Kitchen Planning!

As promised, here's the plan that Dass at Wickes has put together for me.  It looks a little odd in places, because it doesn't include anything that they aren't providing.  In other words, the sink, the hob, the cooker, the existing carcases - where it just shows the new fascias and the end cladding panels that will go on the existing units.  I'm hoping to get together with Martin later this week for his thoughts, and shall order it (probably) the day I get back from the cruise.  Or possibly - at Sarah's suggestion - play safe and order it just before I go.  Delivery can be delayed for up to 6 months, so I shall suggest we start it in February or March perhaps - easier for Martin to make the time for it when weather is bad so no outside jobs queuing up.  And the finance deal means I wouldn't have to get it all together until about this time next year - and I have much of it sitting waiting already, and this would be 0% interest so laughing all the way to the bank.

So, first view is from above to orient you.

The wall at the top of the frame is the outside wall, with the window looking out onto the garden and the sliding doors into the conservatory.  The opening on the left of the bottom wall is the double doors into the lounge - these will be replaced with a double sliding door.  The gap on the RH wall is the archway through into the utility room (with fridge/freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, larder unit and small sink) - that isn't going to be touched.  To the right of the bottom wall is the door into the hall - hard to see because it's shown shut.  The little stubby bit sticking out between the window and the conservatory doors is where the wall currently is - that's coming down.  Possibly an RSJ needed cross the ceiling (the stubby bit would support that), but that depends on the joists - Martin has yet to assess this.  From the archway round to the stubby bit will be existing units with new fascias; the dishwasher is under the window, towards the right, and the sink in the middle below the window.  The hob is on the bit facing the wall that's coming out - the width of the worktop will be doubled there to make a sort of breakfast bar as well.  Next to the archway is a tower unit that has the existing cooker in.

So, first proper view.

Imagine you're standing in the current dining room, the wall is already gone.  Immediately ahead of you is the breakfast bar, with wine racks beneath.  The hob will be in front of you, but with standard work top width between it and you when you sit on a bar stool there, swigging a glass of wine or a martini and watching me cooking.  I'm adding a special insert in the base corner cupboard in the furthest wall, so that the part of the cupboard right inside isn't just wasted space where you put things that hopefully you don't need to get at for months at a time.

Isn't that fabulous?  I'm going for solid drawers rather than wire mesh.  So neat.  The rest of those units ahead are exactly as is at present, except that I've removed the stack of drawers to the right of the hob.  That is now the end base unit in the "dresser" on the right as you look at it now.  Moving into the current kitchen to view the dresser better......

The base unit on the LHS has vegetable baskets below it.   There's to be a glass-fronted dresser unit at each end and between them will be shelves.  More than shown - the width of the gap means that a single decor shelf can be cut in half to make 2 shelves; but if Dass puts 2 on the plan the computer will quote for 2 lengths.  The dresser and shelves will house things like recipe books, those lovely brown storage jars we grew up with, which I rescued from the barn, spice jars etc.

Now swinging round to face down to the right hand end of the extended room.....

The base units will be standard cupboards and drawers.  The 2 middle wall units will be glass fronted (and shelved), for my nice glasses etc.  And then there's the corner unit.......

This is a photo of the actual units, taken from the catalogue.  The doors are solid oak, a variation on a standard shaker door.  I wanted something that was classic enough to still look good a couple of decades down the road.

It shows the glass-fronted dresser units over on the LHS (imagine them with shelving between), and the walk-in pantry is to the left of the window.  Hard to see from these photos, but these aren't the handles I'm going for, I've picked those from a different style.  Wrong fascia, right handle....

And here's the pantry......

As you can see, shelving to right and left, a wine rack down the middle.  There will be little LED strips down the side panels inside the doors, which will light when you open the doors to help you see what's there.  You can literally walk into it.  And there's enough of a gap between the shelving and the door hinges to give ample room to prop the ironing board out of the way.

The only other important thing is the worktop.  I'm going for a surface they call "Earthstone".  It's a bit more expensive than melamine, but rather cheaper than granite.  And more important, the 6mm acrylic cover over the solid chipboard filling can be cut with a standard saw, so I won't have to pay an extra fortune to get it made to measure, cut and installed - Martin can do the lot.  Like melamine and granite, it isn't actually heat resistant, and it can be scratched, but this can be polished out.  And if assembled well you can hardly tell where the joints are.  The catalogue describes it as "warm and inviting to the touch" but I think they mus mean to look at, because although not as cool as granite it's going to be better for pastry than my current melamine top - it feels pretty cool even in this weather.  I'm going for what they call "black star melange", as the black sink will go well in it.

Talk about a dream kitchen!  Sooooo excited.  Martin and I can tweak the design a bit up to around 3 weeks before delivery, I just want him to have a look and see what he thinks before I order.

So what do you reckon?!