OMG Kitchen Design - I am going mad can anyone help!?

Russe11

Whats the dirt trap between g and h, j and k for?

Hintza

What about a range cooker where the hob is that will free up more space.

I also think you need to be careful with the island and space around it.

What is happening at the bottom of the drawing? Seems a lot of unutilised space.

Fit a small table in and/or add more cupboards?

BlueC

SuzieSue wrote: »

Yes, I would swap the oven with K and then swap A&B and M&O so that the fridge and freezer are next to the dishwasher.

The plumbing all needs to be on that left hand wall, we have no way out to a drain on any other wall.

BlueC

Russe11 wrote: »

Whats the dirt trap between g and h, j and k for?

Haha, I have missed it off the plans but there will be 100mm x 50mm radius ends in there, that will kind of "frame" the bit that steps out for the cooker and make it look more finished.

BlueC

DaveTheMus wrote: »

I would stick the washing machine and dishwasher at K and L

Thanks. We thought about that and it would be just about feasible in terms of plumbing but a right pain. The problem is we like the dishwasher next to the sink for obvious reasons. The washing machine would be good in that corner though, just not sure whether it is worth the hassle of the complicated plumbing needed.

BlueC

Hintza wrote: »

What about a range cooker where the hob is that will free up more space.

I also think you need to be careful with the island and space around it.

What is happening at the bottom of the drawing? Seems a lot of unutilised space.

Fit a small table in and/or add more cupboards?

Wow so many comments, thanks everyone!

We have considered a range cooker, and we even like the idea and I like how it would free up a tall unit so we could have a larder unit which I think are amazing. However we were advised to go with an eye-line double combi-microwave on top and a fan-combi below. I do like being able to see in the oven without bending down, and I don't like having a microwave on the worktop so this seemed a good suggestion. We will give it more thought though.

There is a lot of space at the bottom as we want to put a free-standing table there and 4 chairs. It has a large bay window with a lovely view and is very bright so its a great place to sit and have breakfast/coffee or to read the paper! We wish to keep at least 2m up to the bay.

After listening to everyone's comments we will re-measure the bay. Think we might go for reduced depth units on the right-hand side of it.

BlueC

flea72 wrote: »

What is the door configuration for F and G. What are U and S for?

I take it oven, fridge and freezer will be full height, giving a banked wall? If so, it may look odd finishing short of the full run

Not much worktop either side of hob. I know you have island behind, but you soon get fed up of people walking past, as you spin around with/for something

I also think theres not enough room around island. When you drop door down on dishwasher/oven how much standing space is there? And you have to totally navigate it, to get to washing machine.

F is a right-hand hinged cupboard with pull-out wire racks (left hand access). G is a corner LeMans unit. U and S are wine racks! :beer:

Yes oven, fridge and freezer are full height. We played with making it a full run but to be honest it looked worse, not least because the end wall has an angled return and is only about 300mm deep so it looks a mess. We felt it better to try and finish the runs on both sides about 900mm from the end as that will give us space to do something else with those gaps.

Worktop either side of the hob is a bit of a concern but as you said we're hoping to rely on the island a bit. Never had an island before so don't know how practical this is. I had a mind to change the dresser units either side of the hob for wall units but I think they could look awkward. Will give it some more consideration!

As mentioned above going to re-measure the island and space around it now. I think we let the size of it creep a bit!

Thanks!
Chris

BlueC

missprice wrote: »

Nice kitchen design

Only 2 things move the oven closer to the hob. If you can.

And there is no such thing as too many cupboards.
I have 27 units in my kitchen and still don't have enough. I tried really hard to get 35 units in and still I reckon that would not be enough.

OMG 35! I would run out of letters of the alphabet! :rotfl:

cddc wrote: »

I would not worry too much about the fridge and freezer being either side of the oven as with 36mm of chipboard and the insulation on modern ovens, it really wont cause your fridge or freezer to work harder.

1000mm either side of the island is tight but doable if you really want a 1200 wide island. You could use wall units on the floor to reduce the width to 900 which is plenty wide enough if you are not having the hob there.

Neither would I worry too much about the position of the hob to the oven. As long as you have the island it is fine..

Nice plan and a good working triangle. Everybody has opinions on kitchen design based on how they use their own kitchen, which will probably be differently to you..

As a kitchen designer myself I find I can go into two identical houses, and do two wildly different designs based on the brief from the client, and both in their own way, work. I can see nothing inherently wrong with what you have planned though personally I would advise a bit more space either side of the island.

Thanks cddc this is really useful to hear. Our current Siemens oven barely lets any heat escape so I'm not too worried about that as we'll replace it with something of similar quality.

