Kitchen Plan Sense Check

[4yearsnosleep]

Hi all

I've had to redesign our initial plan for the kitchen as I found some incredible bargains on display appliances. Our initial plan was built around an existing American Fridge Freezer; we were planning to hang onto it until it broke. As it's 12 years old, when I found Smeg tall built in fridge and matching separate freezer for £170 each, it was a no brainer to buy them and redesign the kitchen to accommodate!

It's 6m x 4m in a room that's 6m x 9.8m. The wall of tall units has hopefully been designed to accommodate how I cook. The kettle will be in the corner & oak shelves will house the cups, tea & coffee etc.

I'd be grateful for a sense check to make sure I haven't made a glaring error. (End panels/plinths haven't changed from the initial plan that confirmed with DIY Kitchens)

I know there's some strong dislikes and likes on Mumsnet, so I won't be offended if you hate it. the built in dresser (bar) is staying!

I can see what you have planned and why you have done it from your responses. Have you had anyone from a kitchen company round to do a design for you? We had a local company and Magnet round. The local guy's design was worse than any I came up with as it was all, "I don't like that, you can't do x, imo, etc". We were knocking two rooms into one and he designed a kitchen that was entirely in the old kitchen space. Anyway, the Magnet design was really imaginative and clever and achieved what we wanted. Unfortunately their prices were sky high so we recreated the design with DIY Kitchens. We've ended up with some tweaks along the way, but it looks great and works really well.

To sum up: before you make this major purchase you'll have to live with for years, get someone to do a design for comparison. You'll have to play along but they'll give you pictures.

4years,
You can try the design on diy-kitchens online planner and play around with oven,fridge,larder tall units placement and see what would you like visually in 3d image.
Hob looks great on island and is more social, but for getting rid of cooking smells/steam more effectively i would suggest to put it on external wall with a good wall mounted extractor.

I have been usingsmall kitchens with tiny prep area too ranging from 70cm to 120cm and while planning something big, i am lost. At the same time, i know if it has worked for past so many years, it would work for me in future too. My MIL has sink, hob and fridge as large triangle, perfect as per design, but while cooking the whole worktop between sink and hob gets messy and needs clearup. So design according to the way you use kitchen.

Kitchen guy, that article was useful thank you.

We've had 2 different designers have a go at this, a guy from Wickes and a private guy. Magnet have been useless, I adore one of their kitchens but 3 times I've contacted our local branch and I've been ignored 3 times. I've used the 3D planner in DIYKitchens for this design and I like the look of it.

I think I'll redesign the hob side to include a bigger bin to the right of the hob rather than the left and swap the fridge & freezer around so that they aren't next to the ovens. There is a triangle between the hob, fridge & sink although between the hob is about 1.3m, we have that now and it doesn't bother me, it would be a passageway then, so a prep sink might be the answer on the island?

I've been flicking through some high end designers that I follow on Instagram and very few of them look like they have logical layouts!

In the current design the mixer is on a pull up shelf so that it doesn't use worktop space, although I will now put it on a pull out shelf in the baking cupboard (DIY Kitchens don't have doors that go on the worktop and go with the height of the tall units, I've checked)

I have a prep sink on the island and I love it. I wasn't convinced it was necessary but DH thought it'd be a good idea and he was right. It's very handy and gets used a lot although I prep on the island and my hob is behind me. It's also got the boiling water tap there.

I think aesthetically the two ovens should go next to each other, the symmetry will work better.

If you are considering a sink on the island I would seriously think about putting the hob where the sink is in your current plan and putting the dishwasher next to a full size or 1.5 or even double sink on the island. Assuming the sink on the plan is on an outside wall, you could then have a conventional extractor vented through the wall. Significantly cheaper than a downdraft extractor.

I don't want the main sink on the island as I'm simply too messy!

I'm playing around with the hob on the back wall and a couple of tall units each side of the dresser, one for snacks and one for baking. In that design the ovens are stacked on top of each other in a single unit and there's still a breakfast cupboard next to it. Although this looks nice, it could potentially be less social?

Plus apart from the big island the only thing my husband is very excited about is the downdraft extractor. MyAppliances have one for £379 which I'm convinced is the CDA one without the brand on it, same guarantee. Although I got the 2x Smeg Pyrolytic ovens, Neff 5 burner induction hob, Bosch built in dishwasher and the built in larder fridge & freezer for £825, so we can potentially have a more expensive one.

