Kitchen layout/design advice

[mrsglowglow]

I've .been reading the threads on here and getting lots of good advice but still finding it all daunting. We've had these plans done up and it will involve quite a bit of electrics/plumbing/plastering. Shopping around for appliances and using laminate worktops we estimate 10k all in. Does this sound reasonable? The units/worktops are from benchmarx. What do you think of this layout. My feelings are that it should hopefully work well but feels rather boring. There are some adjustments we'd have to make to the plan such as the wine racks if we keep them will need to be on the wall next to the fridge as we need some space to be able to fully open the freezer door. It's a bit of an awkward space as not fully open plan (The fridge is round the corner if that makes sense!

Well you should definitely have your professional designer detail out any alternatives, Most kitchens end up with a compromise somewhere- but often if you shop around or tweak dimensions you can sort it.

The way i work - even though i don't usually meet the client (due to distance usually )- with initial sketches then cad images emailed to and fro - and phone calls etc I keep the client involved at each stage... rather than just producing a drawing and saying that's your lot ! Possibly helps that we aren't under sales deadlines as we don't sell anything other than design ! When you have sales targets to achieve too, I imagine it means you can't spend as much time on each client as you'd like perhaps ? But to be honest that's no excuse for rookie errors - especially as it would be easy to take the wine tacks out of the run and replace them with one tall one on the end to move the fridge up 150mm and put the micro built under somewhere else !

Yes I think tshe is more of a planner/sales advisor rather than a designer. Tbf she did say when we go in again we can experiment and change around. The ideas from you guys will all help so thank you.

I haven't read the full thread, but agree with Olivia that pan drawers are way more useful than cupboards. At our last house we put in a few drawers, but in our current one we've opted for all drawers except bin/recycling pull outs and under sink cupboard - at our last two houses the kitchen company we used did drawers under the Belfast sink unit too which we preferred but have gone with handmade kitchens of Christchurch this time and they don't do this.

We still have a free standing larder cupboard and dresser (going in the utility) that have cupboards and I hate using these now as it's such a pita reaching into the back of a base cabinet for something.

At our last house we didn't have access to mains gas but had a Rangemaster 110 Elan range cooker that was all electric - no issues other than we prefer a gas hob.

I think it's probably worth shopping arounda bit and seeing if someone could think of different designs.

I suspect maybe the wine racks are where they are because they are being used as filler spaces and the units only come in very standard sizes?

Re the extractor issue, you could always have a downdraft one? Expensive but gives more flexibility in terms of layout.

We just measured up our new fridge in showroom and discovered it needed a good 40mm clearance on each side.... although it is a super-insulated jobby.

Also agree with other posters... not enough work surface overall and particularly in high use areas.

My other critique would be no obvious point of symmetry in the design.
Sorry, am good at fault-finding; less good at solutionising!

Pan drawers, definitely, and the microwave is far too high. RaisingSteam's idea seems good

If it was just the extractor, for example, you could perhaps have one of the flush to ceiling ones and as long as it was roughly above the island it would probably work ok. I expect it's in the building regs what extract rate it would need. I'm not always sure about hobs on islands but the alternative seems a bit of an obstacle course.

Its a flat roof ext with roof Lanterns/window so have to vent from ext wall, so would that mean builder has to run duct across the ceiling?

We are going to get another company round and see what they come up with. I agree it doesn't look right but I think we are stuck with certain things due to the water main supply. At the moment everything is cramped in along the wall where the fridge is and fridge is where the breakfast bar is with our table near wall where oven will be. The table has actually been moved inin to dining area and that works well.

Changes we could make so far could be:

Start with larder unit against wall, then double oven without microwave, have two pan drawers so lose the little base cupboards either side of hob. Position Hob closer to the oven so more workspace on one side (not much though!). Lose the little wall cupboards that were either side of the extractor. I like the idea of a built in microwave to free up work surface so possibly have a wall unit on other side of the extractor. Or move it to the other side of the kitchen. Is it practical to have a microwave near the oven though? Or another possibility is have a single oven with a combi microwave over it that can be our grill. We grill quite a bit so not sure how good these are.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm looking at the other side now and the breakfast bar area!

I'm wondering about losing the corner cupboard and putting the sink on the long wall having the drainer at the end giving space next to the sink for dirty dishes. I'm thinking this may help with the overall symmetry of the room and we could then maybe extend the breakfast bar slightly to give more central workspace. Problems I can imagine with this: more awkward getting from fridge to oven/hob. Also sink below a wall cupboard. I've seen loads of photos with sinks positioned like this but not sure how well it works.

Feeling like I'm going round in circles!

I feel your pain mrsglowglow. We are just starting on deciding on layout versus budget. A lot of our is going on a complete relocation of the kitchen so ££ for plumbing. We've come to decide on a U shape but i can't see where we are going to put all our stuff plus i want two ovens and our scheme only allows for one at the moment!

The main issue for me is the sink and fridge too far from cooker with an island/ seating slap bang in the middle. There's no obvious "workzone"- you could end up with bits spread everywhere and people walking through the middle. But having said that its youre room and

Oops, your household. I'd agree try another designer.