DIY Menu | Fix Taps & Washers | Tiling | Repair Overflow | Blocked Drain
Planning a kitchen - Kitchen Planner
Tools for this section
Pencil, tape measure, 12" ruler, 5mm squared paper, post it notes, pocket calculator. Pop to B & Q
If you don't plan kitchen remodelling properly you could end up with a disaster on your hands. Lots of kitchens are funny shaped in older properties, this is usually because lots of properties did not have a proper kitchen when the houses were built - they just had a stove and a sink. Some of the older properties are opposite and have a huge kitchen, especially in larger houses that catered for large families.
When you are planning your fitted kitchen you need to keep in mind the positions of facilities like the water inlet and outlet areas and gas pipes, it is usually possible to move most pipes if you need to, but mostly much easier to keep them in their original position. The waste pipe is usually the most restricting as it is the larger pipe.
Time spent planning a new fitted kitchen is never wasted, you can't plan a layout properly unless you have a scale plan of the kitchen, it will allow you to try different layouts. Most kitchen units are sold in standard sizes. I found the best way to remodel the kitchen was to get post it notes, cut them to scale, and use graph paper - (you can get this free from most kitchen suppliers). Place the post it notes von the paper in the positions you would like to fit the kitchen - bearing your work triangle in mind, pipes and any doors and windows.
A kitchen seems to work best when it is planned around a triangle. This consist of the fridge/freezer, cooker and sink - limiting the space between these makes the kitchen safer
Kitchen remodelling tips:
- Don't position a cooker by a door
- Don't place a gas hob under a window
- Plan around the work triangle
- Keep the work triangle away from a main throughway
- Put a work surface next to the hob so that you have somewhere to put hot pans
- ONLY use a registered corgi fitter for any gas work (ask to see certificate)
Energy saving tip:
Don't place the cooker near the fridge / freezer because the fridge will have to work overtime. Also leave the recommended space around them.
Space saving tips:
- Swap radiators for plinth or floor heating
- Swap large old boilers for small wall mounted ones.
- Fit split / folding doors in tight areas
Drawing a plan:
1 - Roughly sketch an outline of the kitchen and make the position of major features ie doors , windows, walls
2 - Measure along each wall in millimetres (this is how kitchen units are sold / measured). Measure the distance between features and the clearance needed rfor doors and windows.
3 - Divide your measurements by 20 (for example) to scale them down to the paper, and write the scale down.
4 - With these measurements, copy the plan onto squared / graph paper to create an accurate plan outline. If you are planning on drawing the units in then make several copies of the kitchen in the "bare" stage, so that you don't have to keep re-drawing it.
5 - Cut post it notes to size of units and appliances, and place them on the scaled drawing.
Free planning advice
Kitchen planning is available in lots of places like MFI, B&Q and Focus
