Tricky shaped kitchen - bespoke or off the shelf?

[FoofOfTheWalkingDead]

Hi, I've spent weeks on the DIY kitchen planner and came up with what I thought was a very good design using standard cupboard sizes available. I met with a Wickes designer yesterday who basically blew my design apart. Our kitchen is a small square with a long narrow bit off one side(think of a penis with corners). He has basically told me that I can either have a dishwasher or a washing machine but not both unless I move the main water drains at the back wall. We can't have true extractor fan venting to the outside and would need a freestanding fridge rather than integrated.
Does anyone know how much more a bespoke kitchen costs than you're average off the peg Wickes or Howdens job? Is it worth it in a smallish 2 bed mid-terrace? I wouldn't even know where to start looking for a bespoke kitchen fitter. Any advice welcome!

PM'd. Google OnePlan Houzz and you'll find more info as well. Good luck!

We contacted OnePlan recently and were told they have a huge waiting list and they wouldn't be able to put a design together for us for 6 months or so, which ruled them out as we are starting building now. Hopefully they've sorted their backlog a bit and can help you in time.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've found some photos of my kitchen as it is now (from when I didn't live in the house 24/7 and it was actually clean...)
You can see just how narrow the penis bit of the room is so I was hoping not to have any full depth cupboards in there. There is only 5 inches clearance when I open the oven and my big arse doesn't allow room for anyone else to walk past. The balls bit of the room has a bar table in it just now but we don't use it anymore since we've had DS and there are 3 of us. It mostly just holds stuff that doesn't fit in the cupboards.
Sorry, I realise I'm asking you lovely people to design my kitchen for me. This is my first major house project so I'm completely at sea with it all and worried I will make the wrong choice because of my inexperience.

I wasn't impressed with Wickes design to be honest. Wren was better and IKEA was okay. Watching with interest though as we are moving to somewhere with a tricky layout.

I know I’m repeating myself but can I urge you to get a builder round and get a quote for moving that wall between the kitchen and sitting room? It may be less than you think and will give you a much better end result. Also bet you would get it back on any resale.

Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch do units in any size you want because (as the name suggests!) they're handmade for you. They do a free kitchen design appointment too. They're not completely bespoke as in you choose one of their door styles but they're solid wood and you can paint them whatever colour you like.

I've had one fitted recently and they aren't as expensive as you might think and their customer service was excellent.

What size is the sitting room? Any chance you could move a wall to make the kitchen a bit wider? Or extend out to the garden a few feet?

If the kitchen is in reasonable co do too. Perhaps you could keep it and put the money towards an extension - the layout would work for that? Appreciate an extension costs more than a kitchen!

*condition

A bigger kitchen diner and a separate living room will work better. Living/dining rooms are very much out of fashion unless part of larger open plan living spaces. If you're already going to spend the money a new kitchen takes, the additional work to fit a steel and move the wall and doorways is, proportionately, not much more. It'll make a huge difference to how you use the space and give you a much better flowing kitchen.

My bet is that Wickes don't do the selection of unit depths that DIY do, but the comments about plumbing for the washing machine and dishwasher were just weird. You did have an unused unit space at right angles to the sink on your original plan.

@FoofOfTheWalkingDead - those photos of your kitchen look very familiar, especially the one with the table and chairs!

Ah, @MotherOfGodWeeFella, (fab username BTW) have I been outed? The DIY design is one I did on my own without taking into account the pipework. It was the Wickes designer that informed me it wouldn't work. I posted that pic as it was the only one that had the dimensions on it.
We had an extension designed for us and had gotten planning for it but couldn't find a builder because it was a small job that was massively tricky. We were eventually told it would cost almost £50,000 for essentially a 3mx3m timber box.
I'm very grateful for all the suggestions. I will have to put them to DH and see what he thinks. In the meantime I have been contacting a few other kitchen designers and just waiting for them to get back to me.

Re: pipework. Anything is possible, it comes down to how awkward it is and the costs involved as to whether it's viable/advisable.

We used Karen at OnePlan a couple of months ago because our kitchen is weird shaped (disappointingly not penis or other anatomy shaped though! ). We had to wait two months for her to fit in an appointment lasting half a day, but it was totally worth the wait - she was AMAZING and came up with ideas for space problems that we didn't even know we had until she suggested a solution.

Totally worth contacting her just to see if she has time to look at your penis kitchen. And I completely agree with PPs re moving walls if possible to make the length of the kitchen wider.

Moving the wall internally will cost less than an extension (though obviously it’s not adding floorspace )

What would the dimensions of the living room be if the wall dividing it from the kitchen were moved in line with the wall of bedroom 1 above? If you move the wall, there's still the option of extending to the rear in the future, whether part way or all the way across the back of the house.

I tend to find that all the big high street kitchen companies wickes, wren, magnet are generally a bit shit with anything that isn't easy.
Our kitchen is large but very awkward with way too many doors, windows funny bits of wall and ceiling and stuff in the way we found most kitchen shops used standard ranges and infilled so much we lost a lot of kitchen and they ended up still being quite expensive.
Ours is a hand built oak kitchen by a local properly bespoke (they make cabinets and doors from scratch ) specialist joiner and it cost less than the quote we had from an off the shelf kitchen company - both high end so wasn't cheap but that's partially down to size and choices (solid oak throughout, silestone tops, high end German appliances) but comparatively cheaper than the off the shelf kitchen.
I would speak to some local joiners and ask what they think they could do.

Thank you @wonkylegs, that is very interesting.

Gosh what an interesting shape! In my limited experience I don't think any kitchen cupboard will make that space super usable whether ikea or bespoke. As other posters have suggested I'd definitely have fewer doors and either move or remove living room /kitchen wall. Good luck with it!

Just called her ( karen at oneplan ) as was shocked to see post saying 6months lead time. So she's currently booking July spaces, and hasn't been booked 6 months in advance ever? So two months lead time currently and it's normally one month .

Thanks hugs, that gives me hope. I'll get in touch!

Yeah I recognise that kitchen!

It’s a terribly tricky shape and space! Honestly I wouldn’t spend money on a new kitchen without moving that kitchen/living wall.

I'm going to join the "move the wall" chorus - you said the dining table is in the living room anyway, by moving the wall back you'd be able to get a nice and much more usable kitchen diner. I actually think it would add value; a lot of people will find the kitchen shape offputting and won't be able to imagine how to use it. I'd move it so the whole wall was in line with the current door from hall in to kitchen, which would give you a nice fairly square lounge.

Do definitely try Karen - she found a way to give our kitchen a walk-in pantry! I didn’t even know I wanted one until she suggested it! 😍