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Kitchen - splashback window or not; under cooktop oven or not

RAY
7 years ago

We designing a couple of new kitchens with a relatively blank slate (different sizes), but obviously have some constraints. Whilst everyone has a personal preference, and there may be pros and cons for each, my question is what does the 'market' prefer, as we are not designing for ourselves.

  • We personally don't like the idea of having a window above the cooktop (grease, privacy could be an issue as the height of the window is partly above the fence line). But the window would be good for natural light and may help with a 'wow' factor

  • We prefer to not have oven under cooktop, but rather a microwave above an oven, stacked and easily reached from 'eye'/body level for practical reasons (no bending). The 2100 wide window shown below would have to be smaller to allow for a stacked oven/microwave, say, next to the refrigerator.

  • We like cupboards above the 700mm benchtop

  • We could swap the cooktop and sink, and have the sink looking into the window. Some say people prefer socialising while cooking (ie cooktop on the 900mm top), others say socialising whilst washing up is preferred (ie layout below)

  • If we had the cooktop on the 900mm top, then the oven would need to go under the cooktop and a builtin microwave probably also built under this bench too.

  • Although a 60cm cooktop is shown and a 1.5 sink with drainer, we'd probably target a 70cm with wok burner and probably leave out the drainer on the sink, maybe go undermount with even 1.75 sink

So what do you think we should do for maximum value?

  1. window or no window
  2. sink at window, or cooktop at window
  3. under cooktop stove with microwave above window height (ie base of microwave enclosure in line with base of rangehood ~1600-1650?mm from floor?) or microwave stacked above oven, with oven at body height (maybe 1000mm high to centre of oven)
  4. 60cm cooktop for both sized kitchens or 70cm?


What other considerations might there be in to address the design dilemma?

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