Kitchens without wall cabinets

[Lambzig]

I am designing a kitchen at the moment as part of a large kitchen/dining/family room and finding the decision making really hard.

I am thinking of having no wall cabinets for a more spacious feel(cabinets will go along one 6.5m wall and there will be a separate 2m island) apart from two floor to ceiling at one end (one near wall, adjacent one with double oven). I cant get rid of these as an under-counter oven would be be annoying and it would lose too much cupboard space. This still gives me 17 60cm or 80cm wide cabinets.

I have been playing around with a kitchen design tool and I think that would look nicer than wall cabinets.

Has anyone done this at all? Will I regret not bunging as much storage space as possible in there? Any advice gratefully received.

walnut this is my usual solution to victorian halls which aren't that wide

I don't think its particularly going to date I have been doing kitchens like that since I started renovating houses and its not dated yet I hope It gives such a feeling of space to take the eye to the most distant point and its convenient when cooking to have old faves to hand!

I don't think it will date particularly as I don't really think it is noticeable as an individual thing - it is more the sensation of space which most people like.

So glad that most agree. I need an island as it is not possible to put units on more than one wall. Its quite a large rectangular space about 6.5m by 8m with one wall being windows only.

I don't have wall cupboards either. Ihave might well be right - the 'no wall cupboard/island unit' look may date in a few years, but the alternative is to have wall cupboards and no island now which imo, is already looks dated (wall cupboards), makes the room look smaller and doesn't lend itself to modern living!

Noddy..those are great for lickle coats. Not so great for big coats! But I'm now busily looking at more efficient coat hanging solutions to see if I can reorganise the clutter, to gain a thin larder.

mandy I don't believe kitchen wall cupboards will date. They aren't a fashion, but a practicality. Rather lovely to be able to find other options, though.

Islands will never be dated for me. The only bad ones are skimpy, too small ones.

They give extra counter space, extra storage, a place to eat and no dead end in the kitchen where mum can get trapped when the whole family piles into the kitchen.

My friend in London who does up high end flats swears by IKEA kitchens.

Just puts very high quality doors on them in latest colours from other suppliers. No one ever suspects they are IKEA cabinets behind them.

He also had a Poggenpohl kitchen with vile 1980s coloured doors resprayed. Worked a treat. He does use very good lighting a lot as well. Adds a lot of presence to an otherwise dull room especially in a basement.

I have seen £600 - £900 hot water taps. I think that is worth spending in a £1 million house with a fantastic kitchen but daft to put a £50k kitchen in a £500k house.

Noddy very good point about shallow floor to ceiling cupboards.

My kitchen is long and the wall of cupboards floor to ceiling covers a very uneven wall beset with buttresses and various alcoves. I filled each with different depth cupboards to create a continuous flat front with no handles to maximise the sense of width. Some are standard 60 cm deep but some are only 15 cm where I keep my cook books and pie dishes. The really deep cupboard 100 cm deep is where the old AGA was and this has sockets and automatic sensor lighting which is where I keep kettle, toaster and hot drinks stuff out of sight. A sort of tea/coffee station.

The impression is a bright clean large modern efficient kitchen in what is in fact a dingy low roof small narrow back extension.

We don't have wall cupboards or anything on the counter tops. We do have some lit glass shelves on one wall though. We have a Quooker boiling water tap (it was about £800) and the microwave is in the futility.

The kitchen is quite long, narrow and north facing so we need as much light as we can get in and the wall cupboards of the previous kitchen made it look like a railway carriage so I wanted to get rid of them when I had my own kitchen designed. I think the new kitchen units make the room feel wider and lighter and far less cluttered (but I guess I would say that )

We have very little in the way of wall cabinets.

One 3/4 unit on one run, and then a floor to ceiling cupboard hiding the boiler and a wall unit for mugs on the other run.

So glad we didn't listen to those who said you can never have enough cupboards.

All our units are either drawers or cupboards with internal drawers, no issues with having to bend to get things.

Forgot to mention we do have a large pantry, which currently houses washing machine and microwave, so no food kept in kitchen cupboards.

We nearly did it but caved in for mugs and glasses, so have one feature wall unit with wire mesh doors above where the kettle goes. Mugs in a drawer was just weird.

I always put ikea kitchens in refurbs or if kitchen is ok send doors to be sprayed love the finish

While I am desperately asking questions, built in microwave? We use it only to defrost meals we have stored in the freezer or steam veg. I was going to stick it in the utility.

Oh and tiz, I love the no wall cabinets look in yours.

We have a dining table and a corner sofa in the room too, no wall cabinets make it feel more room like and less kitcheny to me.

I've done two kitchens now and don't go for wall cabinets - maybe one or two for display, but I don't like the fitted type.

They can be overbearing and take up a lot of 'air space' at eye level. So it looks and feels a lot smaller.

Also hard to sweep out and clean.

I have nice deep simple under-counter cabinets in solid wood (just framed out and boxed in with a shelf) and a drawer or two, and on the wall I put shelves or other things that are more shallow and don't have big doors.

I think it works quite well unless of course you do have back problems. I like to sit on the floor and rearrange my cupboards

We have a galley kitchen which is open plan into diner/snug/study and don't have wall cupboards either. It was the architects idea. We have an American fridge freezer with larder units either side and storage above. The only other wall storage is currently a pan rack, although I am considering an open shelf above the sink (but don't fancy the dust). The space would just look too narrow with wall cupboards. I love having lots of work surface to work on without cupboards above getting in the way too.

Lambzig - I had my microwave built in. I use to defrost, warming liquids, heating plates and you will use it a lot more if it is near where you are cooking. We have a utility room at end of kitchen but really could not do without microwave in the kitchen.

It is positioned in the tall floor to ceiling cupboards right behind me as I work at the work surface. The fridge/ freezer is as well. Both essential bits of kit during food prep that I only have to turn round to access. The cooker is bang in the middle of the long work surface so I work left to right along it - food prep area, cooker, sink then waste area.

Try to avoid built in washing machines and boiler in your kitchen if you can. It wastes space and clothes washing and food don't mix.

We have the short part of an L shaped kitchen as floor to ceiling cupboards (60cm double oven housing, 60cm fridge freezer housing and the last cupboard is a 50cm cupboard that houses hoover and ironing board etc). Microwave is on a shelf in that cupboard. Plenty of air flow around it and leave cupboard door open when it is on (door opens onto wall iyswim so not in the way).

Raisingstem we have cups and glasses in a deep drawer with the tea / coffee etc next to it, directly under the kettle. It did seem a bit strange to start with but now, I love it. So easy!

Built in microwaves can be a terrible problem when they go wrong.

I have an "appliance garage". Bizarre US term but very useful space. basically a worktop height cupboard with power sockets and lighting. Inside is the microwave but its not built in and so can be changed very easily when it breaks. In the second cupboard we have the toaster and food mixer. They are used in the cupboard and never come out. I have nothing on my worktops apart from an orchid.

I agree with MoreBeta - washing machine here has been firmly relocated to the bathroom. That means we have loads more space in the kitchen, which is only small to start with - and no piles of laundry to trip over in there.
It's more than a base unit if you take into account the faff that goes on around the machine, storing powder and bottles of stuff etc.

Also a lot more efficient having it where dirty clothes get left and possibly where clean ones get dried, too. I am a total convert

Our microwave is also built in as I didn't want it on the work surface. It is the other side of the fridge from the built in larder. I am very happy with it

We have a large utility room but long term plan is that we will put the washing machine and tumble dryer into the airing cupboard on the landing (water tank is now downstairs). The clothes never need to come downstairs.