I just want to see small kitchens!

[Sonolanona]

We need a new kitchen...ours is pretty much as it was 24 years ago when we moved in (new door fronts but thats it) It's very battered looking now!

But we have a long and quite narrow kitchen and so far the showrooms we have seen all have huge kitchen displays with massive kitchen islands and oodles of space!
I'd love an island but the room isn't wide enough! I'm thinking of looking at Ikea as they tend to be a tad more realistic, but I know their units don't come with a service void and wonder if that's a ballache for installation?
If anyone here has an Ikea kitchen ..was it difficult to install? And if anyone can recommend somewhere that does smaller kitchen displays... please do!

Yes and yes. Most of my cupboards ended up backless or with chunks cut out of them. We’ve had mice in a few of the cupboards. It’s an old terraced house.

Having said that, I love the units. All the drawers and secrets drawers means you can fit loads of stuff in them.

I didn’t use an ikea installer, but a local joiner, and he was cursing them.

We have an IKEA kitchen and yes it's more difficult for installers, but once it's in you have more space in drawers in cupboards than kitchens that do have a service void! We love ours and would choose it again

I dont understand why you're leaning to IKEA just because they have smaller kitchens on display? This kitchen designers in any of these places will design the kitchen to fit your space, the showroom is to get inspiration, and see the colours and finishes etc.

I had an IKEA kitchen in my old house - it was a tiny galley kitchen. Absolutely no problems with it!

I bought some replacement kitchen doors from HKUK for my rental. They can design the kitchen based on your requirements and then provide you with all the materials needed. Look at the website if you are interested:
https://www.hkuk.co.uk/hkuk/complete-kitchens/
I haven’t yet used them for this particular service but the doors were excellent quality.

We have a small kitchen from Magnet. I'm delighted with it.

Our last kitchen was IKEA,dh installed it, didn't find it difficult at all.....he's not a kitchen fitter, but does all the DIY. It was a 1930s cottage. The one where we live now, also small 9 x7, open plan one end to living room,other end back door into conservatory

Our recent kitchen is Wickes, also installed by dh.

About to say the same. Partner isn't a kitchen fitter but is very handy.
He's fitted x 2 ikea, x 2 wren, x 1 benchmark and x 1 howdens. No problems with ikea.

I dont know if it's the same nowadays but fitters didn't used to like ikea as you had to make the carcass up, they didn't come made so extra work.

My approx 9' square kitchen is a classic horseshoe shape. Wickes Tiverton. About 15 years old now.

My mum has a 10ft galley kitchen, also Wickes but not sure which model. Floor to ceiling cupboards on one side (with integrated fridge freezer), normal cupboards on the other (with sink, hob, oven).

For a small kitchen I'd recommend custom made to measure cabinets and doors particularly for the wall units, much better use of space and aesthetics and they don't need to be crazy ££ we used and were really impressed https://diyhomefit.co.uk/kitchens/kitchen-cabinets-carcasses-units.html
https://kitchenandbedroomdoors.co.uk/kitchendoorrange.asp?gadsource=1&gadcampaignid=21382326881&gbraid=0AAAAA932JrMkkp6HUgsv7DMvC6OX0UKI&gclid=CjwKCAjw7vzOBhBxEiwAc7WNr153Lt5dHc-n8Tj-1micmwdtqXNRIZuZ43FFlPG7VUakPQnmZ2mBoCt7oQAvDBwE
Also induction hob is essential as it gives you extra workspace and a longer clear run. Consider a 2 ring instead of 4 if it allows better use of the space, be realistic about how often you actually use more than 2 rings, you'd might be surprised.
Try hard to get a slimline dishwasher in as it means you won't have dishes cluttering the workspace.
Budget for fancy internals in the base units (drawers not cupboards for efficient use of space.
Try and clear the worktop as much as possible, I wired a socket into the back of a deep drawer and had a toaster drawer so that the drawer was open when toasting them by by toaster, it was very satisfying.

