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Mick and Alison's Small Black and White Kitchen

Mick and Alison took advantage of my Bronze Kitchen Design Service, so I never met them, but Mick and I exchanged so many e-mails that I sort of feel I know him a little.

The kitchen in question is in Mick and Alison's Victorian end terrace cottage, which started life as a "two up two down" home - but which had already had a ground floor bathroom extension. They'd lived there for 25 years and the kitchen had been laid out in several different ways, during that time, but they wanted something a bit more convenient. One of their main requirements was a seating area in the kitchen because they were using a gate-leg table in the living room, with folding chairs, which had to be got out every time they wanted to use them. 

It's not a tiny kitchen, the main room is around 3m by 3m (a fairly common size in the UK) and it had already been extended a little (about 850mm) by knocking out the original pantry under the stairs ... although that space is, of course, restricted by a steeply sloping ceiling.

The room is quite awkward. Apart from that area with the sloping ceiling, there are three doors (the back door, the door to the stairs and the door into the living room) and on the wall opposite the stairs was a big, oddly shaped, chimney breast. There was an arched alcove to the left of the chimney (and the arch was a structural support to the chimney, so couldn't be removed) and a new boiler had been fitted to the right ... all of which restricted the space available. I've included some of Mick's "before" pictures in the gallery. It also became obvious, as we worked on the plans, that the walls, where they meet in the corners, aren't at 90 degrees!

Mick and Alison's original idea was to increase the space available by knocking out a hole in the chimney breast and fitting a set of drawers, an extra large hob and a cooker hood into the new alcove. That would give them more room in the main kitchen area ... for more worktop space, a seating area perhaps, and a double oven, built into a tall housing. Alison (obviously a keen cook) had set her heart on a large hob and a double oven.

I could see the advantage of the extra space, but was worried about how practical that arrangement would be. The hob would fit into the chimney space alright, but there would only be about 100mm of "elbow" room either side ... and ordinary domestic cooker hoods aren't powerful enough to extract fumes up a chimney. You'd need either an expensive bespoke extractor and flue liner, or to have the cooker hood re-circulating (by adding an air brick or ventilation grille into the side of the chimney).

We did discuss the possibility of using a re-circulating cooker hood and I came up with three preliminary layouts for the kitchen, one of which had the hob in the chimney. Mick and Alison didn't choose that option, though. They liked features from the other two plans better ... so we came up with a fourth plan. None of the alternatives included everything on the wish list but I'm afraid that's fairly typical of small and/or awkwardly shaped kitchens.

Alison decided that she could do without a broom cupboard in the kitchen and I suggested having a combi-microwave oven and a single oven, both fitted into the same midi-housing ... and that the ovens and a narrow pull-out larder could be fitted into the chimney. It was just too difficult to get both a double oven and a built-in microwave into the plan ... and have them both convenient to use. I also suggested a corner sink, to give some useful worktop space to the right of it, and a circular seating area in the middle of the room (at the end of a peninsula).

You can see the result in the gallery pictures below. Mick sent me the photos. He's fitting the kitchen himself and it's not finished yet, plus it's a very small space to get good views ... so don't expect flashy, showroom type pictures. I wanted to add them to the gallery here, though, because Mick and Alison's kitchen and it's problems are fairly representative of many awkward, small UK kitchens ... and hopefully there are some useful ideas here for others to use.

In his e-mail Mick said:

" ... thought you would like some feedback on our brilliant new kitchen. Its not quite complete ... but we are using the new arrangement very successfully. We love the breakfast bar and cooking area. It makes it easier to cook a meal together. Everyone that has seen it has admired the uniqueness of the design."

Thanks Mick, I'm delighted that you're pleased with it. And thank you for taking the time to send me the photos ... it's always lovely to see the end results of my designs.

A CAD picture showing the top view of the kitchen. The area on the right is the area under the stairs. You can also see how the corner sink and the central eating area fit into the layout
Mick's "BEFORE" pictures of the kitchen; it had already been disrupted by preparations to knock a hole in the chimney breast. Note how cramped the original sink was - with no worktop space to the right of the bowl
Work begins on knocking a hole in that chimney breast
Another CAD visualisation, showing a view of the kitchen looking towards the area under the stairs. CAD views have the advantage that you can "disappear" inconvenient parts of the kitchen, to get a good view
The area under the stairs was juggled the most whilst we were working on the plans. I suggested, at one point, having a midi-height, built-in fridge next to a built under integrated freezer. Mick and Alison rejected that option, based on the cost, but eventually went with a similar layout using free standing appliances. It's an advantage of white kitchens ... free standing white appliances don't look out of place
The little circular eating area. Making a perfect circle like this, with laminate worktop, would be beyond most fitters ... so we used an Axiom factory-made "Shape". The colour is "Basalt Slate"
Alison got her big gas hob ... it just wasn't fitted into the chimney
The area between the circular top and the hob was used for a conventional corner cupboard - with "magic" pull-out corner baskets
Two ovens and a narrow larder were fitted into the new chimney alcove
The narrow larder also has pull-out baskets within
Here's another CAD visualisation, so that you can get an overall view of this side of the kitchen
Looking over the seating area towards the corner sink. Fitting the worktop for a corner sink (as well as fitting the circular worktop area) is a job for a professional and Mick brought in a specialist fitter to help. Bear in mind - if you're fitting your own kitchen - that you can always get help for the really difficult bits
A closer view of the corner sink. Mick was working on boxing in the pipes, below the boiler, when he took the photos. I designed some extra (tiled) boxing to the back of the alcove here - to run in line with the window cill. That avoids having to cut the worktop around the pipes and also gives a useful little shelf behind the sink
You can see in the CAD pictures that there's a flyover shelf running from above the hob to the wall under the stairs. Fitting is in progress here. The shelf is fitted with lights and it will also be boxed above (behind the cornice, which is yet to be fitted) to hide the venting from the cooker hood (which you can see here)
Mick also suggested putting top boxes on the wall behind the sink - to fit above the back door and window - for extra storage space. I agreed that the space would be useful but designed in some more flyover shelves ... to echo the opposite wall and stop the isolated top boxes looking odd. They have to fit in with the flue from the boiler - which is what Mick is in the process of doing here. I didn't want his fitting job to be too easy!