Ikea kitchen- how tight is tight?

[ikeadyounot]

First question, please be gentle!

I am putting an Ikea kitchen in a new build extension with relatively high ceilings. I would like two rows of wall cupboards that go right to the ceiling, but my design is pretty much the exact dimensions of the room minus 1cm (I have included plinth, worktop, etc in the measurements). Will this be possible, or am I asking for trouble trying to squeeze everything in so tightly? The kitchen will be fitted by a good professional builder.

The alternative would be to go for slightly taller cupboards and to have just one row and a 20cm gap between the highest cupboard and the ceiling. But that feels like quite a lot to fill with a filler piece?

Anyone?

do you mean wall units? Surely you could just line them up a little lower.

If you mean full-height units, ask the salesperson if the legs can be adjusted a bit to lower them. It's usual, but I don't know if Ikea are strange.

The plinth can have a bit whizzed off it with a circular saw.

Kitchen unit legs usually look something like this. They open out and close up like a telescope by screwing the smaller tube into the larger to adjust for uneven floors or difficult gaps. The salesperson should know the maximum and minimum height.

Thanks for replying pigletjohn - yes I mean wall units.

The issue is that I am having an induction hob, and I think (I could be wrong) there has to be a 55cm gap from hob to the cupboard above it (containing an extractor fan). I gather that 55cm is about as low as you'd want the worktop-to-base-of-wall-unit gap to be?

If I put in a 55cm gap, then the kitchen fits almost exactly into the space I have. I'm wondering if such an exact fit will create problems, however - if it's too tight.

I hadn't thought about lowering the plinth - I guess that could give me wiggle-room?

45cm is standard from worktop to underside of wall units. Only over the hob (where you would have an extractor/high cupboard) need it be more.

Oh my God, really? So I actually have an extra 10cm to play with, AND can possibly shave something off the plinth too? If so, this has made my day! (Yes, I'm sad, I know).

It should be possible to be very tight depending on how 'square' your kitchen is. New builds tend to be better than period properties. I learnt the hard way with a perfectly fitting cupboard that didn't open due to the 'lath and plaster' ceiling bowing downwards.

it might not be ideal to have a wall cabinet above the cooker. You will need an extractor fan or canopy. You are not encouraged to lean over boiling pans or hot fat.

Can you not book an appointment with them and get them to guide you! We have just done that and it saved a whole lot of stress!! The appointments are free and they know their stuff!! I would try and do that if you have a chance to! They are so helpful. They think of things we wouldn't!!

Although it will technically fit, how practical is the top row of cupboards going to be?

I'm 5ft 9 and can only just reach the top shelf in a standard wall cupboard.

You will need step ladders to access them and will be limited what you can put in them because of this.

My parents have a small kitchen and wall units right up to the ceiling - things that aren't used so often are in the highest cupboard. Yes, you need a ladder to get to them, but it's a good use of otherwise dead space.

pigletjohn - I am having an extractor above the hob, but one of the ones that fits in a cupboard, IYSWIM, because I don't really like the look of them. I would like the whole row of top cupboards to be in line with it for aesthetic reasons, which would mean a 55cm gap all along. Thinking more about it, if I need leeway, it will have to come off the plinth.

bear and wow - yes, you're absolutely right that we would need a ladder to access the high cupboards, they'd be really high and not practical for anything regularly used! But I have a lot of stuff I only use occasionally that I need to store - things like empty jam jars, which I store up year-round for making preserves in the summer. I'd prefer for those things to be out of my way 99% of the time.

We have a ladder to access things like Christmas platters, a fondue set, huge thermos etc. Works well & we keep a step ladder inside the house to access it. Our ceilings are 10/11 feet high.

I have lived in a place where the kitchen was literally built in, not fitted. The inside of the cupboards was the kitchen ceiling. Yes, I needed a step to reach the top shelf, but it was an efficient use of space, and it worked very well.

But I have also lived in a place where the ceiling height varied by 1cm, so the (full height) cupboards did not fit. We had to chisel out part of the ceiling.

IMO/E you're taking a risk. I definitely agree that cupboards all the way up works well, but a tiny upper plinth to avoid risk of scraping the ceiling or slight unevenness at the bottom would be worthwhile, I think.

If you want to have a continuous line across the bottom of the wall units, can you house the extractor fan in a smaller unit over the hob, but front it with the bigger door?

The kitchen is going to be in an entirely new bit of an extension, so I will (hopefully) be able to demand that the builders get the measurements bang on. I hear you on the unevenness of ceilings, though - my current (tiny) kitchen varies 1cm from side to side!

