Would this bother you in kitchen design (will it bother me?!)

[PippaFawcett]

We have had our pretty uninspiring kitchen design back today and I was hoping we would be given some ideas that we haven't already had, but we haven't. I suppose there is only so much that can be done with an awkward space!

Anyway, you will walk through the utility to get to the kitchen - would it piss you off to have the fridge freezer in the utility? And the microwave in there? I asked for an integrated one but it isn't on the plans so I thought I could pop a freestanding one in the utility.

[HoosierDaddy]

Mum has her fridge freezer in utility and a small integrated fridge in the kitchen. Her utility isn't beside the kitchen though, so she uses the small fridge mainly for milk and some sandwich/salad bits. Having her frozen food (and wine) at other end of house doesn't bother her. Microwave in utility wouldn't really bother me either, if it was just off kitchen.

[Quodlibet]

Fridge not being in the work triangle would bother me. Less so microwave. Let's see your plan? I think a lot of eg Howden's designers are pretty unimaginative and don't bother working out something a bit more complicated but better for the user.

[Bearbehind]

It would piss me off far more walking through the utility to get to the kitchen than the positioning of the fridge or microwave.

The whole point of utility rooms is they are a shit hole of chaos that you can't see; walking through it every time you need to go in the kitchen completely defeats the object

[User06383]

Microwave, not fussed about.

Fridge, yes. We have a 2nd freezer in the utility but fridge needs to be in the kitchen. We have a small freezer in the kitchen and it gets more use than the 2nd one.

[PippaFawcett]

Kitchen

[PippaFawcett]

Utility - there will be a window above the washing machine and a door to the left of the washing machine area. You walk through that archway and into the kitchen

[PippaFawcett]

Bear, that is the only option really. But you can also go round through the other way downstairs to get to the kitchen. My problem with this design is that the kitchen morphs into the utility when I guess I thought they would have more distinct purposes. We are short on space in the main kitchen area.

[PippaFawcett]

Quod - good guess!

[willconcern]

my fridge freezer is in the utility room. The door is always open from the kitchen. It doesn't bother me.

When you say you have to go through the utility room, do you mean to get in from outside? If so, then that makes sense, as you can take off dirty shoes in the utility room before going into the kitchen. If you mean that you have to go through the utility room to get to the kitchen from the lounge/hallway, then that would be really annoying!

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

It would drive me mad.

[PippaFawcett]

Unfortunately there isn't a better layout for the downstairs that we can afford, so it is this layout or nothing - too many steel beams needed otherwise. So, what I'm trying to figure out is if I can make this kitchen design work or whether I need to think again.

[C0RAL]

You need you Fridge and microwave in your main kitchen. Therefore you need a new kitchen design.

Don't compromise on this. It doesn't matter the colour of your units or worktop - if your kitchen doesn't work for you then it's a waste of money.

[4yoniD]

Carrying armfulls of food from the fridge to where I needed to prepare it (ok, pack it into a lunchbox) would annoy me.

Also maybe its me being outdated but the cooker hood looks kind of out of place. I'd consider a fan-in-a-matching-cupboard so looks-wise it would be a continual run in a smallish space.

[NoSquirrels]

I'm always super puzzled by people who have the microwave elsewhere than the kitchen - we use it as much as the hob/oven/kettle day to day, so would seriously irritate me personally.

Breakfast warming milk for DC, 2-min porridge; lunch e.g. soup, baked beans; dinner for steamed veg, defrosting stuff, reheating leftovers.

But if you only use it once in a blue moon then fair enough.

Fridge I'd need in the work triangle, freezer less bothered, would be happy to have in the utility.

[PippaFawcett]

Thanks 4. This isn't the kitchen we would choose, we haven't even had that discussion yet, it was meant to be the design to show us the possible layout. But I opened it and was positively underwhelmed. I had hoped it would show us something we haven't thought of.

[Intransige]

Our fridge is in the utility room and it's really irritating. It would be so much easier to have it in the kitchen.

[PippaFawcett]

No, I haven't thought about having a separate fridge and freezer. We could have an undercounter one I suppose in the main kitchen and a freezer in the utility area? We don't use our microwave daily, it is for milk warming/heating leftovers.

[4yoniD]

This is VERY vaguely what I mean (although a smidge odd)

[PippaFawcett]

Intrans, how far is your utility. It is hard to see from these photos, but the fridge freezer would only be a couple of steps away from the oven but further from the sink/work surface chopping area.

[Parietal]

can you post a floor plan of the rooms - where are the kitchen & utility relative to hall & living room etc? floor plans are much more meaningful than pretty graphics.

[clapyourhandsandwhistle]

Microwave and freezer in the utility would be fine for me but I think not having a fridge in the kitchen would be really annoying.

Do you have to walk through the utility to access the kitchen? It would need to be super tidy.

[SwedishEdith]

Can you do a floor plan? It might be easier to visualise?

[Doilooklikeatourist]

I don't use a microwave , so not bothered about that
Walking through a utility room would annoy me though , as that's where I hide the ironing / washing baskets etc
I need a fridge in the kitchen , not really bothered about walking to another room to find a freezer though

[Parietal]

I think you really need a fridge in the real kitchen, even an under-the counter. then have a bigger fridge-freezer in the utility for other things.

[1981trouble]

I'd put a full height built in fridge freezer next to the sink/by the door.

Or integrated under counter fridge and built in microwave above it - you have a prime wall space there where another cupboard could go easily enough.

My experience of kitchen designers is fairly bland and have lots of rules to follow.....which if you do it yourself you don't have to (distance between units and doors etc so you would have more options yourself. Worth having a play on the ikea planning app yourself for seeing what can fit in there