Feedback on my kitchen design please

[Gentleness]

Ok - here goes! I'm a bit (ok very) nervous because the guys on moneysavingexpert don't like my plan at all! They don't seem to particularly get my thinking and it is making me wonder if my thinking is actually kaput. I just like quite quirky designs and white gloss is quirkless and needs a bit of unusual layout I think.

Bear in mind that there are basically only 2 rooms downstairs in our house - a through lounge and this, with only an understairs cupboard for any other storage.

This is the floorplan - the entrance from the hallway is the door on the right. The area to the left is the dining area with space for bookcases of cookbooks and toys and stereo and chargers and general whatever. The double doors will open into the garden.

Next a snapshot of the window wall. The wall cupboard nearest the side wall represents the boiler so probs won't be quite like that. The microwave will be below the boiler probably. The other wall cupboards (which won't be glass as they look on here) and that worktop area is for drink making so that can go on without my cooking being disturbed (real issue between dh and myself)! I'll do my chopping & food prep in the area to the left of the hob, with Ikea waste sorting under the sink, and all the crockery and pans will be stored on that side of the room. The wall units will be balanced up by some hanging utensils, pictures etc.

And this is the opposite wall, with built-in double oven and free standing fridgefreezer. I need space to store stuff like Christmas decorations & rarely used things and also hate cleaning the tops of cupboards - hence the excessive no of wall units! The worktop in the middle will be my oven/baking area. Food will be stored on that side of the room. My beloved huge whiteboard, wall-hanging mailsort thing and calendar area will be above the tall thin sliding door cupboards on the right, at the kitchen entrance. I really need that space to organise our lives visually.

Here is an opposite wall alternative. Basically loads of people said the original looked messy and was unsymmetrical so I made some amendments and quite like them. Not sure about whether the slide front cupboard on the far right should be normal worktop height (as in the spare unit over in the dining area) or the slightly higher writing height that I've used.

So experts - what have I missed? Or what could be better?

I know I have to put the toaster & breadbin somewhere and can't decide where.

I think it is odd to have storage on two opposite wall that is so unsymmetrical. I think that, on any given wall, it really looks better if all storage is at a level height.

I agree with Bonsoir.I think the lack of symmetry would drive me bonkers.I think full length fitted cupboards with glass doors would look a lot better.Lots of above counter cupboards just look cluttered and old-fashioned to me.I am in the process of designing my new kitchen and i am going to have a short wall of full height cabinets with glass doors to store my enormous amount of china and glassware with pan drawers at the bottom [spring-loaded]for ease of use.I think you need to rejig the layout before you start spending vast sums of money.Sorry!

You show drawers under the sink - don't think that will be feasible?

Will you have a dishwasher? (And if not, why not?!!) If so, I would put the crockery cupboard next to it. I have done that and can get most of my crockery in a narrow base cupboard. Makes unloading the dishwasher really easy.

I would have no wall cupboards on the window wall (store cups in a base cupboard if you can't forego your drinks station!) and a bank of floor to ceiling cupboards on the opposite wall, eg built-in oven, floor to ceiling cupboard(s), fridge. Then worktop with base cupboards (or breakfast bar to do paperwork at) but no wall cupboards above.

Don't know where in the country you are, but have you tried going to some of the bespoke kitchen showrooms? There's one in our area called Optiplan and the guy there was really good at pointing out where some of our ideas didn't work and suggesting alternatives? There was no pressure to buy although we are actually going with them, but for instance Homebase would have quite happily put an American fridge/freezer next to the wall, and Optiplan guy pointed out that we couldn't then remove the shelves to clean/move them!

Our new kitchen isn't perfectly symmetrical (eg one wall has from right to left a tall larder cupboard, the fridge freezer with wine rack above to make up height, the oven in a tall housing, then low level double cupboard and washing machine with worktop over, and above the washing machine/cupboard are tall wall cupboards to match sizes of units underneath - I don't like space on top of cupboards but these cupboards are effectively one shelf taller so as close to the ceiling as we can get), but all the units will finish at the same height.

Have you taken your plan to the kitchen planning dept in Ikea. They might have some tips for you.

Where will your bins go?

I think she mentioned bins under the sink? I have that arrangement and the top 2 drawer fronts are false. If space permits you can have an inner hidden drawer over the bins.

Looking at this again I think you should seriously rethink the cooker wall, putting the tall units up by the door where visual impact is less and shifting your organising area towards the dining side, even maybe having that at right angles to the rest and making it a bar area. Then it could serve multile purposes ie somewhere to put prepared fod on its way to the dining area or extra space for food prep if someone is helping you.

I was taught when you design anything to try out as many ideas as you can possibly think of, even the crazy ones. What you end up with is never one of the first tries.

when planning my kitchen I imagined making toast, getting breakfast ready for the kids (having their things at their height), when I came in with shopping how I would put it away. Really helped.

I would change the 6 short cupboards over the worktop next to the oven, to 3 long ones that come in line with the top of the oven - would make it less cluttered/more spacious.
Is cupboard next to oven a pull out larder? They are fab.
There are a lot of drawers on the window side. Could you break it up with a couple of vertical pull out units?

just want to quickly say thanks for all your ideas and comments - dh and I sat down and went through absolutely every one and we think we have now got a design that is right for us, but we're off out for the day so I'll have to post it later...

that's good - well done!!!

Ok - this is what we have come up with... pretty sure this is it!

Window wall, will have narrow shelves under the glass fronted cupboards, and the boiler will be boxed in (corner) a bit differently.

Cooker wall, with reformatted wall cabinets - yes I did listen!

Floor plan for those who like such things.

Thanks all for your help - it was really useful even if we haven't taken on everyone's ideas. Any other handy kitchen tips still welcome!

Those wall cabinets on the window wall still look wrong to me, sorry! If you must have 3 (I would reduce to 2) at least make them the same size and door type. I would keep the 2 glass fronted ones and shift them up to the wall.

You really can't see what's inside so I wouldn't worry about clutteredness.

The cooker wall looks better but personally I would make the 3 wall units over the worktop glass fronted too to match the other wall, that way all your shallow wall units are matching. Also go back to having deep drawers instead of cupboards under the oven, much more practical for storing ovenware.

The wall cab nearest the wall is really the boiler, so it won't look like that - there just wasn't another way of showing it...

Interesting about the oven cab - my mum advised a door one as she stands all her roasting tins & baking trays etc on their sides using one of these as she says it's easier to pull the right thing out than if they are stacked, but I'd expected drawers to be better. I have quite a lot of mismatched well-loved bakeware so I need an easy system!

Ok, I'll let you off then
Interesting using the lid organiser for baking dishes, I love a good hack.