Kitchen layout

[anxiousatnight]

Ideas for my new kitchen layout please!

We are having an extension built on the end of our kitchen. The 'sun terrace' will become a garden room, and our kitchen table and chairs will go out there. This will leave an empty space at one end of our kitchen where the table and chairs currently is and I'd love idea for how neat to use this space.

Kitchen is fairly long and narrow. The part of the kitchen I'm referring to is the darker end of the room.

Options are an island, fitted units or a sofa.

Island
Pros - more storage in the island itself, could have the very far side as casual seating with stools where friends can sit and chat when I'm making coffee etc, a space to lay food out at Christmas (and other times when we entertain larger numbers which we do quite a bit) for people to walk around and fill their plates.
Cons - will it look weird having an island at the far end of the kitchen and do we even have enough width for a decent sized island?

Fitted cupboards
Pros - would probably give the most storage, would probably look the most 'correct'. We have a really high ceiling there, so could have a large fitted 'dresser' style unit which would provide loads of storage and be a really nice feature.
Cons - no space for casual seating in kitchen.

Sofa
Pros - could make a really nice cost end of the kitchen for casual seating.
Cons - no additional storage, which we could do with.

Sorry - picture one shows the island, picture 2 shows the fitted units and picture 3 shows the sofa.

Re Picture 2 - We wouldn't have units in a u-shape because the right hand side wall is nice exposed stone.

They all sound quite nice to be honest (envious of your big kitchen!). What you need to ask yourself is what irritates you most about your kitchen as it is now. Do you find yourself inwardly cursing as you try to shove your stuff into overcrowded cupboards? Then go for the storage. Do you find your friends hovering awkwardly while you make coffee? Then go for the sofa.

If the garden room is really nice, with a table and views out, people will naturally gravitate to sit there, so you might not get much use out of a breakfast bar.

The thing that irritates me most about our kitchen is the lack of "admin space" - the worktop gets cluttered up with bills, pens, post, shopping lists, tape measures etc. So if I had an annexe like that I would put in a small desk or bureau and a comfortable small sofa or snuggler beside it.

Thanks @Squiblet, that's a good way of looking at it. It's both the storage and the seating thing that bothers me, which was why I was thinking of the island to incorporate both. My DH thinks it would look weird though as it's not in the middle, and I'm not sure that he's not wrong.

The garden room should be nice, we are rural and it will have views over a field of sheep and or garden and pond. It will very much be a separate room though, rather than becoming part of the kitchen itself.

I think our kitchen-diner is a little wider (just over 3m, rather than just under 3m), but we have wall and floor cabinets on the wall you have shared with the livingroom.
We then have a peninsula sticking out.
With dining table and wood burner (I know they are marmite - it was here when we moved in) in what for you will be extra space. I'd love to add an armchair or 2. About to go and try and sketch on your diagrams what I mean.....

So, I'd do something like this, and have the sofas

You need minimum 1m walking space either side of an island, so you'd only be able to fit in one that's 80cm wide. I think it might look a bit odd.

I would take off the end kitchen cabinet by the utility door and put in a peninsula with a couple of seats there. Then put in a run of cabinets for storage along the back wall as in pic 2 (I think it was pic 2).

Ah yes that thought did cross my mind too, I don't know why I dismissed it because it seems good now someone else has suggested it. So now I've got four options!

Although you're right about the island, I probably don't have the width and it might look daft, so maybe I'll take that idea out and replace it with the peninsula idea.

To be honest I’d be more tempted to extend sideways and knock through the utility area so you have a larger more practical shape kitchen. I’d make a utility area at the back where the table used to be

There's a peninsula in my new kitchen and it's a dumping ground, can't wait to get rid of it.

I'd go for the storage, you can never have too much storage in a kitchen. I think 3m is too tight for sitting in anyway, and I don't like sofas in a kitchen, they'll absorb the smells.

I would definitely extend the outer wall of the house so it matched the outer wall of the utility room. I would then make the area that used to be for your table into a butler's pantry. You would then have fabulous space and plenty of room for a gorgeous island.

