Wednesday 27 February 2008

Middle floor looking east


The house has three levels - ground: which consists of a cloakroom, some under-stairs storage, the garage (which is so narrow very few cars could actually fit in it), a tiny bedroom and a utility room. The middle floor (pictured below and to the right) is currently open plan and has a kitchen and living room. And the top floor has two bedrooms, one with a shower en suite, and an internal bathroom.

I'm sure this middle floor set up breaks all kinds of fire codes, if the kitchen was billowing smoke there's no way for people on the top floor to get out, but I digress. As someone who loves to cook this kitchen is ridiculous to me - the bench space (counter top to my American friends) is fragmented and there isn't much of it. The storage isn't particularly generous either.

Our current kitchen is massive by comparison and cost a paltry £1,000 from Ikea (appliances on top, natch). It's difficult to plan the perfect kitchen with so many variables (I'm short and hubby hates it that I have a step ladder to reach high shelves), we both want a massive fridge this time round as under-the-counter options look fabulous in an integrated kitchen but are just too small for a family of four. I'm insisting on a wall oven as it's safer when there are kids underfoot - hubby thinks this is entirely unecessary. Mind you, he seldom cooks so it's not like he'd get any benefit hauling a roast chicken out at waist height.

Ikea has a fabulous online 3D kitchen planner so hubby is going to try out a few combos and we'll probably head there this weekend to see if we can agree on a cupboard style and a bench top. Fortunately we have the same taste so it'll be easy to at least narrow it down...

No comments: