Yes, I think a kitchen can be too big. That said, its a problem I wouldn't mind having.

My current kitchen has about 7 square feet of counter top, making it a constant juggling act of where to put things if you're cooking a more complicated meal.

I think a big kitchen would be great for cooking big meals, whereas a petite kitchne tends to be good for simple day to day meals, provided you stay ahead of the dishes that have nowhere to pile up.

That is ridiculous! I'd be dropping things left and right!
My kitchen is approximately 180 s.f. When I first purchased the home, I was concerned it might be too small. After renovating it and living in it for a year now, I realize it's perfect. I can get to every cabinet, drawer and appliances within a few steps and it has a huge amount of storage as well. We even had enough room left over for a small table (which I haven't purchased yet, haven't found one which looks "right" in the space as of yet). The room works efficiently, there is no wasted movement. The only thing which I wish I had the room for, which I didn't, was for a 6 burner range instead of a 4 burner. But that really hasn't been an issue at all in the grand scheme of things.

I have catered in kitchens that were so big you could have the entire party of 100 people in the kitchen and still have room for food prep, cleanup and service personel. Big kitchens are a nightmare!!! I once catered a meal for 50 out of the kitchen in a closet in the center of the house. That one was much easier than the big kitchens in some homes. But the biggest kitchens are ofen in homes that no one uses--they are just for show.

My u-shaped kitchen isn't too big, just right in size. However, it is combined with a breakfast area (the room is heart-shaped) and there's a lot of unused space between the two. An island would look odd there, but it would make a good spot for a card table to hold food (or extra guests) if I were to ever entertain.

My kitchen is both too big and has no room, if that makes sense.

It SHOULD be nice and spacious, but due to there being a chimney and solid fuel Aga in the MIDDLE of one wall, a door to the living room in the middle of another wall, and a big picture window with a super deep window sill right behind the counter and sink, there's just no space. I have one built in cabinet next to the Aga where we store dishes, and I have a double cupboard on one wall, and a single cupboard and three drawers below the counter to put everything in.

I agree with sivyaleah - the key is efficiency and, yes, I think a too-big kitchen can definitely be inefficient.

Being able to get from fridge to sink to oven to storage in a minimum of steps is key.

Yes kitchen's can definitely be too big. I recently moved from a box kitchen to one three times the size - the extra counter space (and double oven!) is great BUT I do a LOT of cooking (bread, roast and cake can all be on the go some sundays!). And even then I was fairly happy in the minute kitchen most of the time (its not why we moved).

Efficiency and tidiness is key though, I've also stayed in a few houses with huge kitchens that I found really stressful to cook in - they were 'too' big for me, but the stressful bit was that the extra cupboard space just allowed the owner to hoard which mean you just couldn't find any cooking implements in her overstuffed cupboards - I had full cupboards in my box kitchen but they were full of things I truly needed - in my newer kitchen I have the same amount of stuff but neatly and spaciously stored in the cupboards. My aunt's house has cupboards overflowing with 3 broken kitchenaids, 2 dusty blenders etc.

"This business of taking six paces between appliances, prep space, and the sink is just plain tiring!"
small kitchens can be inefficient as well. your main complaint seems to be about inefficient layouts, which does not automatically equate to a large floor space.
honestly, i was not aware that too much floor space could be a problem - i learned something today. i feel incredibly fortunate to have my 220 sqft kitchen. i would never, EVER think to complain that a room in my house was too large. my 50 year old cabinet layout is not the most efficient use of the space, but i'd never think to wish for less. there are plenty of ways to fill the unused space.
my family went through some hard times when i was young, so reading this complaint rings rather...hollow to me. i know, i know, this is the internet and i do try not to take stuff too seriously but with this i just had to say my piece.

I was cooking in a friend's kitchen once. It wasn't that big but bigger than my own and not only was the sink MILES from the stove but people kept cutting through to get to the living room. It wasn't such a big deal but boy did it make me appreciate my "just right" kitchen.

The picture makes me sad for the host who loves to cook, I can't picture him/her being able to engage with guests at the bar while draining pasta water, or prepping salads, for example.

My friend's husband built cabinets in a big fancy house and he said the kitchen was huge and the sink and fridge were on opposite sides of the kitchen separated by an eight foot long island. I love having my fridge two steps from my sink.

puhlease. if one can afford to have that type of kitchen in their house, one can definitely afford to hire caterers for parties.

also, definitely too big.

the kitchen in that picture does not look that big. it's just that there is a large space between the bar and the kitchen. I'm guessing it's actually two different rooms (games room/party room and kitchen) and not all part of the kitchen. Usually the kitchen doesn't have a bar. I've only seen bars in games rooms or man caves.

Well, I'm a kitchen tool hoarder! D: So I use all the kitchen cabinet and countertop space to store and display the more unique things in my collection. I just wish I had a bigger stove. Four burners isn't enough for all the vegetable plates we eat for dinner

Yes kitchen can be too big. And it's not always just about bad configuration. A large size kitchen means inevitably larger distances in between everything. When I'm cooking a big meal, I need to run around the kitchen getting things: the pantry, the fridge, the sink for washed veggies, chopped stuff from my counter, spices, pots & pans, spoons, etc. It will definitely become a problem when I have to run miles to get something while something is cooking on the stove.

