Kitchen - where to put microwave & open shelves
Hi everyone,
I'm a bit stuck with a kitchen plan and needing some help so I stop waking in the night to agonise over it!!
I'm planning a kitchen that's only 3m long by 3m wide with 3 doorways as the picture shows. This may not look a great place for a kitchen but in fact in our house, it is the best place. So I have to work within the boundaries of the space.
Two problems I am looking for help with:
1. where to put the microwave to free up bench space?? My microwave is 30cm x 450cm wide.
2. And is it ok for open shelves to be, say 20cm deep in some places (where, because I'm tall and if they are deeper, they would bash me on the head when I'm working in the kitchen).
But can they be 30 deep over the corner base cabinets (where there is extra depth & headbashing is not such a risk)?
Note: benchtop pantry is behind a tambour roll-up door and its 30cm deep externally, so leaves 30cm (depth) x 50cm (long) of benchtop clear as a landing pad next to the fridge & 60cm to the right of the cooktop.
if anyone has any bright ideas I'd be super grateful to hear them...I'm worried the kitchen will look a mishmash if symmetry isn't kept with open shelves or even cabinets. But also that the bench will feel (and be) overhung which will also drive me mad every single day.
thanks so much. Liz
Comments (12)
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Where should we put the kitchen?
Comments (5)Hello Rachele, The way to look at this is how you live.. Then look at the space.. I do think it's lovely to have kitchen that goes out onto the garden... If the space is large enough it could be possibly to have a multi functioning space... Kitchen dining and entertaining all in one with the additional element of enjoying the space as a whole.. One way might be to have a long galley run with an island that morphs into a dining space.. Or extend the exterior doors to a full run, so that you can have one large room with cooking dining on one side and living on the other.. Other ways to integrate many functions under 1 space would be to look at levels... A sunken seating area or a raised dining platform.. So many ways to deal with the idea of a space that has many uses.. Think of how you do things.. Do you want to have a cooking element on an island so you can face the garden and your guests? Do you want a sleek line with sliding doors that hides the kitchen.. Think of what you might want to show off.. this might then help you define the space. : )) Here's a smaller version of a kitchen and outside area... It's to show you that you may be able to look at smaller spaces and create ways to make them work for you.. Then there may be ways to bring the outside in... Look at this one for ideas as to how to merge the space together... that is perhaps more than just a sliding door and a dining table.. Of course this can depend on where you are but I like to suggest things that get the creativity going and might spark an idea! : ))...See MoreWhere is it best to put a loo and utility room when we extend kitchen
Comments (1)It's better to post a plan as it's impossible to say without any dimensions to work with....See MoreOpen shelving design in kitchen
Comments (5)Have a look at this one, a combo of open but not entirely open shelving. Have a look at this open shelving compromise, I think it looks great. I would go for either metal or thin wood shelving. If you go for wood, steer clear of chunky ones, they will "weight" the kitchen down. In terms of size, if you're not installing a cooker hood then go the full width of the wall, an option is for the top shelf to be shorter as per picture below to avoid a "solid" feel. In your wall 2 shelves would look great (3 might look busy and it will be harder to keep a clean tidy look daily). great kitchen btw...See MoreWhere to have the door put in kitchen/diner
Comments (7)Thanks both, really appreciate your suggestions/designs. Katlucy - we’ve decided to not use the sliders as it will be a bit tight walking round the back as the extension will be really close to the boundary with our neighbour. But we were originally going to do that, so great minds! Love your drawing, thanks so much for taking the time to do it! So do you think there would be enough room for an island? Love the raised shelf idea! Also really like where you’ve put the coats and the table - we hadn’t considered it this was round for some reason, kept putting the table to the left! I also forgot to say that we have removed the chimney now so there is free rein on where the oven goes! CWD - that’s a really good point, love that idea! The only negative thing I can think of off the top of my head, is that there would be less light let in through the door as the alley is really dark. Much prefer the idea of being closer to the drop zone as not massively keen on having coats hanging openly where food is cooked, can imagine any cooking smells will cling to the coats but not sure if I’m being a bit OTT and that’s even a thing to worry about!...See More
Elisabeth Henderson
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoBow Sward
7 years ago
Daisy England
7 years agoJonathan
7 years ago
whizzywig
7 years agoElisabeth Henderson
7 years agothanks everyone so much, for your thoughts! I agree, it is squeezy in there ( and I can see the wisdom in the l shape idea).
but the placement does make more sense when you see the whole space.
Here now is the whole plan....I hope it's not too rough to be clear. the kitchen is put there because it's keeping kitchen noise away from bedrooms and stopping people circulating thru the kitchen which they do now and it's pretty infuriating
what the plan doesn't say is that the view from the deck is of ridiculously awesome gorgeous tall trees, with the ocean a few streets behind - so the sound of crashing waves often drifts in.
the deck aspect is north east, I'm in Australia so here the north is good and sunny all day in winter. and the house wraps around this very large deck.
this has influenced the placement of things... as well as an attempt to keep the kitchen central but still not too noisy or disrupting to traffic flow.
hope that's understandable, it's late here and I'm a bit tired!
Daisy England
7 years agowhizzywig
7 years agoI can see why it must feel like a thoroughfare at the moment. Have you considered knocking through to Living Room 2? Do you really need that as a seperate space? If you knock through you could have a really good kitchen/diner area - a 'destination' point rather than a through-way... and still taking in the views. The rest of the living space could be then zoned into areas you need. Maybe even installing partition foldaway doors to divide the room if needs be... Hasty sketch attched. Hope this helps!
Elisabeth Henderson
7 years ago
Daisy England