Kitchen help - please critique these design ideas.

[GianinaC]

Hello,

We are designing a new kitchen for our late Victorian property, it's not a massive space but has 9ft tall ceiling.

After going to all the usual kitchen places we thought we would try and design our own on DIY Kitchens. The colour would likely be a light blue or maybe linen. We are still not sure between shaker vs slab.

There will be a Neff range cooker (900mm), dishwasher, Fridge/Freezer and Quooker tap.

In terms of the kitchen, the door on the right goes into a small pantry.

The DIY Kitchens design tool is basic, so doesn't allow us to dress it very well. We want open shelving etc. We would also add a bakers table or rugged looking slim wooden table.

Any thoughts would be great, be as brutal as you please 😁

Agree about islands, op. Fine if you have a huge kitchen with room for an island and a table but if you can only have one, it’s table every time.

We put a peninsular unit in (island coming out from a wall) three base units with a solid wood top with leg room on one side. Lovely big surface for baking etc.
Pan drawers are wonderful.
Bensimpsonfurniture.com are great for wooden shelves.

I'll not a fan of islands unless you have a big open plan space. I feel many people crowbar them in when their space doesn't really work with one.

If the dimensions of your floorplan are correct, you have more than enough room for a generously sized island. Your current plan is definitely, and massively, lacking in good workspace.

@GianinaC I agree, they were fashionable, but in a small kitchen it does make the space cramp and constantly having to walk round a kitchen island would put me off. When we moved, an island in the kitchen did put me off tbh. Yes they can look great in a huge kitchen, but otherwise no, for me.

Join the Facebook page - "DIY Kitchens - Design and Planning Forum and Finished Kitchen Reviews - UK".

They are brilliant and if you post your design, they will make suggestions and point out any mistakes you might have made, and offer alternatives.

We ended up using one of the four kitchen designers on the page, who came and double checked our measurements and offered some advice and changes to our initial plan.

We paid him £450 I think, but he created our shopping cart on the DIY website, so we knew that we would have everything we needed, and hadn't overlooked end panels, or specific hinges etc.

We felt it was money well spent for our peace of mind, and he did come up with some excellent suggestions.

If you can, visit their showroom in Doncaster/Pontefract. They have an amazing range of kitchen set ups to see, and staff around to offer advice.

Are you planning to have it all grey (or is it just like that to be neutral for design purposes)? I think it looks really dark and gloomy with that colour scheme... but that may not be your intention

You need to look at zoning your room.
I would put storage, fridge and larders on your opposite wall, where there's nothing, sink and dishwasher on the short wall and hob/ovens to the right of the long wall. A good length of clear worktop between the hob and sink. A wall cupboard is still useful for glasses, etc near the sink. You could put open shelves at that end as they will be further from the cooker. I don't think there's room for an island in that room, sorry.

Information on kitchen zoning

Sorry wrong link, this is more helpful http://www.kitchenart.com.au/wp-content/uploads/blum-dynamic-space.pdf

Also, if you have a separate pantry, you could have your fridge and units for crockery storage and drinks making on the "bottom" wall.

We’ve got a neff hob with a built in extractor, it’s great but the extraction unit takes up a fair amount of space underneath. And the qooker tap takes up space underneath too.

if you are getting a pantry though that’ll mean you need less storage in kitchen.

personally I find open shelves need to much cleaning for my tastes.

The DIY kitchen planner always looks dark even with white units, it's just the visualization.

OP,
Love this design, I too, really dislike Wall cupboards and find there's a lot of wasted space. I like the baskets.

Put integrated bins next to dishwasher so all the 'dirty' stuff is next to each other.

Love the floor to ceiling pantry idea, so much storage also fits with the victorian theme.

Table and chairs is more organic than an island and really, you don't need tons of worktop space if you have appliances integrated or hidden behind pantry doors. I tend to use the section by the cooker to prepare food and a section by the sink for tea coffee etc.
Good luck!

I went to the DIYK showroom last week OP and have just ordered my kitchen from them. Recommend the showroom if you get a chance, so many ideas and staff able to help. The FB page mentioned above really helpful too.