Opinions on kitchen diner design/layout

[Moo31]

I would really appreciate opinions on our kitchen design. We are knocking the wall between the kitchen and dining room down and putting a new kitchen in.

My "must haves" are continuous work surface (which is lacking currently), hob against the wall rather than on the long stretch of work surface (to avoid a suspended extractor fan), eye level double oven, wide drawer/pan drawers and a tall larder.

The door between the hob / fridge freezer is into the utility room. The window in the dining room is currently the patio door but we are moving that to the other wall (the end wall).

Let me know what you think - is there anything we have missed or anything you would change? Thanks!

Pictures now attached ... hopefully!

And one more ...

Is the empty space in front of the patio doors for a dining table? If so I'd lose the breakfast bar/peninsula as I don't think it's necessary and a run of units continuing along that wall might work better - you could have shallower units there.

Lose the breakfast bar - they are pointless when the dining table is right beside it. Either extend the counter slightly along the wall (the wall with the sink) in order to give you more counter space and under-counter storage or simply stop the counters where the breakfast bar begins and give yourselves space so that you can use the dining table and patio doors without having to squeeze past pieces of furniture. A spacious kitchen (that you can comfortably move around in) is much better than one where you have to turn sideways to navigate your way around the furniture.

I agree re breakfast bar, unless you have a very large kitchen, you would be better off with storage.
Can you put a slim unit to right of ovens or is the gap to door not wide enough?

I would definitely keep the breakfast bar. It's the main prep space. Having units along the long wall instead would put the worktop far too far from the cooker, and too small if shallow units. It's always nice to have someone come and chat at the breakfast bar or be a second person chopping the carrots or whatever, not under the main cook's feet but still facing them sociably. Not pointless in my view.

I would remove the bar stool nearest the wall and replace with a little bookcase for recipe books & dining table clutter, or a cupboard.

It's a little light on worktop for my personal taste.

Could you make the full height unit area more symmetrical? Maybe put the narrow unit the other side of the fridge to make it a bit more balanced. If both are for food, they'd also be more convenient to use if next to each other.

You're never going to prep on the back corner of that breakfast bar though - take away the bit at right angles and you've plenty of space. With the hob where it is, you're far more likely to prep in the bit between that and the sink.

If you are going to keep the breakfast bar, make sure you get stools that can be pushed right under it

I’d keep as is. Breakfast bar is great for social prepping and kids snacking. We have a massive table behind our breakfast bar which is for meals but I love the breakfast bar.

Initial thoughts:
The microwave is very high
There is no worktop by the oven
There isn't enough worktop/prep space by the hob

I think I would ditch the breakfast bar seating bit and shift the sink down that way to increase the space by the hob.

That's a good call about the sink SoupDragon.

I'm pro breakfast bar... good prep space and nice to have people sit up and chat/help

Why not make the top oven a combi - ie a microwave and oven combined, then you won't need a separate microwave.

Fridge doors will dent on oven handles. You need to be 6'3"tall to safely use that microwave ( what sort of an idiot designed this - please don't buy from them if it's a shop )
There's a walk way between the oven and the nearest area to put stuff down- that's dangerous . There's an extra seating area AND space for a table - choose one ! This rooms too small for both .

Get a proper designer to do you a safe plan you can shop around with .

I never understand taking a wall down to increase the room in size and then visibly cutting the room in half with a peninsula.

Go for a combi and get rid of the microwave. I don't know who would think it would be a good idea to have to use kitchen steps to get hot food out of a microwave 🤨

Actually after reading everyone's comments I think you might be better off putting the kitchen at the other end of the room. Replace the window over the sink in your current plan with patio/French doors.

The wall cupboard to the left of the extractor fan is too close to the window/window dressings. I don't think you are going to get your list of must-haves in the space available to you. As a pp mentioned the ovens and microwave are very close to your main entrance into the kitchen and that is an accident waiting to happen.
What is so important about wall ovens? (Genuine question). Why not have an oven under the hob and then have a much larger larder cupboard on the wall with the hallway door. Larder cupboards can be designed to suit your individual needs, eg with electrical sockets so your microwave can be in it, pan drawers, etc.
Again as pp has said there is no point knocking down a wall to then install a breakfast bar which then cuts the room up again. Going by your pictures the space available in your U shaped space is tiny - it's barely the width of the sink and draining board. You need to maximise space not curtail it.

What are your room dimensions?

I'd have more room round the cooker to prep, I have a chopping boards worth at one side and desperately need more

If this is going to be the only room with a dining table in it then I can see why people have a breakfast to make it less ‘open’. You don’t want to be eating Christmas lunch amongst too much of the prepping/cooking crap.

I’m biased though because my kitchen plan is v similar. Cooker/sink in different places and range oven, not eye level which helps a bit with the space issue.

I’ll let you know if it’s shit as it’s bring fit in s couple of weeks

Here’s mine. Very similar. The designer hasn’t put the entire length of the room on though. The kitchen takes up about half of the whole room, maybe a bit less.

Why not have an oven under the hob

Personally, I don't like bending down to get stuff in/out of the oven and prefer an eye level one.

I'm having exactly the same thing done and work starts in a week! How odd! We currently walk through dining room, into the kitchen and we are knocking out the supporting wall (incl chimney!) To make a kitchen/ diner with bifolds onto the garden. I originally wanted a breakfast bar but now have a straight counter to make the space more usable. For large entertaining, we should be able to put a table in the middle space (only special occasions). I'll send a pic of my lay out if I can figure it out.

I tried to send pics twice and even though the upload says 'success!', nothing seems to have posted! What a pain!