Kitchen opinions

[succulentlove]

Hi all, I wanted to gather feedback on a few kitchen points we are thinking about:

1. Our new kitchen will be in quite a dark part of the house, as it is in the middle of the plan, and so has low natural light. We really like this kitchen (static.diy-kitchens.com/ranges/carrera_matt_carbon_900px.jpg) - but are worried it will be too dark. Does anyone have experience with having a darker kitchen in a dark room?

2. We originally had included 2 integrated fridge freezer side by side in the kitchen plans. DH has suggested we change this to 1 integrated full height fridge, and 1 below counter freezer. Is this enough? Does anyone have a similar set up? For context, we are a family of 3, I batch cook and we eat about 70% of our meals at home.

Thank you!

Hi @succulentlove your link doesn’t seem to be working.

We have a dark grey kitchen but with light worktops and light oak flooring.
However, we do have a natural window, 4 x bifold doors and 3 x Velux windows, so there’s quite a lot of light flooding in.

Could you somehow get one/more than one of those sun tunnels systems to bring in more light?

Not sure on the fridge - not sure an under counter freezer would be enough if you batch cook? There are 3 of us here when DD is at uni and we have a standard fridge freezer with just slightly more fridge space than freezer and it works well for us. Do you have the choice of a chest freezer in the garage/utility?

I wouldn't get an under counter freezer when you cook like that. We have an American FF and an undercounter freezer which is also full, family of 3. No way would I have enough room in an undercounter alone (I'm dreaming of replacing it with a tall freezer!)

Certainly if you do a lot of batch cooking I'd consider a tall freezer, just one thing to consider is the built in ones are usually narrower than a freestanding, so maybe an American style might be better. Or do you have a garage or outbuilding you could

Sorry pressed post by mistake!
Could you have a small chest freezer somewhere?

Regarding dark cabinets, they do show up every mark. Does the kitchen company supply a sample you can use in the space? I think with a light quartz worktop that will help bounce light around and not dark flooring it would be fine, just get decent spot/task lighting.

I do a lot of batch cooking and previously managed with the biggest 60cm width F/F we could find with a 50/50 F/F space. For the kitchen we've just installed we've decided to double the freezer space - so the existing F/F is going into the kitchen and we're getting an under-the-counter freezer for the utility room which will be entirely devoted to batch cooking.

Do check the freezer capacity as I found it varied quite a bit between brands for essentially the same thing.

When we had our kitchen installed a few years ago, few people suggested we didn't use an integrated fridge / freezer. The reasons they gave was that they don't hold very much.
I thought it would be ok as both were full height.
With hindsight we regret not getting a freestanding American style appliance. We are even considering taking the units out and reconfiguring it whilst Howdens still stock the kitchen.

We never seem to have enough room.

We have full height fridge and freezer plus a fridge freezer in the garage - that suits us as a family of 4. Depends on your needs but I'd go larger

I think you may need a lot of light in the room for such a dark kitchen, but you could use plinth lighting and under cupboard lighting

Are you extending? If yes, can you build a utility room in the middle of the floodplan? If you had a plan for 2 f/f then why wouldn't you have a tall fridge and a full tall freezer?

I'd think you'd be fine with dark units and a light coloured polished worktop that bounces some light around. Get some good under cabinet and plinth lighting as well.

With fridges and freezers, I went for one tall integrated fridge and one tall integrated freezer, on the advice of my kitchen planner, instead of two split fridge freezers. It seems to work really well for us.

We have your DH’s proposed fridge/freezer set up. We’re a family of 4 adults and cook 90%+ of our meals each week. I meal plan and shop once a week for six days with day seven being an on the day choice. I don’t use my freezer to batch cook but do use it to freeze bones, stock and out of season fruit, leftovers etc.

The set up works well for us. I can fit a full week’s shopping in the fridge. Potatoes, onions and garlic live in a dark cupboard and all fruit apart from apples sit out to ripen.

I’d be concerned that if you batch cook and freeze you’re not going to have enough freezer space. You might manage if you’re very very disciplined about space use and rotation, but i think otherwise it’ll be tight.

aesthetically i much prefer integrated but if it comes down to form or function, your mileage may vary.

Thank you, your kitchen sounds lush! No garage, no space for chest freezer in utility area..

Yes we are hoping for white quartz worktop and light wood flooring. Fingers crossed it will be OK!

I batch cook and use the fridge, sometimes if there is way too much then I'll freeze a portion or two. We've only ever had 1 integrated fridge freezer at present, so actually the new set up will be more space than we've ever had. We love the look of integrated appliances too!

Thank you, that is reassuring!

You need 3 drawers in freezer at least for run of the mill food - frozen veg, ice cubes, ice cream and ice lollies, nuggets and chips. You the. need at least 3 more drawers for batch cooking so a full height fridge needed if no garage for a freezer. I have a full height integrated fridge in the kitchen and I have loads of space although have a garage fridge for drinks.

Not extending unfortunately. Compared to 2 fridge freezers, having 1 fridge freezer and one under-counter fridge gives us more countertop space, and also reduces the number of tall, dark units in a dark kitchen..

Thank you this is helpful!

Following with interest, we are planning to put in the same colour and style of kitchen, and our kitchen will have no direct natural light, all borrowed from big sliding door and roof lights in the extension.
We're hoping that with functional lighting it'll work out well, and feel intimate and broody in the evenings!

Re: fridge freezer - we're having one integrated fridge freezer. Like you we cook from scratch, batch cook, and eat at home or its packed lunches. I'm a firm believer that less food storage space (particularly FF) leads to less food waste.

I couldn't do tall units so got two integrated under counter freezers. They were the most basic model from Currys but are brilliant.

Three full sized drawers on each and hold way more than the bottom half of the tall fridge/freezer we had previously.

I hinged the doors on opposite sides so it feels like one if you want in all of it.

In an ideal world I'd have had a tall one but it would have ruined the space and light and this works really well for us.

We have two full height freezers and a full height fridge, all are usually full to capacity. I do batch cook and we grow veg and freeze some, also buy and freeze meat when it's on offer. I think you easily fill whatever space is available.

We just changed a dark wood kitchen for a cream gloss kitchen with light wood counters and it looks so much brighter and lighter.

Combined fridge freezers are annoying if one half breaks down and is expensive to repair, you either have to repair or replace both. After the last one we went for separate freezers and fridge. You could just go for stainless fridges/freezers rather than integral.

oooh yes. Dark kitchens are so on trend now, and while we are normally safe with our design choices, we thought we'd try something a bit different! and I agree with you on the fridge / freezer - our current full height fridge freezer stopped working, so we are now using a borrowed under counter fridge freezer and it's tight but it all fits! Much much less food wastage too