This looks like a fluted wood kitchen? It may just be me but i’d hate the thought of cleaning it round the oven, i might just stick to it on the island. I also wouldn't want to traipse dirty dishes to a utility room. i’d have the bin, Sink and DW in the island or vice versa. Consider an induction hob, by eye the units above the gas hob don’t meet regulations. I’d have one big larder. You don’t seem to have many drawers? They’re very popular for ease of use

i think a taupe as shown would work better than off white with the dark wood

Fo you feel like the coffee station is in a practical place for retrieving water and milk?

Hi @minnie101

Yup, it's fluted. I was wary about the maintenance as well, but it does look good! I think if I were to go with this particular style, for aesthetics, it would look better in the towers, but I do agree with maintenance potentially being a problem.

The dishwasher being in the utility is just something we had already committed to (utility has been fitted). It has its drawbacks as you said, but we liked the idea of having the dishes out of sight.

Noted re larder - maybe consolidating the two would make more sense. Thanks for that. Regarding drawers, so the d/w on the left is a typo (that'll be a drawer unit), as will the units below the ovens. The drawers are hidden behind the flat front. Also, the island will have 6 x 90cm drawers (image below) with 2/3 drawers inside.

Yeah, the coffee station is a fair distance to the tap - which is something I'm thinking about. If I choose to put the tap on the island, I'll have to remove one of the drawers and replace it with hinges - not a big deal, but I also liked the idea of having a clear space on the island.

Re: the units above the hob: why do you believe that it does not meet regulations?

Thanks for your input!

Just looking quickly at the design a couple of things immediately concern me,

you have a gas hob, minimum distance to the extractor is 750mm [unless manufacturers instructions say otherwise], ie about 1650 from floor, standard gap between worktop to wall units is about 500mm ie 1400 from floor.

position of ovens, no worktop near them, just not very functional.

Has a kitchen designer actually had a look at this and come up with this design?

Quick google search on nolte and nobilia [kutchenhause], they're both mid range in the german market with Nolte being slightly higher spec, but they're high volume run of the mill kitchen companies.

Personally, i've looked at various german kitchen brands at KBB trade shows and i just don't get it, they have some nice fronts. But the actual cabinets aren't that great [16mm board/hardboard backs and lack of interior colours] and on a par with your high street sheds. They do tend to work on a different door size [bigger] and shorter plinth/legs so they have a bigger cabinet height wise than uk kitchens, more choice of cabinet heights for base and wall units but an independant kitchen studio could make something very similar with a bit of imagination and i think you'd get a better quality kitchen.

I think the Germans don’t care about thickness of cabinets like the British manufacturers. Instead they concentrate on strength- the board is a higher quality than used on thicker UK carcasses. And in contrast to UK manufacturers they often rate the drawers and pullouts for different weights. Pull outs in my kitchen are rated to 70KG and I’m unaware of any UK manufacturer building to this standard.

It is true that UK manufacturers offer different carcase interior colours but the criticism that German manufacturers are the same quality as a high volume shed in the UK is untrue as they demonstrably have higher quality fronts, more choice of colours finishes, heights, interior options and better fixings.

Personally I agree that the vertical embossed lines have greatest impact on the tall cabinets. You should consider if you this part of the kitchen is darker and it has less impact. You might consider swapping the cream for a richer or stronger colour because the high contrast is falling from fashion, and you may want to consider if the stools have more room at the other end of the island.
You might also consider if the waterfall legs is properly seen- if not it maybe unnecessary expense.

Blum, Hettich, Grass all have concealed runners at 70kg as well as 40kg and 50kg and at variable legths up to 650mm all available as standard for independant kitchen suppliers. All the ironmongery thats in a german kitchen is available in the UK.

Nobilia is the largest producer of kitchens in europe, google their figures and they're producing over 3500 kitchens per day/159000 cabinets per week.

For the cabinet itself, German kitchens often use a higher density board and the structural strength comes from precision manufacturing factory assembled glue and dowelled cabinets and the back panel is not used for structural support making for a lighter cabinet. A UK cabinet [from an independant not a shed] does use the back panel as part of the structure and is also glue and dowelled, so i'd consider its a more rigid structure.

