Kitchen Design - urgent!

[Hoppahouse]

Hi, we are currently at the start of a house extension (kitchen / dining / living room) and the builders are asking questions about where the sink / hob etc are going...

We do have plans and I thought I was set, but now I'm having a wobble and need some help please!

I have attached the kitchen plans and DIY kitchen design (which is the same as the Ikea and Magnet design)

I am now wondering if we should take the units round a bit so a sink could go by a window?

Please take a look and let me know your thoughts / ideas. Thank you

A few alternatives - green is units with worktop (could have wall units above if desired), red is still fridge/freezer

If you want more worktop space but keep the cupboards then I have a large cupboard with bi fold doors so you have most of the cupboard space but can fold it back to use the worktop. I like to bake so I have it as a baking cupboard for all ingredients, cake decorating items and a double width drawer for spoons, boards, rolling pins, cutters etc. On the worktop inside I have my Kenwood mixer and food processor and a socket so I can just move them slightly forward if I need to and still have room to roll pastry on the worktop. I love it. I suggest getting a plan from a kitchen fitter to see what they come up with. We went to a small local firm.

I'd lose the bit of wall that sticks out and would put your fridge freezer on the bottom right of your design (on the right of your run of units) then rotate your island 90 degrees. I wouldn't have any units at all on the wall adjoining the utility/hall or the window/garden wall. So you end up with something like this.

Thank you so much statistically - that has definitely given me something to consider.

Thank you everyone. Now I'm really confused! 😆

I like that look namechanged. I'm not sure if OP's kitchen is quite wide enough - at a guess (the wall units look to be about the same width as the ovens) I'd say that the one in the picture is about 6.6-7m wide, whereas OPs is 4.3. By the time you take off the fridge and freezer (assume each is 60cm), a tall oven unit and one other tall unit for balance then the central worktop section would be under 2m.

Yes, Statistically I get that and the OPs dimensions are smaller, I just meant it as an illustration of the linear design. It's why I think having units just down one wall is the best idea - trying to incorporate units or a f/f on one wall as well as the long wall of units, when there are so many doors / openings, will (in my view) just make it looked cramped (which is the last thing you want for a lovely new extension).

I'm inclined to agree that something has to go - I don't think (even though it's a good space) there is room for fridge,freezer, two doors, open wall, bifolds, window and island.

What about having the freezer (and maybe a second fridge) in the utility and just an undercounter fridge in the actual kitchen

Thank you. I have been really thinking about your suggestions.

Do you think there's no way this design could work?

Would a peninsular be an option instead?

Not sure what to do now...except continue to trawl through Pinterest! 😬

It's not that it's impossible, it's just that my gut feel is you'll feel kind of frustrated with it day to day.

Unless your fridge and freezer are built in then they may well be deeper than 60 (mine is!) so you might lose another 10cm from that clearance behind the island. If you're standing at the hob and someone wants to open the fridge they're going to be very close. Walking to the utility room likewise. If you lift a hot pan you'll have to walk round the island.

I think you might wind up feeling like you're cooking in a corridor. It's not awful, it just could be better and you're probably spending a fortune on it!

Thanks - I understand better now.
I do like your ideas and will have a chat to the builder.
Are there any options without an island that you'd recommend?

What are your priorities - what do you want/need to fit in, what do you love, etc?

this link is similar to namechanged's idea and is probably similar size wise to yours. It looks ok actually, but I'd personally find the worktop limiting. Lovely when tidy but once there's dishes waiting to be washed...

Is the priority an island for cooking? Breakfast bar? High level ovens? Big fridge freezer? What do you really want and need.

Prep space - worktop space - is really key to me but it is not central to either of your main designs. That's a harsh criticism though, because it's not part of the traditional work triangle either and modern kitchens do seem to be getting less of it.

It seems to me that your kitchen is designed round a tick list - tall cupboards, big island, breakfast bar, tick tick tick - rather than the flow of how you'd actually use it. I agree with statistically challenged , it's not awful and I think it would look very nice. It just doesn't look to me like it's designed round the cook getting the fridge and some ingredients from the pantry cupboard, then assembling, chopping them at a nice big work area and taking them over to the hob. I'm not sure about your breakfast bar going all the way along. It takes away from your prep space quite a lot. But if you pushed it back to the end again, you would still have hob on one side of the island and prep space on the other, and whichever you put on the bottom edge might feel a bit awkward to access. How about breakfast bar on left hand end and wrapping round halfway along the bottom? That would leave the whole top side and the whole right hand end for worktop.

