Small kitchen - losing my mind

ST1991

Small isn't the word!!!

We've bought our house (first home) and all things are getting underway.
I had a previous thread about extending the kitchen, but it would mean covering the drain for the sink/dishwasher and somehow moving the soil-pipe to ours and next doors house (terraced). Plus we don't currently have the money to do that.

So.
As i lose my mind.
Does anyone have any suggestions for what i can do with my tiny kitchen?
Here is an awful MSPaint drawing that is hideously not to scale, it is approx 2.9M x 2.2M.


Floorplan (kitchen on the far right)

I really would appreciate anyones input, and I've worn out the ikea kitchen planner.

FYI we currently have the fridge freezer in another room which is driving me crazy.

Doozergirl

That isn't huge amount of info to go on.

Do you have a floorplan of the house? What space does the boiler occupy?

I would suggest building work to improve the layout. An extension may well not be necessary if the flow of the house can be improved.

My first thought would be to move the lounge door to the middle of the small wall. (Clearly I can't see if that is possible without a floorplan!) That would enable you to have a galley style kitchen with a full run of worktops down the back wall, as much as you can get on the front wall to the front door and possibly around in a U (good place for an oven)

It only gives you a metre width to dance in but it would be okay.

Moving the front door would be more intensive work. Any hope of that going somewhere else?

onomatopoeia99

Where are your services, particularly the water and sewer? Affects where the sink would go and everything follows that. Is the boiler floor standing, wall mounted, can a worktop go over / under it etc. You also need some dimensions on that drawing for realistic advice.

It's quite hard to visualise from your drawing, but you could potentailly make galley or U shape arrangement of units which would leave 100cm space in the middle - OK for one person to work but two would bump into each other all the time.

ST1991

Doozergirl wrote: »

That isn't huge amount of info to go on.

Do you have a floorplan of the house?

I would suggest building work to improve the layout. An extension may well not be necessary if the flow of the house can be improved.

My first thought would be to move the lounge door to the middle of the small wall. (Clearly I can't see if that is possible without a floorplan!) That would enable you to have a galley style kitchen with a full run of worktops down the back wall, as much as you can get on the front wall to the front door and possibly around in a U (good place for an oven)

It only gives you a metre width to dance in but it would be okay.

Moving the front door would be more intensive work. Any hope of that going somewhere else?

Hi Doozer, thanks for your reply.

Weird one - the kitchen is actually an existing extension on the front of the house, and the 'living room' door is the original front door. The house has stone walls so it would be quite hefty to move the living room doorway when the wall is 16" thick, i imagine! That particular piece of wall is also home to electrical sockets and central heating pipes.

The property is no longer advertised online and has been deleted from the estate agents page so i don't have their floorplan, but here is one i've done online that shows the downstairs layout to scale. Kitchen is the extension at the front, following on the living room, stairs up the middle, and hallway to the back garden and 2nd living room.

Makes sense to move the kitchen to the back 'living room' but we have concrete floors and no pipes/drains on the back of the house!

http://i63.tinypic.com/2zresqp.png

Jackieboy

Would it help at all to put a sliding door between the kitchen and living room or even remove the door completely?

ST1991

Jackieboy wrote: »

Would it help at all to put a sliding door between the kitchen and living room or even remove the door completely?

The radiator in the kitchen is on that wall
We would like to keep it separate, as in time we will have funds to extend or move it. but need something livable and workable for now.

My end goal is the have it as a utility/entrance hall, but it is likely to be a kitchen for the next 5 years!

Doozergirl

All services can be moved. Radiators, electrics, pipes. You won't find a better solution if you refuse to move anything at all

Where is the bathroom soil stack?

Knocking through the lounge entrance will involve some work but isn't impossible by any stretch of the imagination. The layout of that floorplan could accommodate a full U-shaped kitchen with the front door moved and the lounge door moved.

Opening up the kitchen to the front room entirely could allow a longer run of units into the lounge as well. Less work than putting a new door in once you've opened up that wall!

I've had three similar kitchens to this in houses I've lived in.

ST1991

Doozergirl wrote: »

All services can be moved. Radiators, electrics, pipes. You won't find a better solution if you refuse to move anything at all

Where is the bathroom soil stack?

Knocking through the lounge entrance will involve some work but isn't impossible by any stretch of the imagination. The layout of that floorplan could accommodate a full U-shaped kitchen with the front door moved and the lounge door moved.

Opening up the kitchen to the front room entirely could allow a longer run of units into the lounge as well. Less work than putting a new door in once you've opened up that wall!

I've had three similar kitchens to this in houses I've lived in.

Thanks!

I'm not trying to be inflexible at all, but i probably am being unrealistic!

The front room is the largest and my husband is unhappy to have it as anything but the living room...
Eventually the extension at the front can serve as a utility room (washing machine, maybe a tumble dryer) and a space to walk into without bumping into cabinets, a place to hang up my coat and put my keys without cluttering a kitchen work surface.

The soil stack is on the front of the living room, and serves both us and next door. So, if we extended the kitchen across the full width of the house it would obstruct the soil pipe in it's current position.

Do you have any experience/knowledge in moving plumbing from one side to the other?
Ideal scenario is the make the back room into a kitchen diner, as it has a lovely tall window overlooking the back garden - but there is no plumbing at the back of the house, nor drains...

PasturesNew

What are the actual problems?

Not enough worktop?
Not enough cupboards?
Too many gadgets, not enough sockets/room?

Wide/double cupboards, and/or big/wide/deep pan drawers can sort out a lot of storage problems.

Jackieboy

ST1991 wrote: »

Thanks!

I'm not trying to be inflexible at all, but i probably am being unrealistic!

The front room is the largest and my husband is unhappy to have it as anything but the living room...
Eventually the extension at the front can serve as a utility room (washing machine, maybe a tumble dryer) and a space to walk into without bumping into cabinets, a place to hang up my coat and put my keys without cluttering a kitchen work surface.

The soil stack is on the front of the living room, and serves both us and next door. So, if we extended the kitchen across the full width of the house it would obstruct the soil pipe in it's current position.

Do you have any experience/knowledge in moving plumbing from one side to the other?
Ideal scenario is the make the back room into a kitchen diner, as it has a lovely tall window overlooking the back garden - but there is no plumbing at the back of the house, nor drains...

The soil stack doesn't have to be on the outside of the house, they can be internal.

Alternately you could extend the rear living room so it's as good/big a room as the front room with the advantage of access to the garden.

Jackieboy

PasturesNew wrote: »

What are the actual problems?

Not enough worktop?
Not enough cupboards?
Too many gadgets, not enough sockets/room?

Wide/double cupboards, and/or big/wide/deep pan drawers can sort out a lot of storage problems.

You have to have somewhere to put the cupboards in the first place!