Here's a rough draft of the alternative. I'd rather swap the fridge for the ovens as the milk will be closer to the kettle! Then the ovens would be next to the freezer 🤷🏽‍♀️

Sorry a bit off topic but where did you get such good offers on your appliances from? Thanks

This is a bit of everything. On the plan the 2 parallel wall runs end at the same point. Having the snack cupboard on the end (maybe with placemats etc) would keep my daughter out of the danger zone. I could put a prep sink next to the hob:

Hi Flirty, it was a complete fluke. Homebase were labelling up their existing appliances before ripping them out for their new range when I walked in. Maybe check your local ones to see if they've got rid of the old stuff yet?

Alternative draft looks good

I meant the one without hob on island

Do not let your child have a snack cupboard. That is actually irresponsible and not a good idea for healthy eating.

You do not need wine racks if you get a decent 600mm wide wine fridge. Mine has two temperature zoned areas and takes around 24 bottles. 4 shelves x 6. Wine racks are a bit of an infill solution.

I am not sure how many bins you have. We have recycling and general. Both on the island because it’s the main prep area.

Your islsnd is a lot shorter than mine. I do have to hob on it. It’s 900 mm wife. The veg prep sink is near the 2 fridges. I would have the fridge freezer and the wine fridge together. Plus as much food storage as possible on the same wall.

I think you need plenty of work surface around the sink/dishwasher and the hob/oven.

Work triangles are still relevant and it’s because they group equipment and eliminate walking about to get to what we use most frequently. For most people it’s still fridges/food storage, cooking and water/dishwasher. With an island that has seating, clearing plates to the sink/dishwasher area is important. That area of the plan looks good. The placement of the prep sink is dire because it breaks up the work surface on the island and this should be your prep/fishing up area. If you grouped the food storage on the wine fridge end, you could put the veg prep sink on the end of the island, not in the middle of it.

I still think I would tweak this layout. It’s a big kitchen that has not any distinctive features. If you go for a granite island surface be prepared to be shocked at the price!

Oh dear. Typos! You get the gist!

Thanks for your unwarranted advice regarding healthy eating. We all eat a healthy balanced diet and are all healthy weights. My daughter would not have open access to snacks, she always has to ask. But she has a very fast metabolism and needs snacks.

The prep sink will be the drinks end, it'll also be small so won't take up much space. I prefer the hob on the island as does my husband so well be going for that with the bigger bins and less tall units on the back wall, but with 2 extra either side of the dresser. I'm going to look at the dual zone wine fridge as after a quick google, they don't look ridiculously expensive.

I've already secured the granite we want for £2655 after shopping around a lot; the first quote was £5950!

Is the position of main sink already fixed? Eg window opening already done? If not, an option would be to put hob in sink position and move sink further right to maybe where you have the pan drawers? Then you have the worktop space above d/w in addition to other side of sink and hob. I have something similar, albeit with another base unit in between so worktop space of 1m between hob and sink.

Just a thought

Thanks Hawaii it's not fixed yet, but we've both decided to have the hob on the island so that I can cook and chat (or OH if it's a curry night!)

I think prep area on the island is more sociable than the hob. You probably spend more time chopping etc than stirring pans. But that's how my kitchen is so I would say that

It'll be my main prep area too

The only thing I will say is that my friend has a job on the island which is great for entertaining but splatters EVERYWHERE so it's a bit of a cleaning nightmare.

Revised plans with the two ovens looks good.

To interfere further, try it left to right with two larders/snack cupboards, two ovens, fridge/freezer.

We have just finished our kitchen. We have a large island (2.7m x 1.2). The 60 cm hob is on the island as is the prep sink with tall units behind where the pull out larder, ovens and fridge freezer are. I love it! I can prep on the island with prep sink to one side and hob to the other (and 30 cm base pull out which takes chopping boards, oils etc and spices) in the middle. We have breakfast bar (2.4 m) at other side of island which seats 4 comfortably but no more. Prep sink has the boiling water tap and food bin & recycle bin below. Main bin at other side of kitchen - but because most waste when I’m cooking is food waste or packaging it’s no real issue.
We have granite too - love it!

The last picture that you posted is almost identical to my kitchen layout. It works perfectly in my opinion. The only difference is that I have my fridge and freezer next to each other on one side of the ovens and a large double larder cupboard the other side. Definitely have the hob central on that side of the island - gives you workspace either side.

I like the new design. My one concern would be whether if one person was at the sink would someone else be able to access the Fridge?