Another design question for my house.. sorry

[YellowEllis]

I know I've posted so much but having to make every design choice for our house over a few weeks is so hard and Dh and I can't agree on anything. We've already implemented three changes off wise mumsnetters advice so I'm putting this out there aswell.

We have a double American fridge freezer, it's a hefty thing. 178.7 x 91 x 74.3 cm. I love it. We do find it's very big and even with a full food shop we never quite fill it but it's great to have so much space.

The issue is the only place in our kitchen we can put it due to its size is on the wall opposite the breakfast bar. We may need to shorten the breakfast bar to allow a decent amount of walking space which then renders the breakfast bar useless. I'm also worried a big fridge freezer sticking will ruin the nice open plan kitchen/diner lay out that we liked. Only other choice is to stick with the integrated fridge freezer that comes with it? But then I'm worried about lack of space.

The kitchen is quite narrow, but fairly long and although the layout is the same as in the photo we've got nice bright cupboards, floors and work tops which are a total different look. So it hopefully won't feel as narrow as it looks in the designs, but will the American fridge freezer look too big for the room? Do we take the risk of shortening the breakfast bar to fit it in to then not like it and switch to integrated but then have a useless breakfast bar?

Help

And before anyone tells me to not buy a new build or comments on how tiny it is, we're buying the best house we can afford. We love it. We just want to know how to best utilise the space.

Personally I would not have the big fridge, and use the integrated one that's there.

Your big fridge won’t look right in that space. You’d need to redesign the kitchen.

I would just use the integrated one in the kitchen. Will have have a garage? Could you keep the big one in there?

It looks very narrow in the photo, we were going off these plans that we thought might be doable. I do think we'll be better off with the integrated. I just love my fridge so much

It would be very unwise to design that kitchen around your FF.

Stick it in the garage as a drinks/ice pops store

Which freezer is it OP?

Even if you removed the whole breakfast bar, I don’t think there’s enough space. It would impede the flow as you come in through the door.

I take it that it wouldn’t fit between the door and the window?

Built in fridge freezers can be quite small. However, we’ve got a freestanding one that 2M tall but only 60cm wide and the capacity is not far off American style ones. I would recommend sth like that with panels around it to make it look like part of the kitchen.

If you really want to keep the big FF, I would

-remove breakfast bar altogether.

• put big FF on the wall next to the cooker, so it goes cooker - unit-that-used-to-be-breakfast bar - Big FF

-put a big freestanding dresser on the wall you marked for FF to get extra storage.

No it won't fit where the integrated one is unfortunately it's just too big. Dh is the one who's insisted it'll be fine at the end of the breakfast bar but I don't agree. If we didn't have the breakfast bar we'd have it where the breakfast bar starts, continuing down from the worktops iyswim. I'm just not sure if we should choose that over keeping the extra worktop space/bar

Cross post @parietal

Sorry, our is 2M tall and 70cm wide.
You can see in the photos there’s a lot of storage (ours is a Bosch, I think and was definitely cheaper).

ao.com/product/cnef5735-liebherr-comfort-fridge-freezer-stainless-steel-73726-28.aspx

This is the integrated one we'd get included. 228 litre.

This is the integrated one we'd get included. 228 litre.

Exactly. The one Iinked to is 402l for the fridge and a bigger freezer too. It’s only 10cm wider so you could keep your design otherwise.

@JoJoSM2

This is the integrated one we'd get included. 228 litre.

Exactly. The one Iinked to is 402l for the fridge and a bigger freezer too. It’s only 10cm wider so you could keep your design otherwise.

Can it be integrated? I'm confused where it would go?

@YellowEllis

No it won't fit where the integrated one is unfortunately it's just too big. Dh is the one who's insisted it'll be fine at the end of the breakfast bar but I don't agree. If we didn't have the breakfast bar we'd have it where the breakfast bar starts, continuing down from the worktops iyswim. I'm just not sure if we should choose that over keeping the extra worktop space/bar

What about if you lose the dishwasher? Would it not fit then?

Oh as in just leave a gap and put it where the integrated one could of been. That makes sense. That's way out of our price range but we'll have a look for something similar. Thanks

From experience, I wouldn’t have an integrated fridge freezer where it’s located on your plan - too bloody awkward by the door opening into into the kitchen.

I'm confused where it would go?

I just assumed the tall unit by the door was a fridge freezer? You could just replace that with the freestanding one. It can’t be integrated as that the whole point of getting a bigger one (integrated ones being small).

Then you build around it to make it look good. Like the photos.

The photos

@SabrinaThwaite

From experience, I wouldn’t have an integrated fridge freezer where it’s located on your plan - too bloody awkward by the door opening into into the kitchen.

I did think this, but the door there only goes into the utility room not the hallway so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm sure no one will step foot in there other than me

Ah, OK. We inherited a kitchen like that but the door was into the garage. It was more of a PITA than you might expect though.

Do you have room in the utility for the big fridge freezer or will it be filled with washer : drier things?

@SabrinaThwaite

Ah, OK. We inherited a kitchen like that but the door was into the garage. It was more of a PITA than you might expect though.

Do you have room in the utility for the big fridge freezer or will it be filled with washer : drier things?

No it's a small utility just washer dryer and sink. Wouldn't fit the big fridge/freezer unfortunately. We don't have a garage either so can't put it in there.