Help!!! Getting very confused and very stressed :(

[patp]

We have had a couple of kitchen designers out and they come up with pretty much the same sort of layout. The most personable one, with the most ideas, turns out to be unreliable by reputation (is often, ahem, "unwell").

 

I always get the feeling that when they see the size of the property, large bungalow, they think we have an unlimited budget. The kitchen was designed to incorporate washing machine and tumble dryer but we added a utility room so kitchen is quite large. 4500 x 5690. We could find the money to splash out but where do you stop?

 

We have a great carpenter (has worked in Buckingham Palace) and he says he fits a lot of Wren kitchens but that we might like to take a look at Scope near Kings Lynn Norfolk where he buys his timber supplies. He says they are hand made. 

 

I know I am wittering on but our house is sold and we may need to get out in short order as there is a very short chain behind us and none in front. I feel I am having to rush into a kitchen that I am not really comfortable with. Should I just plod on looking at one kitchen supplier after another until we are homeless without a kitchen or should I bite the bullet, assume they are all much of a muchness, and just go for the cheapest/quickest/best salesman jobby?

 

Another pia is choosing appliances that suit both of us. Most difficult is fridge and freezer. Himself wants a fridge freezer that has a large freezer, they come with large fridges and think that is too much for two people. I do, however, prefer the look of a the American style. Aaargh

[Redoctober]

Hi @patp I bet you feel better getting that off your chest! ?

 

Are you seeking kitchen manufacturer references or just seeking advice / guidance as to what path you go down?

 

The issues you raise all come down to what suits you I suppose. To try and offer something, could you not set up a "makeshift" kitchen arrangement in the new place pending a final decision as opposed to being forced into one? It is clearly going to be a big investment regardless of whom you go with, so perhaps a couple of hundred quid on a makeshift set up would make economic sense.

 

As for size of fridge/ freezer - all I would say is that we too are just a couple and I would say most weeks the fridge runs at a 60 - 70% capacity BUT it really comes good as soon as we have visitors / special days. I couldn't imagine having a smaller capacity fridge and then coming unstuck once the numbers within the house start to increase.

 

 

[SteamyTea]

This is my work area, I can do 200 meals in 4 hours from it.

Go temporary. And freestanding.

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by SteamyTea

[patp]

We do have a fifth wheel caravan with a similar sized kitchen! We manage fine

 

That brings me to another of my worries that everything will be too far away in this new kitchen. We don't really cook a lot and very rarely entertain. Our daughter and son in law are really the only ones we would cook for, anyone else we tend to take them out. While I don't need a large, posh, kitchen, I don't want to let this build down by skimping on it. 

[SteamyTea]

The problem with kitchens is that styles change. My sister's 1st husband made his own. Then years later, made some more parts to extend it.

£5k buys some good woodworking machinery and a lot of timber.

 

When I had my house valued a few years back, the estate agent said she loved my kitchen. It was the original one put in in 1987.

 

[ProDave]

Don't be rushed.  Get the kitchen right.  If you must move in, set up a make shift camp kitchen until you get the design right for you.

 

I fully agree on Fridge Freezers.  Our freezer is constantly full and we occasionally have to turn on the spare one for extra capacity.  Why does nobody make a FF where the freezer is bigger than the fridge?  Obviously I am not the only one to want that.

[James Newport]

Yep, temporary kitchen and take your time. We have a couple of portable induction hobs from the Aldi special aisle and a combi microwave crammed into the utility room because that's finished. I am loving how close together everything is, even if at times it's like that episode of Keeping Up Appearances when they buy the shoe box flat in the big posh house. 

[Temp]

+1 to a temporary kitchen. My brother set one up in his dining room while his kitchen was replaced. Think he also used the Aldi induction hobs but there are similar on Amazon. Can be used later for outdoor/BBQ etc if you have an outdoor socket. 

[Temp]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

 

I fully agree on Fridge Freezers.  Our freezer is constantly full and we occasionally have to turn on the spare one for extra capacity.  Why does nobody make a FF where the freezer is bigger than the fridge? 

 

I'm embarrassed to say we ended up with 

 

A fridge in kitchen

An upright freezer and a fridge freezer in the utility room.

[dpmiller]

I've got our utility fitted out and the new fridgefreezer purchased. Just need to bring our current cooker down and we're sorted. The kitchen... will wait.

 

I'd decided on a reasonably sized fridge freezer which will end up in the kitchen, and a small chest freezer as "overflow" in the utility.

