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Mark Webb
 
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Default 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.
  #2   Report Post  
BigWallop
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


"Mark Webb" wrote in message
. uk...

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?


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


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.


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

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?


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.

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

Mark W.


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 ?


  #3   Report Post  
Duncan Lees
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Mark Webb wrote:
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?


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.

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.


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

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?


Maybe a bit more. 300mm?

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


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

  #4   Report Post  
David Hearn
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


"Mark Webb" wrote in message
. uk...

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?


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


  #5   Report Post  
Christian McArdle
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

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.


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.




  #7   Report Post  
Mark Webb
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

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.


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


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.


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?


Maybe a bit more. 300mm?


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

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.


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.
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

BigWallop wrote:

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?


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.

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


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

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.


Mark W.


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.

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.


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.

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

--
Chris Green )


  #11   Report Post  
Duncan Lees
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Mark Webb wrote:
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.


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

  #12   Report Post  
Duncan Lees
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Mark Webb wrote:
That's very logical advice. Unfortunate for my kitchen layout, but very
logical.


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

  #17   Report Post  
Duncan Lees
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Mark Webb wrote:
I was also told that a dishwasher would go under the draining side of a
1.5 bowl sink. Is this right?


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

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John Armstrong
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 09:45 +0100 (BST), Mark Webb wrote:

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 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.
  #20   Report Post  
Mark Webb
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


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




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.


  #22   Report Post  
RichardS
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

wrote in message
...
Duncan Lees duncan-at-snsys-dot-com wrote:
wrote:
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.


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.

Yes, it was under the bowl! Having the dishwasher near the sink makes
sense from the point of view of using it as well of course. You can
empty dregs etc. in the sink which, if nothing else, is usually less
messy than dribbling them into the dishwasher.


wow, that's pretty incompetent for a so-called designer... what height was
the worktop at - normal height plus 30 cm??!!!

I butchered the cabinet under the sink so that our (slim width) dishwasher
would fit underneath the drainer. As far as practicality goes we're finding
it an ideal position. As you say, emptying dregs and rinsing off debris is
easy.

From the kitchen designers that I've had dealings with, they appear to be
people who don't cook an awful lot. The old "work triangle" design with
sink, fridge and hob at each apex is an efficient kitchen (but I realise
this just isn't practical in many kitches - especially galley style ones).
You really need some worktop space at both sides of the hob, worktop space
on the non-drainer side of the sink and at least some other contiguous
worktop space for preparation.

With suitable insulation between them I wouldn't see oven and fridge
together as such a problem with modern appliances.

I'd really not want a hob flush against any tall unit - for safety I'd want
to be able to remove a pan quickly from the hob in either direction.

But then, I'm fussy about these things....

cheers
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk


  #24   Report Post  
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

RichardS noaccess@invalid wrote:
wrote in message
...
Duncan Lees duncan-at-snsys-dot-com wrote:
wrote:
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.

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.

Yes, it was under the bowl! Having the dishwasher near the sink makes
sense from the point of view of using it as well of course. You can
empty dregs etc. in the sink which, if nothing else, is usually less
messy than dribbling them into the dishwasher.


wow, that's pretty incompetent for a so-called designer... what height was
the worktop at - normal height plus 30 cm??!!!

I think it was Magnet did the 'design', it was also horribly
expensive.

From the kitchen designers that I've had dealings with, they appear to be
people who don't cook an awful lot. The old "work triangle" design with
sink, fridge and hob at each apex is an efficient kitchen (but I realise
this just isn't practical in many kitches - especially galley style ones).
You really need some worktop space at both sides of the hob, worktop space
on the non-drainer side of the sink and at least some other contiguous
worktop space for preparation.

Most of the ones we met just took our 'we thought something like this'
layout and built an (expensive) fitted kitchen around it. There was
no input from them from the usability point of view and, if they
couldn't understand what we wanted or their units couldn't do it, they
just didn't bother.

In the end we spent a *long* time with bits of squared paper
scribbling and throwing away ideas. Our problem is that we have a
large kitchen but with two access points, an ordinary doorway on one
long side and a wide archway into the adjacent breakfast room on the
other long side. Thus the useful workspace is in two L shaped parts.

The original infelicity of the kitchen as we found it was that the
dishwasher was tight in the corner of one of the Ls and thus, when it
was open made that corner and the adjacent cupboard completely
inaccessible. Moving the dishwasher to the end of the L, still
adjacent to the sink was the fundamental 'right move' but it meant a
lot of thinking about all the rest of the layout. Given the size of
the kitchen we were able to fit a full double bowl sink in as well
which is lovely compared with the old 1.5 bowl one, I never really saw
any use for the 'half' bowl.


I'd really not want a hob flush against any tall unit - for safety I'd want
to be able to remove a pan quickly from the hob in either direction.

