Critique my kitchen design

[jayc89]

Used DIY Kitchens for our Utility room recently, plan to use them again for our Kitchen. The room itself is approx. 7.5x4.2m half of which is to be used as a day room; sofa, coffee table, tv etc. Garden is north-east as the plan is drawn, there are folding doors to the north-east corner of the room, between Wall A and D. 

 

I had also considered a peninsula coming off wall A, but I couldn't make it work; fitting in the hob and required units and it not being tight to get through the kitchen door.

 

Feedback and thoughts most welcome!

 

 

[JohnMo]

Generally to me looks good, most important is, you and other half are happy.

 

For me, not sure about the units above the sink, banging your head would be my concern. Removing would open that space up.

 

It also a little monochrome, for me, could you use a different worktop on the island? Either different colour or material?

 

Is the colour going to black as shown, if so I worry about looking dated very quickly.

[jayc89]

2 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Generally to me looks good, most important is, you and other half are happy.

 

For me, not sure about the units above the sink, banging your head would be my concern. Removing would open that space up.

 

It also a little monochrome, for me, could you use a different worktop on the island? Either different colour or material?

 

Is the colour going to black as shown, if so I worry about looking dated very quickly.

 

Thanks. The units above the sink are reduced depth, and shorter to hopefully avoid that issue. I did try without but it looked pretty bare, we could potentially have some sort of "wall art" there instead?

The visualisations aren't great, the units around the perimeter are meant to be Graphite and the island Dove Grey. Will take a look into changing the island worktop though. Perhaps a cheaper one around the perimeter and splash the cash on the island?

 

[crispy_wafer]

Maybe an issue with fridge/freezer being almost behind the person cooking?  Where's the kettle and toaster in relation to the fridge?  Will it become a pain in the arse walking round and cracking your hips on the edges... 

 

I'm no designer and having these issues, asking myself these questions as we are also finalising designs...

Edited November 15, 2023 by crispy_wafer

[jayc89]

11 minutes ago, crispy_wafer said:

Maybe an issue with fridge/freezer being almost behind the person cooking?  Where's the kettle and toaster in relation to the fridge?  Will it become a pain in the arse walking round and cracking your hips on the edges...

 

Good point on the kettle/toaster, almost certainly on Wall A somewhere. There's pretty much 1m wide walkway from Wall A, past the sink to Wall C though. Would that be a problem?

[crispy_wafer]

Nah, I don't think it would be a problem.  I wonder if DIY do an internal corner unit in the style you like with a radiused door, then you could do the same on the island and put a radius on the island worktop.  It would smooth out the lines,  Wonder how that'd look?

 

We went to DIY at the weekend, went in with one idea - probably the most expensive inframe shaker, came out with another Cento with the slate finish and some concrete finish ones aswell(their cheapest), and maybe a dektron worktop with a coloured grain through it...  And if fashions change, so what, we'll deal with it when the time comes 🤣!

[Kelvin]

Layout looks good in that you have the work triangle sorted. I’d have a concern about having the fridge right behind the hob just because it might be a pia if you’re cooking and someone else wants access to the fridge but it’s a minor inconvenience. 
 

It looks like you have a lot of cupboards, will you fill them all? I get that more cupboards allows you to spread items out more rather than cramming them in. However most folk have a lot more kitchen stuff than they ever use. We went through every bit of kitchenware and were ruthless in what we kept. Consequently we didn’t need nearly as many cupboards. 
 

Does the island have drawers or cupboards? I realised that having a big island with drawers was more practical than cupboards and you ended up with loads of space. This and the ruthless culling of kitchenware allowed us to ditch a whole wall of cupboards. This saved a few thousand and opened the kitchen up more. 

[ProDave]

We have 1.2 metres between the island and the main units, I would not want to go less.

 

We chose granite on the main units and Oak on the island with nicely rounded corners and round corner units to make it more user friendly.

 

Where is the dishwasher going?  Don't forget when that is open it will all but block access past it with an island there So you need to get from hob to sink to dishwasher all with the dishwasher open.

 

And do you really need 4 ovens?

 

[jayc89]

26 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Layout looks good in that you have the work triangle sorted. I’d have a concern about having the fridge right behind the hob just because it might be a pia if you’re cooking and someone else wants access to the fridge but it’s a minor inconvenience. 
 

It looks like you have a lot of cupboards, will you fill them all? I get that more cupboards allows you to spread items out more rather than cramming them in. However most folk have a lot more kitchen stuff than they ever use. We went through every bit of kitchenware and were ruthless in what we kept. Consequently we didn’t need nearly as many cupboards. 
 

Does the island have drawers or cupboards? I realised that having a big island with drawers was more practical than cupboards and you ended up with loads of space. This and the ruthless culling of kitchenware allowed us to ditch a whole wall of cupboards. This saved a few thousand and opened the kitchen up more. 

 

SWMBO loves cooking, she has gadgets that look more like WMDs to me!

Drawers under the island at the hob side, cupboards at the opposite side.

 

11 minutes ago, ProDave said:

We have 1.2 metres between the island and the main units, I would not want to go less.

 

We chose granite on the main units and Oak on the island with nicely rounded corners and round corner units to make it more user friendly.

