Is my kitchen too small for a cooker?

[Tupla]

I have a very small kitchen. The only place where a cooker can be placed is a stretch of about 80cm between a door frame and a wall with plug sockets. For years has had a small (50 cm) free-standing cooker and short length of worktop here. My old cooker developed a fault and has been removed. I have tried to buy a new one but due to newer regulations it can't be installed because the "hot zone" would include the door frame (or if I did away with the worktop, the plug sockets, which are also next to another door). There is nowhere else I could place the cooker (other walls being taken up with a window, two doors and a boiler).

Is it simply the case that I can't have a cooker in my kitchen? I can't afford a kitchen extension. What can I do? Could something be custom made which could fit in the space?

Can you upload a diagram?

Could you have the sockets moved so they’re out of the hot zone?

Can't you get an electrical one which you just plug in yourself?

do you have a floor plan?
can it go somewhere else in the kitchen or can the electrics be re-routed and the wall removed?

Move the plug sockets?

Alternatively you might look at something intended for motorhomes and the like, they would be compact.

Is the the cooker itself that has to be away from door frames etc or the hob on top?

Thank you for your help.

There is one socket and the other one is the switch for an electric cooker, which I think would have to be near the cooker.

There isn't anywhere else I could fit a cooker (I've tried to upload a rough plan, the place where the old cooker was being the yellow square in the top left).

I'm not sure if it's just the hob or the whole cooker which has to be waay from the door frames. I think it's just the hob, but the hobs on their own appear to be 60cm across at least so would be too big. At the moment I'm using a plug in portable hob, and only have room for a single ring.

I'm going by the measurements from this site ao.com/help-and-advice/guides-and-advice/measurement-guides/hob, although this one seems to be a bit more generous www.argos.co.uk/help/faq/72486 ? (90mm hot zone either side rather than 150 mm)

How frustrating. Your kitchen is a fair size but the two doors and boiler limit things. The ao.com guide shows a hob placed on a peninsula at right angles to one of the walls. Is there somewhere you could put a peninsula to accommodate cooker ? You'd need an electrician to deal with the extra wiring. You need a horizontal gap of say 30cm between the hob and the electrical switch so you are not having to lean over the hob to turn it off. A peninsula should take care of that problem. You need a gap between the cooker and any flammable surface such as a door frame. In addition, a door should not open against a cooker. Would changing the door so it opens out into the hall help? Door frames are largely cosmetic. You could remove the frame and make good by tiling that part of the wall. The answer might be to have a separate hob and oven.

@Tupla you can instal an electric cooker yourself. Just buy one and do that.

What about using portable induction on top of your counter and the a small breville oven on a raised shelf.

There are so many cooking options nowadays - perhaps a combination of countertop induction, instapot, any other cooking marvel such as thermomix, or air fryer, soup maker etc. And a free standing oven.

It tends to quirk out a bit more expensive than a cooker but provides lots of flexibility.

I do have a little portable induction hob (one ring: I don't have a big enough surface for two) but it keeps cutting out, so I also bought a single ring ceramic hob which I'm using along with a halogen oven and other gadgets (Instant Pot, rice cooker, George Formby grill) which I can store elsewhere, and practically it's working quite well. It just makes me feel like I'm in a 1970s bedsit! And I've also wondered if it would cause problems when/if I come to sell the house, if it doesn't have a proper cooker.

I don't think there's room for a peninsula, because I have to be able to get through from one door to the other. Door D opens into the living room from the kitchen, and Door C opens into the kitchen from outside. (Wall B has a large window and a sink, and Wall A has a boiler).

I didn't know I was allowed to install it myself. That's useful to know, although I don't think I have the confidence to do it.

If you look at the manual on this one it mentions 65mm each side, so it may be a case of looking at each one individually.

www.sonicdirect.co.uk/prod/Electric-Cookers/euronics/Blomberg-HKS900N-50cm-Electric-Cooker-in-Anthracite-Cer-Hob-Double-Oven#description

I'm not set on having a freestanding cooker, but was looking at them because there are a couple of smaller models, whereas the built in hobs seem to be 60cm plus. But I have just come across this two ring induction hob www.beko.co.uk/30cm-induction-hob-hdmi32401dt-black , so thanks for the advice about having a separate hob and oven. It may be possible to fit one of these, if I can get a kitchen cabinet to put it into.

[quote AfternoonToffee]If you look at the manual on this one it mentions 65mm each side, so it may be a case of looking at each one individually.

www.sonicdirect.co.uk/prod/Electric-Cookers/euronics/Blomberg-HKS900N-50cm-Electric-Cooker-in-Anthracite-Cer-Hob-Double-Oven#description[/quote]
Oh, thank you! I thought they were standard guidelines rather than for individual cookers.

Tupla I wonder if there is an industry standard, especially when it comes to retailers as it is easier to just say what the absolute minimum is as then that would cover every product. The manual, imo, though does say there only needs to be 65mm with no further reference to the hot zone, which I think is the absolute minimum allowed in the regulations.

I would speak to an electrician. I think you are sometimes allowed to replace an existing appliance like for like. Also the hot zone clearance is for features beside the cooker, not flat on the wall behind it. The cooker you linked is permitted to be placed at the end of a run next to a wall but sockets on the wall is tricky. Moving the sockets over to the door frame side might be the easiest win if you are stuck.

If it’s like this with just the small section of door frame then I’d take a section out and cover with a slightly oversized stainless steel splash back. It’s not great having a hob next to a door but a nest of little plug in appliances would be worse.

There's lots of cookers these days that plug in to a normal plug. AO lets you search specifically for them (left hand menu when you select cookers). You literally plug in like a fridge or table lamp.

I would go for a 60cm built in oven underneath and a 30cm hob on top and replace your plug into the wall portable hob and multi cooker for extras if needed.

Thank you all for some really good advice and ideas!

I think the hot zone is different for an induction hob compared to all other hobs (including other types of electric hobs) due to the rings on induction hobs not actually generating heat themselves, just the pans. Worth checking the details.

Oh really? That would make sense!

Ymmv but when I bought my house the gas safety certificate said that the gaps at the side of the cooker were too small and it’s not been a problem, nothing gets hot around it at all. It’s got a gas hob and fan oven.