Certainly a lot of the frontals available from German/Italian kitchens are better than UK kitchens but that depends on the style, if you look at a more traditional, shaker or in-frame kitchen i think you have more choice in UK suppliers. If you look at flat slab premium contemporary/true handleless styles then the frontals that German kitchens offer more choice and style, but a UK kitchen supplier with a bit of imagination can offer the same/similar if they search out the right suppliers/manufacturers.

For the cabinet sizes, heights and widths are dictated by the door sizes available, cabinet depths are dictated by the worktop.

German kitchens do have more variable heights, shorter plinth heights to maximise base unit storage for the same overall height, more choice of cabinet heights so they can focus on different heights of worktops in their kitchen design, they can even measure the customers height to work out the optimal height of the worktop for you.

But again, if your kitchen designer has made to measure doors available these cabinet dimensions can be replicated, we just seem to be stuck in a traditional 150 plinth, 720 base cabinets, 575, 720 and 900 wall units and towers to suit, 560/570 deep base and 300 deep wall units mindset in the UK.

Hi @Lifestyle Kitchens,

Thanks for your input.

Yes, this was a design put together by a Nolte designer. I did request an amendment to move the sink to the island and to remove the pullout larder (see latest design below). That way the fridge and ovens are that little bit closer to countertop space (either the island or wall countertop run).

Following minnie101'scomment, I looked into hob clearance requirements, which I was completely oblivious to before. It seems most hobs require a minimum clearance between 650 and 750mm and extractors fall in the 650-750mm range. From my research, the suggested clearance should at the very least match the greatest height suggested by either the gas hob or extractor manufacturer.

The extractor Nolte are selling us is the Falmec Virgola Evo, which according to their specifications (https://www.falmec.no/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/technical-specification-virgola-60.pdf) require a 520mm clearance at a minimum. The extractor Kutchenhause suggested was the Elica Boxin which has around the same clearance height. Regardless, the hob we will likely end up getting will probably require a clearance height of 650 or 750mm. So, my head tells me not to install the lowered extractor. Falmec's online reviews aren't exactly stellar either, which has set off alarm bells.

I am trying to find that happy medium between aesthetics and functionality, and the only option is to have a T-shaped wall cabinet layout with the elevated extractor (as we would like to retain those wall cabinets). Maybe it's worth elevating both adjacent 60cm wall units as well...

Regarding the ovens, I had initially wanted them to be positioned on the very left of the layout, but it doesn't work aesthetically (in my opinion). The countertop space on the left is along the existing conservatory wall which protrudes by 33cm when compared to the existing kitchen (where the lowered ceiling is on the right). I wanted to avoid pushing the towers forward by 33cm as it would reduce the space on the right as you walk into the kitchen (it'll be too close to the door).

Hi @Jonathan,

Thanks - I agree that the towers look better in the fluted design. The designer added them to the outer face of the island as well for continuity. Noted re high contrast. I think we like the contrast - the second set of design pictures are rendered a bit more realistically, so the contrast isn't as stark. I will get samples though to see how they look in that space.

There is not much clearance on the other end of the island for seating, unfortunately. The clearance at the moment can either be 900 or 950mm (give or take 15mm) depending on whether we opt to have more space between the wall run and island or island and opposite utility wall.

Sorry, don't follow re waterfall legs. I imagine that whole right downward side will be seen. The other side will consist of either a cream panel or brown panel.

Waterfall leg.
Because it can’t be seen from the dining area or the stools I wondered who would see it….. but you know your house better.

Separately would there be more room for stools if you had a table off the island at the same end as the tall units?

Ah, I see - good point. I suppose it will only be visible as you enter the kitchen and not while someone is seated in the kitchen/dining area (though if the door is open, it would be visible from the living room). Something to consider.

In the current kitchen area, there is not much space as we have a narrow(ish) walkway from the towered unit section to the open spaced area (it'll be around 90-95cm - marked in red below). There's also the utility door so I thought it would be better to have the seating on the opposite end.