Yes I'd love to square off the kitchen/utility but we can't do that because it doesn't really work outside. The 'new' end of the house would clash with a sheer drop of about 3 feet and wee need access around that side of the house for ride on lawn mower etc.

Is it a load bearing wall between the utility and kitchen? Assuming it's the original outside wall? It would make for a better shape room with utility in the back space.

following up on previous suggestions, I might split of the end of the room altogether to make a small study / admin room where you can have a laptop and all your household paperwork. the desk is D and this room would also lead to the utility and give extra storage.

then you could use the new wall to have a big fridge-freezer (F) facing into your kitchen which would feel a bit less like a corridor.

This is the room (estate agent's photos - it's not that tidy now )

I also can't extend the kitchen in line with the utility room because of ground/roof levels. The kitchen and utility are already a 'lean to' extension on the side of the house, so the roof is sloping, and you step down into the utility room to allow enough headroom.

It just wouldn't work, although I appreciate it's the obvious suggestion when you look at the floor plans.

@CatOnTheChair yes I see exactly what you mean. From the photos I've just posted you'll see there are actually units on the wall shared with the living room like you've said, I don't know why they aren't on the floor lane.

*floor plan

What exactly is your garden room going to be, in terms of construction, insulation, heating etc.

I've had a conservatory open to my kitchen for 20 years, and the kitchen table and chairs are in there.
Most of the year it is completely livable, but in the coldest months it isn't great on wet/cloudy days or in the evenings.
Having had a heavy curtain in the gap, which then stays closed in the worst weather, I've just had folding doors fitted so it is now a separate room.
I'm finding that we don't really use the table in there during the week, and it only gets opened up and used at the weekend. As it gets warmer I'll fold the doors fully back and they'll just stay open until late autumn.

In moving your table to the garden room I'd want to be totally happy it would be usable throughout the year, and that you'd want to use it as such.

But I say all that whilst living in a house with a separate dining room, so u have other eating options.

Just to show what I mean
Thats the doors part open, when fully open they will fold back against the original outside house walls in the conservatory, so although the frame will be visible from the kitchen the doors won't be.

Oh wow @Chasingsquirrels I absolutely love your kitchen/conservatory setup. Those new doors are lovely.

The garden room will be a low wall with glazing on top, then a slate roof. It will be triple glazed with underfloor heating and insulated where possible. I'm very aware of the point you're making though and this has been something we've discussed. We're hoping to do the garden room this year and the new kitchen won't follow for a few years after that because there's nothing really wrong with it yet. I need to wait until it's falling apart a bit to justify replacing it (so I'm getting a bit ahead of myself I know!), but that will hopefully give us time and a few winters to work out whether it's usable all year round.

My opening from the kitchen won't be as wide as yours, but I love your new doors. You're right that I will need some sort of door there, I'm not sure what as it's not as wide as I'd like, but hopefully our builder/carpenter can come up with some ideas.

It won't be glazing all around either, more walls with lots of windows so there will be 'pillars' if you like between the windows. Definitely more of a room with lots of windows than a conservatory

@anxiousatnight That is a gorgeous room! Whatever you choose to do will look fabulous!

Sounds like it's going to be a proper room and well insulated and heated then, so you shouldn't have any problems with that. And lots of time to make final decisions.

I'd probably go with a sofa for now, although personally I think I'd be tempted to make the garden room the more informal seating area - but hard to know which actually living in it.

With the sofa now you'd have time to live with it and see how it is.

In terms of storage, when you do replace the kitchen consider kick board drawers.

And yes I'm REALLY pleased with the doors, they need finishing - frame staining to match the skirting etc, and I can't decide whether to paint the actual doors to match the sage green of the kitchen units. They have made such a difference in winter (only fitted in Jan), but will just fold back out of the way in summer.

It’s a lovely room! I think I would consider a freestanding island there, you probably don’t need the full recommended space around it as you won’t be cooking around it.

It would take up a similar space as a large table but would be much more useful in terms to storage and somewhere else to gather with drinks/ nibbles etc.