Kitchen floorplan help pls!

[MotherPuppr]

Hello, would really appreciate some help with my kitchen floorplan. It is a small-ish room about 3.4m wide x 5 long. Leads out to small courtyard garden so would like sliding french doors out to coutyard at dining table end. Current kitchen and bathroom being completely knocked down for this new space so no limitations on where to put windows and doors etc.

• the funny wine racks on the wall above the sink are where i would like a wooden rectangular frame cookbook shelf / space for pestle / mortar etc. Just couldn't work that out on ikea website.
• shallower shelves at end are for glassware and a coffee and cocktail station and to store all our wine.
• the two tall cupboards on long wall are F/F and pantry. Then D/W, then sink with bins under, then drawers then a corner carousel for pots n pans, then hob.
• I know it's a lot of upper cabinets and not to everyone's taste in terms of busyness, but cooking and baking are my hobby and i love entertaining, i really do need the storage!

• not set on the cabinet colours or a round table shape, was just playing around.
• need the island for countertop space, happy to lose the island seating. If i did keep the bar stools i'd get a waterfall edge island i'm just not techny enough to work that out 😥

Pics!

ps i should clarify, all the appliances and drawers etc open fine. You'd need to load the DW a little side on (from the sink down to DW on left), but apart from that it's all got enough room!

Do you need the dining table? I would enlarge the island with storage possibly on both sides, for seating you only need an overhang of around 30 cm so you could always have back to back cupboards with shallow cupboards below the seating side.

Thanks - yes definitely need the dining table (a 4 that pops out to 6 for occassional use). We have NOWHERE else in the whole house to put a dining table, not even a small one. It's an old narrow cottage and the living room is even smaller (same width, but contains the hallway running length of house that needs kept clear, and about 4m long (incl. original fireplace).

I would lose the island and add a large farmhouse table in place of the smaller, round table.

Move the fridge to the end and get a longer countertop.

P.S. sorry realised OP is wrong - doorway (next to oven tower) can't be moved, and the space running in front needs kept clear (that is our 'hallway' that runs length of house). But everything else, incl the window, is brand new and can move wherever. All plumbing and electrics will be getting done from scratch anyway.

Have definitely toyed with this because i don't think i need the storage under the island, but then i can't use the magimix, vitamix, kitchenaid on the kitchen table because there will be no plug socket. I would get sockets in/on the island.

I wpuld rotate your island 90 degrees to face out into room. I know some people hate ot, but I wpuld put hob here ao you can face put rather than the wall. Much more sociable. Id get rid of island seating and out half depth on the back.
Id also swap for a rectangular table with a bench on one side, better for seating 6 in an emergency.

Oh, and i wouldn't have tall units between windows. I'd move to back wall.

Consider a hybrid of island and table, I really think it will feel so cluttered with all of that in there.

Thank you seaside, i am not sure about hob (or sink) in island for all the usual reasons, although to be fair i would gain a huge run of worktop behind it for prep, so i should try it out.

Spinning the island is definitely a good idea though. Would need to become more square to accomodate the DW opening and closing (currently next to F/F) - that said, i suppose the DW could go in the island, as island would have more room between oven tower and it in your idea.

A couple of people advocate moving the fridge to the end - i hear you. However does this not feel a bit far from the sink / hob / contrary to the triangle rule? I had thought current configuration kept fridge in the work zone and allowed me to have shallow depth end units which makes occassional 6 seating for table easier as the room is a little wider at the garden end that way.

Very helpful folks!

I wouldn’t have the oven next to the door in to the kitchen for safety as much as anything. I’d put the larder there, and the oven / FF next to each other where the FF/larder currently are, with the oven nearer the worktop for ease of getting things out and putting them down.

I’d then move the sink along a bit. Or consider what I have, which is sink and dishwasher in the island? Make the island a bit bigger too, lose the stools if you have the table there, and you’ve then got plenty of worktop space and cupboards there too.

The ff almost splits the kitchen into 2, I would move these to the end of the kitchen to allow a much longer workspace. I wouldnt put the oven and ff next to each other, family member had similar and found they were needing to replace ff evert few years as it was having to work harder as placed next to a heating device.

Are you sure you want glass display cupboards, you have to keep the glass clean and the contents tidy for it to look presentable.

Our open shelves, became a magnet for junk and grease! Got rid of these at the earliest opportunity.

Although it looks like you will have double doors, I would prefer more natural light and with small windows the back of the room, I suspect will feel more closed of and dark.

I am not a fan of the island and table considering you live in a cottage, i would go with a large table or table and seating fitted against the rear wall.

Does your hob have an extractor? If not I would get look to organise one.

Where is your washing machine currently?

Yes hob has extractor immediately above in one of the cupboards.

Washing machine is currently in my teeny tiny bathroom - i'm hoping to convert the area under the stairs into a tiny laundry (stacked washer and dryer, little sink with cupboard under for laundry powder etc, and then a coathook to keep dog leash, raincoat, wellies etc in there out the way.

I'm not wedded to the glass doors on the cupboards, i would rather not have them, it was just because i think ikea only do a 1m height shallow wall cupboard with a glass door.

