Kitchen Design

[Abi Cott]

Oh it all makes work for the working man to do......do do do

 

[paulc]

Gas man commeth tomorrow

Anyone remember Flanders & Swan and their little ditty about the gas man ?

 

[Abi Cott]

I can sing it word for word, I learnt it at my mother's knee


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zyeMFSzPgGc

 

[fernicarry]

The kettle at the moment is in another room. It does break conversation when I walk to the barn to get milk. I like a coffee making area outside the kitchen but the process

If you budget will accommodate, consider a boiling water tap. We got one thrown in with the kitchen as an end of year sale thing so probably wouldn't have bothered otherwise but have to admit its jolly useful. One less thing sitting around cluttering up the work surface and cups of tea virtually on demand!

-Alan

 

[livias]

I fancy one of those boiling water taps too but not the 1k+ price tag. The technology is coming out of patent control in the next year so i am going to wait and see if the price comes down

 

[TheRoost]

How much does it cost in electricity to keep a vessel of water for these fancy taps, boiling or near boiling 24/7??

Seems awfully wasteful to me.

 

[Abi Cott]

How much does it cost in electricity to keep a vessel of water for these fancy taps, boiling or near boiling 24/7??

Seems awfully wasteful to me.

Some work more like an electric shower and heat on demand

 

[fernicarry]

Seems awfully wasteful to me

The boiler is pretty well insulated and it only clicks on for a few seconds at a time every few tens of minutes whilst its keeping warm. Obviously if you draw water off then it needs to run for a while to catch up. The manufacturer claim it saves energy on the basis that you only heat what you use rather than boiling a full kettle every time you need just a cupful. Whether that argument holds depends on how disciplined you are of course.

One thing I thought about at the time was plumbing it in to the hot feed rather than the cold. Our thermal store is very close to the kitchen sink so the dead leg is short and insulated. That way most of the temperature rise would be done by gas. I may look at that again especially as we'll be turning on the secondary return soon so the dead leg will be up to temperature anyway.

Didn't think they were over a grand though, was rather hoping to put one in the new build....

-Alan

 

[malcolm]

The kitchen is progressing well. Levelling plaster (before insulation) at about the same orientation as the window improves the looks enormously. It was a real fiddle to set out the walls to make them reasonably straight for the work surface and match the window angle. Nothing is vertical and a few things aren't even horizontal.

We have a guy coming around to move the gas and water pipes next week. I am nervous about him. He asked if we had certificates for the boiler installation (from before we bought the house) and went on about flushing the central heating system. Do you reckon a well written spec would be OK or delay and get someone else? I think I might have have answered my own question.

 

[livias]

I will give you the name of my plumber who is sensible and reliable See you later today ...

 

[parkview094]

How's the kitchen progressing? What design did you opt for in the end?

 

[malcolm]

Pretty well still this one at the moment. I'm not planning any overhead cupboards but have found some pretty wall lights to make the space more interesting. There will be full height cupboards creating a wall around the fridge, and an adjoining laundry room and snug to take some of the function you might normally ask of a kitchen. I have bought some old doors for the two openings in the image and need to work out architrave.

Here is current progress. There is a lovely 17C timber and wattle and daub wall behind the plasterboard on the right. I reckoned I would do less damage to it if I just cleaned it up and hid it away again, and that keeps building regs happy with fireproofing. The outside walls are in lime.

The lack of overhead cupboards makes lighting easier. I have 3 ceiling lights and 4 wall lights and nothing should ever be in shadow. I've not figured out flooring or colours yet as I'm really bad at that sort of thing.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Can't go wrong with quarry tiles for the floor, whatever the style or era!

 

[Flyfisher]

There is a lovely 17C timber and wattle and daub wall behind the plasterboard on the right. I reckoned I would do less damage to it if I just cleaned it up and hid it away again, and that keeps building regs happy with fireproofing.

Seems a shame to cover it up - have you discussed this with building control?

Our kitchen extension has one wall formed from an original c16 oak-framed wall (two storeys of it actually) most with original wattle & daub infill and a few completely open studs.

During the final sign-off visit, the building inspector did mutter something about fireproofing but I pointed out that the rest of the building had plenty of exposed oak so leaving a few more exposed was not going to significantly increase the fire risk. He was still unsure so I suggested he speak to our CO when he got back to the office. A few days later the final signed off certificate arrived in the post.

Funnily enough, for someone so concerned with fire risk, he had no concern that there were no fire or smoke detectors installed, either in the new kitchen or anywhere else in the house! I've since had a dozen interlinked detectors professionally installed all over the house, but not at the insistence of building control.

 

[malcolm]

The main problem with the wall was it was the only sensible place to put the oven. Had the oven been on a different wall building control would have been OK with leaving the wall exposed (that was the original plan). A splash back and hood would have hidden the best preserved part of the wall leaving the rotten bit and the part where the Georgians knocked a door through to make tidy. I didn't want to cut sockets into the wattle and daub. Someone can expose the wall later should they want to change the layout as it is preserved and ventilated and breathable to the other side.

I would like to expose some timbers somewhere as there is no real sign inside the house that it is built around a very old building (apart from unusual levels and ceiling heights). The original wall plate halfway up the bedroom wall above the snug is exposed at the moment, but the previous concrete coating didn't do it any good at all.

 

[parkview094]

Crikey! I can't believe it was back in February we were discussing this. After 9 months of dusty chaos, we've just about finished out kitchen finally bar the pesky snagging list of odd-jobs.

 

[Pennyviz]

Looks really good. The kitchen is next on my list of 'to do' jobs. Who supplied the units or did you get a joiner? I like the mirror/splashback too behind the hob.

Penny

 

[parkview094]

Who supplied the units or did you get a joiner? I like the mirror/splashback too behind the hob.

We got our units from Pineland as they were able to make bespoke sizes. We needed 'awkward' sized units to allow the hob to sit centrally in the old fireplace and couldn't find anything off-the-shelf which would work.

The mirror splash back was Mrs P's idea, but finding a supplier proved a lot more challenging than I'd anticipated. The consensus of opinion is that behind a gas hob, glass needs to be toughened. The various folk on-line who claim to offer such things all wanted silly money. In the end we found a local framing shop in north london that had the in-house equipment to produce one at a half sensible price.

 

[88v8]

Very nice.
And you've managed to make that suburban street disappear

Ivor

 

[Socksitis]

What a superb job. I hope my kitchen turns out as lovely as yours - so would you change anything?