Final kitchen design...opinions?

[YorkshireTea86]

Ao after changing my mind 20 times I think I've got my final kitchen layout. Just looking for opinions please. I know not everyone likes breakfast bars but it is something I really want.

I think that it looks fab. What about boxing in the fridge so that it's a bit more integrated and maybe a shelf above the sink just to link it together. Otherwise, looks like you've made great use of space.

I agree with tove

Thanks both. I thought about boxing in the fridge but don't know if we might need to replace with a wider one sometime in the future.

I didn't think you were supposed to put the fridge next to the oven?

Our fridge is going next to oven and that's done by a kitchen designer! I have read it affects the efficiency of the fridge/freezer though.

Are you going to box in the boiler? I would.

Yes the boiler will be boxed in. I've looked into the fridge oven thing and it's not ideal but modern ovens don't give off as much heat and the fridge will have a few cms gap between.

My fridge is next to the oven! Only problem I find is you can't shove things straight from freezer into the oven - have to close the freezer door first before you can open the oven!!!

Are you going to go for a hide and slide oven door? If not is there enough room to stand in front of the open oven or will you be backed up against the breakfast bar?

Love the Neff hide and slide door.

The best advice I ever read about kitchen design is try to imagine doing some real things in there. Things you would do all the time and see whether it works so...

1. Make a cup of tea
2. Make a bowl of cereal.
3. Putting away some shopping
4. Unloading the dishwasher

Have a think about much walking around those things require and then you can see whether it will work for you. I did and it really helped with my kitchen design.

I have done that suzy and think it will work. Dishwasher is placed so that everything except oven dishes is within one or two steps.

The breakfast bar stops about 50cms before the oven and there is 1.1m between the bar and the worktop in that side. It's a double oven so not a slide and hide unfortunately.

Not a design I could live with. I would hate the fridge stuck out into another space. It will be clicking on and off and be annoying. I would put it opposite the sink. What is the other space? Also looks dark.

The rest of the room is dining area. There is a window and door on the wall at the bottom. Only window in the room.

Your fridge looks out of place and having a big double oven tower on the end of that run will make the whole of the kitchen look dark as it will block the light. Also walking 6m+ from the sink to the fridge / check on what's in the oven (whilst trying to avoid the people sitting at the breakfast bar getting a blast of heat when you open the oven) would drive me insane.

But kitchens are very personal and if it works for you fair enough.

The bar makes the space feel cramped. How about swapping fridge and oven on the bar wall and bar where fridge and oven are? Also how will you feel about washing the dishes tucked away like that? I would feel as if I would be punished, but maybe you would not?
Planning spaces is hard, insnt it!

The sink is actually in that position now, but with wall units over it which does make it feel cramped, problem is that is the only external wall so plumbing wise it's the only option. I looked at swapping the oven and bar but it wouldn't leave enough room for dining table and would only give me one decent work space and I want 2 so when dh is in the kitchen with me we don't get in each others way (like him buttering his toast right in front of the kettle while I'm making a cuppa!)
Theveryone fridge is on that side at the minute and doesn't really block that much light because of the direction the room faces we only get sunlight that side very late evening in summer.

We're also having a dishwasher, which we don't have now.

Looks nice.

Agree with PPs I would move the oven to the rear wall and the fridge so as not to block light. I would have the rear wall as floor to ceiling for all those larger appliances.

Breakfast bar is a question of taste if you like it then have it. I would extend the work surface out as far as the fridge currently is so there is space for your dishwasher etc and it also gives you the work surface you need.

I used to have a kitchen like this and it was a pain to design. I was preparing to do this kind of a refit (my wife wanted a breakfast bar too!) when we ended up moving.

The other thing you could do is consider under counter fridge & a freezer which then solve both the light and space issue if you move the oven to the back.

Window above sink?

It looks mostly fine to me. Except breakfast bar needs to be moved to left so that it wraps round corner instead of sticking out into the working kitchen area. If you semi-box in fridge it will look nicer. Leave plenty of air gap top & sides for ventilation, also research sizes of current models in case you need to change in near future. If this is a new extension you will need mechanical extraction to the outside. So a cooker hood or vent in wall / window.

Not a new extension but has extractor vented outside along the wall, I'd love to be able to have tall stuff on the back wall but that's where the sink has to go unfortunately, boiler is also on there. There's no window above the sink because it looks onto a brick wall. Has been suggested to put a faux window mirror there to bounce the light around which I'm going to see about once everything is in and tiles are on as we've decided on a mirror type mosaic.

We are going to wrap the breakfast bar around the wall a bit too but it wouldn't let me do it on the planner.

Yay ! That was my suggestion !!