Awkward kitchen layout ideas - very early stage

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

Im looking for some ideas for how I can arrange my kitchen. Its a long narrow space with some awkward obsticles.

Im at a very early stage here, just considering layouts, Im a way off buying anything yet.

The room dimensions are width 1.73m, length 4.26m.

There is a window on the long wall, an external door at the end, and an internal door also (pictures below will show where things are).

The boiler is at the end of the room inside a tall wall unit (see pictures).

Under one set of cupboards are the gas and electricity meters and fuseboard.


Pictures of room:

Spoiler: Looking down room to external door. Boiler in cupboard far end on left. Internal door is immediately to my right.

Spoiler: Looking back up room from external door back towards where I was standing for the first picture:

Spoiler: energy meters and fuseboard are under cupboard at the end of the room furthest from exterior door.

Initial thoughts:

I have used DIY Kitchens planner to try some different layouts.

One thing I am thinking is to remove the external door at the far end and brick up halfway with a window, and have the sink and washing machine at that end.

The hob would then be in the centre on the long wall, to the left of the window.

The bigger issue though is the fridge freezer and the energy meters and fuseboard. The only place left for the fridge freezer is at the other end of the room. But you can from this mock up that Im restricted also for ceiling height in this area due to the stairs which pass above (see the triangular shape on the pictures above).

3D view of window end (I do like this):

Spoiler: 3D view of window end

3D view of other end (which Im not very happy with):

Spoiler: 3D view of fridge freezer and energy meters end

This is the DIY Kitchens planner layout considering the above:

Spoiler: Best layout I can come up with.

Main problems:

We have a tall fridge freezer which won't fit all the way to the left side at that end of the kitchen because of the stairs restriction above.

So I have to move it over to the right somewhat.

No matter where the fridge freezer is, access to the meters and fusebox is incredibly awkward. Depending how I do the cupboards, Im potentially only having access to meters and fuses by removing screwed in cover panels somehow attached to modified base units.


Constraints

I don't think its going to be feasible to move the energy meters or fuseboard. Doing so would be very high cost and the nature of the house means there isn't room for any external cabinets (at least not without significant works involving the gas/electricity board which I think will be crazy money).

There isn't scope to move the stairway above which is causing the triangular restriction at one end.

There's no scope to knock through into any other room to enlarge the area or otherwise extend.

There will be budget restrictions and I'll be looking to do a lot of the work myself. I'd probably go to a window installer to do the bricking up and new window in the end wall.

 

[gc123]

if you cant go sideways , and dont want extra cost for meter movement, is there any scope to go outwards where the door is? you are already talking about removal and bricking up for a window, maybe a small extention in the form of a utility room?.

i presume you have patio doors or another exit route to the rear of the house in case of emergencys?
other than that you are stuck. by the way getting window fitters to do brickwork may not be the best idea, have done in the past and regretted it later.
last doors i took out myself and bricked up not brilliant but better than some work i had done.

 

[danlightbulb]

if you cant go sideways , and dont want extra cost for meter movement, is there any scope to go outwards where the door is? you are already talking about removal and bricking up for a window, maybe a small extention in the form of a utility room?.

Its not possible no (at least not within my budget). There is a detached brick outhouse and shared entry gate with next door immediately out of the back door. To demolish this and relocate the back entry gate (even if neighbour agreed) to then build what would be a tiny extension would be significant cost and not worth it.

i presume you have patio doors or another exit route to the rear of the house in case of emergencys?

Yes the dining room has french doors to the rear.

 

[aVdub]

I had a similar issue a few years back, not stairs though and was able to knock a wall out and spread the kitchen into another room.
Is that a possibility, even if it just houses the fridge etc

 

[danlightbulb]

I had a similar issue a few years back, not stairs though and was able to knock a wall out and spread the kitchen into another room.
Is that a possibility, even if it just houses the fridge etc

Knocking walls out - no. But the fridge freezer is currently in the dining room in a corner. It aint terrible option, but I did want to try and get it into the kitchen, even if it meant some things like plates/dishes go in a cupboard in the dining room.

