[Valerie]

Hello,

After having a good look round both at IKEA and on this amazing site, I've rejected Varde in favour of Stat white with black/dark grey countertops (Varde handles, though). Here is an initial plan - all comments very welcome. (Have I got the fridge in a silly place?)

I experimented with putting in a 60in-wide row of cabinets (floor only) on the opposite wall next to the fridge, but then thought there might not be enough room.

A couple of things:

• The room is an odd shape! While the window wall is 100in wide, the opposite wall (where the dresser is) is only 83 inches wide. I should really have sized the room using the narrower wall measurement rather than the wider one, but I also wanted to get an idea of what the wide end would look like.
• The door opens outwards, not into the room (and the handle is on the wrong side too - I couldn't work out how to change it once I'd put it in the planner)
• The dresser I'm envisaging is from a pine furniture-maker, and would be 6in narrower (and less deep) than the IKEA model I've put in here.
• Likewise, the table (from the same furniture-maker) would be a few inches narrower than the Groland I've put in here, although otherwise similar. It's not for seating, but as a narrower work surface alternative to cabinets.

The cabinets on the fridge wall did look good in the original design, and the extra storage/work surface would be very useful, but having only a little over 3 ft (where the room narrows) between each block seemed to be too tight.

I know there's some dead space in the far left corner, but I can make use of it.

Thanks,

Valerie

(p.s. I'm British - living in the Czech Republic (with IKEA only 30 minutes away on the metro - a bit too close, really ) and planning in cm, so please forgive me if cabinet conversions to inches are a bit out of sync).

[Valerie]

Here is version 2 with an extra row of cabinets and the room resized to reflect the shorter wall (although it widens towards the window wall).

[DesignDiva]

Here in America , 3 feet of aisle space is considered tight...but having worked with a kitchen with that narrow of an aisle, it really isn't too bad. Since that's your narrowest point, I think you would probably be fine with a row of cabinets opposite.


However, since you do have the option of building, I think a row of shelving and a slightly narrower countertop would be a perfect solution.

I think your fridge placement is OK, it would be awkward if you brought it further down the wall. If you draw a triangle connecting your fridge, sink and range, the "rules" say no leg should be more than 9 feet.

Another completely different option is to set your kitchen up like a galley, moving the fridge to that corner to the left of the range, and moving the pine piece (maybe even a larger one) to the opposite wall.

I'm curious...are the upper wall cabinets deeper than 12"? They look like it on the planner. I've never seen deep wall cabinets like that in the US, but I really like the idea!

[nyc_home]

I'd also say to go ahead and put cabinets on the other wall with the refridgerator. I've always had narrow kitchens and I think storage and counter space are more important than the width of the aisle. (But make sure to carefully check how wide the doors--and their handles-- will be when they're open!)

In addition to being more functional, I think using the same cabinets on both sides of the room looks less "visually cluttered" than mixing cabinets and tables.

One more quick tip: it might look a little better to have the widths of the upper cabinets match the widths of the cabinets below.

( btw , I'm imagining your kitchen in a charming, centuries-old European home, whether it acually is or not)

	BTW definintion BTW means By The Way

[Valerie]

Thank you! Yes, I think I'm also now inclined to go with the cabinets on both sides as well. After all, if it's narrow it's narrow - what difference are a couple of inches going to make? Good point about how far the doors open, though.

I was concerned that if we put cabinets all the way down the sink etc. side it might make the room look even narrower - I think I was trying to break it up a bit. We do have the option of moving the fridge wall and taking some space out of the large living room, but we've not been thinking in those terms. The one reason I would want a larger kitchen is to make it easier to keep an eye on children, although we don't have any yet. Maybe it doesn't make any difference, though - after all, once they're walking they're in and out of the kitchen in any case).

Eva - the upper cabinets are 37cm wide, which comes out as 14.6 inches. So I suppose that does make them quite deep - it's the only depth there is here, though. I wonder why they decided to make them so different? 37 is a pretty random number, after all.

I'll play around with their widths and see if I can get them to match the ones beneath.

It is an old house, although when it was renovated during the communist era they took out all the old doors etc...This is the flat next to the (small) one in which we currently live - we're moving in there in a few months' time (or however long it takes to get everything done...)

[Valerie]

OK - we've decided it makes much more sense to go for it and move the wall back so the room is double the size, and have the dining table in the kitchen rather than the living room. Otherwise a similar layout (we can't put units under the windows because they're too low).

Looking at these terracotta tiles for the floor - http://www.chkz.cz/cz/inspirace/byto...ka/kuchyne/114