aga in chimney breast - help please!

[lexie01]

I am in the process of completely replacing/redesigning my kitchen and would like some advise from any imaginative souls out there on MN.

In the space that will be the kitchen I have an existing chimney recess. I would dearly love to put an Aga in there (I have had a survey and have costed it out as part of the kitchen budget). However on one side of the chimney recess I have an original strip pine floor to ceiling cupboard (Edwardian) which I really want to keep but DH wants to remove to make the kitchen look more 'symmetrical'. The cupboard is flush to the chimney (if that makes sense??). The problem I have is that the depth of the aga is about 25cm more than my chimney recess and I am worried that it will look silly just sticking out. I can't encompass the whole thing with cupboards/overmantel as is generally done because of the pre-existing cupboard.

Have any MN come across this problem before? Do you know if it would be possible for a builder to make the depth of the chimney opening greater or should I just leave the aga to 'stick out'. HELP - I am running out of ideas fast and I would dearly like to keep the original cupboard.

If you're being authentic, surely the Aga should stick out by about 25cm? I don't think that's a problem.

On the other hand, your chimney recess might have been made shallower over the years, and have originally been deeper (ours is).

I'd put the Aga in, keep the existing cupboard, and then, if your DH wants it to be symmetrical, I'd get a local craftsman to make another cupboard to match on the other side. Sounds lovely.

Sounds similar to ours. Is the chimney breast brick? Our builder added another run of bricks to worktop height each side of the range to make it look symmetrical. It's topped with offcuts of worktop so there's a little ledge each side.

Hope that makes sense!

Our Aga sticks out about 25 cm, not a problem.

Thanks for all your comments. I can't add an additional run of bricks either side of the aga because of the cupboard which unfortunately is flush with one side of the chimney breast.

Flowerybeanbag - does your aga just slot into the chimney recess then? Do you have the whole opening tiled? I wouldn't bother so much if this was just any old cooker but I want to make sure I won't be disappointed by the look of such an expensive piece of kit!!