Help me design my kitchen! What are your thoughts on the following.....!

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

How much work surface do I need (NOT including the area where the toaster / kettle sit etc - the free space to chop / dump shopping / bake etc?) - how much do you have and is it enough?

What are the minimum and maximum reasonable distances between the hob and the sink.

How many storage cupboards / drawers do you have and do you think it's enough?

How do you store your spices? Shelves? Cupboard??

Does anyone have a waste disposal unit in their sink and how do you feel about it and does it drain properly and where is your sink in relation to the outside wall?

Which extractor hood would you really recommend?

Does anyone have their extractor hood/fan cut in to a chimney breast? Any comments on whether it works well enough?

I have just re-done my kitchen. What we found invaluable was to use a program to design it on the computer first to see how everything would look.
We ended up moving our door and windows to get a bigger space, which we would never have done without seeing it on the computer first.

Will answer your questions now...

How much work surface do I need (NOT including the area where the toaster / kettle sit etc - the free space to chop / dump shopping / bake etc?) - how much do you have and is it enough?

I have about the length of two worksurfaces, less the sink, microwave and kettle/toaster. It is enough for me; its in different areas so I have a nice big space where I can chop etc.

What are the minimum and maximum reasonable distances between the hob and the sink.

We have always had a big distance, before we did the kitchen they were on opposite sides of the rooms, now one is on a back wall, one on a side wall. Just because obv hob is electrical. If they are going to be close, you need to work out how far the pans boil over to, and where the water stops draining when you store pots. If they were close, it would probably be better to have the draining part of the sink closer to the hob iyswim

How many storage cupboards / drawers do you have and do you think it's enough?

We now have one set of drawers which contains two smaller and one larger, which is below our hob. We have two corner units with the turning carousels inside which give us loads of room - one contains all our tins and packets etc, the other all the saucepans. We have a little cupboard, (half size iyswim) a double under the sink, another double containing our plates etc, a tall larder type unit, and we have a double oven so its in a cupboard the same height as the larder so has a cupboard space underneath and above. We also have a corner wall unit for the cups and glasses. It is enough for us, and loads more than we had before (even though our kitchen is quite small)

How do you store your spices? Shelves? Cupboard??

I used to have a rack on the wall, but now I put them in the cupboard, however, depending on how many you have, you can get those storage jars for spices etc which stick onto the fridge magnetically

Does anyone have a waste disposal unit in their sink and how do you feel about it and does it drain properly and where is your sink in relation to the outside wall?

Mum and dad used to have one, mums sink used to be adjacent to the wall outside, so the drainage had to go down the side of the kitchen to the outside. It was okay for ages, but after a while they did have problems with it backing up, or getting blocked etc.

Which extractor hood would you really recommend?

Erm - not sure, sorry!

Does anyone have their extractor hood/fan cut in to a chimney breast? Any comments on whether it works well enough?

No, ours is just on the wall

Thank you Elf! Is your name a christmas name by the way??

Do/did you find a big distance between the hob and the sink a problem? that would be ideal for us but i'm concerned about ferrying boiling pans of water back and forth and am assuming a shorter distance is best but that will scupper my work surface!

I have quite a lot of work surface as I have a breakfast bar running out into the middle of the room, which is where everything gets dumped, as it's just by the door. Trouble with that is, unless I stay off Mumsnet make an effort to clear up, stuff tends to stay dumped.
My hob & sink are pretty much next to each other, but at right angles, so I just have to turn round to drain pans etc, but my draining board is at the other end from the hob - as Elf says, it would be better the other way round - I'm hoping to get a new sink soon so I'll probably change it - and put in a waste disposal unit. I had one in my last house & never had any problems - the sink was on an outside wall though.

I don't know about a good extractor hood - I'm not that impressed with ours, but I can't remember what make it is a anyway!

Oh and you can never have too many sockets. I have 28 in my kitchen, which I am aware some people think is excessive, but I have used them all (not at the same time) & it makes the kitchen really flexible.

My best kitchen designing tip is to draw out where you want everything then, map out cooking a typical meal and see how much legwork you would end up doing.
In my experience though no matter how much worktop you have it will get covered in stuff, I went from a tiny galley kitchen with only one wall of work top to a really long kitchen with loads of worktop and as I type it's covered in pots, lunchbags and tat. Thats what I get for expecting dh to do it!

How much work surface do I need (NOT including the area where the toaster / kettle sit etc - the free space to chop / dump shopping / bake etc?) - how much do you have and is it enough?

What are the minimum and maximum reasonable distances between the hob and the sink.

We have 1 metre and its enough, a minimum would be 60cm i think

How many storage cupboards / drawers do you have and do you think it's enough?