[Big Jimbo]

The fashion used to be to shop every One or Two weeks 5 or 6 years ago. Hence when i was designing kitchens i would always allow for a large fridge freezer in the kitchen, with a wine cooler (for drinks), and a large fridge freezer in the utility room. However, i think a lot of people now shop on a more regular basis, especially people who's kids have gone, or who are older. For a family house i would still kit out for lots of food (frozen and chilled) but perhaps not in a smaller place. I had just realised that i have not helped at all.?

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

Hence when i was designing kitchens i would always allow for a large fridge freezer in the kitchen

I have not had a freezer for 20 years or so.  I did have a 24/7 Tesco nearby.

Dried and tinned food is just as tasty, and takes no energy to store it.  Also, if the door falls off my cup board, my food is still fine.

The first friend you make if you own a restaurant is your refrigeration company.

[Big Jimbo]

Steamy Tea.Should you not be churning out 200 meals or something ? 200 meals in 4 hours....impressive. I can burn toast. That's about it.

[SteamyTea]

46 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

Steamy Tea.Should you not be churning out 200 meals or something ? 200 meals in 4 hours....impressive. I can burn toast. That's about it.

Not till tonight, I am not on split shifts untill tomorrow.

 

Cooking is easy. It really is. It is just a case of being organised and not overly ambitious.

The rest is physics.

Edited July 6, 2021 by SteamyTea

[AliG]

As people say you could maybe kit out the utility room as a temp kitchen while you think about things.

 

Realistically if you order a kitchen you might need to wait quite a few weeks for delivery anyway.

 

We have an expensive kitchen from a fancy showroom and I feel that I am being fleeced by their prices. But they have done two kitchens for us and both times it has gone like clockwork and they have finished the whole job inside a week so I feel it is worth it. However, kitchen cabinets seem very much of a muchness to me, they are all basically 16mm laminated chipboard plus doors. There might be small differences such as the thickness of the back panels etc, but the basics are pretty much the same. I think the quality of the installation has much more of an effect that the brand of the cabinets, so if you think the carpenter would do a good job then I would go with that.

 

I looked up Scope. I would imagine they are expensive and only for people who want a certain look. For me being "hand made" is not an advantage, but you might like that style.

 

I would just look around at kitchens and find a style you like then price it up from various places such as Wren and get a deal you are comfortable with and your carpenter is happy to fit.

 

As to the fridge freezer, I have been in the same boat, a lot of freezers are too small and also awkward to get large items into like a turkey. We historically have tended to have hardly anything in the fridge as we shop regularly and as much in the freezer. Having had two American fridge freezer we have moved to a separate fridge and freezer both 600mm wide, But tbh I think it was more a style choice as they could be built in and I fancied a change. As someone mentioned there might be only two of you, but how often do you have visitors, my wife's American family overload the fridge when they come. A small point is that the running cost is pretty much proportional to the size. So a standard fridge freezer might cost around £40 a year to run, an American one will be more like £60. I wouldn't really let running cost drive the decision though.

 

The pandemic has really changed how we shop and store food. We have taken to freezing way more stuff such as bread and ingredients. It has slashed our food wastage, but means there is now more stuff in the freezer and less in the fridge. Really it depends on your shopping patterns and how you want the kitchen to look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

Make the temporary kitchen from whatever is going in the utility room if you have one.

 

Or do the utility room now and cook in it. A further utility worktop or a spare cooker hob for when the new £6000 one in the posh new kitchen goes phut, would be useful. 

[patp]

Sounds like a consensus for a utility room kitchen then. It is not huge as we chose to have a large walk in shower/toilet Might. Washing machine and tumble dryer and a couple of wardrobe style cabinets will fill it I think. Could, however make a camp kitchen just would have to buy a second hand cooker. Our under counter fridge and freezer should move with us until we decide what we want to do. 

 

I feel so much better for having put it out there and got sensible responses. Thank you.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, AliG said:

looked up Scope

Was that not called 'The Spastic Society'.

There was a shoppe in Amersham called Scope in the 1970s. They sold damaged kitchenware.

Not sure if there is a connection.

[AliG]

Quite a few Scope's came up, but once I put in King's Lynn I got Scopejoinery which seems to just be a handmade furniture maker

[Buzz]

Hi @patp Have you looked at KB Kitchens in Wisbech we are only at the pouring foundations stage but have sent out to a few designers and they have come back with the best looking lay out so far.  

[patp]

Will take a look at KB Kitchens. Thank you.

 

Here is Scope - http://scopejoinery.com/examples/#bwg8/177