New kitchen redesign. What's consensus?!

6 years ago

Originally posted asking for advice on first layout idea for extended kitchen. Lots of advice which we acted on. Thank you. New plans I love but what do you all think? Advice and comments welcome!

Featured Answer

Monica

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Kerry I hope your break is lovely, kitchen design is one of the most stressful things and like you I tried to do it alone with the help of the so called kitchen designers and none offered clever ideas to bring out the best of our space. Frustrated I ended up listening to some of the advice on here and enlisted the help of Karen at OnePlan. She ended up giving us the space of our dreams with everything I wanted and suggested some fantastic solutions that we would have never had thought of. The advantage is that Karen gives you a set of comprehensive plans and a shopping list so all you have to do is email them to as many kitchen companies there are and ask for quotes. We had a huge differences for a handmade design from 33k to a more reasonable albeit built in pine 7.5k. I cannot tell you what a difference it will make to you working with a professional that is not looking to sell you cabinets but looks at your available space and listens to your needs. And you will more than save the money it costs you to employ them. I am not affiliated with Karen but I am a very happy customer, she was absolutely amazing to work with and I will forever recommend her services and already done so many times. Good luck and enjoy that beach <3

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Comments (52)

Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
Hi Kerry,

No too sure which one we should be looking at :)
kiwimills
6 years ago
fridge right door can't be fully opened next to wall. you can get trays/ bins out . you could swap with wall oven unit?
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Hi there, I sense that you are fed up with this. I feel your pain. Take a breath and put what has gone behind you. From where I am sitting it looks that you have a very spacious apartment, I'll bet it's great for socialising! To give you a more defined hallway I would extend the wall to the left of the door as far as the reveal wall on the other side of the kitchen. This wall then serves as a place for base units, some open shelving, fridge, etc and on the other side of the wall you can put up some hooks for coats etc and even a space to sit and put shoes on. This new wall then creates a galley kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen where the other reveal wall is, I would remove this, to gain the extra 300mm space that the wall is taking up. Now it will just be a case of trying out different options for what units go where. As it would be a galley kitchen I would try to not put up all tall wall mounted units as this will make the kitchen feel smaller. I appreciate you want the storage, but there is space in the rest of the apartment for less frequently used items like someone suggested earlier. For the end panels of the kitchen, I would instead of having a work top then the unit as the profile, I would continue the run of worktop down to the floor. I will see if I can find an image for you. The first image is what you could do one side and then have it open the other side, like the second image shows. This tall unit would be great as a larder or your Fridge/Freezer or for household stuff, like your ironing board and mop etc. If this is possible structurally then, take your new kitchen shape to a kitchen design team that you like and see what happens. Best of Luck!
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Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Sorry. The photos uploaded out of sync. The second is original layout planned which I posted a while ago asking for advice. The sink has since been moved as you can see, the fridge apparently has room to open fully according to the designer.
Daisy England
6 years ago
I don't like the sink where it is now. You have a great view looking out of the window so why would you want to look at a wall?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
I see what yr saying about the sink but I wasn't keen to have it facing the open area purely as it breaks up the worktops and also I will no doubt splash the sofa that will be on the wall in front of the worktop in the extended area! I spend more time prepping my food than washing up in the sink ( integrated dishwasher to left below sink) so I'll get my view!
Ellie
6 years ago
I totally agree with NOT having sink on an island/peninsula/bar space as I am never near the sink, just to fill the kettle. I wouldnt be standing at a sink doing dishes so do not need it to be looking out of a window/out into the entertaining area.

I am confused by your pics though.... which ones are your latest plans?

Also, what is the rest of this room like? Where is the dining table? How big is the whole room?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Ellie. The second picture is old design, the other three new ones. The extended area beyond is roughly the same size again. Tho slightly wider as it goes past the sink side of the kitchen. The dining table will be to the right ( beyond the ovens) and to the left a seating and tv area. Virtually All of the far end wall is bifold doors. Opening onto patio. If put a rough drawing here. Take no notice of the labels, they have changed obviously!
Ellie
6 years ago
Can you put rough measurements on that pic?

Has the extension been built yet?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
The kitchen(our original kitchen/diner) is 4.6m wide by 3.2m the extended area is 6m wide by 3m. And yep it's built!
twamleyk
6 years ago
Okay, so the sink is now under the window? That's better yes. Looks like a good plan. I would probably not make the peninsula a U myself and just keep an L and have the stools on dining room side, and/or keep it if you think it's really necessary but still have the stools on the dining room side, otherwise your guests will have their back to you as you are at the hob. the sofa below the peninsula may look a bit odd? Could it be longer on the wall side and shorter on the peninsula side?
Carolina
6 years ago
Imagine having to walk with a pan full of boiling potatoes to the sink... I don't think it's a good, practical design. Sorry.
Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
Hi Kerry,

The design with the colours and tiles and balance looks really pretty.