OP, statistically challenged gave you a good list of what could give to tweak the design. Do any of them jump out to you as easy compromises for you? If so then explore them, but don't be afraid to say no, this actually works better for us. I'd add swapping the high oven for a range cooker. If you could lose the door next to the fridge area then grouping all the tall units together is tempting.

You'd have bags of space, I think, if you swapped the island for a peninsula coming up from the bottom left corner. But then it's a totally different kitchen and if your vision for this very expensive investment is a massive island, have the massive island. It's what makes you happy at the end of the day. My sink and fridge are at opposite ends of my kitchen, which is a terrible work triangle and would drive some people mad, but I love my kitchen because it is designed around me and my precious prep space.

I agree OP that you have to design the kitchen around you and your family. As Cinnamon says, it's all personal. I love, love, love my huge island (similar to what you're considering) as life just seems to happen there - homework, prep, reading the papers, chatting with wine etc. I wanted it even if it meant compromising cupboard space.

OP I don't think your design is unworkable just that it's not the best design- judging by how it would work for me. I'd be standing at your job, H would be rummaging in the fridge, children would be pushing past me to get to utility room or too near the hob for my liking. I do think it needs tweaking.

I'm very similar CinnamonToaster, and funnily enough I went for a range in my kitchen because I just couldn't design tall units in without way too much of a workspace compromise. My kitchen is a lot smaller than OPs (about half the size), but I've got about 13ft of worktop space.

OP, what's the utility like? Does it have a door to the outside somewhere or is it internal

I agree with the PP, that it’s not a bad plan. But personally it wouldn’t work for me, due to the circulation space and flow of the kitchen. It’s just about finding a compromise to what works best for you and your family, and within the space. I have 3DSC who are constantly in and out of the kitchen when I’m cooking, I wouldn’t want a hob in the island / near to the fridge, due to this reason.

Is the large bi-folding door opening a certain? As your loosing quite a large unit run here?

Is there potential to move the kitchen door, to open this into the dining area? To reduce the number of doors?

I’m guessing one of your main objectives is an island with views out to the garden?

Could the smaller window in the kitchen be blocked up?

I think by compromising on one of the openings; bi-folding doors or internal door position. You would gain a lot more space, and a better layout.

Plus ask you builder to remove the pier. If you then stick to you original plan of the fridge/freezer you would be able to get another slim tall unit in that run, and therefore omit one from the right hand wall, and gain more worktop surface area.

I think @StatisticallyChallenged 1st layout works well, as you’ve designated your kitchen space.

I need sleep and coffee first, but I do love a good kitchen discussion. See you all in the morning!

Thanks all. Sorry I'm rushing to get ready for work now, but really appreciating the input.

The design is partly a money saving one - which is why the pier has had to remain for a smaller steel 😖.

I could see about the door entering in to the living room area - but do you think that would work or be awkward?

If the island was further away from the fridge would that work?

My criteria was big open, bright space with bi-folds - an area we can be with the 3dc (who are all over 9). We are living in a cramped kitchen at the moment, so I think I'll be pretty happy with anything really! 🙈. The utility is fairly big and I could have extra cupboards on there.

I still can't attach images - even though it's a new day 😫🤦‍♀️

If you’ve had quotes from DIy, magnet and ikea, could I ask how they all compare price wise? I’m about to embark on possibly replacing a kitchen and I love the DIY ones but they look like they’ll be so much more expensive than ikea. Thanks.

Is that door the only one in to the open plan space? If so, I'd actually prefer it moved personally, especially with your current layout plan

OK... Saw something brilliant the other day...
Have your island on wheels....
Fridge oven and hob on same wall...
So easy too cook...
Sink under window a must as you want to look out as you wash up....

Omg. I want this so bad... Movable and extended

There's some newer thinking around zones instead of the work triangle, but thinking about where you need to go in order to make a hot drink, unpack the shopping, cook a meal, etc.

Thinking about it, I think a peninsula might really work.

This is the closest image I could find - it would be flipped over obviously, and in your case the back wall of units would be longer than the peninsula, but this could work I think. It would mean moving the entrance door though as otherwise you'd walk in to the stools.