Please give your opinion on this kitchen design

gabyjane

I personally think it is a lovely looking kitchen BUT!

The worktop even though in line with the opposite side does look like it is sticking out

The fridge next to an oven i'm sure is a no no with most fitters making your fridge freezer work harder due to the heat it gives off, not sure if integrated changes this?

The worktop space is going to have what on it? we have a similar amount and we have a kettle, toaster, pasta dispenser thing and a microwave and we cope, i of course would like more but very rarely find myself getting stressed with no where to put stuff as you seem to have quite a few cupboards.

The sink,.. i would like to get rid if our drainer due to the space it would gain but they do come in handy for other things other than washing up! you too have a dishwasher but sometimes you need drainers so id'e suggest keeping.

Dishwasher as i think someone else said is a slimline..how big is your house? would a bigger family in the future cope with a small one?

Alan_M_2

Access to the utility room is what's causing all the problems so think laterally. Rather than making the kitchen fit the utiliy access can you change or integrate the access in another way?

Can the utility room be combined in the kitchen (knocked through?)

Is it possible to provide an existing floor plan showing internal and external walls plus doorways?

puddy

edgex wrote: »

so the door is one of the green boxes, as below:




as for the utility room, is it just a room, with no other doors?

thanks for thaqt, yes the door to the room is the vertical green block you have drawn.
the utility room also has front and back doors to it, one to the street the other to the garden

puddy

edgex wrote: »

ive put black X's through those cupboards that you wont be able to use, due to the boiler in one, the sink & hob over others, & others that seem so small as to be pointless


if the microwave is to go above the oven, the whole set needs to move down, so that the ovens start at the bottom of the rack, & then the microwave is at eye level

fridges/freezers - not a good idea to put them next to heat sources like that, they end up having to work harder whenever you use the oven, costs you more

that dishwasher looks like a slimline one
if you ever want to change it, or put something else in its place, that could be an issue


another thing ive noticed:
no plug sockets?



is this a family kitchen, or just for a couple?

yes, i dont like the microwave that high up, the plug sockets arent planned yet, we have some but not many at the moment
we would always have a slimline dishwasher, i dont even want a dishwasher but OH wants one so it has to stay, at the moment its in the utility room and due to problems with access, its either always full or empty, with dirty washing up crowding the minimal worktop space we have at the moment
we are just a couple with adult children but i love to cook and we have them down a lot, so its a bit of both really
no, i wasnt sure about the oven next to the fridge either, he reckoned it was ok, but i think i want it changed.

puddy

Alan_M wrote: »

Access to the utility room is what's causing all the problems so think laterally. Rather than making the kitchen fit the utiliy access can you change or integrate the access in another way?

Can the utility room be combined in the kitchen (knocked through?)

Is it possible to provide an existing floor plan showing internal and external walls plus doorways?

well this is the crux of the matter. originally i had planned to have the utility door blocked off and my kitchen problems would be solved in an instant!

however, the only other place for a door to the utility room would be under the stairs. this means that it would be a lower and narrower door than normal AND we have to get an electric meter moved. i had southern electric round to see it, they are talking at least 1k for that alone, plus all the other electric costs on top of that, then the door way etc.
the other issue with the utility room is that it is lower than the rest of the house, i dont like going out there because you go through the door (from the kitchen) down a stupidly designed step, which is not wide enough, with your basket of washing etc.

i hardly ever go out there at the moment, although we need to get the roof done and a new floor, my plan is to have the old kitchen installed out there, just bog standard, worktops and cupboards, the cat litter trays and the dog bed.
we could keep a freezer out there, but i dont want the fridge or the microwave out there. we dont currently have a microwave but OH wants one, im not keen on it being up so high, i can see a spillage disaster looming.

puddy

Alan_M wrote: »

Access to the utility room is what's causing all the problems so think laterally. Rather than making the kitchen fit the utiliy access can you change or integrate the access in another way?

Can the utility room be combined in the kitchen (knocked through?)