If it were mine (and having recently gone through the pain of designing an open plan space and new kitchen) I'd be a little concerned about a couple of things; if I'm looking at the plan correctly then the entrance to the room from the hall and also into the lounge seem to be through your main cooking space?

I also agree with Carolina and would be a bit concerned about the distance from the hob to the sink.

If you have visitors and/ or are entertaining, or people are perched on the stools, you are going to have to take hot things out of the oven and walk past their backs and around to the other side of the peninsular to plate up etc.

Does the kitchen have to stay right where it currently is in the room for plumbing etc or do you have the freedom of the whole space?

Best wishes,

Claire
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
You are So right. I've now realised the impracticality of exactly that! The traffic of people combined with the cooking area being the other side of the room! Grrrr!! The whole area is really a blank canvas with the only limitations being practical ones- husband is a builder and doing work himself. Plumbing for sink, dishwasher is where it is I guess. HELP! This is driving me mad! The only must haves are 2 ovens, 800mm halogen hob, and at husbands request an American f/f! We are having boiling water tap so no kettle.
Gemma
6 years ago
I'd go back to the original shape but with sink where hob is, fridge freezer where the oven tower was, between the two doors, the hob on the wall where you have it in the new plan and the oven tower on the same wall as the fridge freezer on the little L bit that comes around on your original design.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Think it's definitely back to the drawing board! Must admit I'm finding this hard! Tbh I think we had the original kitchen layout in our head and it's difficult to completely shake it all up! Guess that's what professionals are for! ( can't afford that luxury! ) Gemma, thank you. Bit confused where you meant the hob to go. I'm resigned to all the appliances needing to be on the left out of way of seats and passing traffic. Jeez! I'm losing the will to live with this! ( been in the planning for a year!)
Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
Hi Kerry,

I completely feel for you- having been through something very similar in the last 6 months, I now realise I came scarily close to something that would have looked very pretty but been totally impractical!

Definitely worth asking hubby if the plumbing can be moved- if it can then brilliant and you really do have a blank canvas, if not then no problem at all but that's what I'd start with and work from there.

A few key questions that really helped me focus on how to use our space;

Is that your only living space with the sofa or have you got a separate living room?

How many of you are living in the house?

Will the dining table be used every day for meals or just when you're entertaining?

It's a lovely space and your doors are beautiful onto the garden, so a bit of time now to figure it out and you'll have a fab space. Don't get frustrated- this is definitely the hardest bit

Best wishes,

Claire
Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
PS. Just seen your other comment Kerry about professionals and not having that luxury- not sure if this helps as don't know your finances but I definitely wouldn't rule out some help!

We used a concept planner for our kitchen and my hubby was dead against it at the start as we had a tight budget and a massive renovation to complete

Do you need to order a kitchen, new appliances, work surface and / or flooring or do you have it all already?

We used Gina from Create Perfect on here and she was amazing- not only does the service only cost hundreds (not thousands as I suspected!) but also she passed all her trade discounts onto us, so by the time we'd saved on the kitchen, flooring and appliances through we were actually better off even once we'd paid her fees.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Claire, thank you! The space is an add on, we have a lounge( from door by f/f) also a full larder by the archway ( all food in there) and a utility room thru the arch. Want to get this right as it's such an investment! Your advice is fab thanks again.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
P.s. Want to make good work of the dining area, we have 4 adults at home with and extra 4 away! So plenty of cooking in my house! Hence the 2 ovens large fridge and 5 ring hob
Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
Goodness that's a busy household

I'd definitely have a think about flow of people through the room; the kitchen is always the busiest place in the house, so thinking about where people enter and exit the room, I personally found really helpful.

We also have a larder / walk in pantry but I tend to find I get dry things out in one go, so it doesn't tend to matter that I'm not immediately next to it. It's the fridge that I tend to want to grab stuff out of mid cooking, so keep that close, along with pots and pans and plates for serving

I am presuming (but if not correct then definitely think about your house!) that most people will be coming and going from your hallway if you have a large, busy household. If that is the case, personally I would try and ensure family / visitors can enter the room and get to either the sofa area and preferably the dining table too without walking directly through your cook space. That would also give you a easy route to your larder and utility.

