 3,000 mm the wall usually runs out before the storage does, which is the point where an island or a second run starts to earn its keep.
Where the appliances-by-others land
On our contracts the appliances, plumbing and electrical are by others. We build and install the cabinetry and the benchtop, so the appliance cavities and the rough-in points have to be right before anything is cut. On a single wall the appliance positions decide the whole layout, because there is only one line to work with. The fridge takes a 600 to 900 mm bay at one end, sized to the actual model and its door swing. The dishwasher takes a 600 mm slot, best placed next to the sink so the plumbing shares a run. The cooktop drops into the benchtop over an oven cavity, both 600 mm, and the rangehood above needs its extract path settled early, ducted where the wall allows or recirculating where it does not.
The one-wall work triangle
The old work triangle, sink to cooktop to fridge, was written for kitchens with room to spread the three points apart. On a single wall it collapses into a work line, and the order along that line does the job the triangle used to. Get the order right and a 2.7 metre wall cooks like a kitchen twice its size. Get it wrong and the household spends years sidestepping their own layout.
The order that works: fridge and sink close together at one end so you can unpack and prep in the same few steps, then a clear stretch of bench, then the cooktop. That middle bench is the whole kitchen. It is where you chop, where you assemble, and where a hot pan lands coming off the heat. Push the cooktop hard against the fridge with no bench between and you have removed the one thing the layout needed. A double-bowl sink earns its place here too, one bowl to wash and one to drain, because a single-wall kitchen rarely has room for a separate drainer.
When one wall is right, and when to add an island or go galley
A single wall is the right answer when the run reaches 2.4 to 3.0 metres, the kitchen opens to a shared living space, and the household cooks the way most households do. It stops being the right answer in two directions. If you want a second cook, a second sink or a lot more bench, and the floor is wide enough to hold a full metre of clear space around it, an island turns the single wall into a far more capable kitchen. If the room has a usable second wall and enough width for a corridor of 1,000 mm or more, a galley gives you twice the bench and storage in the same length.
The single wall does most townhouse jobs; a second run is a deliberate step up.
- Stay single-wall when the run is 2.4 to 3.0 m and opens to living.
- Add an island only if you can keep 1 metre clear all the way round it.
- Go galley when there is a second wall and a 1,000 mm-plus corridor.
- A peninsula beats an island when the floor is too tight for both sides.
- In the smallest units, the compact-appliance tricks we use in apartments buy back length on the wall.
Uppers, fridge space and the vertical numbers
Because a single wall carries all the storage on one plane, the vertical stack matters more than in any other layout. The NZ standard stack is a 150 mm kickboard, a 720 mm base carcass and the benchtop landing you at 900 mm finished bench height, then a splashback zone of around 600 mm, then overhead cupboards, usually 720 mm tall but 900 mm where the stud height allows and you need the storage. Taking the overheads to the ceiling with a top box or a bulkhead claims the dead space above, and it is often the difference between a single wall that stores enough and one that does not. The fridge bay is the other number to get right: size it to the real fridge plus room for the doors and a little air around the cabinet, because a fridge jammed into a tight bay runs hot and the doors foul the cabinetry next to it.
What a single-wall townhouse kitchen costs
A single-wall kitchen is the most affordable good kitchen there is, because there is one run, no corner cabinet to solve and, in most townhouse specs, no island and no stone. Every dollar goes into cabinetry you use. In Auckland right now a compact single wall lands at roughly 3.5 to 5.5k supply-only, or 5 to 7.5k supplied and installed. A standard 2.7 to 3.0 metre run sits at about 4.5 to 7k supply-only and 6.5 to 9.5k installed. Add an island and you are into 7 to 11k supply-only and 10 to 15k installed, which is the jump that makes an island a deliberate decision rather than a default one. These are indicative bands, plus GST, with appliances excluded. The fuller picture across finishes and options sits in our pricing guide.
