New kitchen - finally!

[BlingedUpBalloon]

After trying to save for a new kitchen for what feels like forever, while the current one grows ever more dilapidated, we have been given some money by my wonderful dmil to get it done

But now that we have the money to do it, I feel like I'm out of ideas, and pull of problems/issues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We have a small room about 4m by just under 2m with doors at both ends, neither of which are centrally set. At the moment we have units on both sides which leaves a narrow gap between and it's difficult to do anything in there if the children or cats are walking through at the same time or if there are two people in the room more generally. I'm considering having narrow units down one side and normal depth down the other - do you think this would work or would the lack of work surface drive us potty?

We're also thinking of moving a gas cooker from one side to the other - is that easy for a gas fitter to do? We can't run pipes around the room at skirting height due to the doors at either end, but could it go under the flooring? It's concrete so we'd need to dig a channel I guess.

We will probably also have all appliances along one wall if go for the different depth units on each side. That means it will probably go: fridge / unit / cooker / unit / sink / dishwasher or fridge / unit / cooker / narrow unit / washing machine / sink / dishwasher if we can't move the washing machine into the little room off the kitchen. (I think we will be able to move the washing machine though as it's essentially just along the wall and it's an outside wall with the drains right there. Are there any minimum distances between appliances that we need to be aware of? We're hoping to not replace the appliances we have as they all work fine.

Flooring is another matter - I think tiles will work best but they'll be cold... We have a step into the kitchen from the dining room and again at the other door, and I think I want something that will also cover the step as it all just looks so bitty otherwise. We have bamboo in the dining room and that doesn't do well with water so we're not having that in the kitchen.

So many questions... now it's real it just seems like such an uphill struggle. Especially as although we have been given the money, it's still not vast amounts and we want to do some of the work ourselves.

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Sometimes you can find answers by sitting with pen and paper and just doodling different ideas to scale, to just try and figure out what fits ... Do you have a 'rightmove' type floor plan you could post ? As a solution might pop up ? Laundry upstairs perhaps ? A mix of standard and narrow cabinets maybe a moveable island that pulls out to give extra worksurface etc ? Change of through doors even ?
When planning a kitchen , there are lots of planning rules to be aware of - some are best practice rather than set in stone - others are law - and dependent on where your home is in the world they can change too !
Is your project in UK ?

[BlingedUpBalloon]

Yes, we're in the UK. There isn't a floorplan to post, but think typical Victorian terrace, stairs in the middle in a cupboard type of set up. Laundry upstairs wouldn't work I don't think as everything's close together and it would be too noisy. I have doodled about a billion different plans - we'd originally said we'd do the room when we moved in but that was 10 yrs and 2 children ago!! - but I think I'm just so used to it now it's difficult to imagine any different. We've had a couple of window fitters and a builder round for quotes so far. We're definitely making a few structural changes, it's the other bits I'm more unsure of like moving the gas and knowing whether it's possible.

[BlingedUpBalloon]

P's I linger on right move a lot as all the houses by us are very similar and I've been hoping for inspiration. No one has done what's in my head though and I'm not sure whether that's because it's inspired or just plain stupid!

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Could be that you will set the trend !!!!
If you want your idea safety checked, pm me. I will happily cast an eye over your idea/sketch etc for you ( and any other MN's in same predicament)

[Ramona75]

Moving gas pipes can be expensive especially under a concrete floor. Might be easier to go through the ceiling and double board it or just skim the channels that are made and re paint it.

It sounds like you're going to have a galley kitchen, which will give plenty of unit space but you are going to need the worktop space as well, don't forget the hob will take up around 60-70cm of worktop space.

With regards to appliance distances, look up "kitchen triangle" for more info.

This page here shows a galley layout kitchen as well as others and planning advice too.

[Lalsy]

OP, we have bamboo in the kitchen and it has been fine (our children were teens when it went down). We just mop up any spills quickly. It is nice and warm, easy to clean and you get fewer spills because jars don't break . Just our experience.

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Don't wish to burst people bubbles - but designing to a 'Kitchen triangle' is a strange thing ... If you put three things in any rectangle and draw a line to join each of them and in lots of cases it makes a triangle - doesn't mean it's ergonomic , or the best layout to suit specific families though !
You'd better off investing in quality time spent with a sensible and knowledgable designer/planner instead, in pretty much all cases, it gives better results !