Kitchen layout preferences? input needed!

Doozergirl

It's your kitchen, by the way, so you must do what you want, but when 70% vote for the island, I don't think a bigger peninsular was what they had in mind.

Ms_Chocaholic

I would change it completely and have the kitchen where the sofas are, the dining table in the middle and the sofas near the French doors.

With your current plan, if you cook a meal you eat at the dining table and have to walk through the kitchen to sit on a comfy sofa. Also if you have guests round and there's quite a few, they could sit together on the adjoining sofa/dining table rather than having to walk through the kitchen.

getmore4less

Island

Under stairs laundry and storage/larder that can be totally shut off with doors.
If you used sliders you could have full wall including the access to the stairs so you could shut that off as well giving heat and smell retention

on the left in the 900mm space a large fridge freezer or even bigger in the right 1m space.

extend the island to the dining area effectively open galley


do you really still have a CRT TV?
I would swap that for a nice big OLED.

Meepster

Option B with the dishwasher next to the sink - without a doubt.

Gives a lot more usable worktop space than the larger island and more space around the sink will be handy. Plus the peninsular gives a natural separation to the dining area.

phil_b_2

Thanks for all feedback guys, super helpful!

I'm a bit surprised that the big island has dominated the vote, but it must be saying something.

Regarding suggestions for a totally different layout. We entertained all of these, but getting waste out from the lounge area right to the back of the house would be incredibly difficult (no fall in the pipes). It kinda wrote that one off.

Having the lounge area near the bifolds was a strong contender early on, but we figured it would be virtually impossible to watch TV on many days, due to the amount of light coming in. We'd have to close everything up. There's also a bit of overlooking at the back there so I wouldn't want to sit in my pajamas on the sofa much!

Quite a bit has been done one way or another, which means changing things round to that degree would be hard at this stage, so it's a case of figuring out what would work best in that central kitchen area.

Cisco001

Where is your tumble dryer?

phil_b_2

Cisco001 wrote: »

Where is your tumble dryer?

We plan to put one in the outbuilding. It's just up the garden path. Not perfect but better than figuring out ventilation for yet another appliance.

Suffolk_lass

Late to the suggestions but if you cook, and prepare food, the classic, most effective layout is a triangle somewhere that incorporates your sink, cooker/hob and fridge. I would add to that by saying you want your dishwasher adjacent to the sink, to rinse things off. It gives you a sensible work surface, to stack/unload too. That is the core of your hub, the rest is where they sensibly go.

I have one wall of appliances and cupboards with no work surface. It always looks flush and tidy. Personally, having had larder cupboards in two widths, with racks in them, forget the racks, they break after a while if you put weight on them. And shelves are cheaper. The exception is if you buy or have made, a proper larder cupboard with storage in the doors,; in which case the ire shelves keep cleaner and you can see what is in them. Actually, we have the deep drawers, which hold loads and you can see what you have.

I would also put the tumble drier on top of a counter on top of the washer, and put it on your utility wall. If your dishwasher is next to the sink on the other side it makes plumbing cheaper than installing plumbing in an island if there is none now. We have a condensing TD and just empty the reservoir after the washing is complete.

If your sink and DW moved to the left, you have a surface for a drainer in the corner that could otherwise become a clutter corner, and maybe swap walls for your larder and your fridge freezer so you have WM & TD in the current FF corner and then larder/low drawer storage running to the stairs.

We have done a few and DH used to design them for a living while doing his late-life teaching post grad. HTH

DaftyDuck

Haven't read all the (many, many) suggested variations so there may be a similar suggestion in there somewhere, but I have a suggestion that I haven't seen, and it's one I have done in an admittedly very large and hand-built kitchen, so I could make it work.

An island. Island is on roller castors, so it moves freely in all directions. It also latches onto the work surfaces along the walls, or can be braked where you want it. In your case, it could latch onto the end where you have a peninsula, which I wouldn't want permanently. If style permits, it can then also serve as an extension of the dining table area.

I have no idea whether commercially-produced kitchens have such a feature. I guess they must, as I will have pinched the idea from somewhere.

The simplistic answer I would want would be a floating island on castors, even if it doesn't latch onto anything.

PasturesNew

I didn't like any of them - and really struggled to visualise them, so didn't answer... but ...

For corner units, if you use a proper corner unit with nice opening doors, they hold stacks of stuff. Avoid the stupid lazy susan carousels as they're just space-wasting nonsense.

I mean something like this: http://szalas.info/wp-content/uploads/kitchen-corner-cabinet-ideas-kraftmaid-cabinets-glass-doors-kitchen-corner-unit-storage.jpg

But watch that "faffy" closer bit there as this one needs you to open both doors, the first to get the second open. There are units with simple doors that just meet and don't overlap.

If I ever wanted an island, I'd definitely have a movable one. No services to it, on wheels, that also fits against a wall or as a peninsula somewhere else.... but I've no need for an island, nor will I ever have a kitchen large enough, so they're of no interest to me