 

[Richie]

Hard to tell if there is space but cant the fridge rotate to the right and go up against the exterior wall (looking at current idea, rotate F/F 90 deg clockwise and then push again wall so its next to the meters but still under the stairs?)

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Could you ditch the fridge freezer and get under counter (inbuilt if you prefer) separate freezer and fridge?

If you have the ceiling height (looks like you do) get the tall units for the walls and put them right up to the ceiling, gains you space back (put the rarely used stuff at the very top)

That smaller side looks like a dumping ground as its so shallow. Could you consider not having anything there?
Would seem a lot more roomy

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Other thoughts, how old is the boiler, any thoughts about heat pump (mostly outside) or relocating gas boiler to loft

That way you could get that tall corner spot back and put the fridge freezer there

 

[danlightbulb]

Hard to tell if there is space but cant the fridge rotate to the right and go up against the exterior wall (looking at current idea, rotate F/F 90 deg clockwise and then push again wall so its next to the meters but still under the stairs?)

Thanks, there isn't space to do that no, not in that corner. The meters and fusebox are so awkwardly placed they stop anything going within about 300 of the end wall or 300mm of the outside wall. If the fridge was there, it would have to be out 300mm forward from the wall and would be directly blocking access to the consumer unit.

Other thoughts, how old is the boiler, any thoughts about heat pump (mostly outside) or relocating gas boiler to loft

That way you could get that tall corner spot back and put the fridge freezer there

Its about 10 years old combi, working fine (touch wood). Heat pump I don't think is an option- old house, difficult to heat, no real space in the garden for it. Relocating boiler to loft would be possible but incredibly disruptive meaning lifing floors, reworking gas pipe across to the other side of the house completely. Doable on a full strip out but not really something I want to do.

Even with the boiler gone, the fridge could only go there if I kept the back door, as if I brick up the door and put a sink there it then blocks out that corner.

Could you ditch the fridge freezer and get under counter (inbuilt if you prefer) separate freezer and fridge?

This is certainly viable. There is enough width there for 2x550mm wide fridge/freezer units. Probably wouldn't be as much space as in the current combo fridge freezer (its a big one - 600mm wide and 1.85m tall).

That smaller side looks like a dumping ground as its so shallow. Could you consider not having anything there?
Would seem a lot more roomy

You mean the slim units on the right side of the room?

Yes my initial plan was to get rid of them potentially to widen the space. Although it doesn't look too bad as a wrap around to the end of the kitchen and gives me a bit more cupboard. I would only keep base units here as ditching the wall units would definitely make it feel wider.

Spoiler: wrap around base units at door end of kitchen

 

[Hagar]

Not seen your dining room, but could you move the kitchen into the dining room. Possibly leave washing machine in the old kitchen at the meter cupboard end and have a dining table set up at the door to the garden end. Or just a nice couch if you can set up a dining kitchen. Room for drying clothes and with access outside.

A dartboard over the Washing machine end would be good too.

 

[danlightbulb]

Not seen your dining room, but could you move the kitchen into the dining room. Possibly leave washing machine in the old kitchen at the meter cupboard end and have a dining table set up at the door to the garden end. Or just a nice couch if you can set up a dining kitchen. Room for drying clothes and with access outside.

A dartboard over the Washing machine end would be good too.

Some houses in the street have knocked through kitchen and dining room to make a combined area. It's a supporting wall though so we're talking significant costs. From what I've seen, a lot of these conversions were done 70s/80s when structural stuff was much cheaper.

I think the current kitchen is too narrow (1.7m) to be able to use it for much else.

The dining room isn't on an external wall so would be difficult to route the waste pipes. So the washing machine and sink would stay in there making it a bit strange to have the cooker and cabinets in a separate room I think.

 

[Hagar]

OK, just thinking tangentially, but I am sure it crossed your mind too.