Sadly never got finished before we got divorced, but i do now have a bigger, brighter kitchen in my new house!!

Islands are overrated IMO but i do like a small butcher's block and you can get them in small spaces

I have a tiny kitchen. Wren did a really good design for mine. And fitted in a breakfast bar.

The range of sizes with IKEA units is much more limited than other other brands. We looked at using them for our utility and we'd have ended up with loads of wasted space because of not having particular sizes available. We ended up going with DIY kitchens and they actually ended up more or less the same price as ikea anyway. That's with a shaker painted mdf/vinyl finish which looks MUCH higher end than the comparable ikea one.

It's not the same as viewing them in person, but I look at all the houses on rightmove to get ideas. One of my neighbours in the same sort of house has a genius layout that I wish I'd thought of

Periperi,oh yes. We also have an induction hob, small dishwasher,round sink,which came with a chopping board wooden,no draining board. I don't want to see stuff like that from the sofa. I do have microfibre draining mats, which hang up with the tea cloth/oven gloves,a fold up silicone drainer and a ridged one which hand neatly behind the door.

Once saw a tiny kitchen that used the cupboards that normally go on the wall at floor level, because they aren’t as deep

is this an option?

That's definitely an option. We used to have a tiny kitchen - floor units on both long walls wouldn't work. We kept one wall as "standard floor units/appliances, and then used wall units at floor level on the opposite wall. The only "issue" was having to have the worktop cut to fit the smaller depth.

The flip side is that is that if you have an awkward shape small kitchen you can gain useful worktop space by having a deeper than normal worktop. Worktop in my kitchen was standard depth at one end but where the wall was deeper half way along the worktop was extra depth, as was the shelf and the wall cabinets (made to measure), eek out every bit of space you can.

I’d recommend extra tall wall units - ones that go up to the ceiling. I have a U Shaped kitchen, the two corner base units are awkward as they are double width but have only one door, so half the cupboard is tricky to reach into. Other than that, I find it really functional and it’s great for cooking in. I do try to keep the work surfaces clear as well.

I've got a small kitchen! Mine is just units from B&Q and when it's finally finished it will be gorgeous. I'm a minimalist though so I only have the kettle and coffee making out and I don't cook a lot.

15 year old ikea kitchen in my small Edwardian terrace. I have an open plan dining room with a dining table. All my friends who have kitchen islands advise against one.

I definitely wouldn't limit myself to ikea, although I can understand why you might be drawn to them because their kitchens as laid out in the showrooms are good adverts for small space living. I think they're a great starting point for ideas if you're struggling.

The ikea kitchen we inherited at our last house was awful though. It was swiftly replaced by a few rigid cabinets from Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch (not cheap at 6k, but DH somehow managed to make them go further by building other stuff (island, bin cupboards) around them 😉 Fab quality, well worth the expense imo.

Our current cottage kitchen is a massive downsize from what we've had previously (approximately 13' x 9' but the open plan layout to the dining room allows for our French style fridge freezer to sit outside the footprint) and I knew I'd miss my huge island...and do, every single day. But we're getting by with our old butcher's block and eventually plan to replace our round dining table with a rectangular marble topped one so there's an overspill area for prep/baking etc.

We actually got our (solid oak, painted, in-frame) base cabinets from eBay for £300. I repainted them and added new handles. These have been supplemented by a reclaimed narrow drawer unit (still needs reducing in height!) from the old 1960s kitchen and a couple of second hand wall units. DH is building a 'larder' in the recess adjacent to the fireplace using leftover doors from the eBay kitchen. Total cabinetry cost £600?

Not finished yet, but here's a couple of pics...

IVe had 2 IKEA kitchens and have been very happy with them. My DH installed them both

We had a Wren kitchen installed, very happy with quality etc. Personally I don't like shaker style, I prefer flat surface doors as they are quicker/easier to clean. Induction hob great as no mess generated, more controllable than other hobs and safer (not recommended for people with pacemakers as they are magnetic).