Can we fit 3 appliances & kitchen sink in 198cms?

[evrybuddy]

Our kitchen wall with water supply and drains is 198cms wide and there is a window in the centre of the wall (above current sink) 108 cms wide - so space of 50 cms to one side of window - 40cms to other.

Currently, we have full size wash machine and full size sink plus under sink/worktop cupboards.

We want..., wash machine, separate tumble dryer (both full size), dishwasher (could be slimline) and functional sink (for rinsing, handwashing clothes and so on) - is this feasible - and if so, how?

We don't want combined washer/dryer because we tend to use both functions at same time and close off kitchen to kill noise.

We can't fit the dryer above the washer because of the max 50cm wall next to the window.

Is it possible to get a 60cm washer, a 60cm dryer and a 45cm dishwasher PLUS a kitchen sink into a 198cm one wall arrangement?

I think the size of the sink is key - anyone come across this and solved it?

Would you recommend a particular sink or slimline dishwasher?

Opposite wall will house fridge freezer, cooker and floor cupboard.

End walls each have a door in them

Nothing to add to the fab advice apart from dont get that zanussi washing machine. My SIL has it and it is the most god awful thing I've ever used. Even only half filling it, using a fuck ton of vanish and washing at 90 degrees doesn't seem to remove stains at all.

Yes! That's the one OnePlan! Apparently they can be a bit marmite but my friend hasn't stopped banging on about how clever she is seems pleased.

We had a utility cupboard in our conservatory, a bit like Lettuce's. It had sliding doors. Open one side to a tiny downstairs loo, open the other side for freezer, tumbly and boiler. Close the doors and it's just a conservatory. Cold in winter, of course.

OP do you want the living room to be completely appliance free, or the future conservatory, or both?

You need to compromise somehow to get everything in, it's a question of which compromise is more palatable. The dishwasher drawer sounds inspired, but you do need to think about cupboard space too. If you really really don't want the tumble dryer outside the kitchen, I wonder if a really good washer-dryer is the least bad option.

In terms of having space for "just you", in a small space one option is to separate by time rather than space. Say do all the washing on a Monday, put away by the end of Tues, and Weds-Sun your environment is completely free of washing. And the upside of a tumble dryer, even in your living space, is that it reduces the amount of wet laundry impinging on your space. I wonder if you could hack a tumble dryer camouflaging cabinet or something. There might be something on ikeahackers.

For selling in the future, the utility space in the conservatory is the way to go.

Don't get a washer dryer. They just do a mediocre job of both.

If you get a condensing tumble dryer it can go anywhere.

When we were looking for a new house we saw several properties that had the washer and dryer in the bathroom or downstairs loo. Often stacked one on top of the other in sort of purpose made housing.

Could that be an option?

Thanks for soooo much great input everybody!!!!

Sorry I couldn't reply sooner - had to go off-road.

To give a better sense of what we're doing - it's probably worth saying our house is in an area of houses which are mainly very small semis and mainly owned/lived in by young couples or retired elderly.

Once anyone has a child the houses rapidly get too small and because of the area demographics - people don't invest in big extensions because there wouldn't be the purchasers to make it worthwhile when they come to sell.

So, having decided to add on a conservatory, which is pretty much the most that anyone does around here, we'll have extended the space to the maximum of its cost/benefit potential (is that a real thing?).

Living in it until we can get somewhere bigger, we know we will only ever sell it to another couple or couple with one child or retired couple, soo, it's about eeeking the best out of the space for us and any potential future owner within that demographic.

The houses are tiny and if you move any noisy appliance out of the kitchen you totally compromise the enjoyment of the rest of the house - we've become really fixated on that - having lived with the tumble drier in one ear and the washer in the other - we really want everything locked away in a closable space.

However, both retired people and young people value time/energy saving appliances, so we want to squash as many in as we possibly can.