"If you want to have a continuous line across the bottom of the wall units, can you house the extractor fan in a smaller unit over the hob, but front it with the bigger door?"

Oooh, interesting suggestion.

I'm not sure why there needs to be a 55cm distance above a hob - maybe @pigletjohn can clarify? I suspect it is to ensure that the cupboards don't catch fire, in which case reducing it would seem unwise, and may even be utterly verboten. If, however, it's simply to ensure that the extractor works correctly, it would be possible.

It's regs about the distance above a hob. You need a greater distance above a gas hob.

In that case, I will need that 55cm gap all the way along. I think the solution may be to give myself a couple of cm of leeway by cutting down the plinths, then add a fillerpiece on this!

This is the first time I have ever designed a kitchen, so very tentative and nervous!

The extractor above the hob has to be at least 65cm above it or something like that. You should use a shallow unit to hide it so the top line of the units is constant. If the main run of wall units starts at 45cm that should work with Ikea units.
If you have another row of cupboards at ceiling level they will only be accessible with steps so unlikely someone will do that at the same time as cooking.
I have lived somewhere where to avoid the gap at the top, all the wall units were set 55cm off the worktop. It was a total pain and I could not reach the back of even the bottom shelf without steps. You would be cursing your aesthetic decision!

BTW how tall are you (and anyone else likely to use the kitchen)? If you are over ~5'7" you may find lowering the worktop height really annoying when you come to work at a slightly lower height.

It is more common (I would go so far as to say normal) to have wall cabinets, but not above the hob where you need clearance between the hob and the extractor. The hob instructions will say what the MINIMUM clearance must be, but it is better to have if high enough that you can't bang your head when looking into pans. Your other wall cupboards need to be lower. It is preferable to have your extractor wider than the hob so it catches steam and fumes drifting sideways.

If you don't want a hood you can have a canopy or bridging unit. They are often 320mm or so tall, and are lined up with the tops of cabinets if your wall cabinets are 720. If you have 900 units you might sometimes want a bigger canopy, but it will be fine anyway, especially if you are tall. The deeper bridging units look rather big and boxy.

Minimum clearance required above a hob is greater for gas, I don't know what it is for induction, but the minimum is actually very mean-looking.

Btw if your kitchen doors are vinyl wrapped, it will peel off at the slightest hint of steam or heat.

Great advice from others. Just to echo a PP - go into an IKEA store with your design as finished as possible and ask them to look over it. They are generally great and very practical and you get vouchers for free cake and coffee if there's a queue. FWIW we were in a similar position and went with 60cm between worktop and underside of cabinets, and really tall cabinets (so the top shelf is strictly "once a year" stuff). It's broadly OK.

Make sure your builders have done IKEA kitchens before. At some point I found ours opening the box for the baby's crib looking for some kitchen bit they thought they needed .

Ahhhh, this is confusing! It sounds as though I will need to break the run of cupboards for this to work, which I am a bit sad about for purely aesthetic reasons. However, I have always said that I want this room to be practical and functional first and foremost so it may be I just have to suck it up and forego my dreams of a totally sleek modernism.

I am 5'4, DH is 6 foot. I think we currently have about a 55cm gap between worktop and bottom of cupboard, and thinking about it, it does mean stuff on the top shelf is a bit high for me, but OK with a stepladder. I generally do the bulk of the cooking.

The hob is going to be induction, which has a lower clearance requirement than gas - 55cm I think. But this is a bit academic if I have to break the run at the bottom.

Just to clarify: I'm actually thinking of putting a further run of wall cupboards on top of where the current ones end, so I will hopefully have an 80cm wall cupboard, then a 40cm wall cupboard on top, 120cm in total. The top would be REALLY high - for "once a year" stuff as hummus put it. But I have quite a lot of once a year stuff!

Oh and I will definitely be going to an Ikea kitchen appointment soon! I just want to get my design to a point where I feel like I have a handle on what I want/need as I think I will get more out of it then!

We are a short and tall couple. Watch out for wall cupboards and extractors obscuring view/ headroom of the taller person.
If you don't like extractors why not have a separate wall fan/xpelair instead?

I think we are both now going to spend the evening working out where we would bang our heads on kitchen cupboards!! With the height difference I AM NOT SHORT, I AM AVERAGE, EVERYONE ELSE IS JUST TALL it is going to have to be a compromise.

I think we pretty much have to have an extractor, and a pretty good one that vents to the outside too, because it's open plan. DH has a collection of records/books that will be in a room opposite and needs to have some protection from smoke. I was going to go for a decent Elica 60cm built in one above the induction hob, but this may need to change now.