To ask to see pictures of your small kitchen?

[HotChocolate16]

My OH and I have seen our dream house. Perfect garden, bigger than ours, living room x2 , 3 bedrooms, a garage and potential to extend on top of it too. The only downside is the kitchen is small. It’s 7.9 ft x 8.7 ft (2.4 x 2.6). We don’t want to make a kitchen diner as we have this now, and whilst it’s useful whilst my son is still young, we feel as he gets older as a family we would benefit from the 2 sitting rooms. I don’t really want to do an extension of the kitchen either yet.

Please could I ask to see pictures of your kitchen if you have a similar size?

Thank you

Mine is 3.1 x 2.6 and I thought it was small when I first got it, I was planning an extension until Covid pushed the prices up way past my budget! I will say, if you have decent storage and it’s planned well, it’s great.
I have a built in cupboard where the boiler is, I keep the washing machine and microwave in there. Then I have 7 base cupboards with a set of pan drawers (though one of the cupboards I swapped for a dishwasher), and eight wall cupboards. The way the layout of the sink/hob/etc means I have a small bit of worktop space next to the sink where I keep coffee machine/kettle/etc, then a ‘medium’ bit of worktop space, then the hob, and then a decent 2.5mtr ish run on the other side.

I’ve got tons of storage and it doesn’t feel small to me. The only downsides are that I couldn’t have the American fridge freezer I wanted, and I opted not to have an eye level oven housing because I didn’t wanna lose the worktop space.

I’ve attached a photo of how it looks now (waiting to bite the bullet on splashbacks, coz even though it’s a small kitchen, I’ve still been quoted 2k…!) and some photos of how it was when I bought it, which show the space a bit better. They don’t show the built in cupboard or the fridge though.

@dizzyupthegirl86

Mine is 3.1 x 2.6 and I thought it was small when I first got it, I was planning an extension until Covid pushed the prices up way past my budget! I will say, if you have decent storage and it’s planned well, it’s great. I have a built in cupboard where the boiler is, I keep the washing machine and microwave in there. Then I have 7 base cupboards with a set of pan drawers (though one of the cupboards I swapped for a dishwasher), and eight wall cupboards. The way the layout of the sink/hob/etc means I have a small bit of worktop space next to the sink where I keep coffee machine/kettle/etc, then a ‘medium’ bit of worktop space, then the hob, and then a decent 2.5mtr ish run on the other side.

I’ve got tons of storage and it doesn’t feel small to me. The only downsides are that I couldn’t have the American fridge freezer I wanted, and I opted not to have an eye level oven housing because I didn’t wanna lose the worktop space.

I’ve attached a photo of how it looks now (waiting to bite the bullet on splashbacks, coz even though it’s a small kitchen, I’ve still been quoted 2k…!) and some photos of how it was when I bought it, which show the space a bit better. They don’t show the built in cupboard or the fridge though.

Wow that looks amazing! You’ve done such a good job!

Do you have any children? And do you feel like it’s an issue not having a table in the kitchen to watch them eat?

We had a tiny kitchen up until the kids were 4 and 7 with a separate dining room. It wasn't a problem at all. Obviously when they were tiny they would only have food in our presence but as they got older it was fine to leave them to get anything from the kitchen. We've always made it a thing to sit down and eat together when we are home though so maybe I never noticed it as an issue?
We moved for extra bedroom and living space so the kitchen wasn't an issue.
The potential new house sounds like a great trade-off for all the other benefits you will get.

We rejigged our downstairs to move the kitchen and create a kitchen/living room as the kitchen was small and I felt isolated when cooking, the kids would be playing/fighting and I'd be flitting. Love it now.

My mum bought a house with a very small kitchen and has always regretted it.

Name changed for this as I've shown this photo to lots of people .

This kitchen is 2.6x3m and we got it from IKEA last year. It cost less than £8k including ovens, hob, dishwasher and fitting. We love it.

Out of sight on the right is the fridge freezer (which we already had).

Other people on our estate have knocked through to make a kitchen diner, but we really like our separate dining room.

Not sure I have much specific advice but following for some inspiration as we're thinking of replacing ours too.

I think clever design and storage is the obvious answer. Do you have a dining room?

That looks lovely @KitchenShare I like the colour of the tiles.
Is that a wooden worktop or laminate/something else?

Thanks @FussyLittleFucker, it's wood effect laminate. Looks good but is easy to clean and you don't have to look after it!

Ours is tiny - but there’s only two of us and we have a big living-dining room, which I prefer over a kitchen diner. Clever storage is the way to go - we have no wasted space - and minimalist so it doesn’t look cluttered.

I grew up in a house with a small kitchen and a separate dining room and it's not what I would choose as an adult.

The dining room didnt get used much because it felt too formal, my mum was isolated if cooking in the kitchen and we always ended up squeezed around the tiny kitchen table

We had a smallish kitchen at the house we've just left (3.7 x 3.1 metres plus two doors and a hatch in it, and an oddly angled wall). We bricked up the hatch (it turned out it had once been a third door!). It paid off going round several kitchen design places to get ideas as they all came up with different solutions. We ended up with a very tall unit in one corner that had rotating shelves (we called it the whirly cupboard!) which was VERY expensive but well worth it as you could fit so much into it! We've really noticed since moving out as have struggled to fit into new kitchen. And got some cupboards that butted up to the angled wall so could store some bits and bobs in there.

No kids so can’t really offer any words of wisdom on that front! I really mourned the loss of the big kitchen id planned on, I wanted a pantry cupboard and a wine fridge and all sorts, it would have been great - but actually if someone offered to do the extension for free, id still say no.

It’s easy and quick to clean. I’m always within reaching distance or anything I need - no dripping water all over the floor carrying stuff from the dishwasher, etc!
I did think of a downside - I’ve got literally zero wall space to have a radiator so there’s no heating in that room. But it’s not THAT cold and I’ve got one of those little plug in fan heaters which makes a difference with it being a small room!

My kitchen is genuinely small (1.6m by just under 3m) but as long as you are organised you can make it work.

You need to work out what aspects are essential for the way you use your kitchen and then design around these, maximising usable worktop space and well organised storage.

2.4m by 2.6m should work great as you have sufficient width for a U-shaped design.