Kitchen plan

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Anyone up for making suggestions? Pic is where we've got to as of now. The room is a reasonable size, but we have a massive table and no option to make a dining room elsewhere or knock through.
This plan hinges on cutting down and moving a huge dresser which was here when we arrived and was probably built for the house as it goes right up to the tall ceiling height. However, cutting it down by a third means that the fridge can live in a more accessible space rather than in the corner where it is now (which is where we intend to put the chopped down dresser).
Issues: the fridge is lonely and bare in this plan, but I'm wary of blocking off the access from that door (which is the main throughway into the room and also leads to the back door). At the moment the dresser fills that space but is much shallower than the fridge so doesn't encroach too much. I'd like a balanced look with a unit either side and prob a top box, but, as well as the encroachment issue, I'm worried about it feeling claustrophobic when you're eating surrounded by looming cupboards. So maybe the fridge just needs one tall 40mm cabinet, or a base with larder top - but then would it look unbalanced and weird?
Have put in a larder top above dishwasher, but that will have a boiler inside so might put another one next to the existing larder - but again, the looming cupboard thing gets me worried.
I've made the larder top as wide as poss, because of the boiler, but it's only about 20mm away from the window - is this too close?
Thanks if you're still awake!

[monsieurpoirot]

I don't like the position of the fridge and don't think you have enough storage. How lovely to have a proper larder, but it does make layout even more awkward in this room! I'm imagining it's a small cottage kitchen? How about moving the fridge to next to the larder (so lose a pan drawer here). I'd keep the built in dresser where it is, and have another one built that matches, going along the right hand wall (but stopping to allow access to larder). Finally I'd tuck a small bin to the right of the door into the kitchen, and have a bigger recycling box in the larder. That would allow you to have a pan drawer where you had planned to put the bin next to the sink.

[wowfudge]

I would put pan drawers either side of the oven and put the fridge next to the larder instead of one of your sets of pan drawers or move it to the end of the run where the sink is. Put the bin under the sink and have a magic corner unit opening on the left hand side, the same run as the sink rather than the wall where the cooker is.

On the wall where the fridge is on your plan, have some more units for additional storage.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Interesting - thanks. We did consider putting the fridge where you suggest, but decided against partly for aesthetic reasons; the mantelpiecs is the main feature as you enter, and the shiny obelisk detracted from it. Also, you couldn't open the fridge door so the larder would have to be cut back by about a foot.
Can't build a dresser where you suggest as then we'd have no room for a chair at that end of the table.
The existing bin is where you're suggesting, but I intend to have drawers by the dishwasher so I can empty plates etc. straight in. The bin will have recycling units so will be handy by the food prep area.
It's not a small cottage although I can see why you'd think that! It's a listed Georgian house with a Victorian extension - hence the spatial challenge!

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

wowfudge where would the dishwasher go if I put the fridge at the end of that run?

[wowfudge]

Fridge on the end of the sink run next to the door then? It'll look much more balanced if you can get a set of pan drawers either side of your oven. Or have an integrated fridge freezer that's of the under counter sort?

We have an old house and a huge American style FF which we've moved completely - it was the awkward item in the whole layout.

[wowfudge]

X posted with you OP. Have a smaller sink and sink unit and put the dishwasher to one side of it.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

That's what I thought you meant - where would the dishwasher go then? You're right about the balance; I'm just not sure we can give ourselves the luxury of achieving it. New f/f is not an option; this one's only two years old.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Okay but the smallest double sink I could have is 800mm, which only gives an extra 20mm. I use one sink as a drainer for pans as I can't stand them on the top, especially since we eat in there.

[wowfudge]

How big is the FF? I've got a 1.5 sink in a 600mm unit. Size wise it's fine and I clear as I go so bung pans in the dishwasher which is next to the sink.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

900mm. I use too many pans to rely on the dishwasher and some can't go in anyway.