 

[sx_turbo]

It's a shame you have a window the other end of the kitchen, as the fridge freezer would be better there, you could then box out the other end under the stairs and have high level oven, the boxing out would give you lots of additional cupboard space and make it look less awkward, above the worktop at the under stairs and you could have open shelving to store thing like coffee cups and tea coffee jars, few cook books/ornaments, things you don't mind being on show.

Boxing under the stairs would however require a bespoke kitchen maker do the work meaning no popping down to wren kitchens for one of their many 50% must see sales.

Otherwise you've kinda already done the best you can do.
You can put wall units on part of the wall but would really make the space feel enclosed.

It might be worth getting some costings to knock through to the dining room, sometimes it's not as expensive as one might fear,

 

[sx_turbo]

Another thought, have you considered under the counter fridge and freezer, will lose a cupboard space but would mean you can have worktops right the way round and it would look significantly less awkward under the stairs there.

 

[jpaul]

Do you have space elsewhere in house for some dry/tinned food storage (full understairs cupboard) the upper cupboards on right accentuate a bit of claustrophobia. ?
I have a 2nd freezer under the stairs.(but even freezer in kitchen might only be opened every 3 days )

I'd make a trial blocking the door to see how much that might constrain you ... had a kitchen door blocked at a previous property by a washing machine,
having to use french doors for egress to garage/bin/garden ... was a pain;
having left and right access to sink too is invaluable if you are often cooking with someone.

have you checked out neighbours choices with similar layout.

 

[danlightbulb]

Do you have space elsewhere in house for some dry/tinned food storage (full understairs cupboard) the upper cupboards on right accentuate a bit of claustrophobia. ?
I have a 2nd freezer under the stairs.(but even freezer in kitchen might only be opened every 3 days )

I'd make a trial blocking the door to see how much that might constrain you ... had a kitchen door blocked at a previous property by a washing machine,
having to use french doors for egress to garage/bin/garden ... was a pain;
having left and right access to sink too is invaluable if you are often cooking with someone.

have you checked out neighbours choices with similar layout.

The understairs cupboard space is very small, have to kneel down to get in, so not really much use. We store tool boxes in there at the moment.

The rest of the houses on the street - there's about 30 of this design then it changes. We've seen a couple in person and some on rightmove when they've come up for sale. The ones we've seen have tended to have the kitchen and dining room knocked through into one room to make a kitchen diner. But, there is still really only the outside wall thats suitable for kitchen units because that's where all the services and access to waste drainage is.

Here's one that was previously up for sale. The kitchen and dining room and hallway has all been opened up. Still can't see where the fridge is.

Check out this 3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale on Rightmove

3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Goldthorne Avenue, Sheldon, Birmingham, B26 for £260,000. Marketed by Oakmans Estate Agents, Shirley

www.rightmove.co.uk

Edit - ah they've repurposed the outside outhouse (outside toilet) and linked it up to the house to create a utility area of sorts. They've completely lost rear access in doing this though.

 

[tamzzy]

if you're bricking up the door, you should do it fully and then put your fridge there.
i assume you have another way of getting in/out the home besides the front door.
i think the current kitchen layout is the optimal layout for storage tbh, your new sketch up does not have much in the way of storage as you've planned it

 

[tamzzy]

red triangle = working triangle
black circle = small bar table and stools
also, now you have space for wall mounted cabinets (not shown)

 

[tamzzy]

also, you'd want the bin closer to your prep area and sink
i'd swap the p/o bin wiht the pan draw if it was my kitchen design
have you thought about putting in a dishwasher as well?
in my kitchen i placed the dishwasher right under the sink dishdrainer area (less plumbing)

 

[danlightbulb]

Thanks @tamzzy . Its an option to completely brick up the back door I guess. Would lose some light though, the side window only looks out to a narrow side entry between the houses. Possible we could have the fridge up against the corner and keep half a window there. I'd need to find a place for the washing machine in your layout there as well though.