Kitchen Makeover - Placement of fridge freezer in kitchen

[Fishwalker]

Hi,

Just wanted some opinions on the placement of my fridge freezer in my kitchen. We are having a rejig of the units and such in order to gain some extra worktop space and generally redecorate, so when I bought our new FF last year (a Haier) I made sure it could if needed fit within an alcove we have on the outside wall, next to the back door. Currently we have the washing machine in there and a worktop with microwave on.

One problem is the kitchen currently is extremely cold in winter and suffers damp inside the units on the exterior wall due to condensation from steam and wet brushes stored in cupboards a space is non existent, which make tins rust.

When we had quotes for a new kitchen, the workmen said the alcove had been built into the outbuilding (shed/old toilet block) in a single skin fashion and it was leaking heat and needed insulating to bring up to standards. It's a 1900's mid terrace. I am wondering then whether to get the alcove insulated as we are having the interior wall reskimmed, as it's a mess and the radiator is going on that wall too. BUT I then thought, if we put the Fridge Freezer in the alcove, surely the heat that puts out at the back will help counteract the colder alcove?

What do you guys think about that?

Otherwise, we plan to do this restyle on a very modest budget of say £1000 max inc new vinyl flooring and wall paper/paint (as we had house valued and agent said we wouldn't make back a £5k spend on a new kitchen if we sold it, based on kitchen being 3m L x 2.76 w x 1.95 h).

We are planning to install a powered ventilator with heat exchanger too to keep in heat and remove steam, where an outside vent hole already is, so if anyone has any suggestions on what to go for there?

Then we are upgrading the crap single fin radiator, which is 90cm x 60cm and does virtually nothing to heat the room, as well as add some new wall units second hand.

 

[ziden]

. . . if we put the Fridge Freezer in the alcove, surely the heat that puts out at the back will help counteract the colder alcove? . . .

On the other hand, if you insulate the alcove, currently acting as a HEAT SINK, the output from the condenser coil at the back of FF would contribute, however small, to the overall heat in the kitchen/house.

And anything you can do to extract steam from appliances will greatly help your condensation problems (and don't dry clothes there too)

 

[Fishwalker]

Thought about it some more today and we could put some thermally insulated drywall at the back of the alcove at least and maybe some around the double glazed window on its little outer wall. The inside wall is adjoined to next door so won't need doing.