Deffo going to look at the width of the island. Think we got a bit too relaxed about the space around it.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

I agree with moving the oven so it is closer to the hob and perhaps the metre gap between island and perimeter cabinets could be increased a little, although we have a similar space (large kitchen extension onto an original reception space, giving us 36' x 16' overall) and our walkways are only 38" at the widest point between cupboards and island.....we could easily have rotated the island to give more width, but wanted it placed *across* the room to take advantage of the views when eating/working at the island. Of course it does depend to an extent on how many cooks will be using the space at one time. There's often the two of us though and we find the space ample

Thanks phoebe1989seb this is a great post! I have split it into manageable chunks below

Yes we want to keep the views too, hence the seating area at the bottom. We did actually consider a peninsular layout with the cooker facing the views but felt it would make the room feel a bit like it was split into two which we didn't like.

As mentioned will reconsider the spaces around the island. If there is two of us cooking we'll have to watch our weight!

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

We also opted to forego lots of wall cabinets - we have just two, flanking a plate rack - but instead went for some chunky floating shelves on which we have placed storage jars containing pasta, flour etc. I have to add that one end of the room is completely freestanding with large dresser, larder cupboard, wine rack etc - this is where we have our table & chairs - so we do have plenty of storage despite less wall cupboards.

We're thinking along the same lines. Open shelves with the nice stuff on, and utilising deep low drawers for plates, crocker, pans, etc.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

We also chose to have one bank of drawer units and wish now we'd done away with base cupboards altogether as drawers are far more practical (IMHO), but as we wanted to be sympathetic to the age/style of our Georgian house we felt it was more authentic to keep some traditional cupboard space

This is interesting. I feel that low cupboards are a total PITA - especially if they are narrow. Wire work internals can help overcome this to a degree. As mentioned a lot of the low units are drawers but we'll give this some more though too. Might be better to introduce some more pull-out storage even if the fronts are still cupboards.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

I agree that it's best to work with the features of the room, such as placing the sink beneath the sash window. Our sink is in the new end of our space and originally the architect designed this wall with no window - we have a vaulted ceiling with double height window across the wall at the garden end which he felt let in enough light. I over-ruled him on this as I prefer to look out onto something (in our case a view of a pretty courtyard - or will be when finished, lol!) when washing up......so pleased I did!

Yes I like to think we are quite good with our awareness of the space and how to play to its strengths. Other people have said oh it doesn't matter put your sink here or there but to us it is really important - and personally I think it is things like this that can make or break the feel of the room. It does add constraints though which mean we've had to compromise on a few other things.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Don't get disheartened - it'll all be worth it in the end.....we had almost six months without heating and hot water when we did ours in 2012 - a distant memory to laugh over now.....

Ha thanks! We have had no heating since May last year but fortunately we did keep the hot water on! It is still good fun mainly but after a year and still nowhere near completion it is getting a bit tiring and causing a fair bit of stress! Also the money is running out quickly which isn't making things any easier. Sometimes we think we over-think things too, but in the end it is this attention to detail and giving things appropriate consideration that makes the end result what it is.

Glad you got yours all done and sounds like you're very happy with it. The kitchen sounds amazing, do you have a thread anywhere with pics?

Thanks to everyone, sorry if I have missed your post!

BlueC

DRP wrote: »

Fantastic space for kitchen!

However personally i don't think around 1m around the island is enough - that is less than the galley kitchen in our old house - which felt narrow with 2 people working there. Given that the oven, FF, dishwasher and washing machine and sink are all along those 1m runs , this is where most kitchen activity would be happening...

I would definitely be sacrificing the island either for a smaller one or (off the top of my head) for more of a 'bar' L-shape projecting from either of the sides so that you can work and chat with whoever is sat on the table in the bay and be looking directly at them or out the window...

sorry!

Ooops missed this sorry! Seems EVERYONE has mentioned the space around the island so this is definitely something we're going to re-examine!!

As I mentioned somewhere above, we did consider the "L" shape (or "peninsular" as we believe it is known!) for a long time and it definitely has some advantages such as making the most of the outlook to the front. However, in the end we decided we don't like how it would make the room feel like it is "split" in two. And it would feel a bit weird stood at the cooker with people on the street making eye contact with you - would feel like I was on telly!!

missprice

Hmmm yes 35 units does sound a lot and the only way they could be fitted in would be with an island in my kitchen. But with concrete floor in there it wasn't going to happen.

Anyway for your island there's more than L shape and square/rectangle. Am sure I have seen U and T shaped ones. Just a thought.

And the only reason I mentioned moving oven closer to hob was convenience, the oven I use most is on a separate wall to hob and although its not a deal breaker its a bit of a PITA its better when I use the oven directly under the hob, but thats a big oven and overkill most of the time. If this is your only oven then nearer the hob the better. Obviously this is my opinion only and everyone else has a different idea.