It is a cottage but not a cotswold type, sorry, i was not very specific. I am overseas. It's a weatherboard house (very tiny!) No stone walls or low ceilings or wooden beams or anything.

Oh Sccooby i am not tidy enough for a sink in the island :D maybe a hob, but never a sink !

It's lovely! Would the island get on your nerves in that space? Is there a pull out unit or something you could use?

My kitchen is tiny (although unlike you I don't like cooking) and I'm having all cupboards (like a jewel kitchen). I'm not having open shelves because they get greasy. But I am having a pull out pan drawer under the stove! You can also get storage in the base boards!

I hadn't noticed the glass units were shallower in depth. Personally I prefer balance so same depth units. My oven is housed next to a door, its no issue. My kitchen is a similar shape with the ff at the end with a tall pull out, configuration works well for our family.

I have to admit when house hunting I did see a similar kitchen to your design and it put me off the house.

I'd put the oven stack, ff and larder all along that one wall (have that in mine and it works perfectly). You'd need to move the window along a bit to accommodate) .

The window end of the tall run could then house an appliances garage which allows you to slide the appliances out for use - maybe a garage style rolling door to help with this ?

You then end up with a long run on window wall that this completely uninterrupted and can have job and sink plus loads of prep space.

If you can configure windows however you like then have 2 matching each other with cupboards /shelves over them all beautifully symmetrical

Make all bottom cupboards into drawers.

If you are having an island really think about whether you need seating at it. If not you can have more storage in it that you can actually get to.

Thank you all this is really helpful - i will try the fridge at the end of the run later and post back! My concern is it hitting the dinner guests when we squeeze in 6-8 for dinner (which is why i had put it in the middle although i appreciate it's awkward there). Hmm, food for thought.

I doubt the island seating will ever be used with a table right next to it, so I'd ditch that, and if you want more worktop space, put the island against the wall. Or the table as PP have said.

How much space is there between the sink and island, it looks really cramped.

I'd lose the island and have a long rectangular dining table seating 6. Have the fridge and larder at the end, then you will have more counter top and sockets for your kitchen appliances, meaning you don't need to use the island. Because the dining table is long, you won't need to worry about people having enough room when seating 6. You could probably seat 8 or 10 round it if needed.

Hi there's 85cm between sink and island and between oven and island currently - enough to allow DW to open clearly and oven to open comfortably - I was thinking a slide and hide so I can actually stand in front and lift things in / out straight onto island or countertop

My 1st reaction is I wouldn’t have the bar stools with the dinning table being so close by and I think,it would feel more spacious. You coukd then add extra storage 1/2 cupboards where the stools would have been. This is what I did and the extra storage is used for spare serving dishes etc when we are entertaining.

I like @itsmeafterall suggestion of a bank of tall units along the back wall, eliminating the need for a tall unit in your window side. You could havefloir to ceiling, with oven unit, pantry, f/f and appliance garage.

Then rotate island as per my earlier suggestion.

Move your window down, personally i'd make them taller if you can , taller windows let more light in. And if possible I would avoid wall units, to me they make a place feel cramped, especially if you're short on space. You should have enough of you use the back of the island, you can even put shelves on the 'corridor' side of your island for cook books/nice crockery/vases etc.

If you put your dishwasher to the left of your sink and your crockery to the left of this it will make loading and unloading easy.

Yes to drawers, we have ikea ones and you can fit so much in. Nothing disappears till the back and is forgotten about l. We have internal drawers fitted too for things like spices, cutlery, chopping boards.

I would also consider where you're putting your kettle, personally I like it out of the way of the main work space. It allows people to make a drink without getting in your way.

And we have our recycling boxes hidden in a unit under the boiler. I got sick of stiff being left on the side waiting to go outside, so bought the bins from ikea. Work out where your bin will be. I'm thinking of altering under our sink, currently we have a pull out bin in a cupboard, but I prefer the ones in a drawer, so that's on my list of kitchen improvements.

Thanks again all, i had a play around with the different ideas and while some don't work (for me at least) it's been super helpful at narrowing things down.

If i ditch the island i don't think i have enough storage, i honestly have everything: 5 place wedding china for 8, cultery canteen for 8, a fancy afternoon tea set, port glasses, red / white / champagne glasses for 8, at any given time 2 cases of wine and multiple spirits - you get the idea. I am just not a minimalist with food, wine or servewear! I do agree i should ditch the island seating though.

I have tried the pantry and f/f down the end but when I am trying to squeeze 6 (or possibly 8) around the table i'll need to spin an (extendable) table long ways the length of the room and then the fridge door is hitting 2 people at the bottom end 😥

I didn't end up trying 60cm units down one side and 37cm down the other (although i did think this sounded promising!) because i would have had the same fridge collison problem when more than 2 people were round for dinner.

I appreciate breaking up the run of worktop is really not ideal but what do you think if I put the pantry (only) at the very end, i thought maybe it balanced it a bit more? (You can still open the pantry fully with multiple people sat at the table, although in any event you're not exactly in / out a pantry all night during a boozy dinner!).

New pics (once MN approves) are new proposed layout for day to day, then a dinner party birds eye view (yes it is a squish!) and then an annotated dinner party birds eye so you can see what i mean about being able to still get to the Fridge while people are sat around the table.