That was one of our other contraints, we wanted to get a 90cm hob in,
with as you say, space for pans either side and that was quite
difficult.


But then, I'm fussy about these things....

You mean you actually use the kitchen to cook/work in, I think lots of
people don't. The long time we spent (several months of elapsed time)
in thinking about our kitchen has really paid off. It's now a real
pleasure to work in as just about everything is in the right place and
we managed to get appliances that are good functionally too.

--
Chris Green )
  #25   Report Post  
BigWallop
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


"Mark Webb" wrote in message
. uk...

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




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.


And would it be possible to site the hob next to the built in oven unit ?

Does the extractor need to be ducted, or is it a charcoal filtered type ?

What sort of wall units are you fitting ? Would the wall units be OK to sit
the pipework on top of, from the extractor ?




  #27   Report Post  
Suz
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


"Mark Webb" wrote in message
. uk...

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

Have you any room in the middle to jut out? If you could do this in front
of the window the you could put the hob there with one of those new trendy
chimney hoods over and you'd be the worksurface depth from the window and
not too far from the outside for a vent.

I remember from years ago when my mother put a hob next to a tall housing
unit she had to leave a 15cm(?) gap on either side for fire regs. Make sure
you are fairly close to a worksurface anyway, as you don't want to be
jogging across the kitchen when you are lifting someting scalding hot out of
the oven.

Give us a pic of your kitchen layout and let all the budding planners loose
on it, it'll give u ideas at least.


  #28   Report Post  
David Moodie
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances


"Mark Webb" wrote in message
. uk...

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.


Hi Mark

Many of the software packages used by the "pros" are available as a demo
version.
The one that I've used is kitchen draw see
http://www.kitchendraw.com/ or http://www.easycadplus.com/

its a 6.8Mb download which may put a few people off, but they give you 30
hours free use which should be more than adequate for my purposes and far
more useful that the usual 30 days trial period.

I didn't spend a great deal of time looking at alternative packages but
found this one to be very useful so far, I've still to finish off the
kitchen design (...I've still to finish the plans for the extension as
well), but it has proved very useful so far, and I will be using this
package again as it looks like we're doing the bathroom over the winter and
leaving the extension until next spring time.

cheers

David


  #31   Report Post  
Suz
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Good ascii art btw
What are the dimensions of the room Mark?
Esp this wall\
\

+-----------------WWWWWWWWWWW-------------+
|TTTTTTTTTHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|
|TTTTTTTTTHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|
|DDDD

OOOO|Internal wall
WDDDD

OOOO|
WDDDD

OOOO|
WSSSS

FFFF|
WSSSS

FFFF|
|SSSS

FFFF|
|TTTT

% /door
%\

% /
% \ back door

%/
% \

|
+----------%%%%%%--------------------------------------+
\ Internal wall
\ door
\

W = window

The rest are our current thinking.
O = oven
F = Fridge
S = sink
D = dishwasher
H = hob
T = worktop

Mark W.



  #32   Report Post  
Mark Webb
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

In article ,
(Suz) wrote:

What are the dimensions of the room


4.74m x 3.50m (approx. - not yet plastered).

Mark W.
  #34   Report Post  
Suz
 
Posts: n/a
Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

I'll try that again.....

+-------------------WWWWWWWWWW----------------+
| TTHHHHTTTTTTTTTDDDSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|
|THHHHHHTTTTTTTTDDDSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|
|HHHHHH
TTTTT|Internal
WTTHH
TTTTT|wall
WTTTT TTTTT|
WTTTT OOOO|
WFFFF OOOO|
|FFFFF OOOO|
|FFFFF %
/door
%\ %
/
% \ back door %/
% \
|
+-------%%%%%%------------------------------------+


  #38   Report Post  
N. Thornton
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Hi

I can just mention a few details that seem relevant to some options
mentioned. First if there is anything tall close to the hob I'd want
to cover the side of it in sheet stainless for fire safety and for
cleaning. Chipboard corners dont survive repeated wetting (nor pan
fires). Secondly an oven in a corner is a perfectly good position,
position it at 45 degrees. Thirdly some ovens have fan cooled doors,
so a hob over the oven can be a non issue with one of these. Even with
an ordinary oven I've not found it any big deal myself.

Regards, NT
  #39   Report Post  
Mungo Henning
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

Also, with a hob above a floor-sitting oven, the one extractor hood
covers steam (or smoke) from both.
With separates, you may need a hood over the hob and some other
type of extractor when the inevitable burned food happens.

When I get home, if I don't smell burning I conclude that tea is a salad...
!

Mungo :-)


  #40   Report Post  
Owain
 
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Default Choosing location for kitchen appliances

"Mungo Henning" wrote
| When I get home, if I don't smell burning I conclude that tea
| is a salad... !

And if you do smell burning, tea is going to be a salad when you've
extinguished the oven :-)

Owain


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