Kitchen Design Help

ryder72

There are plenty of options possible for that room. Engage with a good designer and they will be able to help you. This wont be free. Alternatively engage with a kitchen showroom that has a wide and flexible range of product that will get you what you want and they should do you a design FOC but may want to charge for plans in the first instance.

A good designer will take into account technical and practical considerations. You are unlikely to find one at one of the sheds though.

nssimpson

I am sure there's a better layout but I'm struggling and the free design consultations are all the same. I don't want to pay for one because it seems like such a simple thing to work out. Urm.

ryder72

nssimpson wrote: »

I am sure there's a better layout but I'm struggling and the free design consultations are all the same. I don't want to pay for one because it seems like such a simple thing to work out. Urm.

Good luck mate. Everyone else's job seems easy especially when its carried out effectively and efficiently. Its called competency and its worth paying for it.

You say every design you have seen was the same. You want something for nothing and its probably why you haven't found a design that works for you. What does that tell you about the competency of those that have designed the kitchen?

Doozergirl

It’s not unlike my kitchen in terms of space.

I have a full bank of tall units where you have your base and wall units. From top right it has fridge freezer, two ovens with storage, larder unit full of drawers and boiler in the corner (which is a created cupboard made to look like part of the bank of larders). Virtually all our dry food fits in the larder.

Corner cupboard that goes under the boiler acessed from window wall, sink near where yours is. dishwasher next to it.

Double width peninsular to yours (120cm) with hob on the kitchen side with drawers for cooking utensils, pans, spices etc and then shallow wall units used as base units on the other side underneath on the breakfast bar side. I‘ve also configured the units so my washing machine is against the wall on the seating side, but set back with the units, backing onto the side of the dishwasher, sort of. You don’t need to worry about washing machines though.

I also have a tall wall unit near the sink with my microwave in. (Between your windows) and another with glasses.

I’m a big cook and I have plenty of space for storage for a family of four and associated gadgets without the additional bank that you have put in.

Furts

Lots of good advice above, and I am left shaking my head in disbelief over the whole situation. OP's opening post says he is seeking design over practicality. So there must be a vision for this. Yet by his own admission he has rejected dozens of ideas and all the ideas given on this Forum. Equally OP refuses to pay for any professional or technical input to reach a decision. All round this looks like a run around.

Now for a reality check. The extension is starting within days yet OP for all the grand ideas has no design in place. No developer, and no builder would work like this. The extension design, knock through, services, windows, kitchen and all should have been sorted long before now. But also consider this - we are talking about kitchen units, pieces of chipboard, so hardly a life changing event. Equally we are talking about a tiddly little extension, not Hinkley Point B, nor a peace of architectural grandeur like the British Museum extension.

Talk about indecision and over complicating matters ...!

Come on OP, get a grip here.

getmore4less

I think the breakthrough will be populating the wall rather than have a worktop there.

nssimpson

Hi Everyone, I'm sorry if some of you have got a bit irate at me. That wasn't my intention. I realise this is perhaps a tiny build for some people on here but it's quite a large investment for us. We've had several free design consultations (we're already over budget) and I like the look of what they've all come up with but we just want to get it right. I want it to look the business but not at the expense of safety, which was pointed out due to the ovens being in the walkway.

Our builder will be digging the footings for the extension next week but it'll be several weeks after that when that'll be built and the internal work can begin. He's working around our wishes.

If the wall from the living room isn't a supporting one I may move the entrance so you enter the kitchen area between the kitchen and dining area. This will resolve these issues. However, I think it is a supporting wall so doubt it'll be possible without more expense. (Plus it'll mean redoing to living room so not sure I want to do that.)

DoozerGirl - any chance of getting a sketch?

getmore4less

I think you may need to go down the less is more route.

I very much doubt you need 8m-9m of work top.

Furts

My concern is this. You have made yourself the designer, whether you are competent to do this is another matter. Competence was touched on by ryder72, but you seem to have overlooked this. I too raised a concern. Here you dismissed all these as being the responsibility of the builder. This is ridiculous! How do you know the builder is competent, and able to address all technicalities when nothing has yet been designed. Equally how do you know you will not be ripped off here - "variations" comes to mind! Finally, you are in control of the builder - you manage them, and that is your legal duty but here you appear to be failing.

I could add a couple to my post - and oven has an extractor hood so how are you extracting? For example, you cannot run a duct across a doorway nor expect to extract it into your garage. Then consider the incoming water on my kitchen - like all water this is subject to regulations. One cannot just move it unless a blind eye is turned. Then my drains - these are in the middle of the base units - quite normal. They were altered and put here by digging up the concrete floor and new groundworks, complete with Buildings Regulations Approval for the design then Inspection and Sign Off. This task alone was significant work and significant expense - not something dreamed up at the last minute as a panic reaction.

Your new foundations are about to begin, but nobody on this forum knows what you have considered, designed or whatever to enable these foundations to be plain sailing. This was my point in my last post - to say you are behind schedule with your design input is an understatement.

nssimpson

Hi Furts, the builder is building the extension and ripping everything out so it's a shell. Once that's done they will put the services in and fit the kitchen around our design. He's already quoted us for moving the services into the existing build rather than having them in the extension so we know all the pricing. They are willing to work around us but I am starting to panic TBH.

Everyone's ideas on here are really helpful.