New house, new kitchen. Do we extend first??

last month

So after deciding not to go through with our plans to extend we’ve found a house which is pretty much perfect. However, we’d like to replace the kitchen because it’s old and there doesn’t seem to be as much storage.

My issues are:

There is no fridge/freezer in the kitchen at the moment, it’s in the utility. It’s an American style one so takes up a lot of room which means only space for a washing machine and no tumbler dryer.
Hob is currently on the island. Not a big fan of this but not sure where else we’d put it.
Utility is small and the downstairs loo is off of it it so not much scope to make bigger.

Ultimately, I’m finding it tricky going from the luxury of starting from scratch (and we’d got very far into planning the extension) to working with something already there.

I’d be really grateful for any advice on how we could change the current design to get more storage (I’ve attached the floor plan and pics). We really want to avoid having to extend this time round! Many thanks in advance!

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Comments (8)

Rachael Gibson
Original Author
last month
This is the utility
Daisy England
last month
What a big kitchen space with so little storeage. The American FF in the utility is a bit daft IMO as it occupies a huge portion of the room.

If funds were no object I’d be tempted to remove the utility and downstairs WC and re-site in within the study area making that smaller. Do you need a study that big? Then you could enlarge the original kitchen.
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Neasa
last month
Oh wow. Congratulations, it's a lovely space.

Get rid of that fridge - is it coming with the house? The only reason to have a fridge like that is you like the aesthetic. I can't see why you'd have one and keep it in the utility.

While I think it's really nice, and I like the decor, it seems like the wc and utility are crammed into a tiny space, and the actual kitchen is given a corner of a very large space. However, it looks as though the wall leading into the utility is structural, so changing that would require steels. Perhaps you could build in additional kitchen units in the entry way, where the coat rack and art are currently. Floor to ceiling cupboards including a pantry, fridge-freezer etc would help a lot with storage. The work triangle is still broken, but unless you can move walls I think you're stuck with it.

The hob being where it is - that's a little concerning. I don't see an extractor, and it's a gas hob opposite a seating area. I would suggest not serving any strong drinks to your guests!
Jonathan
last month
I find it incredible to think someone designed this kitchen without a fridge.

Short term you could remove the utility room sink to make way for a dryer.

Longer term I think you will end up changing this kitchen. You might think about reusing this one on the opposite side of the room. It likely has a resale value too. Given the area for the kitchen is tight you might consider moving the kitchen to the opposite side as an alternative to extension
Victoria
last month
The existing kitchen/utility lay out wastes so much space!
tamp75
last month
It looks like a great space! You could look at moving the utility door to just inside the kitchen entrance on that left hand wall or to access from the study. That would free up another wall for possible storage although it may make that end of the kitchen a bit cramped. But mostly I feel the position of the peninsula creates wasted space. If you move that down and put it at right angles to the wall beneath the window, you should gain storage & be able to put an integrated fridge in on the back wall - maybe where the oven is. It looks like a dining table would still fit although maybe turned the other way around.
minipie
last month
Are you likely to extend in the next few years and therefore want a cheap solution “for now”? Or are you unlikely to extend in the foreseeable future so want a permanent better solution (more expensive than a temporary fix but not as much as a new extension)?

For a cheapish “for now” solution I would suggest putting a fridge where there currently is a storage console table in the pictures - ie next to the (?) coat rack. You probably have space to put some extra kitchen storage around it too. That way it‘s a bit more accessible than in the utility, and you can have a dryer and more space in the utility.

Is that your dining table, or the previous owners? It’s pretty giant and swapping to a smaller table would give you more space to put in a dresser or sideboard or other storage somewhere near it. Or even a built in wall of storage across the wall with the sitting room (if you don’t mind blocking the internal window).

For a more permanent solution, I would agree with the suggestion of moving the whole kitchen to the other side of the room. You could have an L shape kitchen along the sitting room wall and side wall, with an island. Much more kitchen than currently. Then I’d probably put the dining table in the middle of the room and make the ex-kitchen area into a snug with small sofa.

I‘m not suggesting any changes to the utility purely because from the plan it looks as though it’s got some serious supporting walls around it (perhaps the original end wall of the house) so it will be very expensive to change it. If I’m wrong about that, however, it could make sense to knock through into the utility to buy yourself more kitchen space, and then carve a new utility off the back end of the very large study.
PRO
OnePlan
last month
Buy a statement fridge - Smeg Fab for example and place on the wall where the hanging wine storage is in the kitchen. ( next to utility door ) Remove the USA fridge from utility and add a heat pump dryer and basket storage with worktop for folding space over the top . If you want to shield your laundry from guest using the loo - straighten the run and install sliderobes over the front . Looks a great home !

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New house, new kitchen. Do we extend first??

Comments (8)

Rachael GibsonOriginal Author

Daisy England

Related Discussions

Neasa

Jonathan

Victoria

tamp75

minipie

OnePlan

Rachael Gibson
Original Author