Freestanding kitchen?

[ShoeLaRue]

Anyone have one of these, as opposed to one where the units are built in?

Bump

No, and I wouldn't, either. Think of the crumbs!

oh - I'm sorry - I thought this was a duplicate post - that's why I didn't write anything !!
freestanding kitchens can work really well sometimes, and occasionally a hybrid of freestanding and a little built in can make appliances blend away better ( FF and DW etc) it's all about getting the balance right ! is this for an older style home ?!

It's for a kitchen/diner extension in a Victorian cottage.

I'm trying to think of ways to make our money go a bit further and was wondering if we might be able to jazz up the existing units (have them painted professionally/new doors/new work surface) and then add some freestanding units, which would likely be complementary rather than matching.

Does that sound doable?

We have a freestanding kitchen. It is all freestanding, with an island of worktop/hob/oven/kitchen table in the middle.

We have the ikea varde kitchen. It is lovely, but beware! Each unit is BIG!

Jazzing up existing is only worth the time and paint if they are still in sound condition ?! If they are - then happy days ! Get painting ! Also ebay or freecycle finds can be good too - dressers, chiffonier's chests of drawers - if they are sound - and not totally hideous - then with a lick of paint and a spot of imagination ... Make sure you do fix all that you can to walls or floors from a safety point of view - furniture is heavy - and can hurt if someone knocks into it and it falls ! Metal Elbow brackets are good for this !!

T&G can cover a multitude of sins too ! Cheaper than tiles between base and wall units ! If you have an area of wall spare (door closing areas work well for this ) hang a large ornate (painted to match your kitchen) up-cycled picture frame - add hanging rails within the frame with S hooks for pots and frying pans etc for an interesting place to keep pans - like an every changing picture !

We rented in France for a while, where a lot of unfurnished houses are completely unfurnished. i.e. no actual kitchen at all. We bought a couple of units from the IKEA varde range and they were fab. In fact I loved that kitchen once we had sorted it out to our taste, it worked really well for us. We bought pieces one at a time and moved them about until we were happy with them, only bought as much as we really needed. We also hung pots and pans from the walls. We got away with far fewer units than most built in kitchens.

Our plan (when we can afford it) is to rip out the fitted kitchen and have free standing cupboards and a table.

This is all excellent, thank you. Love the picture frame idea.

The kitchen is fairly new, just desperately old fashioned (think carpeted bathroom, fitted wardrobe type decor).

I have a sneaking suspicion that free-standing kitchens might be making a come back in the near future because they give more flexibility. We're the type of people who rearrange the dining room furniture every few months so I don't want to get stuck with something we get bored of!

That's the sign of a creative mind !! Think freestanding will be a good choice for you !! But remember to secure it for safety !!!

Beware if your walls aren't straight. You said a Victorian house so there is a good chance. You might find you have uneven gaps at the back of the units. This is easily mitigated with a fitted kitchen where the back of the units doesn't really have to lie flush, and you shape the back of the work top to sit flush with the bumpy wall. Not so easy to resolve if you have a massive unit that ends up sticking out at one end. In our house this would have been a big issue.

Oh, yes, can second crooked Victorian houses! Corners may not be 90°, either.

I love the thought of freestanding kitchens ( as I dislike fitted kitchens) but what do you do for a kitchen worktop? If it's not fitted there is going to be spaces isn't there?

Any links to example anyone?
I'm intrigued...

www.houzz.com/ideabooks/19403183/thumbs/maggies-kitchen

I found some shots of a beautiful unfitted (ish) kitchen and them all together in this Ideabook ! Looks fab !! ( not one of my designs - an American design company - if you click on the photo you will see full design credit etc !)

www.houzz.com/ideabooks/19403183/thumbs/maggies-kitchen

Oops - my bad - Canadian not America !!!

We had very little money for our kitchen when we extended so have a freestanding kitchen made up of 4 pine dresser bases which we bought second hand very cheaply. We paid a joiner to make one into a sink unit with dw space at the side using a couple of old table tops we got in an auction for the extra side and work surface.

Our walls are reasonably flat so there's no big gap for stuff to fall down and we put a small piece of wood at the back as an upstand to stop crumbs falling down.

We've found our freestanding kitchen is good for flexibility in that we can move stuff around easily and add extra bits as money allows and as similar bits come up at the local auction. It's also been incredibly cheap, probably under £500 and looks good in a period house. The downside is that most of the units have no kick board so need vacuuming under, although if I was that bothered I could add them.