Please give me your comments/criticisms on my kitchen plan!

[whiskyowl]

A few notes:

• The room has a floor-to-ceiling window on the LHS and an open plan doorway (no door) on the right.
• There is no wall above one row of cabinets - layout is open plan but nonetheless restricted because there is a drop between the kitchen and the next room of around 1m (there will be a wall in place).
• Because this was done on the hellish Ikea kitchen planner, the ovens cannot be rendered properly. There will be 2 ovens the same size. The lower oven will start where the small drawer currently is (there will only be one drawer below, in other words), and the top oven will end so that the top cupboards will be in a neat row.
• Splashback and worktop behind the hob will be the same material.
• The cabinets are a mixture of oak (Ekestad) and white (Ringhult). The row where you can't see the fronts will be white.

Another view.

NB I am not set on the Ringhult white gloss with the Ekestad oak. In fact, I am seriously wavering about it, and wondering whether a matt grey would look nicer.

Looks nice.

I like it a lot

Where will kettle and toaster live?

I think it looks good, props to you for getting the Ikea kitchen designer to work. I always give up half way through

Silver - Kettle will probably go on the RHS of the hob, with mugs above and tea/coffee stuff in the drawers below.

I don't own a toaster for two reasons: 1. I like toast from the grill better and 2. I am a total crumb monster whenever I am within 2 metres of a toaster. I swear to God, the things just explode at me at the barest touch! It's not my fault!!

The idea is to keep the surfaces as clear as possible at all times. DH has kicked at losing the kettle, or that would be going too.

peachy - I have actually had tears over the wretched thing and the amount of time it has taken me to do the most basic things is totally ridiculous.

Get a boiling water tap 😜
Looks good!

Bax -

DH has said "Yes" to virtually everything I've suggested except this one thing with the kettle. He is apparently attached to it. He says he will mourn its absence like a cow its absent calf. He mistrusts these new-fangled boiler taps and fears he will scald himself doing the washing up. He wants water at some fancy temperature that is just short of boiling for his green tea. I do not understand it, but he has drawn a line and provided a long list of reasons. Bah. I will have to wait for the wretched thing to break and then move swiftly and decisively

I think it looks nice, but I feel the hob is a bit squashed in.

That’s a shame! I don’t know how I’ve managed to convince my husband that a boiling tap is a necessity! We’re getting the howdens one and the boiling handle you have to push in rather than just turn so it is safe.

Bax - he's just being a stick-in-the-mud really!! But he has surprisingly strong views on the subject of kettles.

Yes, I know what you mean joinour and I think you're right. The reason it's that side is extraction (it's an outside wall). I know you can put extractors in the middle of a room and there are even some nice ones that act as a bit of a feature there, but I'm keen not to do that in this case because there is a clear sightline across to a view out of the next room's windows (which are v tall). I am trying to keep the ceiling totally uncluttered - using recessed spots instead of pendants etc to maximise that.

It is a compromise, though, you are right about that! I'm putting all the stuff for hob food prep (chopping boards, knives etc) in cupboards opposite the hob with a view to prepping food on that side, and turning to cook it on the other.

Having just spent 10 years living with a very badly designed kitchen, my advice to you would be to have your hob and sink on the same run of base units. I hated having to cross the kitchen with pots of hot water to drain pasta etc, a nightmare if you have children, pets or any kind of arm or shoulder weakness.

It looks great. Could you make the main run more symmetrical by replacing the tall cupboard next to the fridge with two half-width tall cupboards, one there and one next to the ovens? You might find you get more in two narrow cupboards than one wide one as well.

justanother - It's a lovely idea! It would look loads better like that. Sadly, this being Ikea, they work in 20cm increments - so you can only go 60 to 40 and there isn't space for two 40s.

I was kind of tempted to have 4 units across by the hob to make it more even, but I have no pantry space elsewhere and I think I'm going to need the tall larder unit to store all my cans, pasta, couscous, flour millions of packs of crisps, chocolate, superfood wheatgrass powder for adding to smoothies etc.

Totally lying about the wheatgrass powder

Now wondering if I could do it with different spacing...

I too would have the hob on the island with the sink. It currently looks awkwardly hemmed in. Chopping should happen next to the hob so you can chuck stuff in pans but it looks like theres not enough space, especially considering there with me a kettle on one side. This will also be where you are taking faffing with oven things I'd assume. Dishing up seems like it would be annoying in this kitchen too. Not a huge issue but overall I think it would be easy to work in and flow better with the hob moved.

Go for grey or gray cabinets rather than white. White cabinets are an absolute bitch to keep clean, unless you are slightly obsessed like me and wipe them down about 40 times a week. Disclaimer I have cats who sit on worktops and use my cabinets like a stepping stool.
But I like the design and yes to a kettle.

My only criticism is the asymmetrical run of cupboards on the back wall.

I don't think there is enough space on the island to have the hob and sink and to have a decent amount of worktop so I'd keep the hob where it is. It's quite normal to have them in separate areas of the kitchen and, to my eye, they only look about a metre of so apart so taking a pan off the hob and swinging it around to the sink shouldn't involve effort or danger.

If you did want symmetry as suggested above, you could swap the under hob drawers (the central one only) for a 40 instead of 60. Leave the other two sets of drawers at 60 wide each. That frees up 20 so you can have a tall 40 each side?

I agree with @lalalonglegs it isn't drama to chop on the island then turn and cook.

Personally I would rather have the hob on the island with a down draft extractor to maintain eye line - and the sink on the back wall because I do loads more hob work than sink work (dishwasher).

I agree with SilverSpot. The hob is a fun activity, the sink is just for getting water and washing up dirty pans so I would swap them.

I have a hob on my island although not connected yet as worktops went in this week so just got to finish the kitchen.

Can I ask how much this kitchen will cost..just curious as I’m hoping to revamp.