Units for small kitchen

jennifernil

johnnyren said:

jennifernil said:

Is there scope to fit units or appliances across the end wall too?

Thanks for a replies ,      Yes my other option would be to use the rear wall ,    My only problem with that that I already have a sink and washing machine in use along one of the sides ,    I would need to get a plumber to move them to the rear wall ,      If it’s not a big job ,    It’s something I’d look at 

Easy to run pipework for water and drains either under or behind units.

FreeBear

johnnyren said:

Cairnpapple said:

This is an IKEA kitchen with full width on left, shallow units on right. Kitchen width of 6'6". Felt very useable in real life. 

Thanks ,   That looks great ,    It has shown that I really need to use the back wall as I don’t think as sink and oven/ hob would go together on the one side 

The downside to a U shaped kitchen is you have two corner units. These inevitably end up being a black hole where junk can lurk for 20-30 years. And with a slimline/full size corner, you'll probably end up needing a custom door on one of the units.

ThisIsWeird

Cairnpapple said:

This is an IKEA kitchen with full width on left, shallow units on right. Kitchen width of 6'6". Felt very useable in real life. 

Ideal. And plenty of standing room - you'll probably love how easy it'll be to use, with surfaces immediately to hand on either side.

As said by others, use wall units for the shallow base side - fully finished, and just add legs. Don't butcher base units down!

If your kitchen is 9' long, then the side should have a ~2.1m unbroken run, so room for both a sink and hob there if you wanted, but best to try and place one of these (ideally the sink) at the back wall; the above example looks ideal. Lots of compact sink top designs available.

Another nice idea from that Ikea pic - consider using open shelves like these on one side - it really helps to prevent the hemmed-in feeling. You should find that half your cupboard contents will actually look good up on shelves

gelato_cat

Cairnpapple said:

This is an IKEA kitchen with full width on left, shallow units on right. Kitchen width of 6'6". Felt very useable in real life. 

I love this and didn't realise you could get shallow drawers. I actually think that this depth is more useful, in some ways. Eg we have a tea / coffee station in our kitchen and we definitely don't need that piece of worktop to be 60cm deep.

jennifernil

The Ikea wall units with doors and handles included are quite deep compared to most other makes, 37cm comes to mind, but best to check.
Their base units are also deep, so with all that taken into consideration there just might not be quite enough space in the middle for comfort.

If you are confident at DIY and cutting down units, which would involve repositioning the holding together fittings, the drawers in the Ikea units do not use up the full depth of the unit , so it is possible to make them a few cm shallower.   But do check what depth your appliances will need first.

   My OH has done this at our house when we added a couple of 80cm wide base units, as the  matching beech worktop we needed to use was too shallow for the full depth.   

And also in our daughter’s utility room as she needed tall units, full depth minus a little, on one side to house her spare oven,  and base units for a sink on the other side, but still have a wide enough walkway left to her back door.  The width she had was 2.1m.

If you decide to use the end wall, I would do an L shape, and keep the units the full depth,  which will result in only one corner unit and leave space for a  regular cupboard, or appliance, at the other end.  

Then, if you feel you have sufficient width, you could still add some type of shallow units or cupboards later on the empty wall, leaving space to access the window-end units.

Shelves on the wall will make it feel more open, but are terrible dust and grease collectors!!    Personally, if you opt for shallow units with worktop, 
I would use the wall either for hanging pots, pans, utensils and maybe narrow spice shelves, or maybe find a nice shallow glass fronted cupboard.

twopenny

How tall are you?

I had my kitchen units cut back at the wall and down on the bottom boards because I'm 5'2" - lots is adjustable. Showrooms say you can't but I was lucky enough to find a guy with a hangover too tired to argue

Also have a look at static caravans for sale for ideas for a small kitchen. I did this for my small bathroom. They seem to make things smaller but a usable size.

I went to some and photographed like mad.

FreeBear

twopenny said: I had my kitchen units cut back at the wall and down on the bottom boards because I'm 5'2" - lots is adjustable.

When I repurposed some base units for my darkroom, I chopped 150mm off the top - Needed the extra headroom.

A couple of units in the kitchen needed a bigger service gap than standard. Fairly easy to route new slots for the back panel. In the utility room, had to use a wall cupboard as a base unit because of the location of sockets & waste pipe.

With a few basic power tools, just about any kitchen unit can be adapted to fit a space. And if you need odd size drawers, it is easy enough to get drawer kits online - Wanted a 900mm pan drawer unit in my kitchen. B&Q doesn't do one, but they do have a cupboard unit. So drawers & fronts came from elsewhere.

casper_gutman

MikeJXE said:

IMO a dishwasher is the least necessary item in a kitchen

I’m 83, was a family with 2 kids, and never used one 

That's a valid point - anyone can cope without a dishwasher. I'd argue the least necessary item discussed on this thread is actually the washing machine, though. It's useful to have somewhere in a home, of course, but if it can be positioned elsewhere (if not a dedicated utility room or laundry then maybe a bathroom as is common in many countries? In a walk-in cupboard somewhere?) this will save valuable kitchen space.

FreeBear

casper_gutman said:

MikeJXE said:

IMO a dishwasher is the least necessary item in a kitchen

I’m 83, was a family with 2 kids, and never used one 

That's a valid point - anyone can cope without a dishwasher. I'd argue the least necessary item discussed on this thread is actually the washing machine, though. It's useful to have somewhere in a home, of course, but if it can be positioned elsewhere (if not a dedicated utility room or laundry then maybe a bathroom as is common in many countries? In a walk-in cupboard somewhere?) this will save valuable kitchen space.

Many bathrooms in the UK are not large enough to accommodate a washing machine and still maintain a safe distance from the bath/shower/sink. Rules for electrics in a bathroom are very strict, and for good reason.

RAS

The width on that is right but I don't think you've necessarily got the length. Rather depends where the door is fixed. 

In a room too narrow to count in the census we fitted 50 cm deep units both sides with a sink and drainer, worktop over a twin tub washing machine and fridge freezer on one side. The other side had a double base unit, cooker and drawer unit (reverse order). The kitchen was longer than yours but had an external door on one wall. We only had wall units on one side.

It was planned so that the four people could work at different tasks because of the way stations were staggered, and finding shallow white goods and sinks was fun.

With corner units access in a tight space is an issue. I have seen people open the wall behind one into a different room, and install a washing machine there, accessed from the bathroom or hall for example. But that might need freeholder permission?