Feedback on proposed kitchen layout please

NQManchester

Hi everyone,

I need to finalise my kitchen design and I just want to make sure I’m not making any school girl errors or there’s any improvements I could make and would appreciate any feedback.
First time I am actually buying a kitchen so feeling the pressure given the investment.


P= pantry/larder cupboard 
FF = Fridge Freezer
B= boiler
D = dishwasher
W & W are the washing machine and dryer (need to be on the same run as we want them hidden and that makes the counter deeper)

Is there anything anyone particularly loves about their kitchen or would love to change? 
Thanks! 

Doozergirl

What are your measurements?  Do you have the floorplan?  Taking a guess, it looks no more than about 3.4m wide? 

You're probably not going to like this, but I don't think the way it's laid out suits an island.  There's just not enough room between the breakfast bar and the wall.    It looks like it has an island just because it's wanted, not because it's wanted and also fits nicely in the space.   It's going to be an awkward kitchen in day to day use, and that is what you have to live with and ultimately what will bring you joy from it.  

Middle person will be trapped at the island if there are three, and if anyone is sitting at the island, you've reduced your kitchen working width to about 1m.  It will be awkward to walk behind the island and use it as circulating space without anyone sitting there, even. 

If you are desperate for a kitchen island, I'd be looking at the floor plan again and getting a bit more creative with it.  I'm happy to look.  

Also, why don't the doors on the fridge freezer units meet the top of the units?  There's filler panels up there?  The pantry ones look fine.  Check the door measurements.  

mug2007

Looks amazing.  I would double check you are happy with the dimensions between the island the wall and the units and be sure it is not too tight for you.  I think the guides usually say 1200 between units and 1000 between worktop and wall. Seems well thought out.  Be interesting to hear input from others.

I personally love a breakfast bar/island and tall storage cupboards.

NQManchester

Thank you. To be honest that’s one of my concerns and partly why I’m asking for feedback. 

It’s 5.7m by 3.3m so coming up slightly narrow for the recommended minimum of 1m around an island. 

This is a crude plan I did (the 1700mm in the top left is now 2700mm as we couldn’t have as big a knockthrough) 

The kitchen unit plan (only one I’ve been given so far) 

NQManchester

Regarding the fridge freezer yes it looks like filler panels, I think he’s matched the height with the wall cupboards which are taller than standard. I didn’t ask for taller wall cupboards so I am wondering whether to forgo the extra shelf for asthetics…

NQManchester

mug2007 said:

Looks amazing.  I would double check you are happy with the dimensions between the island the wall and the units and be sure it is not too tight for you.  I think the guides usually say 1200 between units and 1000 between worktop and wall. Seems well thought out.  Be interesting to hear input from others.

I personally love a breakfast bar/island and tall storage cupboards.

Thank you. I find it so hard to judge, might have to get a load of boxes and make one 😂
Yes I love an island but don’t know if the designer is just trying to shoehorn one in because we want one when it doesn’t really fit and I’ll live to regret it 

Doozergirl

Generally, I'd start with the entire floor plan of downstairs and plan the entire space as one.  The kitchen alone doesn't provide much context for how the whole space should work. 


I think a bit of building work might be needed?  All that space totally wasted under what is a decent sized window. You could raise the wall height and put a smaller window in and gain yourselves some units and worktop space under there.  

The other question is whether that 960mm nib can come out to make the room even more open plan?  Then you could shift the island towards the dodgy window (with units under) a bit more and give you proper space around the whole thing.  

3.3m simply isn't enough width for an island.  Any professional kitchen designer should warn you straight off that layout.  It's a big room and yet the kitchen will
feel small.  

 I'm also a bit baffled by the 300,800,900 unit combination of units.  What's the logic behind it? 

Without doing any structural  building work, I'd consider a peninsular instead.   It would come from where your boiler is, and your seating area would be on the low window side, giving you a U shape of units - lots of working space and somewhere to sit, but so much kitchen wasted by that window again!  

Boilers can fit in wall cabinets these days!  A whole larder unit seems a bit of a waste of space.  

 

NQManchester

Doozergirl said:

I think a bit of building work might be needed?  All that space totally wasted under what is a decent sized window. 

You could raise the wall and put a smaller window in and gain yourselves some units and worktop space under there.  

The other option is whether that 960mm nib can come out to make the room more open plan?  Then you could shift the island towards the dodgy window a bit more and give you proper space. 

3.3m simply isn't enough width for an island.  Any professional kitchen designer should warn you straight off that layout. 

Without building work, I'd consider a peninsular instead.   It would come from where your boiler is, and your seating area would be on the low window side, giving you a U shape of units. 

Boilers can fit in wall cabinets these days!  A whole larder unit seems a bit of a waste of space.  

The nib needs to stay unfortunately, originally wanted it out but engineer says no.

Might explore the peninsula idea, we like the big window Ideally.

thanks for your input, it’s appreciated

Doozergirl

We're talking about 10 or 20cm less window opening for a kitchen that will feel 2 metres bigger. 

Has the kitchen wall come out already or is this planned building work? 

Do you have the whole floorplan? 

TheMilkmansDad

i would question the open doors for the washing machine/dryer and dishwasher. If I'm reading that right, will the dishwasher access be an issue? Also, in a (relatively) small kitchen, will that dead space in the corner not be a bit wasteful? Have you thought about having the washers together on 1 side of the sink and dishwasher on the other, you could then have a corner cupboard to utilize the space in the corner? My personal preference also would not to be to have the dishwasher directly next to the cooker.

Teapot55

If dirty dishes are placed to the right of the sink it might not be that easy to reach them when the dishwasher door is down. 

When emptying the dishwasher you might have to stack the dishes next to the cooker before relocating them. This might cause a clash with any cooking going on.