How to design a kitchen with integrated appliances?

tallac

I'm looking at getting a kitchen designed and currently considering a few different companies in the shortlist Howdens and DIY-kitchens being two of them. I'd like to have integrated appliances such as oven, microwave and fridge but I want to make sure I get appliances of well known brands. I have heard all the horror stories of going with the kitchen suppliers own brand appliances and I'm not keen on any of that.

What I'm confused about is that with integrated appliances, there might be some slight variances in dimensions from one particular model to another. Does this mean that I need to pick out exactly which appliances I want first before I plan the kitchen design with the companies?

If I design the kitchen first and plan for what is the upper end of the integrated appliances dimensions, and then later choose a model that is maybe a few cm smaller, how is this dealt with? Even if you add padding to take up the slack, how do you make the front look nice with a gap of this size?

Doozergirl

With Howdens, it's all fine apart from the fitted microwave.  You need a smaller one than most people supply or the fitter needs to do a bit of jiggerypokery around it.  

The ovens, Howdens will want to know if it's a single/double and built in or built under.   It's no massive deal if you get those wrong.  Filler pieces and doors are fairly easily swapped.  

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Tallac.

The widths of almost all built-in appliances - ovens, fridges, washing machines, etc - are the same; 600mm. There will be some rare exceptions to this, but usually only in high-end kitchens where folk want super-wide ovens and stuff that the proles cannot manage. You'll then find that the appliance heights are pretty standard too, with only ovens tending to have some variation depending on whether they are single, double or an occasional rare intermediate size. 

(Some built-under appliances like W/Ms and driers can have either full doors covering it all, or else an almost full height door that just leaves the control panel showing - but that depends on the appliance.)

Kitchen manufacturers should have doors and panels to suit all these standard with no trimming of doors/panels or undesirable filler pieces required. 

Built-in microwaves should come with trim kits to frame the appliance front and make the oven a 'standard' height ('standard' for microwaves - they'll usually be less than single-oven height) that can also be accommodated by available door panels above and below. 

Essentially, there should not be slight variations of dimensions between manufacturers - they should, almost all, be within standard sizes and capable of being installed neatly within any decent kitchen range.

I guess the sensible thing would be to choose your appliances first - especially things like microwaves - and have that list ready when you chat with the designers. They should be able to tell you right away whether it'll all fit in without unsightly filler panels. It might even be that some kitchen manufactures can customise doors sizes too, but that really shouldn't ne necessary.

It's 99% 'standard'. 

tallac

Thanks for the replies. But looking at (just for example) built-in ovens on Curry's website. I can see one oven that has a height of 58.5cm (here) and while many others like this are 59.5cm (here). Same is true about the width with about 5 to 10mm difference. Doesn't sound like a lot but wouldn't this difference be big enough to create problems? And the gap seems to small to fix with a bit of trim.

Doozergirl

tallac said:

Thanks for the replies. But looking at (just for example) built-in ovens on Curry's website. I can see one oven that has a height of 58.5cm (here) and while many others like this are 59.5cm (here). Same is true about the width with about 5 to 10mm difference. Doesn't sound like a lot but wouldn't this difference be big enough to create problems? And the gap seems to small to fix with a bit of trim.

No.  It doesn't create problems.  

As Jeepers says anyway, if you tell Howdens which appliances you are buying, they will make sure you get the right units and any relevant filler pieces. 

Jeepers_Creepers

tallac said:

Thanks for the replies. But looking at (just for example) built-in ovens on Curry's website. I can see one oven that has a height of 58.5cm (here) and while many others like this are 59.5cm (here). Same is true about the width with about 5 to 10mm difference. Doesn't sound like a lot but wouldn't this difference be big enough to create problems? And the gap seems to small to fix with a bit of trim.

Totally understand your concern as these 'inaccuracies' seem to suggest variations in sizes between manufacturers. I can't explain these differences - but most likely it's where they measure them, outer trim vs bodywork, something like that - but suffice to say that both are standard single-oven sizes and should fit in equally neatly.

Absolutely ask each designer about this too for complete reassurance. (And then, if there is a gap, you can hammer them... :-)  ) 

The only appliance I can think off (apart from weird esoteric stuff) is the microwave oven. These tend to be significantly smaller than single ovens, but - once 'trimmed' - will fit in a standard 600mm-wide housing perfectly. Then there's their height, again lower than std single ovens. Again, tho', they should be an established dimension - not something arbitrary -  so that doors can be fitted above and below to fill the spaces perfectly. But definitely ask about these :-)

tallac

Thank you, another silly question. I don't know what the cabinet space is like where an integrated microwave goes into but is it such that it could accommodate a freestanding microwave? Does it have a shelf where the freestanding microwave can sit on? I hope this is the case as then if budget is tight, then I can make do temporarily with an existing freestanding microwave and purchase the integrated when a short time later.

Jeepers_Creepers

Yes, as with all ovens, they sit on a 'shelf'. Another thing they have in common, tho', is that they need good ventilation, so you'll almost certainly find that the unit backs will be removed, and a free air-flow passage allowed there from the plinth area to the top of the housing. 

These built-in appliances will be designed to cope with being enclosed - they will likely, for example, take in cooling air from the back and vent it out through narrow gaps at the front, or similar. If you place a normal free-standing microwave inside a cabinet - even with a sizeable gap around it - it could well overheat. I am referring to combi-microwaves, here, mind, with conventional/fan ovens included. 

I had a F-S Samsung which I slid under a gap between the worktop and a unit mounted above, and assumed it would be ok as there was around 60mm gaps at the sides, and nearly 100mm at the top. But no - it would regularly trip the built-in overheat 'stat until I figured out what the cause was :-( 

I now have a large Sharp R959SLMAA 40-litre jobbie which takes up even more of that space, but this model is actually designed to also be fitted 'built-in' with the addition of a surrounding trim (with vents...) and an air deflector at the rear which fires the hot vented air up behind the unit. Mine is free-standing - no trim - and works a treat. 

tallac

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Yes, as with all ovens, they sit on a 'shelf'. Another thing they have in common, tho', is that they need good ventilation, so you'll almost certainly find that the unit backs will be removed, and a free air-flow passage allowed there from the plinth area to the top of the housing. 

These built-in appliances will be designed to cope with being enclosed - they will likely, for example, take in cooling air from the back and vent it out through narrow gaps at the front, or similar. If you place a normal free-standing microwave inside a cabinet - even with a sizeable gap around it - it could well overheat. I am referring to combi-microwaves, here, mind, with conventional/fan ovens included. 

I had a F-S Samsung which I slid under a gap between the worktop and a unit mounted above, and assumed it would be ok as there was around 60mm gaps at the sides, and nearly 100mm at the top. But no - it would regularly trip the built-in overheat 'stat until I figured out what the cause was :-( 

I now have a large Sharp R959SLMAA 40-litre jobbie which takes up even more of that space, but this model is actually designed to also be fitted 'built-in' with the addition of a surrounding trim (with vents...) and an air deflector at the rear which fires the hot vented air up behind the unit. Mine is free-standing - no trim - and works a treat. 

Thanks for the reply. If I did this then I'd only be using the free standing microwaves normal microwave feature and nothing else. Would this be okay for the cooling or even that would still cause a problem?