It's a long story. I am trying to find a way of turning a cupboard into fridge space.
The Council have recently refitted my elderly Mum’s kitchen. It was a small space to begin with and we didn’t have a lot of say in how it was put together, and now we’re struggling to fit everything in. Because of mobility issues, she can’t reach down to a conventional oven, so we purchased her a mid-level oven instead; this was fitted into an oven housing with cupboard space above and below it. There isn’t enough floorspace for a separate fridge and freezer and I honestly don’t know where we’d fit a combined fridge freezer without restricting access to her other cupboards and the door. It would take up most of the remaining space and would make it difficult for her to navigate the kitchen on her wheelie frame.
She has space for an undercounter freezer, and since freezer space is more important to her than fridge space, that’s that decision made. The lady who drew up the kitchen plans said that we could put a small fridge in the lower cupboard space of the oven housing. Mum can sacrifice a bit of fridge space so this seemed like a good idea at the time, but we didn’t realise what a nightmare it would be trying to find a suitable fridge. All of the ‘table top’ kind are too small, and the undercounter fridges are too tall. It’s possible to get mid-size fridges of around 50 litres capacity, mostly designed for offices and hotel rooms and the like, and this is what we have been looking into. We have found a Dometic DS600 which – if it fits – would make the best use of this space. See: http://www.obriensminicoolers.co.uk/small/mini-cooler_DS600.htm
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...Rg/Zrwr7kx-ak0/s512/PicsArt_1432058846878.jpg
This is a picture of the space in question together with some near-as-damnit measurements. There is a hole already cut out of the rear panel for access to the plug socket. There is a small gap of, say, 5cm (guessed, but not yet measured) between this rear panel and the kitchen wall.
So far, the advice from various people in-the-know has been:
(a) You can’t put a fridge in there!
(b) You can put a fridge in there but you’ll have to take the cupboard door off; and
(c) Why don’t you get an integrated fridge?
We are quite open to either (b) or (c) as options. I don’t see how an integrated fridge will be possible however, with the layout of the housing. The bottom panel is an integral part of the housing and I don’t know if it is recommended (or even possible) that this is removed. The Dometic model mentioned above does come in a built-in type (presumably, allowing for the door to be attached) and a standalone model; either would be fine.
Whilst all this is going on, my mum is stuck with a fridge in her living room, so we’re keen to get it sorted for her as soon as possible.
Could we realistically fit this fridge into this space? Would we need to remove the door for ventilation or would the hole (or even a bigger hole) at the back be sufficient? Is an integrated fridge a no-no?
Any advice and other ideas (other than scrapping the whole thing and starting again!) would be gratefully received!
D.
The Council have recently refitted my elderly Mum’s kitchen. It was a small space to begin with and we didn’t have a lot of say in how it was put together, and now we’re struggling to fit everything in. Because of mobility issues, she can’t reach down to a conventional oven, so we purchased her a mid-level oven instead; this was fitted into an oven housing with cupboard space above and below it. There isn’t enough floorspace for a separate fridge and freezer and I honestly don’t know where we’d fit a combined fridge freezer without restricting access to her other cupboards and the door. It would take up most of the remaining space and would make it difficult for her to navigate the kitchen on her wheelie frame.
She has space for an undercounter freezer, and since freezer space is more important to her than fridge space, that’s that decision made. The lady who drew up the kitchen plans said that we could put a small fridge in the lower cupboard space of the oven housing. Mum can sacrifice a bit of fridge space so this seemed like a good idea at the time, but we didn’t realise what a nightmare it would be trying to find a suitable fridge. All of the ‘table top’ kind are too small, and the undercounter fridges are too tall. It’s possible to get mid-size fridges of around 50 litres capacity, mostly designed for offices and hotel rooms and the like, and this is what we have been looking into. We have found a Dometic DS600 which – if it fits – would make the best use of this space. See: http://www.obriensminicoolers.co.uk/small/mini-cooler_DS600.htm
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...Rg/Zrwr7kx-ak0/s512/PicsArt_1432058846878.jpg
This is a picture of the space in question together with some near-as-damnit measurements. There is a hole already cut out of the rear panel for access to the plug socket. There is a small gap of, say, 5cm (guessed, but not yet measured) between this rear panel and the kitchen wall.
So far, the advice from various people in-the-know has been:
(a) You can’t put a fridge in there!
(b) You can put a fridge in there but you’ll have to take the cupboard door off; and
(c) Why don’t you get an integrated fridge?
We are quite open to either (b) or (c) as options. I don’t see how an integrated fridge will be possible however, with the layout of the housing. The bottom panel is an integral part of the housing and I don’t know if it is recommended (or even possible) that this is removed. The Dometic model mentioned above does come in a built-in type (presumably, allowing for the door to be attached) and a standalone model; either would be fine.
Whilst all this is going on, my mum is stuck with a fridge in her living room, so we’re keen to get it sorted for her as soon as possible.
Could we realistically fit this fridge into this space? Would we need to remove the door for ventilation or would the hole (or even a bigger hole) at the back be sufficient? Is an integrated fridge a no-no?
Any advice and other ideas (other than scrapping the whole thing and starting again!) would be gratefully received!
D.
