Adapting a fitted kitchen - how much of a pain is this?

[xandersmom2]

Potential daft question alert - never considered doing work like this before (previous houses were either brand new or very old, so if I wanted a new kitchen I ripped out the old one and started from scratch!)...

Looked at a house, it's not perfect but is close and the location is absolutely perfect. Also way under budget so would give us some breathing space and cash to spend on updates etc. Downside is there's no utility area; washing m/c is in the kitchen/diner (which is fine) but there is no space anywhere in the house for a drier. The current owners are older and just use one of the bedrooms to hang clothing if it's not nice enough to dry outside, but we'd be using all bedrooms so this won't be an option.

There's a garage with power but I don't see how we could put a drier in there (though i don't object to this and have my drier in the garage at the moment) as there's no rear entrance and so shuffling my washing through would involve going in and out of the front garage door, which is on the street (think this would feel weird, especially as i currently move washing around at all hours, in my pjs etc!)

Kitchen is fairly new and nicely fitted, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to sacrifice one of the under-counter cupboards and use the space for a drier. Ours is a condenser drier, so no problems with vents etc. Alternatively, the counter ends fairly short of the back door so could possibly be extended to make room for a drier, but this would then involve replacing the countertops and possibly having to retile the entire room if we can't get tiles to match.

Anyone have experience of adapting a fitted kitchen in this way? Was it more pain/expense than it was worth? Is it more cost-effective to just start over and re-fit it?!

[wowfudge]

It will definitely be cheaper to adapt than refit. Is there space to put a dryer on the work surface? Could you move the washing machine to the space where the counter ends short of the back door and stack the dryer on top using a universal stacking kit?

In time, could you partition the back of the garage, add a door and create a utility room in there? I've no idea of the layout or proximity to the kitchen of the garage so that may not be feasible.

Or could you buy a Keter type storage unit and put the dryer in there, with power from the garage or the house, so it's close to the back door?

[xandersmom2]

Thanks for the ideas .

We couldn't stack the washer/drier as the wall cupboard directly above this area in the kitchen houses the boiler. But, I do like the idea of adding a personnel door to the back of the garage - back of the garage comes out on the end of the patio in the back garden, so that would potentially work nicely...

[FrogFairy]

Cheapest option would probably be to fit into the space at the of the cabinets in your kitchen, but perhaps you could put a piece of stainless steel worktop joined to the existing worktop rather than replace all the counter tops. I don't see the need for a tiled backsplash behind a tumble drier, I would probably leave it painted.

[NotMeNoNo]

If the kitchen is recently done you will almost certainly be able to get matching worktop and tiles. Ask vendors which range / supplier they used for the kitchen. They may even have a box of spare tiles sensibly stashed in the garage.

[xandersmom2]

Not me - just found out the kitchen was only installed 2 years ago (I knew it was newish but hadn't realised it was so new) so there is a decent chance vendor might have leftover tiles etc.

Going to go back and look again tomorrow, have this on my list of questions to ask!

[Kokusai]

If you have some cash left over after the move I would prefer to partition the garage, add a door from the back, take a water supply in and have a utility room in there with WM TD and some storage.

[CowParsleyNettle]

We had a tiny two up, two down terrace house and DH plumbed the washing machine and dryer (stacked) into the cupboard under the stairs. You still had room to hang coats etc but it freed up enough space for us to have a dishwasher in the kitchen.

[PunjanaTea]

Would another option would be to put a back door into the garage?

[fleur34]

Could you not just get a washer/drier that's combined? We have an excellent one that does both jobs!

[xandersmom2]

fleur34 - I've had a washer drier before (and this was before kids and multiple loads of laundry a day!) and wasn't impressed. This was a while ago and so maybe these things have changed, but it would take for-flippin'-ever to get a load washed and dried....

Well, second viewing done and sadly I have to admit this just isn't going to work for us. Nowhere to stack a washer and drier, can't put drier in the under-stairs cupboard as it slopes too much and so it won't fit, and back door to garage isn't an option (though it was a fantastic idea and I will hold in reserve when i look at other properties!) as the slope of the garage roof at the back means there isn't enough clearance for a door (couldn't see this in the photos and was very disappointed when I rushed back there to look today!)

It's a shame, lovely house, but the search goes on....!

[Kokusai]

the slope of the garage roof at the back means there isn't enough clearance for a door

A little door?

I'm only half joking....