cold air around kitchen units

gamston

hi folks
I can feel cold air around the fridge and dish washer also inside the kitchen units is a lot colder than the kitchen, I put rockwork loft insulation under all of the units and taped insulation bubble foil on to the walls behind the fridge and the dish washer but its still cold around them
anything else I can do ?
I've got solid concrete floors, foam insulated walls (mid 60's house with insulation foam pumped into the cavatiy
the radiator is across the room about 3 mts away
the fridge and dish washers are near the windows and the sink so there is a reflective coldness coming there

I'm wondering if a "radfan" would help by blowing warm air towards these units, the radiator is a 1200 double so should be good enough to heat the area

JohnB47

Is it possible that you have cold air from outside getting in somewhere - like around where the kitchen sink/dish washer waste pipes exit? Or perhaps where central heating pipes go down to other rooms (or maybe come into the house from an external boiler)?

Our house is 1930s with filled cavities too. The kitchen is just off our heated dining room and is not heated itself. It does feel a bit cool in the mornings in winter but not like you describe.

gamston

I can't find and where that outside air can get in,
I've put tape and that insulation bubble foil behind the dish washer and there still feels like cooler air is coming from there

rach_k

Perhaps a daft question but why are cold kitchen units a problem? For food storage, that's good surely?

gamston

it makes that side of the room cold

JohnB47

I know you've said you have cavity wall insulation but what direction to the sides of the kitchen face? My, non heated, kitchen does OK because it has a small wall facing east but a large one facing south.

If it isn't drafts, then perhaps the walls are getting cold somehow. Faulty cavity wall insulation? Bridging of the cavity? Are the walls damp?

Are the windows good?

troffasky

I had a similar problem in a kitchen that was [probably] installed about 10 years ago in a 60's house. Taking the kick panels off I found that a floorboard was missing under the full run of cabinets on one wall. I tacked some scrap wood cut to size over the hole and the improvement was massive and immediate.

Lorian

A (less than a tenner on amazon/ebay) Infrared thermometer gun can be a cost effective way to help objectively find the source of the drafts.

gamston

the kitchen faces north, the outside wall doesn't look damp, the window is an old wooden double grazing one, glass is ok and no draughts, the floor is concrete, which has a sheet of plywood then "lino" on top, under the units/behind the kick boards I have put loft insulation,
i'm going to take out the dish washer and try to find where the cold air is coming from