 

Where is the dishwasher going?  Don't forget when that is open it will all but block access past it with an island there So you need to get from hob to sink to dishwasher all with the dishwasher open.

 

And do you really need 4 ovens?

 

 

Dishwasher is to the right of the sink, bin cupboard to the left, so I hope that'll work nicely.

The 4x appliances are 2x ovens 1x microwave and 1x coffee machine. 

Thinking of removing the tall unit on the left of the sink (right of the coffee machine) and leaving a little alcove there for the toaster/kettle. Then everything's in the same area. 

[Kelvin]

We fitted a Quooker so no need for a kettle and use the grill to toast rather than a toaster although we don’t toast much. I hate clutter so everything has been about removing stuff off the work surfaces 

[jayc89]

Made a bit more room around the sink/dishwasher by trimming 200mm off the island. Also removed the tall unit on the left of the sink to be used as an area for kettle/toaster, although I do like Kelvin's idea of a Quooker tap and grill instead of clutter on show... 

[ProDave]

I would get rid of both those tall corner units,  just removing one destroys the symetry.  I did think they would be hard to access storage.

[jayc89]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

I would get rid of both those tall corner units,  just removing one destroys the symetry.  I did think they would be hard to access storage.

Don't you think it looks a bit... wrong?

 

[Kelvin]

Remove the cupboards above the sink and see how it looks. The cupboards all around the window makes it look like a letterbox and rather small. 
 

Our previous kitchen had a really long work surface on one wall. Completely useless as what do you use it for other it becoming a shelf. Obviously you have a bunch of cupboards there so hence the worktop. In our case half the cupboards were empty. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Kelvin

[jayc89]

6 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Remove the cupboards above the sink and see how it looks. The cupboards all around the window makes it look like a letterbox and rather small. 

 

Could becoming a bit "numb" but none really seem to sit right with me.

 

Leaving the corner units in?

 

Or without anything in the corners?

 

Or standard units up to the wall?

 

 

[Dunc]

Standard units to the wall for me. I did think that the two full height corner units were standing like menacing sentinels in the corner.

 

I'd just blank off the opposite side as you've now got a kind of cubby-hole effect next to the oven unit. Or maybe blank it at half depth so that the kettle & toaster are behind the line of oven units, but the cubby-hole isn't a full 600mm deep. 

 

I'd want a large radius on all corners of the island unit, expecially if there are children around.

[Kelvin]

Ah your window isn’t very tall if those dims are accurate so it does look quite small even if it isn’t. I’d cupboard up to the back wall though. 
 

If I’ve learnt anything from building this house is that anything you can do to create a feeling of space and airiness really helps with how you see the room. We’ve removed doors and added a glass door, made a room upstairs open plan to the stairs, removed a whole wall of cupboards and therefore a worktop, added a rooflight in the hall, gone with mostly light tones, using glass shades for pendant lights, exposed the ridge beam in one room etc. If you look at your original layout you have three walls of dark wall cupboards and a smallish window at the end creating a tunnel effect. 

[Mattg4321]

I’d definitely lose the units above the window. If it’s not too late also make the window taller?

 

What software are you using to plan your kitchen and generate these images please?

[crispy_wafer]

11 minutes ago, Mattg4321 said:

I’d definitely lose the units above the window. If it’s not too late also make the window taller?

 

What software are you using to plan your kitchen and generate these images please?

 

@Mattg4321 Use the planner on diy kitchens Online Kitchen planner | Free design software | DIY Kitchens (diy-kitchens.com)

[saveasteading]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

Oak on the island 

Never again for us. It goes black if it gets very wet or with aluminium pots on it,  despite umpteen coats of oil. We had to scrape 2mm off and reseal, and now it is happening again.

[jayc89]

Had another shuffle around. That back wall just doesn't sit right. 

The window's not in yet, but has been ordered. It opens out across our drive onto a Pub beer garden so the Architect designed it low like this for privacy. (We will eventually put an 8ft fence up between us and them, at which point it'll look out at that)

Edited November 15, 2023 by jayc89

[Pocster]

A minor thing that gets overlooked ( unless your my SWMBO ) is a bin . To ‘hide’ it SWMBO requested a special ‘bin’ cupboard - which clearly is not worth the money ; but hides it and avoids floor clutter .

 

oh hang on - I see bin now 🙄

Edited November 15, 2023 by Pocster
Missing bin twat

[crispy_wafer]

We all see things differently and we all have our own ideas, which is great.

 

Here's the layout we have settled on as reference.  We didn't particularly want any wall cupboards, so have managed to get the space req'd with floor cupboards, and with two windows, cooker position was pretty much decided for us.  Boring but simple, good amount of floor space, which we like.  We went through our existing kitchen, listed out all the existing cupboards and just made sure there was a duplicate in the new...

 

 

 

[Kelvin]

Shame it’s too late to make the window taller. I’d have made it a bit  taller as you could have added a blind to then cover up  the top bit for privacy until your fence was up. Presumably you’ll add a nice dense hedge too. 
 

well done posting this up. It’s not easy presenting something you’ve worked on and it’s then criticised. It all comes from a good place on here though. 

[Pocster]

5 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

well done posting this up. It’s not easy presenting something you’ve worked on and it’s then criticised. It all comes from a good place on here though. 

I never posted mine - installing it now 🙄🤔🤣☺️