Having gas cooker hob in kitchen?

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm now planning having a new kitchen in the house.

I'm going to have an integral cooker. I would like to have a gas cooker hob. The house is connected to mains gas - but there is no gas in the kitchen (it's gas central heating and a gas sitting room fire).

I'm wondering whether it is actually possible to connect gas to the kitchen without either undue expense on the one hand or gas pipes being on show on the other hand. I really hate the look of kitchens where I can see the owner has pipes on show and wouldn't do that.

So what are the possibilities please for connecting gas to the kitchen?

The gas meter is to the right of the back door. The kitchen sink will stay in the same place and it's inside the back door on its left-hand side. The kitchen floor is made of concrete (rather than wood planks):(.

The main run of kitchen units will remain an L-shaped one - with the kitchen sink run of units being immediately to the left of back door and the long part of the "L" continuing on along from the kitchen sink units. The cooker will be built-in to the long section of the "L" half way along.

To me - I'm assuming that the kitchen floor would have to be dug up (in lieu of taking up the floorboards I wish it had). The digging up to be in a straight line going across from back door to cooker location and the gas pipe coming up the wall at the back of built-in cooker - in order for no pipes to be on show.

I guess another possibility is to only dig up a small section of the floor just by the back door - only sufficiently big enough to bring the gas pipe up underneath the bottom of the kitchen sink unit and then it runs along that stretch of units and on along the other side of the "L" of units underneath the floors of those units and pops up just where it's needed behind the cooker.

Are either of those 2 ways of getting the gas pipe to the cooker hob going to be feasible and not too expensive?

I'm told "health and safety" considerations come into this as well. With that - I wonder if that would mean the gas pipe wasn't allowed to run underneath a kitchen sink unit (ie because of the water supplying the sink).

Is this going to work out? - or do I have to forget about that and have an electric cooker hob instead?

NB; There is still going to be a bit of work and expense to get an electric cooker point there - but I imagine that's fairly minimal. Existing electric cooker point is the other side of the room. So that would involve changing that electric cooker point to a standard double electric socket and the other side of the kitchen changing a standard double electric socket to being an electric cooker point. So that would just mean swopping over two sockets in effect - and having to have the wiring to the standard one on new cooker wall changed to that more powerful wiring needed for an electric cooker.

bouicca21

The gas supply to my kitchen must be buried in concrete. Surely you can install a wooden floor on top of the concrete? Though personally I wouldn't have a wooden floor in a kitchen for fear of damage from water spillage. If you end up going for tiles make sure they are the sort that don't get slippery when wet.

Davesnave

When I wanted to move a gas supply pipe in a bungalow I owned, I took the pipe through the loft, rather than dig up floors. That was in 2006, so unless the regulations have somehow changed to prevent it, that's a possible route too.

Mind you, I have an induction hob and I find it just as responsive as gas, and it's easier to clean.

moneyistooshorttomention

I've been reading up on induction hobs and decided against them - I find them rather confusing to use and would need to throw out most of my saucepans. It's difficult enough for me to find saucepans with "green" non-stick type coatings anyway - without an extra factor thrown into the mix.

So the choice seems to boil down to between gas hob or ceramic electric hob. I and my saucepans both get on fine with ceramic hob on current freestanding cooker - but it is a problem keeping it clean and it would be nice to have the controllability of gas. Also there is odd little hob cooking thing I havent been able to figure out how to do at all on an electric hob (the odd recipe that talks about directly using the gas flame on a food item for the desired effect).

I have also wondered whether a gas pipe could be brought up through across above the ceiling. This being a bungalow (rather than house) would probably make that easier.

Could/would they chip out a bit of the wall for the section that would emerge through the ceiling and thence have a channel right the way down to the hob? As I wouldnt want even the smallest amount of pipe showing (even boxed-in).

This house has a bit of a problem with some pipes on show anyway - courtesy of those concrete floors. When I moved in - there were quite a few pipes to radiators on show (some boxed-in/some not) and I've had to "think my way round" getting them out of sight and re-route some pipes inside cupboards and hide another by putting it right beside a window and having floor-length curtains (which still leaves approx a foot of boxed-in pipe showing between the curtain rail and the ceiling - which I hate). I'm having to put up with one (boxed-in) pipe to a radiator still in another room and don't like it.

NB; The walls in the house aren't "normal" either. They are those large concrete type blocks.

suki1964

We don't have mains gas outside the towns so those that want gas jobs have calor

Two tanks outside the house in a cage and piped directly through the wall to the kitchen to the hob

Would that be possible?

Daughter wouldn't use even one tank a year for her hob

moneyistooshorttomention

Bouicca

I'm planning on having vinyl flooring in the kitchen. I like the look of tiles - but I think they'd be more "difficult" and they would certainly be cold on my feet. My personal preference for floors is the natural wood planks I always assumed houses had (covered with whatever flooring I decide to put down - usually carpet). Failing that - engineered wood floors. But - no - I wouldn't do an exposed wooden floor of any description in a kitchen - as I know what I'm like for splashing water everywhere.

moneyistooshorttomention

suki1964 wrote: »

We don't have mains gas outside the towns so those that want gas jobs have calor

Two tanks outside the house in a cage and piped directly through the wall to the kitchen to the hob

Would that be possible?

Daughter wouldn't use even one tank a year for her hob

Fortunately - I do have mains gas to the house as a whole. I wouldnt want any "fuel appliances" in the garden - and there isn't room for them anyway. I had to have an oil tank ripped out of the garden that was there/in use when I bought the house. I'm very used to seeing gardens that are only gardens - and with just a small amount used for parking - and hence that is what I am turning this garden into gradually.

suki1964

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Fortunately - I do have mains gas to the house as a whole. I wouldnt want any "fuel appliances" in the garden - and there isn't room for them anyway. I had to have an oil tank ripped out of the garden that was there/in use when I bought the house. I'm very used to seeing gardens that are only gardens - and with just a small amount used for parking - and hence that is what I am turning this garden into gradually.

I'm not talking huge things, the size of ones you use for gas bbqs. They sit neat, side by side against the wall, in an enclosed cage

Just offering a cheap solution

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

NB; The walls in the house aren't "normal" either. They are those large concrete type blocks.

I have never understood your fixation on this, or what you're talking about.

What do you regard as 'normal' for interior walls?

What evidence do you have that these blocks aren't 'normal?'

Whatever they are, there's a tool for cutting a channel in them. That's 'normal.'

Davesnave

suki1964 wrote: »

I'm not talking huge things, the size of ones you use for gas bbqs. They sit neat, side by side against the wall, in an enclosed cage

Just offering a cheap solution

I can confirm that a 19 kg propane gas bottle gives well over a year of use if just running a hob, and it takes up under half a square metre of space.

Even quite posh people have them.

suki1964

Davesnave wrote: »

I can confirm that a 19 kg propane gas bottle gives well over a year of use if just running a hob, and it takes up under half a square metre of space.

Even quite posh people have them.

Yeah, my daughter