Are you having a TV by the sofa?
minnie101
6 years ago
I personally prefer the L shape hob and sink run of the first design. Would it work if you kept that and then keep the ovens and FF as per your 2nd design minus the hob. Use shelves as per the pic (although not so low) to bridge the 2 tall units. Could you swap dining and sofa area? You could have a banquette seat or bench against the wall to maximise seating. I'm not sure I'd go for a large l shape sofa personally though. Are you having a wooden worktop as I might lose the draining board? Although I had a walnut worktop in my old house with butlers sink for 7 years and it was fine. You might also be able to have 1 stool at the end to form L shaped seating
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Lol! The tv was a bone of contention but yes we will in far left corner. Large one already in lounge but husbands request to have one in extension too! And your spit on with yr advice, thank you so much.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Minnie thank you. The sofa is L shaped but my drawing is awful and it only just encroaches the area in front of the worktop. The extension is wider than the kitchen area. I wanted wooden workshops ( not as ginger as on pictures!) husband wants marble. And I guess marble might help by being able to do without drainer? And I'm now thinking a corner sink might be amongst the solutions! In corner of front work top and next to the hob which could go back on the left side of the kitchen! My brain is turning to mush!
minnie101
6 years ago
Oh does the sofa already exist? I just thought it made sense to swap dining round as you have a nook of c6ft (?) which would fit a table perfectly. I wouldn't go for real marble it stains very easily, would look at a marble effect Quartz and yes a drainer wouldn't be needed. The room is quite tricky, I would as Claire suggested maybe look at using a concept planner. They do not cost a lot at all and will look at the space as a whole rather than just your kitchen
PRO
OnePlan
6 years ago
Some of us charge by the hour !
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Noted! If I charged by the hour So far I'd have cost myself a fortune!
minnie101
6 years ago
Lol!
Claire Nicholson
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I guess it depends on what you've already purchased and personal preferences but I agree with Minnie and banquette seating could work really well in the space, especially for a large family.

Its easy to plan a layout around existing furniture (we'd bought a £4K sofa less than 9 months before moving and initially our whole design was influenced by it!) After a while I realised that the space was forever and furniture changes, so we sold the new sofa and EBay (for only a bit less than we paid) and bought a new one (again from EBay and only spending what we'd got back from the other one). It just gave us the flexibility to get a room that really worked for the space, not the furniture

I guess it depends on how wedded you are to the position of the three elements (kitchen, dining, seating). I know when you extend something it's difficult to think of the new space outside of the context of the old and I really got stuck in that rut and despite a lovely big new room, just kept coming back to the kitchen in the old space. It took a concept planner to shake me out of it! Haha!

If you're not completely set on the kitchen, dining and living areas being in those positions, then I think you have a beautiful room and much more flexibility.

If you're certain the kitchen needs to fit in the space you've already indicated then I am sure you will come up with a workable plan but it's definitely going to be a bit trickier.

If open to a bit of a rethink I'd be tempted to explore having the kitchen all the way down the left handside or the right hand side (likely encorporating an island to separate from the room over on opposite side). On the left you could embrace the step back as you head from the old room to the new and look at putting the seating and dining over on the right hand side. That way you'd be close to your larder and utility and there would be no reason for people to 'enter' your cookspace. Or keep it all to the right and use the depth of the room instead

I know how hard it is to challenge your own thinking once you've thought about something for so long but with what you'll have spent on your extension and will spend on your new kitchen, you're certainly not too far along to have a complete rethink if you wanted to.

If you don't want to go down the route of a concept planner (which would definitely be my recommendation) then I'd go to a high end kitchen shop with good designers (DeVol and Plain English are fab!) and go and show them the layout of the room. Show the larder and utility and then say nothing else about your ideas on positioning and see what someone with a completely fresh perspective comes up with, without you influencing them about the current layout. Remember, in a lot of kitchen shops, they are just looking for a sale of the kitchen, so if you say you want the kitchen in the current position then they'll just go for the easiest solution and have no reason to challenge your thinking- they just want to sell a kitchen!

