Kitchen remodel project

[GSXRMovistar]

The home project for the first half of this year is to replace and extend our current kitchen which I put in 11 years back with something new, slightly larger and shiny. So I thought I'd create a thread for all the questions I'm going to ask and will also add details/pics of the work once it gets underway.

One thing I have decided though is I'm going to get someone in to manage/do the work end to end this time, as much as I enjoy a lot of DIY tasks I just don't have the time to do something like this these days.

The plan at this stage is for the following:-

• Removal of stud partition wall to extend into old dining room to double the size of the kitchen (both rooms are tiny anyway).
• New skim on ceiling to get rid of the old artex
• Install number of ceiling spot lights
• Fit an under floor heating solution (ideally plumbed, not electric)
• Tile floor
• Fit kitchen cabinets
• Fit worktops
• Fit glass splash backs
• Any remaining painting/finishing

The wife and I have found a kitchen from Ikea we like and I’ve also used their online planner to put together a layout for the kitchen, however we will consider kitchens from other suppliers.

Layout and mock-ups of what we have in mind:-

It's a lot of cabinets for the size of the room but we need the storage and the more we can get in the cabinets leaves the worktops free for actual working use.

Still need to decide on what type of worktops to go for but I want to get some initial quotes for the rest of the work first to get any idea of budgets.

So some initial questions to get the ball rolling:-

1. Anyone recently had an Ikea kitchen fitted and how are you finding it?
2. Any recommendations for suppliers that provide kitchens around the same budget scale as ikea?
3. Anyone have glass splash-backs, are you happy with them and what did you pay for them?

 

[a1ex2001]

If you need that much storage in your kitchen you have too much stuff, it looks far to cluttered with units for me which will make the space feel small and pokey even when it isn't. be ruthless and bin /charity shop the stuff you don't need/use.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Agree, don't like the layout at all, what's unit 18 / 19 about? Your kitchen is far too small for a pretend island unit.

 

[the_r_sole]

from a design point of view it's all over the place!
If you need that much storage why not go for a full run of tall units down one side of the kitchen and then have your worktops on the other side? at the moment it looks like someone has delivered your order and it's not been installed yet!

The only annoying thing about ikea kitchens is that they go all the way to the walls so getting services through them is a pain, although you can get most of it below the cabinets...

It looks like you need help with the design of it - I would look for a local kitchen designer and sit down with them to get the most out of it.

Glass splashbacks are expensive to do well, and look bad if you try to do them cheap - glass tiles can work ok instead and make cutouts a lot easier

 

[LiE]

Have to agree the kitchen doesn't flow. You have an area with the sink and cooker which is fine, but unit 18/19 jut out awkwardly and then you have another part of the kitchen which seems to be tons of units. You have a separate dinning room I assume?

Look no further than DIY Kitchens for your units.

 

[Kimi]

Id get rid of 18 and 19.

Also, 100% DIY kitchens for the cabinets

 

[lude1962]

get rid of 18/19, once you open the oven door you've no arm room to the left (and it looks out of place and makes the kitchen an obstacle course).
I'd also move the oven unit another units distance away from the sink.

What way do the doors open, into the room or the other way?

 

[JBuk]

The floor plan could be improved

As already said get rid of 18 & 19


I'd get a few places to draw up some rough plans then adjust/tweek them if needed

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Appreciate the feedback it's all helpful. in response to the points made:-

• Cabinets 18/19 will have a worktop over them as marked in blue on the plan above. Intention of this was be a small breakfast bar that the kids could sit at. And also allows you to place things being taken in/out the oven/microwave.
• On the worktop above cabinet 15 (to the left go 18) we intended to place an iMac, this area would be a drop zone for the family to check emails/charge phones etc rather than going off to bedrooms. Hence to breakfast bar stools.
• I like the idea of full height cabinets on one side, maybe next to the fridge (cabinet 19), this could possibly be used as a larder.
• If full heights were put in there cabinets 10,11,12 could possibly come out being replaced by a breakfast bar, in turn removing the need 18/19 as they are now.
• Yes separate dining room.
• Door open into the kitchen.

As I say this is all very early stages and just an initial idea, have a designer coming round this evening to discuss ideas with.

 

[LiE]

It's definitely worth getting a kitchen designer to provide a design, they will point out things you hadn't considered and alternative cabinets/layouts to give you food for thought.

 

[the_r_sole]

what you need to do is work with the space you have and not try to make it into something that it's not - it's a small kitchen, make it a good small kitchen and not a completely dysfunctional family room...
Any possibility of opening it up to the dining room? (have you got a floor plan of the whole gf?)

 

[JBuk]

Appreciate the feedback it's all helpful. in response to the points made:-

• Cabinets 18/19 will have a worktop over them as marked in blue on the plan above. Intention of this was be a small breakfast bar that the kids could sit at. And also allows you to place things being taken in/out the oven/microwave.
• On the worktop above cabinet 15 (to the left go 18) we intended to place an iMac, this area would be a drop zone for the family to check emails/charge phones etc rather than going off to bedrooms. Hence to breakfast bar stools.
• I like the idea of full height cabinets on one side, maybe next to the fridge (cabinet 19), this could possibly be used as a larder.
• If full heights were put in there cabinets 10,11,12 could possibly come out being replaced by a breakfast bar, in turn removing the need 18/19 as they are now.
• Yes separate dining room.
• Door open into the kitchen.

As I say this is all very early stages and just an initial idea, have a designer coming round this evening to discuss ideas with.

Its a small kitchen so I think trying to shoe horn a breakfast bar in there isn't practical and would make it feel cramped

use the dining room for breakfast ?

 

[lude1962]

remove the under worktop cabinets at 10, 11 , 12 for a breakfast bar

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Dining room is not connected to the kitchen, there is a lounge in-between. Also not looking to make any major alterations to main structure of the house (that all happened in 2014 with an extension).

The intention of the breakfast bar isn't really for somewhere to eat, just somewhere someone can sit whilst others are doing things in the kitchen.

 

[SpeedFreak]

That design looks like it would be a nightmare to live with. Do you really need that many cupboards?

 

[Skidder]

Talk to three of four kitchen designers. You will learn each time and start to crystallise your ideas. Many of them are useless, but you will know when they know what they are talking about. One may impress you enough to go with them.

I've got a kitchen on order and I found talking to them painfully dull but also really useful. A couple were useless though and you know it within minutes.

It's way too busy

 

[GSXRMovistar]

What I forgot to add is that there is a washer/dryer in cabinet 2 and there will be a dishwasher where 4/5 are so not as much cabinet space as it may seem. I hadn't put the correct appliance cabinets on the plan at this point as just an idea for a mock up.

 

[valve90210]

I'd agree with people that have said it wouldn't be nice to live with. I don't like the placement of the oven, if you're working on the worktop by the sink then the oven is behind you so you have to swing round to put anything in the oven/ take it out. or if you're working at the other end of the kitchen you'll have to walk around units 18 and 19 to get to the oven which would be annoying.

Oh and it seems you don't have a hob in that plan??

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Hob would sit over cabinet 6, food prep would be done on worktops over 3,4,5,7, and 8.

We currently have an oven and hob where cabinet 6 is and hate them being in the same space.

 

[Dr House]

diykitchens.com seems to be very good for the money.

Im not a fan of your setup, as others have said see a few kitchen designers.