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<\/a><\/p>\nEvery time I look at this I think it stinks – it’s appalling – it’s not a kitchen<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhy no separate kitchen<\/a>, surely it can\u2019t be the cost of the walls?\u201d I asked. \u201cHow much do two walls cost out of \u00a3300k?\u201d I continued.<\/p>\n There was a pause.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bedrooms and the rest of the apartment are spacious.\u00a0 The space for a kitchen has to come from somewhere\u201d \u2013 he replied.<\/p>\n LDS have ruined the living room. For want of a kitchen<\/p>\n I paraphrase.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t recording the exchange.<\/p>\n \u201cDo any of the flats on the entire development have a separate kitchen<\/a>?\u201d I pressed on.<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u201d was the succinct answer.<\/p>\n So there you have it.\u00a0 Berkeley Homes are not providing separate kitchens<\/a> in any of the flats on any of the phases of Kidbrooke Village.<\/p>\n A fellow blogger has written about Claredale Street<\/a> and I have quoted part of his blog here:-<\/p>\n \u201cShe said that only after you move in do you begin to notice the small niggles. She wasn\u2019t a big fan of the open plan layout with the kitchen and living area combined because of the noise and smells from the cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n Claredale Street article<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Who stole my living room?<\/p>\n I would advise you to fit the biggest extractor you can, recirculating fans are next to useless. Open plan kitchen\/living areas are all the rage now but, personally, I would never knock walls down to achieve one. My daughter lived in a brand new, upmarket open plan maisonette up to a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n It had an externally vented extractor hood but the heat & smell in the living area were close to unbearable in summer & in winter you got severe condensation as well & if you opened windows you freeze to death. The whole place also stank of your last meal for hours on end & even next day; fashionable or not I\u2019d never have open plan in a million years.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.diynot.com\/forums\/viewtopic.php?t=283895<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You haven’t heard the punchline yet.\u00a0 The window fouls the tap (in photo above), so in order to accommodate the window opening the tap folds down into the sink.\u00a0 You couldn’t make it up.<\/p>\n More photos on Flickr\u00a0 https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/singleaspect\/sets\/72157627547170996\/<\/a><\/p>\n It’s not that I’m against open plan kitchens when done properly.\u00a0 But this is no such thing.\u00a0 They might as well have put a toilet in the middle of the living room and called a guest facility.\u00a0 It is totally out of place.\u00a0 If the room were L shaped and the kitchen was in the stub with a breakfast bar across then ok, at least an effort would have been made towards separate kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n In this case not only is the kitchen in the living room but there is no way without building walls to make it separate.\u00a0 The kitchen units have been dumped in the living room.<\/p>\n This from the RIBA:-<\/p>\n 8 sqm is the single bedroom you\u2019re missing. It\u2019s the space for a new arrival to the family, the space that means the kids have a room of their own or a spare room for a guest to stay over. It\u2019s the space that could take the kitchen out of the lounge and the sounds and smells that go with it.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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