My tiny kitchen could be laid out better, but I do love that everything is at hand. My main problem is that the preciousness of counterspace tends to reinforce my anal-ness about not letting dishes sit (because if the sink is full I have nowhere to clear used dishes as I cook/prep.) That is NOT a trait that I need reinforced :-P

My SIL's McMansion bathrooms are also insanely huge and I always wonder what I'm supposed to be doing in all that extra floorspace...sports? games? host a party?

Too big is right. At times, when hubby, 3yr old and I are all in there at the same time each trying to do our part with meal prep and/or cleanup, ours feels too small. But I really like the efficiency of our galley-shaped kitchen. Granted, I love to have a little bit more counter space and for that matter some wall space to hang up more decorative items but thats just gilding the lily, in my opinion.

I feel like if one has to ask if their space is too big, then it is.
I have a tiny Manhattan apartment where nothing makes sense- the counter next to the fridge doesn't have any electrical outlets.
I think layout wins in the end even if the space is too big.

Yes. Large kitchens are inefficient. I went from having a galley kitchen to a very large kitchen and HATE the large open kitchen. It takes me twice as long to cook b/c the work triangle is so spread out. It seems like we have less storage in this bigger kitchen as well.

I very briefly worked in a giant restaurant kitchen where my prep area was, thankfully, right in front of the walk-in fridge, but everything else I needed was a dozen or more paces away. I think what made it worse was that the main restaurant wasn't open yet, so the place was completely empty. It was awful.

Alternately, I worked for three years in a tiny little open-to-the-dining-room restaurant kitchen that was always at capacity with other workers and everything worked perfectly in the small space.

Yes, a kitchen CAN be too big.Friends of mine bought a manor house, with a kitchen as big as the platform of a railway station ( a bit as your picture and then bigger ).It's so uncosy !!!
My tiniest kitchen I had as a student was about the size of a kitchen you have aboard a ship It was actually quite good to cook in as you had everything around you and could put your hand on everything immediately.

I only run into this problem when I visit my parents. But the problem there isn't size. In fact, I would say it's cozy compared to most suburban kitchens. However, since they rarely cook, it is completely nonsensical. Which is worse?

I like small kitchens... less cleaning.

Too big, too small, can't find the right ingredients at the store - this all sounds a bit pathetic. If you want to cook a delicious meal, these things shouldn't matter.

Six paces doesn't bother me, I'd much rather walk around a little while cooking than not have room for guests to stand around and chat if I'm finishing up dinner or dessert, or we're mixing drinks at a party!

My kitchen is big and empty (i.e. without any installed counter space, storage and sink are in nooks off the side). Putting a hand me down table in the middle of the room means I'm pretty close to wherever I want to go. If storage becomes an issue, as it might, I'll get more shelves or a filing cabinet. Easier to deal with than too small, I think.

My kitchen is a bit too small, 77sf (7'x11), but it's laid out about as well as it could be for being so small. It can be nice to be standing at the sink, then you turn around and you're staning at the stove, no steps. Still, who doesn't dream of a bigger kitchen?

One thing I haven't done is any large scale cooking, like full holiday meals, or canning. Counter space is quite scarce and I can't imagine where all the dishes required for a multi course meal would go while working on the meal.

Too much space, too much clutter and I'm holding onto things I don't really need. I begin to have no clue what I own.

But then again, I'm no master chef, most of my meals involve one pot and a rice cooker.

Having lived with small rental kitchens for 2 years, I can't wait to move back into our house where the kitchen will be aboout 300sq ft but that includes the dining area. There will be maybe 11m of counter top! Cannot wait!

I've got a galley kitchen about 12 feet long. I love the tiny, tidy work triangle. To take a pot of pasta from the stove to the sink for draining is a pivot and two steps.

I agree with the posters above that say that layout and storage more than size is key. I've cooked holiday meals for eight people in that kitchen and having tweaked where I store things and added an extra five linear feet of counter top and lots of open storage shelving has improved the efficiency of the space a LOT.

Alllebasii makes the best point of all :-P

This got me thinking about what I want in a kitchen, which is good, because I'll be house-hunting soon. One factor that I didn't see mentioned is the typical kitchen audience. When I lived with my parents we needed space so my mom and I could cook while my dad did dishes. Now I'm usually alone in the kitchen and would rather be able to reach things while I stir pots on the stove. In the future I think I'd like a kitchen that I can work in by myself but still be able to see other people in the house. Or at least the tv. :-)

@ SoccerJo - good point. There isn't room for a second cook inside the work 'triangle' in my space, but the dining room is on one end of my kitchen and the breakfast nook is on the other, so there's a least some 'hang out space' nearby.

I think it the kitchen pictured in the article above there would be even less 'hang out' space. I don't see any seating at all in the kitchen, just in the bar area. You'd have to drag a stool over to have anywhere to sit. And though there's enough space to host a dance party between the kitchen island and where the camera was, there's no where to even 'lean and chat'. But then, I like 'cozy' spaces.

I think a kitchen is perfect when it's cook(s) can work comfortably and efficiently, and if that cooks so desires, also accommodates family dining or entertaining guests. There's no one size fits all.

But...that open space behind you, Regina, and the willies it causes is bad feng shui. Some people scoff at the term, but I think most of us are naturally aware of when a room's layout feels 'right' and when it doesn't. You should definitely take whatever measures are needed to make your kitchen more comfortable and efficient for you.