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No idea where to post this so please move if needed. I would like to have a proper cold larder. Only problem is how to build it in a heavily insulated house. So far it is on the north wall of our designed house (got planning permission last week, now about to do one lot of variations). We were planning a proper external door to access this larder. Looking at MBC timber frame but unnecessary to heavily insulate the larder. Any thoughts on how we might do this? Was thinking we might need to have a separation of the concrete slabs too (so any heat from ufh doesn't "seep" under the door and heat the larder). Or should we just build it afterwards / separately from the timber frame?

I recently came across a Facebook article on kitchen design tends for 2018...well according to the article, there doesn't seem to be any new ideas. A larger sink was mooted, but the one illustrated was long but single...what? Surely that's pretty old thinking (You have a sink full of washing up and somebody waltzes into the kitchen with half full teacups, and err! I'm not a fan of dishwashers, especially for small loads...that's not my point: double sinks minimum please. I suppose there must be a good mark-up on kitchen fit-outs given the number of dedicated magazines, leaflets and dedicated shops (we have one in this tiny Yorkshire village). Generally they all seem to offer the same stuff, perhaps with different doors and handles. However, I'm not about to stun you with a "but have you thought of this?" type of article. But have you thought of this? Why do we have so many have wall cupboards and ghastly cooker extracts? Wall cupboards always make a room appear smaller and create a cascade effect. Picture any of the 'sexy' glossy images of a kitchen with two glasses of wine and a few carrots on a chopping board and imagine the space without wall cupboards...calm? So where do you handily store everything? In a dedicated stack or run of of full height cupboards, only 250-300mm deep along one wall...OK along with an inset 'coffee station'! (I think a coffee station was a potential ground breaking trend for 2018). That way you can lose everything and know where it is. If you (or SWMBO) insists on 'Away' then the doors can be opaque, or any combination of openness and opacity. Remember herbs and spices rather lose their flavour if exposed to light and heat, so they must be away, or in a larder. I'm a fan of larders, fitted with slate or granite shelving and good ventilation for storage of jams, pickles, vegetables, fruit, beer wine, cheese, eggs etc...many foods don't sit very well in a fridge, losing their flavour and absorbing the wrong flavours from other foods. Ideally a larder should be on a North East corner, vented high and low, and with a sealed door to warmer parts of the house. Is that potentially a 2018 trend...watch this space.