Catherine from Calgary Alberta just moved into a house that has a tiny boat galley type of kitchen that simply doesn't work, so she was looking for some guidance.
Without trying to present a full course in kitchen design, I gave her a couple of the basic rules.
There are three major appliances in a kitchen, the sink, the stove and the fridge. There should always be a minimum of 4 feet and a maximum of 9 feet between any two of these three major appliances. Then you will have one or more work centres and perhaps some landing space, like where you stack the dishes or groceries.
She wanted to know how to tell if knock down cabinets were of good quality or not, and I recommended that she look mostly at the hardware, the hinges and drawer slides. If they are solid, the rest of the material is probably good. If you have time, patience and a little skill, knock down can be a good investment. If you are less patient, get fully assembled modules.