We have only drawers under the work surface: a pull out thing under the sink which has yet to have the bins fitted in it, a 40cm unit with 3 drawers for small stuff, small electrical stuff etc
a 80cm with 3 drawers unit under the hob for pans etc
a 6ocm unit with 3 drawers for plates and bowls
then on opposite wall we have a 60cm unit with cupboard at top for baking stuff,microwave, oven and 2 drawers for tupperware etc, then a 40cm pull-out larder unit thingy with 5 drawers that pull out individually for tins, pasta etc, then the fridge.
We have no wall cupboards above the worksurface but mean to put up some shelves for the frequently used foodstuffs, glasses spices etc.

How do you store your spices? Shelves? Cupboard??

Does anyone have a waste disposal unit in their sink and how do you feel about it and does it drain properly and where is your sink in relation to the outside wall?
no

Which extractor hood would you really recommend?
we have a stainless steel one from ikea but we have yet to put it up

Does anyone have their extractor hood/fan cut in to a chimney breast? Any comments on whether it works well enough?
it'll just go on the wall

We also have a walk-in cupboard for extra foodstuff
and i want to say the drawers in the units under the worksurface are brilliant, much better than cupboards with shelves
its all from ikea btw

How much work surface do I need (NOT including the area where the toaster / kettle sit etc - the free space to chop / dump shopping / bake etc?) - how much do you have and is it enough?

*I worked out I need three/four main zones - one for kettle/toaster/breakfast activities, one next to cooker for chopping up etc, and one for baking (I'm messy). And a bit of space for piling up pots by the sink.

What are the minimum and maximum reasonable distances between the hob and the sink

• reckon 3 feet a minimum, 6 feet max (3 steps)

How many storage cupboards / drawers do you have and do you think it's enough?
*Completely depends on how well they are designed. We inherited kitchen with PITA pokey narrow cupboards and inaccessible corners. By refitting cupboards with pull out shelves etc we have doubled its usefulness. Interior fittings (need not be the stupidly expensive ones) rock.

How do you store your spices? Shelves? Cupboard??
*In a smallish wall cupboard near the cooker.

IKEA kitchen planner is great for doodling layouts even if you don't use their units.

Just put in kitchen from Ikea - have only one bottom cupboard, all the rest drawers, best thing I ever did.

i made sure i had lots of work surface. the kitchen is in a sort of o-shape with a walk-in bit in the corner. probably makes no sense but there's lots of surface area! you can never have enough.

distance between hob and sink is prob about 2m. works for me.

i had as many cupboards / storage as i possibly could and i'd still like more.

yes, waste disposal. love it. drains well. called an insinkorator. is on an inner wall.

don't know about extractor hoods. i have an induction hob so not a powerful extractor fan.

if your budget stretches this far, i have a quooker which is absolutely amazing! boiling water on tap, stored in a pressurized, insulated tank. very economical with electricity, much better than a normal kettle, and you never have to wait for boiling water! absolutely love it. although it's a lot more expensive than a kettle...

oooh warthog - love the sound of a quooker - is it safe with young children around? Also - do you mind me asking, roughly how much is it and how much space do you need?

sorry - only just seen your reply.

safe with kids because firstly it's placed at the back of the sink so they have to be tall to reach it. unless they climb up i suppose

also you have to be able to push the tap in and turn it.

i reckon it's as safe as a kettle.

it has a small tank which sits under the sink. probably holds about 1.5 litres of water so quite small. cool to the touch because it's insulated.

cost wise, i'm afraid it's more expensive than a kettle! i paid about £700 for mine. it does save you quite a lot on energy but of course that would depend on how much you'd use a kettle... over 10 years you might recoup your money.

This thread is fantastic as we are planning to get our kitchen redone. Elfonthetopshelf-can I ask which program you used to design your kitchen?

Just bumping as keen to find out about that program.

There's one on Ikea's website. It's quite useful. You don't need to then buy their stuff, it just helps to give you an idea of what goes where.

Haven't read the whole thread, but my top tip is to get a pull out larder cupboard. My bf advised me to get one, and she was right

I advised my mum to get one and she really loves it too

It means you can reach everything in there!

Work surface: As much as possible, imo. I only have one little bit of work surface, about 60cm wide and it is such a pain.

Hob and sink distance: I would say about two steps, you don't want to be going to the other end of the kitchen with a pot of boiling water to drain it in the sink

Storage/drawers. Again, as much as possible without it looking like a wardrobe. At least 2 drawers for cutlery/stuff. Deep drawers are a good alternative to cupboards that you cannot get into the back of.

Spices. I have them on a shelf in the cupboard

No experience with your other queries.

Would suggest getting a pull out larder that doesn't have wire baskets...we got rid our ours as things kept slipping in between and falling out everytime we opened it. Bottles were much taller than the height of the baskets actually making it quite dangerous if a bottle fell out!!

I LOVE our corner cupboards, we have one that mechanically comes out and pulls the bit you can't reach so you can reach everything. The other corner cupboard has a folding door that opens up to an 'l' shaped (looking down from above it's an l shape) shelf that holds all our saucepans so we can see them and don't have to stack them.

Think of lighting when planning. We did the kitchen but then forgot the breakfast area so have super duper lighting in the kitchen and absolutely nothing bar the ceiling pendent in the b/area. Cocked up there and can't go back...

