New Kitchen

[mintandgold]

Hi Everyone,

I have read so many threads about new kitchens and they have given us so many ideas as we have considered replacing our own.

Now we have finally received a design and I wondered if anyone with experience or who has had a new kitchen fitted might offer your comments on the plan.

Overall we are very pleased with the design but there are a few areas that we are unsure about, I hope you might be able to reassure us - or stop us making expensive mistakes!!

1. The door from the hallway enters towards the range cooker. I don't think this is ideal but is it acceptable? This is the second entrance to the kitchen/living area but the one closest to the stairs. The door will open out into the hallway and be open most of the time.

On a second note any advice regarding Aga/Esse/Rangemaster/Everhot ovens would be gratefully received!

1. The gap between the corner of the island and the corner beside the door is 830mm - is this acceptable or too tight?

1. The dishwasher will be on one side of the sink meaning that it will either open towards and close to the range or the island. Not sure either is ideal - is either option acceptable?

Aside from these doubts, we are really pleased with the style of the kitchen and the general design. The kitchen is part of a large kitchen/living/dining room and there is another entry to the space to the left of where the kitchen plan stops.

We're grateful for any comments or advice that may improve the design or stop us making expensive mistakes!

Thank you.

I had a door opening right to my rangemaster in a previous house- we were worried about it when we moved in and there was no obvious place to move it to but it never proved to be an issue. We were going to have an island put in but were again worried about the space on one side so we went for a peninsula instead and were absolutely delighted with it and so many people commented that it was better than an island. Also our dishwasher was able to open with loads of space behind, maybe just something to think about?

Having the peninsula made it easier to have somewhere to quickly put a hot pan when working at the range too. The lady who had the kitchen before us had said that that was an issue previously

It is quite hard to understand your plan and I can't read the numbers. You want a 1000mm gap between the island and anything else, I'd say that corner is too tight. I think the door opening on to the range is fine, and if there's a 1m gap between units then the door of dishwasher should be OK to open, but I'd prefer it opening towards range rather than island as more space.

The gap round the island is very tight. I’d have a peninsular instead. You don’t seem to have that much worktop, apart from the corner between the cooker and the sink. Are you set in a range cooker? My dd had one, and is currently planning a new kitchen for her new house. She’s not having a range cooker this time. I’d say unless you spend all your time cooking it just becomes an storage place for your pans and reduces your worktop space!
I’d get a couple more places to do you some designs so that you can compare. We mocked up our design with boxes to make sure we had plenty of space around our peninsular - we ended up reducing the length by 50cms so that we had more room around it. I’m glad we did that.

I've had several range cookers.
In current house have a 110 duel fuel rangemaster Classic deluxe in black and brass. Yes it's huge, but it's a focal point, looks stunning and had no issues with it in 4 years it's been installed. Beautiful appliance.

I have dishwasher which opens towards island, no issue as we load/unload from the side

@Soontobe60

The gap round the island is very tight. I’d have a peninsular instead. You don’t seem to have that much worktop, apart from the corner between the cooker and the sink. Are you set in a range cooker? My dd had one, and is currently planning a new kitchen for her new house. She’s not having a range cooker this time. I’d say unless you spend all your time cooking it just becomes an storage place for your pans and reduces your worktop space! I’d get a couple more places to do you some designs so that you can compare. We mocked up our design with boxes to make sure we had plenty of space around our peninsular - we ended up reducing the length by 50cms so that we had more room around it. I’m glad we did that.

Yes, thank you we mocked the island up with boxes yesterday. The designer had assured us the 830mm gap in that corner was ok but seeing it with the boxes did make us wonder about the practicality of living with it.

Also @Soontobe60 that's a very good point about work surface space. I do have my heart set on a range but you've definitely made me consider how we can maximise the work surface.

Thank you all. We have a peninsula at the moment so know that will fit and works reasonably well. We had hoped for a complete change and funnily enough to increase worktop space hence the island design!

It's great to hear that the doorway and dishwasher shouldn't be issues though.

We will scratch our heads about the tight corner and the worktop space a bit more!

I would get rid of the island and put a peninsular on the left hand side as you look at the plan coming down towards the bottom of the plan. Personally unless you have a massive kitchen I think islands make them appear cluttered and you can’t have two of you working together without falling over each other. You could always mock up your own design using an on line planner. We got 3 designs none of which was perfect. Did our own, and by moving a door got everything we wanted.

Just measured my doorways and most are actually only 730.mm wide inside so I think 830 is fine, given that it's open above IYSWIM. I'd opt for the DW under the plant on the plan so the walk between sink and cooker is clear with no interruptions when the DW is open. If you have bins in you prep island that's close to DW for scraping too. So I think this works well.