There are two basic types of kitchen appliance you can have nowadays. There are the freestanding ones, which sit on the floor and slot in between other cabinets. And then there are the built in ones, which are designed to go inside a cabinet – or in the case of a hob, fitted into the actual worktop.
Now if you are re-designing your kitchen, have you decided which option will be best for you?
It can be a hard decision to make. Firstly your budget may come into it, as fitted appliances – or integrated, as they are commonly known – tend to be more expensive than freestanding ones. They have come down in price though, and you can get some reasonably priced integrated ovens and hobs, for example, if you look hard enough.
Next, you need to think about the layout of your kitchen. If you are having a freestanding cooker then it will incorporate both the oven and the hob in one unit. But if you choose to have integrated appliances, you could decide to have the oven built into a tall unit, while the hob is built into the worktop elsewhere. Would you benefit from this arrangement? Would you prefer an in column built in oven that doesn’t require you to bend down every time you need to use it?
Think about your fridge and freezer as well. You can get a built in fridge freezer to go in a tall housing, but if you have a big family and you have your eye on a wider fridge freezer then it will have to be freestanding. Alternatively you might want to have a separate fridge and freezer and have them built in underneath the worktop, one next to the other. As you can see, there are lots of different combinations that are possible.
If you are still undecided, the best bet is to plan your kitchen in both ways. Ask yourself where you would put all your kitchen appliances if they were all freestanding. Could you easily fit them all in and get the arrangement you wanted?
Next, plan your kitchen again but this time you should ensure all the appliances are integrated. Does this give you more versatility, or less?
We all have different ideas about how we want our ideal kitchen to be of course. Some people have their washing machine in a separate utility room or space. But for many of us we have to make do with the kitchen and the space that provides for all our washing needs. This can make space tighter, so we need to think about where all our appliances are going to go.
The biggest thing to remember is that wherever you decide to have them – and whether you opt for fitted appliances or not in the end – you will have to live with the arrangement for the foreseeable future. That’s why preplanning and consideration are so important, because they will help you make the right decision for you.