Just a few thoughts having been through something very similar and come scarily close to making some big mistakes... but maybe not that helpful :)
LTS
6 years ago
Could you compromise and have a marbly quartz worktop with a wooden breakfast bar area? That's what we are having....just need to decide which ones!
Gemma
6 years ago
Sorry I meant putting the hob where it was on your second design, where it's between oven and fridge freezer. Although you would still have people passing through the room if you were to be carrying a hot pan across to sink, you just wouldn't have anyone sitting there. I'm not sure that could really be avoided though given where the door is.
Jo Jeffery
6 years ago
When we did our kitchen we had several people come in to give us quotes, but ended up using IKea units and a local guy to fit them. The designers/planners came up with several ideas and suggestions which gave us more ideas of what we wanted and how it would work for us. We have a tall unit on one side opposite our dining space which incorporates the fridge freezer and larder units. The oven is a double in a stack with workspace beside and around the u is the hobs and around the next side of the u is the sink. It allows enough space for prep and serving but keeps anyone sneaking in the fridge for a snack away from the cooking zone.
Jo Jeffery
6 years ago
As you can see from my photos the door comes into the middle on our room also and the back door to the garden is opposite it.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you all for your comments. Really helpful. Problem is I want dining area and seating area at front of extension to make the most of my bifold new paved patio and indoor/ outdoor feel. The brick wall in the pictures is my feature wall of reclaimed brick! And I've already bought my pendant lighting! But all your comments have been taken on board and looks like a compromise is on the cards! But rest assured the cooking area is going to the left and f/f and base units/glass fronted wall units on the right!
PRO
OnePlan
6 years ago
Kerry - if you have chosen a particular fridge freezer it's worth looking up the installation guide online to see the swing space required - most big ones like this need at least 135mm between it and a wall to allow for door to open more than 90 degrees to swap out shelves etc - more if the handle is more prominent ! So each varies ! The design drawn doesn't appear to have this factored in - despite what the designer said . Unless they haven't drawn everything to scale ?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you. We are now thinking of putting f/f where the ovens are! Along side a run of units with mainly drawer and mainly glass fronted wall units with lights in (?). The ovens will go where the dresser was planned with a shallow unit next to it (as per original pic). Then the U shape worktop will remain and that area will have hob and sink as original pic. The bar stools still facing the hob but the worktop facing the extension will be as deep as the breakfast bar with either a corner sink, under counter sink ( deeper worktop bringing sink further into kitchen and away from extension. Well, that's plan number 3 anyway!
kiwimills
6 years ago
Can you show us?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Nope! This was just a late night review by me and husb whilst standing in the space last night. We are away for a fortnight this weekend but are making a new appointment with kitchen bloke to redo and rethink this layout. I hope if I post new plans I'll get more comment and advice from here as it's been invaluable
PRO
DIY Kitchens
6 years ago
Definitely get some more worktop space to the side of the
oven to place hot trays etc. onto. It's convenient and much safer.
kiwimills
6 years ago
Enjoy your break!!!
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Will be thinking kitchens on the beach!
twamleyk
6 years ago
Enjoy your break! I really do think you should consider a professional design consultant though, at least get a quote as it may not be as expensive as you think. I say this as a not-kitchen or any other type of designer (just a fan of Houzz!).
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Food for thought definitely. Many thanks!
obobble
6 years ago
If you will potentially need to use all 5 rings of your hob at once it is worth testing out if that is actually possible. We went for a 6 ring on return as we found our previous 5 ring hob wasn't big enough to use outer rings if a large pan was on the centre ring.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Planning on an induction hob with a 'zone' down one side so it'll take different sized and shaped pots/pans.
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Previous design provided lots of feedback and advice. We decided the kitchen had to stay at the back of the extension so we could enjoy living place near the garden. The sink also needed to stay facing the garden but I didn't want a tap in the way so the tap/boiling water tap will be counter mounted. Composite (low profile) sink. Moved f/f to end of cupboard run as advised. Lots of drawers. And a chunky breakfast bar. Comments welcome ( hopefully you won't change my mind again!)
whizzywig
6 years ago
That's looking much more practical, however the oven tower is looking a bit lost in these pics - any chance of a plan? I can't seem to marry the earlier versions to what you have now in relation to doorways and arches...
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
Apologies I don't have a plan but next to the oven tower is a white panelled door containing a full pantry. The planner omitted it on his cadcam plans! The open archway leads into a small hallway with doors on all three walls. To the left into the garage, straight ahead to loo, to right utility room. Hope that's clearer!
minnie101
6 years ago
Hi Kerry. If you've got a tall unit next to the ovens I'd think about transporting hot dishes. I inherited an aga and it's 4ft distance to the worktop. I keep buying new oven gloves as I'm constantly burning myself and am yet to find a pair that work! What's the distance between yours?
Kerry Ansell
Original Author
6 years ago
TBH the distance from the ovens to the worktop next to the hob hasn't changed and I've never had an issue. It's approx 4foot. ☺️