Kitchen planning-help please. UPDATE!new design page 2

Doozergirl

If you're having granite then as long as you have the room in your kitchen you can simply set all your other units on that wall 2cm forward of the wall so that you have enough space to hide your existing washing machine behind a regular integrated appliance door. The granite people can easily make up a slightly wider worktop than usual to accommodate and it should cost anything more. I'm not sure I've made total sense there, but I know what's in my head!

I like soft close. I think if you've never had it, it doesn't matter but once you've had it, it feels strange not to. Like I need parking distance control on my MINI because I had it on a much bigger car .

Been through the same question on CDA - it has been asked before. General advice is to steer clear. Just go and find the things you like in John Lewis or Currys (if they have any stock left after the last few days :mad:) and use the shopbots via this site to find it cheapest online. You'll find a better deal there than anywhere and appliances are not built to match particular kitchens - have what you want!

What is the budget that the kitchen came in £5k over?

hotcookie101

Doozergirl wrote: »

If you're having granite then as long as you have the room in your kitchen you can simply set all your other units on that wall 2cm forward of the wall so that you have enough space to hide your existing washing machine behind a regular integrated appliance door. The granite people can easily make up a slightly wider worktop than usual to accommodate and it should cost anything more. I'm not sure I've made total sense there, but I know what's in my head!

What is the budget that the kitchen came in £5k over?

Oh OK-that makes sense about the setting units forward-the Howden's designer made be believe it was the width of the appliance rather than the depth... So I could put a regular WM and undercounter freezer inside a tall housing? Still considering putting TD upstairs in spare room cupboard tho

We decided top budget £10k incl fitting, as we needed no new appliances, this is not including the flooring we are putting in. But their quote came is as 14700 The granite was nearly 4k, so we can make savings there I think, as with the fitting...

PeggyAnn_2

Doozergirl makes a good point about the depth of the worktop that I forgot to mention. You'll need to measure the depth that your appliances need in your current kitchen - don't forget to allow for the pipework and hoses.

We're having a cut down breakfast bar for the worktop (it costs very little more), and with made to measure units the depth isn't of course a problem. However I believe some laminate worktops are 665mm deep, and these may fit.

We're having laminate as we want a wood effect in our country cottage. We're not going for real wood though as we had it in one of the places we rented and there was more maintenance needed than we have time for.

becs

Not sure if you are anywhere near Peterborough as hotpoint have a factory shop there with a lot of integrated appliances at good prices. They sell hotpoint, indesit, Creda and canon. Can get some real bargains particually if you don't mind domestic damage which is usually on the side or rear of the appliances.
http://www.indesitcompanygraded.co.uk/gr_index.html

Meepster

With regards to hiding freestanding washing machines, I really wouldn't advise it, it just creates too many problems. What with having deeper worktops, slight gaps at the side of the door, custom made end panels etc etc, it's really not worth it. For the £200 or £300 extra you're paying for the worktop to be deeper, you could add an other £100 in and get an integrated washing machine. Freestanding freezers are even worse, as the doors are usually designed to swing out slightly, meaning instead of a 600mm space, you need to leave at least 630mm and then you have problems with the door to cover it.

I've found an integrated Hotpoint washing machine (should be good for 4 or 5 years) for £312 and an integrated Beko freezer for £235 (should be good for 3 or 4 years) so for a little over £500 you can have everything hidden away! Makes a lot more sense than having to !!!!!!!ize a part of the kitchen.

Looking at your plan, £10k fitted is very achievable, but you may have to compromise on a few things, such as kitchen style and worktop type.

The plan you have is actually very good, not a lot I would do differently to be honest, apart from maybe move the tall unit to the right of the door, it just looks odd stood on its own...

MatyMoo

I had a quote for £13k and managed to find a small local independent kitchen company that could do it for £8k with basically the same design and layout so it is possible to cut £5k. They were far more flexible and came up with good ideas such as a half shelf under the sink that fits all the small things like washing tablets.

I went for cheaper integrated appliances based on them lasting up to 5 years with the reasoning that I would be able to replace them with better quality then.

The one thing I didn't want to compromise on was granite worktops and upstands and they ended up being 25% of the total kitchen cost but well worth it. I was able to go to the granite supplier and [STRIKE]drool[/STRIKE] look at everything that they had. I ended up with a fairly common one to help reduce the cost but you could spend thousands if you wanted to. They came to the house once all units were installed and did their own template and came back 2 days later to fit the actual work surfaces. Fantastic service!

PeggyAnn_2

Meepster makes some interesting points as usual. However in our case we're having made to measure units anyway so there's no gap by the door, and no extra cost except for a deeper worktop. As we're having a laminate worktop this is minimal, but for anyone choosing granite or similar the cost could be significant.

Our washing machine and tumble dryer are nearly new (we had to buy them last year as the property we were renting didn't have them) and so hopefully will last many years.

One appliance we'd never have integrated is a fridge-freezer. We had one in our last rental and we really noticed the reduced capacity.

So it's seems as though the best solution will vary from person to person.

By the way, DIY kitchens sell something they call the Easy-fit hinge system that allows a freestanding appliance to fit into a standard size cabinet as long as you use a deeper worktop. Sorry, being a newbie I can't post a link - perhaps some kind person can do so?

Meepster

This is what PeggyAnn is refering to:

http://www.diy-kitchens.com/images/pdf/EF1.pdf

The only problem with this is, the fascia needed to hide an appliance is 600mm wide, so therefore you'd need to leave a gap of 600mm between units for the appliance to slot into, so that the door fits snuggly and there are no gaps. In reality, you need a gap of at least 610mm to be able to get the appliance in properly. And getting it out again can be even more of a struggle...

PeggyAnn_2

Thanks, Meepster!

hotcookie101

Thanks

We are still considering an integrated washing machine, but went to small independent kitchen shop at weekend, and he suggested us putting it inside a 700mm cupboard with the boiler in that too... We have him &one more person coming round to do designs this week, so will see what they say.

I like the look of the integrated appliances, but I'm not majorly worried about them. I don't think I'd like a Beko freezer, the one we have is pretty new and Zanussi. Washing machine may be changed-its about 6 years old, and hot &cold fill, and where we are moving it to would only be cold fill.... Are hotpoint a decent enough make of washing machine? Was considering a Bosch? I don't mind the freezer just being under counter and visible to be honest-we used to have an integrated one and replaced with freestanding as the integrated had so LITTLE room....

Really appreciate everyones ideas