| Kitchen | Supply only | Supplied and installed |
|---|---|---|
| Compact single wall (~2.4 m) | 3.5 to 5.5k | 5 to 7.5k |
| Standard single wall (2.7 to 3.0 m) | 4.5 to 7k | 6.5 to 9.5k |
| Single wall plus island | 7 to 11k | 10 to 15k |
What moves a single-wall number inside those bands is mostly the benchtop and the door finish. A stone-look laminate top over melteca carcasses and doors keeps the kitchen at the bottom of the band and photographs well enough for a letting listing, which is why it is the workhorse spec for developer and build-to-rent runs. Engineered stone and 2-pac doors lift the number toward the top of the band, and are worth it in the units where the sale or the rent carries them. Because we manufacture in our own East Tāmaki workshop as a Laminex NZ accredited maker holding Tōtika Performing prequalification, and price at trade and wholesale with no showroom to fund, the markup that sits on a retail kitchen is not in our number, which matters most on a small kitchen where there is less material to spread it across.
A single wall is not the cheap option because it is worse. It is cheaper because nothing in it is wasted. One run, the right order, and storage taken overhead, and it out-cooks a bigger kitchen that spent its budget on a corner.
Measure the wall, then set the run
The next step is a tape measure and thirty minutes. Measure the wall end to end, mark every door, window and slider, and note where the plumbing and power come in, because on a single wall those services often decide where the sink and cooktop can sit. Then set the run: 2,400 mm and you are fitting the essentials, 2,700 mm and it breathes, 3,000 mm and it holds a full household. If you want to test cabinet widths against your own measurements, the designer on our products page lets you set every cabinet in millimetres and prices the run as you go, and a site measure locks the final dimensions before anything is cut. Across 23-plus years and more than 2,000 kitchens we have built a lot of single walls, and we will tell you honestly whether one wall is enough for your plan or whether the room wants more.
Frequently asked questions
What is a single-wall kitchen?
A single-wall kitchen, also called a one-wall or straight-run kitchen, puts the sink, cooktop, fridge and all the cabinetry along one wall in a single line. It is the dominant Auckland new-build townhouse layout because it opens straight onto open-plan living and uses the least floor area of any kitchen shape, so the rest of the room stays free.
What is the minimum wall length for a single-wall kitchen in NZ?
About 2,400 mm is the practical minimum: enough for a fridge bay, a sink, a dishwasher, a 600 mm cooktop and one base cupboard. Below that you lose either bench or an appliance and the kitchen feels compromised. A comfortable single wall runs 2,700 to 3,000 mm, which adds a drawer bank, real prep bench and a tall pantry at the end.
Does a single-wall kitchen have a work triangle?
Not a triangle, a work line. The sink, cooktop and fridge sit in a row, so the order along the wall does the job the triangle used to. Keep the fridge and sink close together for unpacking and prep, and leave a clear stretch of bench between the sink and the cooktop so you have somewhere to work and somewhere to land hot pans.
When should I add an island to a single-wall kitchen?
Add an island only when the floor is wide enough to keep a full metre of clear space between the run and the island, and when the budget carries the extra bench, end panels and often a second power or plumbing point. In a compact townhouse the room rarely allows it, and a peninsula or a longer wall usually serves the household better for less money.
How much does a single-wall townhouse kitchen cost in Auckland?
Roughly 3.5 to 5.5k supply-only for a compact 2.4 metre run, or 5 to 7.5k supplied and installed. A standard 2.7 to 3.0 metre single wall lands at about 4.5 to 7k supply-only and 6.5 to 9.5k installed. All figures are indicative bands, plus GST, with the appliances excluded because they are supplied by others.
Who supplies the appliances and does the plumbing?
On our contracts the appliances, plumbing and electrical are by others. We manufacture and install the cabinetry and benchtop around the appliance cavities and the rough-in points, so the model numbers and the plumbing and power positions need to be locked before the cabinetry is built. That coordination is where a single-wall job runs smoothly or generates variations later.
Single-wall or galley for a townhouse?
A single wall suits an open-plan townhouse where the kitchen reads as part of the living room and the run reaches 2.4 to 3.0 metres. A galley gives you twice the bench and storage, but it needs a second wall and a corridor of at least 1,000 mm, so it fits two-bedroom and larger plans with a defined kitchen zone rather than a compact open-plan one-bedder.