New kitchen plan - can I reach the fridge?

[Jozijo]

We're planning a house remodel and kitchen in a new space. I'm pretty happy with this plan now except I'm worried about easily reaching into the fridge freezer (well, the fridge part mainly). The fridge will open on the wrong side and there isn't a whole lot of room. We can slightly reduce the island to make a bit more space, but that doesn't solve the door opening the 'wrong way'. Do you think it will be a problem? I really want a side by side American FF (I know what people say but we have another freezer in the garage and I like the set up) and they only seem to work this way! We don't have space (or budget) for two full size fridge/freezer, and I think one won't be enough (current 70-30 FF is packed). Thank you!

Looking at your set up is similar to ours except we have a normal fridge with door opening the other way, I think that would definitely annoy you. I cant imagine having ours the other way.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vinterkall-french-door-fridge-freezer-ikea-700-freestanding-black-stainless-steel-30494825/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAiA3pugBhAwEiwAWFzwdUslNedTfhJ6v3Q0cGQJ1Bk2n0oADR6wtCVDnyCKNwWTq_WLbl6-9BoCAmkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Indeed I do know that! I had the doors switched on my previous fridge but the current fridge has thicker doors which complicates matters.

I think that you have another problem with the fridge freezer position. I'm not sure that you've got enough space there to include the necessary ventilation space around it.

Is there space to move the fridge freezer to the other end?

I'm not sure you're going to be able to access the freezer well. We looked at Americans the other day and most of them have the water/ice dispenser on the top of the freezer door meaning you need to open them really quite wide to get access. Normally if there's units to the left that's fine as the fridge is deeper but your wall might cause an issue.

If you're thinking of an American fridge with a water/ice dispenser I would definitely leave a bigger space around it. Ours gets used all the time and it would cause a blockage point in your kitchen. I agree with turning your island 90°. Traffic will flow much better, especially if you have kids.

Do you think it would be better if the FF is placed one unit in? This would help with the door opening problem, but would mean the pantry cupboard would then be a bit hidden behind the fridge (but at least the pantry door would open the right way)

But then the FF is next to the ovens

I agree you'd be very hard pushed to open the freezer door properly with the wall sitting beyond the edge. They open to around 150 degrees and you can't get the drawers open unless it's properly open.

Yep@stressedouttumbleweed is spot on - you really need to be able to fully open the doors on these things to bring the drawers out.

I reckon a smaller island / rotate / peninsula is your way to go, with a careful review of the door-opening situation.

They also don't go totally flush against the wall if you've got a water dispenser etc so just to be aware of that!

Are the windows already ordered/in, or is there scope to make them shorter - the ones which don't currently have kitchen units underneath them?

Our fridge freezer created a pinch point every time the door was opened…which is a lot if you are cooking, and getting drinks out….we really tried to avoid it in new design .

Nothing further to say on the FF questions, but am compelled to say you have no counter space! Where will you do your chopping and whatnot? Once you’ve got a draining rack in, I don’t see where you’d actually do stuff!

Rough as fuck - but if the windows can be made higher you could bring the kitchen round which would give you more space to work.

The current layout - with 3 windows - really limits your space for tall units which is a challenge when you want the american f/f and a tall oven.

You'd possibly manage it (in your existing layout) if you dropped the tall pantry and exchanged it for 2 narrow pull out units and had that wall going (left to right in picture) corner unit, oven, narrow pull out, fridge, narrow pull out.

I thought I wanted an American FF too until I had one. Big on the outside and small on the inside! I really wouldn't recommend it and I think it will look bulky and be difficult to use in that position in your kitchen. The doors are very bulky and need to open all the way back.

Some of the current ones are really spacious - we were debating between an American and side by side integrated uprights. The American is about the same on freezer space and bigger on fridge space, and is working out cheaper.

I know the side-by-side FF's look nice, but perhaps you should opt for more typical top fridge, bottom freezer style. Your door could swing open so you could more easily access food, and use the island as drop zone.

The way you have it now you would have to step out of the kitchen area to access fridge since door opens wrong way. I don't think they make reverse plans for side-by-side. The fridge is always on the right, and freezer left.

Full height larder fridge and under counter freezer. The door opening of the American fridge would drive me nuts. With a freezer on the garage you just have your most used frozen items for me it’s veg and chips/nuggets rest in garage. You don’t have enough cooking surface this would help.

Planning to do that on the island! Agree, not much counter space. But didn't want a hob or sink on the island

You need to take your floor plans to a kitchen designer for a better plan. Many will put a plan together for you for free.
Some of the sketches other mumsneters have done are more practical than the one your architect has put together!

@StatisticallyChallenged that is very interesting! They are currently french doors which we are thinking of turning into low windows with window seats BUT having them at normal height would allow for units along that wall. There might actually be too much space in the middle now, but the peninsula could be brought closer in.

😬 at 100cm deep, that’s ambitious, especially if you want to seat 4 to eat. Have you measured this space out, with dinner plates and cutlery etc? It’s always a good idea to cut paper out (or use newspapers or empty boxes) to get a feel for actual sizes. @StatisticallyChallenged has come up with a way better and much more obvious layout, that will solve your problems. Truly. I think your architect is trying to give you all The Things, but without a thought to actually living in and using this space. Between a FF that won’t open fully or in the right direction, and no counter space, this is actually pretty impractical. Sorry to be Debbie Downer!

I think you could be right. The challenge is that we are using Ikea with custom fronts and some customising here and there, it is all panned to look cool but not cost much. Architect does interiors and is good at Ikea hacks but I'm not feeling that this kitchen design is quite right. I've heard that the in house kitchen designers won't do a plan when the room doesn't exist yet (as all measurements are approximate), but that might have been a one off I heard about. Ikea said they needed a full architect drawing with all measurements displayed (window heights etc) to do a design session so I'll have to get that from the architect. It would be good to get more (specialist kitchen designer) eyes on it.

You could definitely bring the peninsula in - I'd put it there so it lined up with the window edge which made sense.

Re your ikea kitchen - ikea are fairly limited on unit sizes and fittings. We're doing our kitchen just now and DIY kitchens is coming out a good bit cheaper with far better units. Something to consider.

Agree with others that your architect's plan doesn't really work well as a practical kitchen. You have a good space, you can definitely do better imo