Choosing location for kitchen appliances

We're trying to lay out the appliances for a new kitchen, and would appreciate some impartial advice on a couple of queries please.

1) Is there any issues with placing a free standing larder (tall) fridge next to a tall built in over housing?

2) Given the need to position an extractor hood over, is there any problem with locating an electric hob right up to a window opening (i.e. along side, not in front of)? No curtains but probably an inset blind in the reveal.

3) To position a built in over near a corner, how much side clearance should there be to stop the oven scorching the cabinets facing (around the corner) when the door's open?

I guess I don't trust the designers not to tell me to do whatever results in the most cabinets/expense.

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb
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None that I would know of. The oven and fridge should be separated by the kitchen unit wall and both their insulated skins.

A hob is best positioned against an inside wall with splash back surface for heat and hygiene reasons.

Having a oven door opening against anything with a decorative facing is a no, no in my opinion. It's amazing how much heat emanates from the oven when the door opens, so it will mark other surfaces with scorch and grease stains.

A kitchen should have cooking and washing up facilities at right angles with each other for convenient working and hassle free transfer of dishes and pots. The wet areas should all be together for convenience of plumbing and drainage. The cooking areas should all be together for convenience of ventilation and wiring or plumbing of their services.

We were told to remember the triangle form when we designed our kitchen. The points of the triangle are made up from the storage area (fridge, larder etc.), the wet area (sink, washing machine, dishwasher, etc.) and the cooking area (speaks for itself really), with the straight lines between them being worktop surface for serving up and food preparation areas with all the knifes and mixing appliances etc.

When the kitchen is laid out in this type of configuration, it's then easy to find out where the most power sockets are needed and where all the plumbing needs to go, and then you can get it all this work done before you start to fit the units.

Good luck with, and can we get some pictures when it's finished ?

Reply to
BigWallop

Do you mean oven? Advice I've read in a kitchen design book said not to put the fridge next to the oven. But a free standing fridge should be better than a built in one. So it might be okay, but I'd leave a reasonable gap IIWY. You'll just make your fridge less efficient the closer you have it.

Again, I'd leave a reasonable gap. Say 200mm+, if only for aesthetics.

Maybe a bit more. 300mm?

Same here. I've spent along time planning and designing my own kitchen. I'll probably go along to a kitchen designer anyway (MFI or where ever) just to see if they have any good idvice I've not thought of.

-Duncan

Reply to
Duncan Lees

AFAIK, cupboard doors should not be able to open against the oven - ie. you should be able to have both the cupboard door open and the oven door at the same time. Not sure where I heard that though.

D
Reply to
David Hearn

I used the MFI design service and found it very good. I sat with the designer for a good two hours whilst we tried different configurations and ideas on the computer. There was no element of them trying to push something that I didn't want, but occasional useful suggestions of what might work in the particular circumstances to solve problems that came up. He even worked out how to get together a Belfast sink unit and door, despite these not being officially available in the range I was buying.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Surely, and thanks for the pointers. This would all be easy if it wasn't for that blasted window! I which I could blame someone else, but it's an extension we've just had built. Whoops!

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

Due to the fall of cabinets for the hood, I'd need to allow less than half that if we put the hob where my wife want (near the proposed oven), rather than near the sink.

Once again, if I have to leave more than about 150 I've no room for the fridge.

Tried this with B&Q. They but the hob near the sink, the built in oven next to the free standing fridge, with the oven separated from the near (round the corner) cabinet door by a 6" wine rack insert.

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

I suppose a lot comes down to the individual in question. We used MFI last time and the (design) experience wasn't very pleasant in my opinion. He was clearly playing the "how many things can I stuff in" game.

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

That's very logical advice. Unfortunate for my kitchen layout, but very logical.

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

It's also a pain from the point of view of accessibility of the oven I would think.

That wasn't the problem we had, they were (in general) just plain incompetant. One position a dishwasher under a sink, that's simply impossible, it won't fit.

Decide the best arrangement of appliances, worksurface, etc. yourself (only you know how you work and what you do most) and then see which kitchen units etc. can get closest to your ideal.

Positioning things *only* for convenience of wiring/plumbing seems wrong to me. Postion them to make it easy for them to be used. If you can also make installation easy as well then so be it but user requirements are more important than ease of installation.

Just put more sockets than you need everywhere, the cost is trivial compared with everything else.

Reply to
usenet

You don't want to be putting a wine rack next to an oven. Not if you want to put good wine in it anyhow. :)

-Duncan

Reply to
Duncan Lees

I've had to do a lot of juggling of cupboards and appliances in my galley design to allow me to open the doors without them colliding. I haven't quite got it 100% as with the dishwasher open I can't open the fridge. So if anyone wants a cup of tea, they'll have to wait until the dishwasher has been filled :)

-Duncan

Reply to
Duncan Lees

I assume you mean he put the dishwasher under the bowl of the sink itself? Not so good. You can put a dishwasher under the draining board side of sink and use the space under the bowl as a normal cupboard. Handy for all the water and waste plumbing.

-Duncan

Reply to
Duncan Lees

I was also told that a dishwasher would go under the draining side of a

1.5 bowl sink. Is this right?

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

So if you start with the sink at the windows what happens ?

Reply to
BigWallop

We have the double drainer with one and a half sinks, the washing machine is on one side and the dishwasher on the other. There's a single 800mm wide base unit between them which I made myself. It holds all the washing powders and things and is right next to both appliance. It made the plumbing and wiring a lot easier to install as well.

Reply to
BigWallop

I'm not sure about the bowl capacity. You'd probably have to measure up the sink wou want to use to make sure it all fits. I figured it would be possible measuring the sink in my current house, and happened to see the setup in Homebase when I was looking round. There were two 600mm wide units, one housed the bowl and was a normal cupboard. The other was the front to the dishwasher. I plan to do the same, but with a slim line model.

-Duncan

Reply to
Duncan Lees

I have just replaced my kitchen units, although keeping roughly the same layout (limited by space). The oven is next to (maybe 50mm away) the corner. The only scorching I have had since the previous units went in around 6-7 years ago is to the edge of the door on the other side of the oven, ie in line with it. This is much closer than the surfaces round the corner. I think the problem is constant heat leakage around the door when it is shut, rather than the occasional higher levels when it is open. The old doors had stuck on edging, and the heat had caused this edging to peal away. Hopefully I wont have the same problem with the new ones that have a one piece face+edge.

Reply to
John Armstrong

That's obviously the worry. Our current kitchen has the doors with a continuous 'skin' over the front and edges. The toaster caused one edge to peel up when it accidentally got left too close (so still beware).

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

If we're going to stick with a high level built in oven, we have 2 options against an outside wall (one near the sink, the other right alongside a window. My wife doesn't want the hob near the sink.

The only other thing we could do is to locate the oven somewhere else and put the hob against the inside wall. I'm not keen on this idea due to the look of that layout and the need to duct the hob extractor.

Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Webb

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