1960s Courtyard House - kitchen tips/ideas
Hi!
We have just bought a compact 1960s courtyard house in SE London. It needs new kitchen, 2 bathrooms, boiler/heating, guttering, flat roof/terrace, and a couple of walls knocked through. Budget is tight, so we'll try and do as much of the work ourselves.
Here is the Ikea handleless kitchen design we've put together so far. It is a narrow galley kitchen with entrance at one end (we will knock through to the front entrance hall) and door to utility room at the other end.
We would like to keep the original 60s copper rangehood in position. We have already bought a 4 + wok gas hob, the oven and microwave. There is a supporting pillar on one side of the entrance door. We want to open a ceiling-to-counter space next to it through to the lounge, with a small 2-seat breakfast bar looking into the kitchen.
What do you think of this plan? We'd like as much storage as possible without feeling narrow and squashed in the space.
Integral fridge freezer or free standing?
Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance
Comments (33)
whizzywig
6 years agoBry R
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoThank you whizzywig - those are useful suggestions. We knew about the pan handle rule but hoped that because it was a single wok burner on the left side the amount we left would be OK, reason being that it's a bit of a faff to walk to the end of the kitchen just to peek in the fridge (which I do a lot haha).
That said, placing the FF in the tall units was the other option we considered. Do you know if having it next to oven would be an issue?
Here is the hood. We are trying to keep as many original era features as possible.
To the right of the sink we planned for DW. WM and dryer will go in utility.
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Daisy England
6 years agoBry R
6 years agowhizzywig
6 years ago
Jonathan
6 years agoI also think the hood is fab. Personally I would be trying to create more floor space and make the room feel bigger. As it stands there is only about 750mm between the cabinets and the advice is to have about 1000mm to be safe and easy to work. After all you have a 700 high dishwasher door that will open downwards.
I would put a run of cabinets on the window wall with an integrated fridge to the right of the window, the sink and dishwasher in the middle of the window then I would move the extractor to the middle of the wall to the left of the window and put the oven and microwave underneath and side by side. This also avoids having a tower unit in your face when you enter the room.
On the opposite wall I would put reduced depth units- I have a few of these and they are a good alternative to a deep larder and are very accessible. Because these cabinets would likely be 300mm you would then have a bit more floor space.
PROOnePlan
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoHi everyone, thanks for your comments! We've narrowed it down to 2 designs.
We can't have reduced-depth cabinets because we want the integral microwave and oven at eye-level. Yes, it's a narrow gap but we really need the storage.
Good point about not needing the wall cabinets, we'll get rid of those.
Re the dishwasher opening, we'll have 15cm of space to play with along that run for spacers.
Design 1: 2 tall cupboards together
The positives of this are we get a free-standing FF close to the entrance where opening the doors won't impede anyone in the kitchen. The unit run on window side will then be 3.6m which is one piece of laminate with no joins (we hate joins :)). This design also has a good 'working square' of counter space.
Negative is that we have to have a smaller hob to keep it away from the FF side.
Design 2: 3 tall cupboards together
Pros of this are that it looks smarter, and it allows the 4+wok hob.
whizzywig
6 years ago
PROHitchings & Thomas Ltd
6 years agoCharnelle Els
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoOK to today we used cardboard to show us what Design 2 would be like in reality. Thanks to @whizzywig for this suggestion.
We have concluded that keeping the current FF placement and facing it with 2 tall cabinets works best. That way we aren't opening the fridge door in the middle of the room and getting in the way.
A chicane for the counters also works well, thanks @OnePlan
So here is Design 3. What do you think?
Jonathan
6 years agoDo you have to have the hall door? You could make this opening into a shallow cupboard and enter where you had intended having the opening to the living room. Then you would have an L-shaped kitchen layout with reduced depth cabinets on the opposite wall allowing you to perhaps have a little more floor space.
whizzywig
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoBry R
6 years ago- PRO
OnePlan
6 years ago Bry R
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoBry R
6 years agoHello again! We met with the architect last week and he gave us some great ideas for the house, and echoed @Jonathan's idea about moving the kitchen door to allow the FF to occupy the end of the kitchen.
It's looking like this will be our only way to get the counter space, the appliances AND the cabinet space we want, without overcrowding our tiny kitchen and making it difficult to work in.
Here is our latest plan, please let us know what you think of it...
Thanks in advance
We mocked up both installation methods for the FF, with the door opening towards the window side and with the door opening towards the utility room. Either way was less than ideal but since FF's don't seem to have smaller depths than 53cm it looks as if that's the decision we'll have to make.
Bry R
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoMorning, thanks for the comments.
@Jonathan - the utility will have the washer and dryer stacked in it, as well as a small basin area, the electric and gas meters, and some storage, so the best we can do is try to claim some space from the wall in between (it's quite wide).
@whizzywig - I don't think we can spare any room for the L, but who knows what we'll manage in the end.
@oneplan - make hay!Bry R
6 years agowhizzywig
6 years agoBry R
6 years agoHi @whizzywig - this is the current layout:
On the ground floor the lounge, small bedroom and main bedroom all look out onto the courtyard so the glass is in place but could do with an update eventually.
We acutally viewed some Span estate houses with a view to buying - Field End, Cedar Chase, Weymede, The Plantation. But in the end we found this place on a small estate in SE London that fitted the bill.
whizzywig
6 years agoBry R
6 years agowhizzywig
6 years agoBry R
6 years ago
OnePlan