Finding the chase and cutting to it

Our kitchen is wrong on so many different levels. Yes, it has a great area, but being L shaped, means it shouldn’t work at all.

There are blind spots, it miles to walk anywhere, and the original units did not consider any of this. It also did not consider anyone would want an American style fridge – we not only wanted one, we had one to accommodate.

The first week of lockdown, I realised how to not only fit everything into the living space – big table, big fridge, fixed units – but how to make the room work.

It’s all about zoning the space – we have a “living end” which has two, not quite facing each other, doors to other parts of the house. It also has patio doors out to the “back garden” (we kind of have two). This living space is narrower than the kitchen but squarer.

Then, there is the kitchen end, which has two windows out on to the front of the house. It’s long and reasonably wide.

We had a floating dinning table and floating American style fridge.

Instead of having the table float between the kitchen and living space, we twisted it round so it separates the kitchen from the seating area. The seating area has a pair of coffee tables, a comfy chair and two seater sofa. The table now naturally sits 6 but can be moved away and up to allow 8 people to sit very comfortably. We have a four seater table that can also be brought in – a kids table and grown-ups one.

For now, this has great flow and every party ends up in here. Longer term, we’re going to remodel, build the fridge in and the microwave, freeing up a huge amount of floor space and worktop too. Much more storage (though not something we’re short of now). Space to allow more than one person to cook (remember flow, the kitchen has choke points even though it is a big room – how does that happen?).

So, I’m sitting here, building kitchens in the air.