Kitchen drawers will be a casualty, as will low-level cupboards, but if we can get a washer, separate dryer, dishwasher, oven hob and fridge freezer into the kitchen - I think we'll have just enough worktop for lazy cooks and enough convenience to distract us from the lack of space.

That's the theory!!!

The dryer and freezer in the garden shed options are appealing - but it's really about weighing up whether a couple of low-level drawer/cupboard units outweigh the convenience of having everything in easy reach indoors.....

More thoughts, more thinking.....

Could you extend your kitchen into the conservatory once built, so have a kitchen-diner-family room, maybe with a utility cupboard, so your living room stays quiet.

Don't forget to work out where the bin goes!

My dad built a shed with a clear plastic roof that housed the tumble drier and a couple of Sheila's maids - we called it the drying room and it was great.

Or I like the idea of a discrete utility cupboard in the conservatory.

Put your sink in the end of the work surface not the middle because you'll find you have "more" space to work. You can also get sinks you can chop on and that helps increase your usable space - I've got one of those and it's great.

Don't get a huge sink if you're having a dishwasher. You'll only need one basin.

I really do think having a laundry cupboard and functional kitchen would add value to the house. It shouldn't be at all hard to soundproof it well. What length of work top and what cupboard / draw space are you looking at if you do manage to shoehorn the lot into the kitchen? I'm finding it hard to imagine that id'd be possible to store the most basic of kitchen kit in there, let alone say, a mixer, slow cooker, weighing scales.

Have you managed to have a nose in any of the neigbours houses?

Would be very interested to see an (approximate) floor plan!

Yes you're likely to need a freestanding bin. Even if you don't put a dishwasher under the sink, you won't have enough kitchen cupboards to sacrifice one for a bin.

Opinions on kitchens extending into conservatories here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2468958-Woodburner-would-it-add-value

Be careful putting sink too close to the wall - you need elbow room !!

Wall mounted taps and a sliding worktop/chopping block that covers an under mounted sink might be better option - if not leave at least 150mm between sink and wall.

I've been thinking about it, and for resale I wouldn't worry about having a separate dryer - when we moved in to our very similar house pre-baby we were just thrilled with the washer-dryer, and still would be now but it broke and the landlord replaced it with just a washer (obviously this is miles better than the washer on the washer dryer). So do what you need to do for yourselves but I'd think the kind of buyers you describe would probably be happy with a washer-dryer.

We used to have a table top dishwasher as we had no under cupboard space. It depends how much worktop space you have to lose though! It was smaller but as it was worktop height there was no bending down so somehow didn't seem hard...

Can you put the washing machine in the bathroom?

You can get sinks designed to fit in a corner, so that you face diagonally into the corner when you wash - would that help?

You can't put a washing machine in a bathroom unless you build a little room for it, I think, because of regs about plugs and electrical appliances in bathrooms.

Cheers guys - thanks for all the helpful tips - it's a lot to mull over.

We're probably going to end up with the sort of kitchen which would suit an old school bachelor - just enough gear to make toast in the morning, and enough storage for plates for a takeaway and a few glasses of champagne - I wish!

Seriously though - we don't do any bread-making or food-mixing or anything jazzy - we're more takeaways, ready meals, salads and lots of fresh fruit so it's not a family kitchen or a cook's kitchen in any sense really.

Chuck in the laundry and fridge business and that's us sorted.

I saw a programme on tv years ago about James Hewitt and they filmed it in his Chelsea batch pad - we probably use a kitchen about as much as a couple of Hewitts would - although we wouldn't have access to his laundry service hence the washer and dryer requirements.

We're trying to walk that line between what suits us and what will attract any potential future owner - it's always a trade-off but hell, now we've got more ideas than money or sense!

Fair enough OP. We bought a house without a single kitchen drawer - but we didn't notice until we moved in and unpacked the cutlery... It makes sense to make it work for you. And buyers even think to count the cupboards, they will be able to imagine swapping an appliance back to a cupboard no problem.