Is it possible to provide an existing floor plan showing internal and external walls plus doorways?

forgot to say, the utility room does not run the full length of the house, so see where the boiler is, on the other side of that wall is outside, not the utility room. to extend the utility room further out so that it ends at the same place as the house, means moving a main drain.

therefore, our plans for an L shaped kitchen seem thwarted too.

i cant seem to find how to do a house plan for you all to see but this feed back is very helpful

puddy

what do you think, about taking away the sticky out bit of work top and putting work top along the side of the kitchen opposite the utility room door (so vertically downwards from where the fridge is)

then putting an undercounter fridge in, and having a chest freezer in the utility room

then putting the oven under the hob opposite the window

then having the microwave on the counter somwhere (probably near the sink side

??

Meepster

Just to add, I'd get shot if I designed a kitchen like that...

For a starter, the distance between the two sets of units, where the door is, is MUCH too small...

Post some sizes if you can ( a base plan would be best), and when I'm back in the office I'll put something together for you...

andrew-b

Hi Jenner,

Bit late on joining the thread so haven't read it all. However I hate the design...sorry but if someone gave me that design i'd go elsewhere as it sucks!

I think it would be better to go back to basics and start from the bare walls and ignore this design rather than trying to make it fit (to me i can't see how it could!) and build up bit by bit what layout will actually work. Also on the budget side anything involving non-90degree angles, curves etc is likely to boost up the pricing.

With our own kitchen plans (most of which i drew up and wickes just pointed the mouse to drag things around on screen as i wanted!)...our kitchen is very tight in space with various limitations such as a diagonal wall, back door, larder, and door to hall and a hatch to the dining area that we wanted to keep plus a washing machine and tumble drier (could have been dishwasher instead) to cram in as well as oven, hob, microwave and sink. All that in a smallish kitchen meant there was literally only one possible layout but it took quite a while to find it but it wasn't far from the kitchen we were ripping out! Originally we wanted an eye-level oven housed in a tower similar to yours but it soon became very apparent that it really wasn't an option as it meant sacrificing worktop space and storage space of which we have very little so the compromise was to have a built-under double oven below worktop level instead with hob above. By making the compromise instead of having potential worktop space given to hob and oven only the hob with under below ate into the space. So perhaps making the same compromise would help relieve the issues?

However I think you need to consider other options too such as relocating the door for access from the rest of the house - could it be moved to the bottom left wall on which the hob is located in plans above which would then let you use the space to bottom right as edgex suggested. That would create dead space on that bottom left wall though but it would become the throughfare to the utility room. I'm trying to get away from the plan above but i'll also mention i don't like the curved worktop stuck out there..to get from rest of house to utility room or kitchen sink etc means you've got to walk around that island stuck out and it would drive me potty!

With the sink i'd tie that to being under the window with dishwasher close by or under drainer. I'd have the drainer to the left which is how the majority seem to place them (there have been threads discussing this before and general consensus seemed to be to stick to what your used to!).

If you are able to move the door to where i suggest that then frees up the bottom right area to use so everything isn't all cramped in and looks like you'd have plenty of room left for dining table/chairs too.

Microwave i'd stick to a freestanding one then you can put almost anywhere.

Either way i think your kitchen has far more flexibility in layout than ours did. What i'd suggest you do is make a scaled plan (get some graph paper to make it easier - if you look in back of diy store kitchen catalogues there is usually a sheet to cut out!) and cut out some pieces of paper to the same scale to represent your various appliances (most except microwave/sink are 60cm wide) juggle them around a bit and you'll soon come up with something that suits you. Could do the same in google sketchup on the pc but it will take you much longer unless you've spent hours messing with it as i have!

Andy

edgex

jenner wrote: »

thanks for thaqt, yes the door to the room is the vertical green block you have drawn.
the utility room also has front and back doors to it, one to the street the other to the garden

ok
what if the door from the hall is moved to the wall next to it, swing it clockwise by 90degrees




the kitchen then goes as per previous plan, in the blue corner.
that puts all the kitchen along one wall, like a galley kitchen.
it also means your using a lot more standard units, which will be cheaper than all those angled units & odd sized doors.


the other thing that could then be done, is to move the outside door that is currently in the dining room area to where the window is above the sink. (green arrow) that puts all the doors, & therefore the traffic, in one end of the room, stops it being a corridor.
the old doorway then becomes a window, & that area, together with where you have the tall cabinets drawn, is then the dining area.
where the boiler is, that could be put into a full height cupboard, somewhere to put random items.