Kitchen layout feedback (with pictures!)

[dizzyupthegirl86]

Hi all,
I lurk on here all the time and love everyone’s ideas on kitchen designs. I’m in the process of buying a house and am planning the kitchen and am after some feedback please!

The kitchen is 2650mm x 6770mm so long but not wide enough for an island. There’s a window at the back (or will be) with a view into the lovely garden, and no seating anywhere else so I would like some stools for seating underneath the window.
Integrated dishwasher is under the sink as well as pull out bin drawer. The section between the cooker housing and larder unit will act as a ‘bar’ area for making drinks and to break up the worktop a little.

I’m planning on using one of the larder units with shallower, taller shelves and no back so I can keep appliances in there (breakfast pantry style).

Can anyone suggest anything I’ve missed or not taken into account or just plain ballsed up please?

Are you definitely not going to take a wall out? That is massive in length but pretty narrow

It’s very long and thin. Is there any possibility to knock through to the next door room?

If not possible to knock through, I think I would dedicate an area of the room to a small table and chairs so there is something other than workspace in there.

Can the window at the end be doors instead?

Thanks for that, interesting you both say the same thing! Unfortunately knocking a wall through into the other room isn’t in my budget. Changing the window at the end for doors might just be but then I’d lose worktop space and seating at that end... and I felt like that might make it feel like a corridor?

The 3D room plan doesn’t make it feel that narrow, but I might map it out tomorrow in my current kitchen to get a feel of it. The space between the units will be about 1400mm, I’ve lived in smaller kitchens but none as long as this one!

Hi, I would maybe try to position the tall units on the wall next to the entrance into the room to make it work a little better visually and not so overpowering, also I would place wall hung units on on the left hand side but keep the opposite wall free of any units .

Doors at the end.

Up the top of the room, where there looks to be a tall larder, put wall cupboards on the floor and have the bench normal, thus creating a breakfast bar But keeping some storage underneath.

If it's anything like any of the breakfast bars of anyone I know the stools become "homes for coats" rather than being sat at.

It honestly may be worth making do with what you have until you can knock through?

There are advantages to living as is before making decisions as sometimes you use a house differently to what you think etc...

Thank you - the entrance to the room is basically the viewpoint from the first picture. To the left of that door is a cupboard that needs to stay where it is as it houses the boiler. To the right is an archway into another room. There will be a back door to the right of the fridge freezer.

I wasn’t originally going to have a breakfast bar or seating area as it wouldn’t be something I’d use every day, but I don’t need more cupboards and so stools which fit underneath the worktop mean I can use it as both. If I put doors in at the end, it would massively reduce the worktop space I have. The plumbing is by the sink so makes sense to leave that there, I thought (which is why I also put the fridge there as it will need to be plumbed in, but I could have that on the opposite wall I suppose)

I’m not planning on having any wall units, I want some a couple of shelves instead to keep it looking fairly open - hence the two larder units which will give me lots of storage.

@RandomMess

It honestly may be worth making do with what you have until you can knock through?

There are advantages to living as is before making decisions as sometimes you use a house differently to what you think etc...

I think I’d rather not do that for a few reasons - one of which being I’d rather have a seperate room than a kitchen / diner type thing - but that’s obviously personal preference! Another reason is that I think it would be dark. The other room is a reception room with a conservatory on the back, so a little on the dark side. Behind the current kitchen (ie where all the worktops are in my plan!) is an outbuilding which is falling down so I’ll be knocking through to that, hence putting in a new window at the back. If I extended to the right rather than back, the only window in the kitchen would be the one above the sink (and then the small conservatory in the other room currently)

The last one is that I think it would take it above the ceiling price for the area. It’s got the nicest garden on the street (in my opinion!) so the price reflects that. I’m happy with the price I’m paying and the budget I have at the moment, but the more work I put in, the more likely I am not to get it back!

Thanks for the comment though, these are all giving me food for thought which is exactly what I wanted!

