Kitchen Help - Layout and appliances

[BlueButterfly35]

Hi everyone 👋

We’re moving into our new home in the next couple of weeks and I could really use some ideas and inspiration for the kitchen.

The current owner renovated before selling and while it’s fine, it’s very basic and I’m a bit worried about how practical it actually is. Long term (maybe in the next 10 years) we’d love to extend into the garden, but that’s definitely not on the cards financially right now. In the short term, I’m thinking about knocking through the wall between the kitchen and dining room (yes, very likely load-bearing 😅).

The kitchen itself is quite wide but awkwardly laid out:
Only space for one appliance (currently a washing machine)
No dishwasher, no fridge freezer
Two windows and door mean the external wall isn’t very usable
The boiler is awkwardly placed between the windows
The opposite wall isn’t straight because it’s part of an extension – half is narrow, half holds the oven and hood

So while it probably looks like a decent space, it doesn’t really work in practice.

I’m feeling a bit stuck and would really appreciate any advice, ideas or tips. How would you make this work for now without spending a fortune or redoing the entire kitchen, knowing it may all change again in 10 years anyway?

Photos attached to help you visualise the space.
All thoughts welcome – especially from anyone who’s made an awkward kitchen work on a budget! 🙏✨

Could you turn the dining room into a kitchen/diner and use the current kitchen as a utility room?

Ten years is a long time and i think I'd be expecting to replace a kitchen by then anyway so I wouldn't be worrying too much about spending out now if redoing in ten years.

There are so many options but it's very much budget dependent.

Lowest cost option if you are knocking through into the dining room then you don't need the extra external door so ignore that external door and just put a free standing fridge freezer on that wall in front of the door, or partially in front of the door. Take out one of the cabinets near the sink so you can plumb in a dishwasher as well as a washing machine.

Medium cost option, assuming you are still knocking through to the dining room. block up the external door in the kitchen and refit the cabinets into a u shaped arrangement at that end of the kitchen. Depending on measurements I'd be trying to fit my fridge freezer in the space where the hob currently is, hopefully there is enough room for a tall cabinet there to use as a larder too, and move the hob on to the next wall (ie where the current external door is). I'd replace the sink with something better and I'd have to replace the worktops after all the rejigging. lose a cabinet near the sink for a dishwasher.

Higher cost option, still making it one room by removing the wall, I'd start considering the internal doors in, as you won't need both if it's one room, and how to use the space I'd be gaining there. I'd also be thinking about an interior door to the garage and wether I could fit a utility and possibly a downstairs loo in there.

I'd improve the light fitting and paint the walls, something warm but pale, maybe pink or yellow. Or both.

an immediate option would be to put the washing machine and a dryer and a large freezer in the garage. Add a large porch or roof of some form outside the back door of the kitchen so you can walk from kitchen to garage without getting wet in the rain.

take out one unit by the sink and plumb in a dishwasher there. Add a undercounter fridge in the other space.

then live in the house for a year and get a good feel for what works, what you like etc.

Also get quotes for knocking down the wall and putting in a new kitchen etc. But if you are going to extend in 5 years time rather than 10, it might be better to hang on with the current kitchen until you can extend.

Thanks, that's really helpful, I didn't think about putting the fridge/freezer in front of the door, I do wonder if if will fit just to the side, so still have access if needed

10 years is just a ball park, I was hoping to live in it first without doing anything major to see what worked, I love the larder fridge idea, depending on budget I think it's a really good layout but I don't know if we would be able to utilise the cupboards already there. I'd also love to convert the garage with another toilet/utility but again financial constraints will mean waiting for a few years!

Fridge freezer obviously goes behind that door on the left hand side, and you can put a dishwasher under the draining board by taking that cupboard out. I'm not sure why you think that is a too small kitchen, it is fine.

Thank you! I like your immediate solution, I will have to check on plumbing for the washing machine in the garage, but fridge/freezer and tumble could definitely live in there for the time being and an under counter fridge for the essentials.

Exactly this, given kitchens are so expensive I'd prefer not to do it twice, especially as the one in there currently is brand new it feels a bit of a waste. If we can keep it with minimal changes then we can afford to extend sooner. The wall felt like a good compromise as it would likely need to come down for the extension if we go open plan and then the fridge freezer could always sit in the join of the rooms.

Thanks! Good suggestion as I would love a utility room, just not in the budget for the immediate 😅

Thanks! No it's not too small, it's actually a good size and wider then some galley style kitchens - I just don't think it's been designed well as its not utilising the space or accounted for appliances. I think the fridge freezer might be tight on that wall and interfere with the over, but yes agreed that's the first place to try

My thought would be to take off the wall cupboards at that end where the radiator is, chop out one of the base cabinets and put a fridge freezer in facing the door to the hall. It looks like there is a blanked off space right next to the wall which could be used for storing an ironing board, broom, clothes airer type things. You could change the radiator for a vertical one nearer the door to the hall to give a bit more space in front of the fridge freezer.
You could put another narrow wall cabinet or open shelves in the gap to the left of the hob, or have shelves above the radiator.

You may have to put the fridge freezer in the hall cupboard! The space between the wall and the hob looks like a half a cupboard not a full one.

It is hard to see but is there clear space between the door on the bottom right of the plan and the first unit/wall cupboard between the door and the hob?

Are those patio doors leading from
the dining room? If so I think I’d do away with the kitchen door(from the pics i don’t think it opens onto a main feature or garden area but a quicker route to the back of the garage? Get a run of cabinets/appliances in there if it allows. As it’s recently renovated chances are the cabinets and worktops are still in production so perhaps the option to infill so it’s a U shape.

We had a similar issue in an old house, it was just a long narrow galley kitchen with a door at the end. We managed to block up the door and moved the cooker and hob onto the space creating the U shape and it was so much better.