The growth behavior during nonplanar metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on patterned GaAs substrates was investigated by using a periodic structure of GaAs/AlGaAs layers. At the channel edges, nongrowing and slow growing low‐index planes were observed, indicating local kinetic limitation of growth. A number of different channel orientations were studied and a theoretical model was used to explain the resulting growth planes. The kinetic limitation is further demonstrated by the temperature dependence of the growth behavior and by the use of different profiles. The influence of misoriented substrates is discussed. A reduction of the growth velocity was observed in the channels as compared with the surrounding area.