How about getting rid of the back door and putting a larder unit in to replace it, getting rid of some of the units at the window end and replacing the window with french doors and a space for a table and chairs? The cupboard where the boiler is- could that be accessed from the room leading into the kitchen with a door that sits behind the kitchen door- presuming kitchen door opens into that room. Then you can use the space where the current cupboard access is to put a tall unit. Personally, I think you have a lot of u its and it could feel overwhelmed. I'd cut down wall units too

@LuluJakey1

How about getting rid of the back door and putting a larder unit in to replace it, getting rid of some of the units at the window end and replacing the window with french doors and a space for a table and chairs? The cupboard where the boiler is- could that be accessed from the room leading into the kitchen with a door that sits behind the kitchen door- presuming kitchen door opens into that room. Then you can use the space where the current cupboard access is to put a tall unit. Personally, I think you have a lot of u its and it could feel overwhelmed. I'd cut down wall units too

The other side of the boiler cupboard is under the stairs with a hobbit sized door! There’s actually no back door in the kitchen at the moment, I was going to put one in as otherwise the only way to get into the garden is to go into the other room and through the conservatory, and I have a dog who likes mud! I don’t have any wall units planned - there’s oven housing and two larder units but the rest is just base units.

It’s funny you mention about being overwhelming - I was planning on going for a navy blue kitchen but I thought it would be too dark and overwhelming myself!
Do you think if I got rid of the larder unit next to the sink that it would improve it? I may change a set of pan drawers to a cupboard if that was the case.

This is the current kitchen, in case anyone wants to see! It doesn’t seem particularly narrow; but the extra length may well skew that a little.

I'd just have tall units on one side with fridge freezer and then just have base units on the other side.

the tall units on the left near the sink make the space look very narrow. I would move the sink to the end window (nice view of the garden for the person washing up). Then I'd put your stools & coffee bar at the window on the left (maybe that looks into a nice courtyard garden?

So moving around the room from left to right (starting in photo 1), you'd have

• stools + window
• fridge
• end wall with sink / dishwasher etc
• workspace
• hob
• oven & some tall units
• boiler cupboard

is there another window next to the boiler unit? I might block that up if there isn't a good view, because then you can have a solid block of tall units which will be much neater.

I wouldn't change the current kitchen at all. It's in good condition, is bright and light. Completely liveable. I'd save the money instead for something else.

That's the current kitchen? That would be my "after" shot! Looks great!

Prefer the before kitchen OP

I'd not waste money changing the kitchen when you say you'll eventually knock through to the falling down outbuilding.

I would leave it for now. You don’t know how usable the conservatory is. Without underfloor heating and good build quality, many are unusable. If it turns out to be, I would get it rebuilt into the kitchen and have opening doors from the kitchen into the garden.

I don’t like your oven housing standing tall in between floor units. I think a narrow long kitchen isn’t great and I’m frankly not keen. I truly would live in it and see what makes sense after a year, or even 6 months. Your plans don’t inspire me and I think you could do better. Not going into the garden from the table end is a mistake. It looks like a shop window at the end where you cannot touch what lies beyond it!

Oh so many replies - thank you all!

To answer a few points, the current kitchen is fine, not my taste really but too small for me, I’d have to lose two cupboards for my fridge freezer and another one for a dishwater too.

I’m not changing the kitchen before knocking down the outbuilding, I’m knocking down the outbuildings and rebuilding a proper structure there that I want to open up into the kitchen. So will need a new kitchen afterwards regardless. The outbuildings need to come down sooner rather than later and I want to get as much building work done as possible before I move in. I considered living with the kitchen as is for a while first, but I’d end up buying appliances to fit in the small space that I wouldn’t want in the big space, so it seemed like a false economy.