I would think about how near the sink is to the cooker. I say this our kichen had it virtually next to each other on a corner so dh and couldn't cook/wash up used pans etc at the same time. We moved the sink opposite and this works so much better. We have a length of worktop linking and dh can do his bit and there is room for me to do my bit so we can cook together withour annoying the pants off each other.

Don't have many intergrated applicances, we were told (by the kitchen design company that did our kitchen) that they look great but can be a nightmare to replace if they die as you have to have the same size to fit the fitted doors. He says coffee machines are the worst.

We have all our white goods in the utility room so we can replace at will. Our fridge is a red smeg one as dh fell in love with it but smegs are crap and as soon as it dies we will get an undertop one and extend the worktop.

We had two bespoke bookcases made to fit wither side of the patio doors in the same units as the kitchen, this tied the b/area and litchen brilliantly and holds all of the dc's crap stuff they do at school/nursery also the kictchen aid machine and glasses ect.

Oh and I don't regret only have 1 set of 3 drawers. The design company questioned this but we had lots of drawers that we just filled with crap. Each of the 3 drawers we have are used and no crap is in them!

Thanks MaryMotherofCheeses - will check out the IKEA website. Part of the plan is to get a dishwasher - my first ever. Keep on imagining what it will be like and how many more plates we will need to get as I wash yet more dishes...

I found Wicks a zillion times more helpful than IKEA, and kitchens better quality too.

Wickes (in Tottenham)

• took time designing a kitchen for me
• in addition to their designer range, they also have a cheap range 'take away kitchens' which is kept in stock and can be delivered next day
• let me change part of the kitchen as I had made a mistake on the order, even though I had lost the receipt

IKEA (Tottenham)

• employ sulky, ill informed staff who couldn't give a flying fuck about your kitchen (with the exception of a nice young man who was helpful)
• make you design it yourself on their crappy program
• their kitchens aren't very well made

For appliances, I found B&Q to be best, but surprisingly I found Sainsbury's website also has a really good selection of appliances.

We're just in the planning stages of our new kitchen so can't really help with answers to your questions yet. This thread has given me food for thought re space between sink and cooker as I had planned to have them miles away from each other. The cooker is a range and can only go in one place - will now think about moving the sink closer!

Co-op online often seem to be the cheapest for appliances although we usually check prices on there and then ask our lovely local independent electrical appliance shop (Mains in Herts/Essex) to beat/match the price!

We're thinking about a Quooker boiling water tap for our new kitchen so I'm keen to hear if anyone else has one. They sound like they're miles safer than kettles but the energy-savings sound a bit debatable.

If anyone else is interested in getting one, I've spent a while doing some online research on Quookers and have found a few useful links (finding reviews for them is nigh on impossible):

www.kitchensfitted.co.uk/KitchenForum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=658

www.livingetc.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=chat&Number=25152&Searchpage=1&Main=21846 &Words=&topic=1&Search=true

This is worth reading if you're in a hard water area: www.advancedkd.co.uk/blog/want-quooker

Can help answer your last question about the extractor fan set into a chimney breast: the developers did this in my house, which looks like an efficient use of space but they left the sides of the breast in place, meaning that you can't put anything to the side of the hob you might need while you're cooking, eg tea towel, spoons for stirring, jugs or bowls. It's a right pain. So if you are going to consider this, make sure the hob / oven is not enclosed by the chimney breast, IYSWIM.

We've just had a big refurb and spent years deciding on the kitchen, all your q's are good ones.

Worksurface - as much as poss - we have island 2.5m long x 1m wide with a 5 ring hob in the middle and its perfect. I do a lot of cooking and make a lot of mess. Also have a bit on the wall with 1 and half bowl sink with drainer in that houses toaster and kettle ( approx 1 m wide ).

My priority was being able to talk to people whilst I prepped and cooked. I had seen a lot of kitchens with the sink on the island but I'm not a big one for washing up, so wanted my hob on the island. I hate hate hate extractor fans, IMO they all look ugly and their noise sets me on edge. We had to have one because of building regs, so have a weeny one on the wall, v inconspicuous. We do have folding sliding doors on a wall in the kitchen so they provide ventilation when its a bit warmer.....

Hob 1.1m from sink. This is good.

Units - the island is all made up of units, mostly deep drawers ( 17 in total ). One wall has floor to ceiling units - 6. Within these are drawers, pull out larder, shelves etc. And then 3 more units under sink area incl built in dishwasher.

No waste disposal.

My dream kitchen was a Poggenpohl design. Ridiculous price so took the design/layout, changed it a bit, and used Ikea units, some timber from the front of the house we got a joiner to make and Sainsbo's kitchen appliances. Got the worktop from a local place. Fraction of the cost, but lots and lots of planning and building of units.

Have fun planning.

oops worksurface on wall is 0.65 width x 2m length, but it does have a sink cut out that takes up 1m of the length

I dream of a tsunami kitchen