Travelling On

Karmacat

Yes please madvix! I spent at least an hour last night measuring, set the planner up and chose an example of the type of kitchen I liked, and it wouldn't accept it, said that things were too close together! Very odd - its not as if its a galley kitchen either, its fairly square.

earthgirl

Are you planning a whole new kitchen kc? Well done on the cards!

themadvix

You should just be able to ignore the distances for cupboards and drawers opening across from each other. Our kitchen is so narrow that it would be impossible to have anything opposite! We just planned as we wanted and then when we went into the store they ignored it too - it's not like you can make the kitchen bigger to fit things (well you can, but that's a whole other ballgame!). Did it actually stop you putting units in?

Karmacat

earthgirl wrote: »

Are you planning a whole new kitchen kc? Well done on the cards!

Afraid so. The electrics are shot, the plaster's shot, I think the cupboards must have been lovely back in the day, but the resin covering is falling off. The colours (red and black) really don't suit, the oven doesn't work and is too big for a single person, and the heights of the equipment, the window and the work surfaces all jar with one another! So its a bit of a 'mare really

themadvix wrote: »

You should just be able to ignore the distances for cupboards and drawers opening across from each other. Our kitchen is so narrow that it would be impossible to have anything opposite! We just planned as we wanted and then when we went into the store they ignored it too - it's not like you can make the kitchen bigger to fit things (well you can, but that's a whole other ballgame!). Did it actually stop you putting units in?

I got the measurements, door, window, sink and cooker set up (only roughly, because there's a corner taken out, which belongs to the bathroom), but thats it, it wouldn't let me put units in, and it wouldn't churn through and show me any options. Maybe I'll try again tonight with a made up kitchen, see how it goes. It will definitely be worth getting to an IKEA very, very soon.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, exciting to be planning a new kitchen KC, what fun! (Or at least it sounds like it will be fun once the website works!)

Karmacat

I think you're right, Cheery :rotfl: there's something to be said for getting things the way you want them, and if I wait a few years, I think the deterioration might be quite marked :eek:

badmemory

My kitchen is like a tunnel. Only 6" wide but quite long. When I had my bathroom done one of the fitters suggested that rather than trying (& failing) to get units opposite each other on one particular wall, that I put top units down on the floor, which actually seems like an excellent idea for me. Would that be something that would work for you? I just need to stop procrastinating & get it sorted! Almost 3 years & counting.

Karmacat

That sounds really good, badmemory - very useful. For me, if I put any cabinets on the floor, the kitchen will turn into a U shaped tunnel. A straight tunnel I can cope with, but not a U shaped one _pale_ :rotfl: The wall concerned, it has the end run of the far wall cabinets, a tiny dining table, and a radiator. Cabinets would push the table out into the room, and I'd have to walk around it constantly. That's why I was thinking about putting bathroom cabinets along that wall, at head height - they're 40 cm in width, and 15cm deep. They might only hold cups and glasses, or plastics, I'm not sure, but they'll help My brother's new house has a sort of galley kitchen, and the storage is huuuuge compared to mine!

[Deleted User]

I used to visit a work colleague who had a huge dining kitchen but one of her storage solutions was brilliant and one I hope to incorporate in my kitchen whenever we get it done. Our kitchen is quite big but it's unbelievably awkward and although not square is quite wide in some places but very narrow in others. It has 2 doors, a huge window taking up a lot of one wall and a regular window on another. The free-standing central heating oil boiler (bigger than a washing machine) takes up one corner but it's the only place we can site it for all sorts of reasons.. There's so little usable 'wall':(. My colleague had one of her kitchen walls fitted with wide shelves and then wooden sliding doors all the way along. When closed it just looked like a wooden wall but when opened up (bits at a time or all at once, it was possible to walk into the storage space. It swallowed up everything and there were 6 of them in the family so there was usually a lot to stash away. As far as I'm concerned floor ro ceiling sliding doors are the way to go:j


She then only had to find room on other walls for the sink, cooker and worktop area. No masses of opening cabinets doors to get in the way of efficiency:j. It would probably need a joiner or someone similar to fit the shelves and sliding door, I doubt kitchen suppliers would be interested as they're in the market of selling us their cabinets and cupboards:(. I imagine it would be a cost-effective solution though.

Karmacat

Very interesting, CBC! I can see why it appeals to you if your kitchen is shaped in a way that it would be useful. I was thinking, good for some, but not for me. Then I thought, hang on, if the stove could go on the same wall as the boiler/ washing machine/ dishwasher/ sink/ then maybe I could do something like that too. Ooh ... you've got me thinking.

Bother, I've just been out there staring at the cabinets and the run isn't long enough, because of the way the bathroom wall juts into the kitchen.

But two things will give me more space. I'm really tempted to have an RSJ installed and have the remnants of the chimney knocked down. That gives me:
- two floor standing cabinets that can be fully used, instead of just using the very front of them.
- the two existing double cabinets on that wall can be replaced by ones that have extra height, no more sticking things on top of them in such a dust-collecting, disorderly way.
- and there can be a run of high-level cabinets across where the cooker will be.

Plus, instead of having a 5 burner hob and identically sized "range" oven underneath (that hardly works) I can have a modern, efficient 4 ring hob with relevant-sized oven underneath. That will add a lot of space on the floor level stuff too.

I think its a useful way to use some of the money I've inherited, that adds value to the house and gives me an easier life. Over Christmas, though, its now going on the back burner. So to speak