To @parietal - The boiler cupboard is on the left. So from left to right, boiler cupboard, sink with window, larder unit, fridge freezer, door. Then worktop with window, then more worktop with hob and pan drawers, cooker housing, more worktop/drinks area, larder unit/appliance cupboard, then archway.
I’m having a dishwasher so won’t need to wash up that much, but I do a lot of baking so I thought the area underneath the big window would be nice for making bread and the like there rather than being blocked by the sink! I could in theory block the window where the sink is now, but I thought it might make the room look dark, with only one window at the far end. The view from that window is just onto my side return so not particularly scenic but does let in a lot of light (as hopefully the before picture shows!), though it could work as a seating area, not something I’d thought of!

These replies are so useful - I do like the design in the sense that it’s a lot of open worktop space, there’s lots of storage (I really want to avoid wall units), but there’s bound to be a way I can get all of those things with a slightly different layout. Lots of you are suggesting all the big units on the right hand side so I will try a kitchen design later with that as a starting point!

@My0My

I would leave it for now. You don’t know how usable the conservatory is. Without underfloor heating and good build quality, many are unusable. If it turns out to be, I would get it rebuilt into the kitchen and have opening doors from the kitchen into the garden.

I don’t like your oven housing standing tall in between floor units. I think a narrow long kitchen isn’t great and I’m frankly not keen. I truly would live in it and see what makes sense after a year, or even 6 months. Your plans don’t inspire me and I think you could do better. Not going into the garden from the table end is a mistake. It looks like a shop window at the end where you cannot touch what lies beyond it!

Sorry, forgot to address your point in my reply! The conservatory is behind the reception room rather than the kitchen - and next the the conservatory are the outbuildings. I’m not a lover of conservatories myself and this one is small and so not hugely useful. It was fitted three years ago so is fairly new but I don’t believe it has underfloor heating. I’m not likely to use the conservatory for very much but the only reason I mentioned it is because i think it makes the reception room look a bit dark - coz it’s quite a small one, there’s a lot of upv and not lots of glass. To the left of it is the outbuildings wall and to the right is the neighbours fence so there’s only really the outlook at the front. Baffling really why they bothered! To get rid of both outbuildings and conservatory would definitely be out of my budget and probably above ceiling price of the property - it would be lovely and airy and open and bright but it’s just not something I can do money wise. I could maybe stretch to having French windows at the back of the kitchen as you and a few others have suggested - I thought that might look a bit corridor like and would mean not much worktop space (I would end up with maybe two metres where the hob is and around 1.5 where the sink is, which doesn’t seem a lot for a big kitchen) but it’s something I’ll consider when I’m on a kitchen layout app! There will be a back door near the window at the back so can obviously go beyond it but I take your point.

I would lose the back door and put in patio doors at the end.

Oh - so you would be extending to create the long kitchen? I wouldn't do that....it's changing one problem (small kitchen) for another (long thin galley kitchen).

Could you post a picture of the whole floor plan of the groubdfloor? People may be able to suggest an alternative that would cost similar to the long extension but make a more useable (and popular for resale) space?

Sorry the current design doesn't work for me I particularly don't like the section between the cooker housing and larder unit which will act as a ‘bar’ area for making drinks and to break up the worktop a little. The kitchen doesn't seem to flow.

I would be keeping base units and talk units separate rather than mixing it all up!

@Landlubber2019 you may be right - whilst I like the idea in theory, it does make the oven housing look a bit odd. I don’t need that seperate bar area really so I may scrap that idea. Or if I move all the larder units to that side, I can have an extended bit of worktop near the sink to function as a similar thing I suppose!

I’ve included a picture of the floor plan. It shows existing walls and outbuildings, my plan initially was to knock down the internal walls of the outbuildings (purple squiggles) and put a door where the gap is at the moment (pink), but the homebuyers report has suggested the lot needs to come down really.
The cupboard on the left in the kitchen needs to stay where it is, and I want an archway into the ‘dining room’ which incidentally is a bit too small for a proper dining table - floor plan cleverly leaves out the chimney breasts which make it a slightly awkward space!

If the dining room is too small for a table, why not break through from the kitchen into the dining room? The outhouse section could then become a utility/storage area?