New kitchens with freestanding appliances?

[Missnearlyvintage]

Hi everyone,

We are in the midst of new kitchen research (low budget - around £5K), and having been dead set on having all appliances integrated, (oven, hob, dishwasher, under counter fridge), I'm now starting to doubt myself and wonder whether freestanding appliances would offer greater flexibility long term, as well as creating a less formal feel to our kitchen/dining space?

Our dining furniture in the kitchen diner is vintage and formica topped, so hardly sophisticated or streamlined...

We've visited quite a few kitchen showrooms now, and most appliances, apart from big fridge freezers and range cookers (which we couldn't fit in our kitchen anyway) seem to be integrated in the displays, but I'm not sure that suits us and our house, (1970s fairly ugly house, definitely function over form).

Would anyone who has freestanding appliances in their kitchen be willing to post a picture please or give their view on this?

I have a freestanding cooker and dishwasher at the moment, but they are in spaces far too wide for them, and the kitchen is falling apart so I think this is why I've been so keen to get integrated appliances up until now...

Thanks everyone!

We replaced our kitchen on an even smaller budget. We decided on all white and went with white freestanding fridge, dishwasher and laundry. The oven is under counter and just slots in anyway. We like it, it’s not as sleek as all integrated but it’s a working functional kitchen and if anything needs replacing it won’t be a problem. If we’d had £15k to spend I may have done it differently but at the budget we had other things took priority.

Ikea kitchens are great quality for a budget option..

I hugely regret keeping my freestanding oven when I had my new kitchen fitted! So much harder to keep clean and non-grotty, stands out a mile.

Having said that it's a minute space so integrated would look better, but in a bigger space I would die for a pastel Smeg fridge-freezer (basic). But probably in future kitchens I'd err on the side of what's easiest to keep clean/look sleek: integrated all the way.

I had freestanding for years & never liked it. Now I have all integrated & I love it. I have a big dining table in there too & it all looks so clean & tidy all the time.