[wowfudge]

Same as ours then - hmm. Probably best where it is then. You could build around it for extra storage. Definitely try to get symmetry round the cooker.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Ah yes sorry I didn't show anything around the fridge as I wasn't sure about the clearance issue. But DH fudged something together to show me that we can fit in a 40mm tall cupboard either side and still comfortably enter the room. So we'll prob have one as a broom cupboard, the other for glassware/booze/whatever.
The only symmetry at the mo is the 20mm spaces for towels/chopping boards either side of the oven, but I know there are different schools of thought on this and some would give it more importance than others. I loveca stmmetrical look but I can't get it to work without losing my lovely drawers next to the dishwasher. Can't stand walking across the kitchen to empty it.

[Boodles]

I'd put your dishwasher under your draining board.

[Boodles]

Also you haven't allowed for any decor end panels.

[namechangedtoday15]

The fridge freezer is wrong - would put it where the larder is and depending which is mist important to you, have a larder or dresser where the dresser is. If it were me, I'd have the larder.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

There isn't a draining board Boodles. We'll be having wooden worktops any draining dishes will go in the second sink. Do you need decor end panels for painted wooden units?
Namechange putting the fridge freezer where the larder is would mean creating a void behind it (because the larder is set back from the other wall) and losing a lot of storage space which couldn't be made up by any 'larder cupboard' we could have built in the space where I've put the dresser.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Thanks for thoughts all.

[NotMeNoNo]

I think it looks more or less OK actually.
Bins under the sink is good and then you could have 4 drawers where you have put bins - utensils, foils and wrap, all kinds of things like that.

Larder top - is that the ones that come right down to worktop? They are dated IMO and waste your worktop space. Just have normal wall units L of the sink and then you have a nice spot you can put your kettle. Or you could have another base unit next to the fridge say 800 wide which will be less visually intrusive than a high unit, but gives you another patch of worktop that won't get cluttered up with washing up. And some pretty shelves over it, it's well away from the cooker.

We have a big larder cupboard and it takes so much stuff we can get away with not that much storage elsewhere.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

I was planning a pullout bin with sections for recycling - had one in our last house and miss it. How would it work under the sink? Larder top dated you say? Interesting. I intend for the kettle to be inside it so I don't have to look at it. Likewise the food processor and toaster if I put another one in next to the larder.
But a base unit next to the fridge with shelves above is a good idea - less visually intrusive than full height.
Yes the larder does swallow up a load of stuff - I cleared it yesterday and put in the microwave and breadmaker and I'm still left with two empty shelves!

[YorkshireTea86]

What are the actual dimensions or the walls? Is it possible to put the fridge where you have the larder top and ds is you have a smaller bin cupboard and lose the drawers at the end, then where you have the fridge put units with worktop and larder top bit with kettle and have it as a tea & coffee station?

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

Dimensions: 5350mm (fridge wall) x 3400mm (sink wall).
Fridge can't go where you suggest Yorkshire as there's a boiler on that wall. That larder top will be a tea/coffee station and will mean the kettle can easily be filled from the sink without having to cross the room and back.
I'm liking the drawers next to the dishwasher for similar reasons unloading plates without crossing the room.
Am intrigued by these undercounter bins though - can you get them to fit under a Belfast sink?

[NotMeNoNo]

What we did with bins is fit a pan drawer under Belfast sink with a tall front. The recycling bins and a Brabantia waste bin stand in it plus there's a bit of space for binbags, dishwasher tabs etc. Like ikea. link

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

How wide is the pan drawer Notme?

[NotMeNoNo]

80cm wide drawer under an 80cm ceramic double sink. You need to ask the plumber to use a space saving waste so all the pipes go to the back of the unit and you have more room for bins IYSWIM.

[Agoddessonamountaintop]

How is that different from an integrated bin Notme? (Don't mean to be thick!) Have made a few changes now - pan drawers either side of cooker, bin at end of sink run as I realised it was silly to have it in a corner. The sink has shifted along a bit but that's ok. It's also now 800mm, plus there's space for a towel rail gap next to it.
The least offensive option for the fridge seems to be a tall larder cupboard each side, plus top box. It makes the kitchen look very American but that's what you get when you buy an American-style fridge that your DH and teenagers cajole you into because of the ice dispenser. That said, the last integrated fridge we had was shite, the door kept dropping and the seal cracked. Less space inside as well.