hi all. please let me start by apologising for the messy state of the temporary kitchen photos I've attached. it's still a building site. arghhhhhhhhh. having an L shaped kitchen and island installed soon. my question is. the layout will be similar to the current temp layout in the pictures. back wall will be floor to celing units with American fridge freezer. other Wall will be worktop with floor and wall units. large 2.8m long Island that will bridge kitchen (tiled) and family room (wood) floors. I was planning to tile first but with the island how can you be sure that the tiles will be symmetrical around it? sure you could move the island a few inches one way or the other but there's no gaurentee that the walkway will look symmetrical. best to tile after to get joins and ground lines where they look best? also the builder put down t&g 22mm chipboard on joists in kitchen. will need to put some sort of cement board over to tile to but this will mean the finished floor height will be slightly higher than the rest of the house. any issues with this? thanks all

Thanks Daisy, we are trying to keep the costs down, so reusing existing units where possible, but I'm more than happy to spend a bit more money to get a better layout. If you have any ideas for that I'd love to hear it? Even if you think we'd get a much better layout by ripping it all out and starting from scratch then it's worth looking into. Plumbing to the dish washer shouldn't be an issue, because the sink is very close. If there's an issue it'll be with the 500mm drawer unit next to the dishwasher, but that can be moved to the other side of the dishwasher if necessary. Again, any advice you might have for us here would be appreciated. The idea with the corner units is actually really good. The only challenge is the space, again, trying to fit them in and get all the appliances in that we need/want. But we're definitely going to look into it, thanks for the tip! The corner units we currently have are so awkward. Thanks for your help!!! Really appreciate it. Thomas

Is it Wren by any chance that you will be using? I’m aware that they do not take into account extra contractors within their price. If it is Wren please be cautious. They have a Facebook page called Wren Kitchen Disasters. There are lots of people claiming their money back through Barclays under S75 as some people are on their 3rd kitchen and it is still not fit for purpose. The 0% finance seems to pull in customers. Barclays are up to their eyes in refunds. Just proceed with caution. Perhapls an independent local kitchen company could quote you a price. They are no more expensive than Wren in fact many times cheaper.

Hi Jonathan, do you mean it will look odd being over a 500 unit? We may not put a unit under and just have a fridge there as not much space for one anywhere else.  We will be in for at least 6 months and the worktop is likely getting replaced anyway so thought it nicer to have one in built so we can add a splashback behind it. It's on a budget so can get a good make for £30. We don't actually need an oven and as it doesn't work where it is, we might ditch it and just use the hob with our combi microwave and air fryer etc! A new buyer can worry around what they want instead. Ultimately we are renovating the whole house and it won't increase the value if we leave the kitchen as it is so yes, it's worth thinking about it as a whole.