Under counter kitchen

[mobear]

Does anyone have an all under counter kitchen (except, perhaps, the fridge)? If so, do you like it? I love how they look but am wondering how practical they are in reality.

I don't.
I look on Rightmove, and various Estate Agents' websites a lot, and, when I've seen it, to me it looks completely unfinished.
I am completely baffled as to why you would do that and and leave a home so short of storage space.
It makes no sense at all.

Because it is less imposing than a standard kitchen on an open plan area. It would obviously depend on how big the kitchen is and what I have to store in it as to whether I’d be short of storage space or not…

I didn't know it was a "thing" but we've just ordered a kitchen, one wall with bank of tall units including oven, the other two sides are under counter only. The tall units give us as much if not more storage than the old wall units, but will feel lovely and open. I hope! Ask me again in 4 months!

No wall units in our new kitchen. We do a fridge freezer in the corner though.
It definitely gives a feeling of light and space.
We have a peninsula with cupboards both sides and a strip under the window.
We had a bit of a clear out and keep a few things in the utility room we might have previously kept in the kitchen, but overall it's great.

I think it can look less cluttered than a traditional kitchen, it’s a look that DeVol etc do very well. I think as long as you’re sure you have enough storage then go for it.
We have two long windows in our new kitchen so out of necessity have very few wall cabinets.

Yes but we have a huge utility and a pantry

Unless there are a lot of shelves/something featuring on the blank walls, it looks completely unfinished to me. As if you ran out of money or couldn't be bothered to finish the job.

we went for wall cupboards because our kitchen isnt big so needed the extra storage

It's what we're having. Can't wait to use worktop without a walk unit above me. However we have an alcove in the dining area which will be full height storage behind sliding doors. I wouldn't have enough storage otherwise

I don’t have any overhead cupboards, but I do have a shelf over the worktop. It works because:

I have an overspill fridge and freezer in the kitchen. The kitchen fridge is for milk butter etc
I have a pantry

They are particularly good teamed with flush fitting ceiling extractors.

Overspill ff in utility duh!

I wouldn't like it, not because of the 'look' but because I dislike needing down to get into the backs of under counter cupboards and I have lots of kitchen stuff and need lots of storage.

With no wall cupboards I'll need 50% more base units. Given that, the look of the kitchen is unimportant because I won't have room to sit in the kitchen/diner. I'll be eating in the living room!

...needing to bend down...

@CasperGutman pan drawers can get round the bending issue to some extent.

@Lottle that was my plan, larder drawers, pan drawers, etc.

@CasperGutman I agree it wouldn’t make much sense in a separate kitchen but we’re making our house open plan, not out of preference but function/ necessity and I’m therefore hoping to minimise the impact of the kitchen.

@mobear when do you need to make your decisions? I can send you a picture of mine in a few weeks. My mother in law has no wall units. I didn't even notice til she pointed it out.

@Lottle how many metres of counter space do you have? We have space for 1.4m of wall units which are tucked away from the rest of the kitchen but also fireplace alcoves I hadn’t thought of using.

@Lottle Thanks! I have time I think as we have a whole refurbishment to do before the kitchen goes in! So I doubt the cabinetmaker will start making it for a while.

Wall units are really old fashioned. Nowadays you have a mix of tall units and waist height units with nothing above. Unless your kitchen is really tiny and you can’t avoid having wall units because you need the space.

We don’t have any wall units. But we do have a tall - almost floor to ceiling -freestanding cupboard with shelves and doors. Most of our “kitchen” is in here - pantry, cups and plates, microwave, cookbooks etc. We also have a kitchen table with drawers - also really useful. The whole setup works really well. We have loads of storage.

@mobear . U shaped kitchen. 8 metres ish of worktop. No tall units in the kitchen but full height storage behind sliding doors in the dining room end. Fridge freezer is separate

@Lottle, oh that sounds similar to us! We would have around 8m including an island, but that includes the 1.4m floor to ceiling and a fridge that we’d need to fit in somewhere. I thought the 1.4m could maybe be the fridge (700mm) and a small utility. Do let me know how you get on

@Lottle ours is not U-shaped though, it’s a 6m straight run with a 2m island.

I agree with a PP that you need to think carefully about what you will do with the empty wall to avoid it looking unfinished.

A row of decorative wall lights and a lovely splashback (maybe with a small shelf at the top of it) works well IMO. Wall lights also help compensate for the loss of undercabinet lighting.

We only have two wall cabinets, both contain some quite delicate items (eg fancy wine glasses) which I would feel nervous having in a drawer. What will you do with delicates?

Another consideration is layout. A good kitchen layout usually involves having crucial stuff close together so there’s not too much walking around. I think having no above counter storage or appliances will mean things have to be much more spread out and less convenient.