Widening an old fireplace with a 45 degree chimney

[AlwaysBestToAsk]

Hi all,

I've got an old dis-used fireplace on the kitchen that I'm hoping to get widened to fit an American sized fridge freezer as it's currently just dead space. The wall WAS boarded up in some old cladding and so I've taken that off to see what the arrangement was behind it and i thought it was just a straight up chimney with a rectangle/square hole up the middle and so i would be able to get an RSJ to support the front wall of it (I'm not doing this myself by the way) but it turns out that the chimney goes on a 45 degree bend to the right so in the second picture there is a white plate on the wall above and to the right, this seems to be some sort of scoop/bucket which i presume was to help with the cleaning of the chimney and there's a concrete slab on the top of the fireplace opening where the Flu is. I've taken a brick out to see into the chimney but there's another skin behind it so i expect that there is an outer shell that just goes straight up to the bathroom above and then an "inner" skin that is the actual chimney. I can see directly above the fireplace opening to the bathroom above and i can see the floor beam and sink pipes going up so it doesn't look currently that there's anything going to be needed in respect of support directly above it but what options structurally do i have to open this with the 45 degree chimney in there?
Again I'm going to get a builder in to do this as the angle of the chimney puts it out of my comfort zone but what options do i have ?
The opening I'm after is pretty much where I've taken the plaster off to.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ree]

OP,
google gives the average dimensions for American style FF's in the UK as:
1600mm - 1800mm high. 700mm - 1000mm wide. 600mm - 800mm deep.
You will need the dimensions for your choice of FF from the installation instructions.
Until you have those dimensions you would be working almost blind.
What are the chimney breast dimensions?
Can you post a pic of the whole chimney breast wall?

Do you intend to remove the RH boxing-in?
Remove the "white plate" & look inside - look to see if there's a sooty flue, & a flue liner?
Is the back wall an outside wall?
A pic showing the chimney breast in the bathroom would help?
Locate any pipework thats possibly on the RH side, & maybe a back boiler at the back of the fireplace?
The pipes could contain water or some of them even be in use.

If you remove the boxing & all the plaster - floor to ceiling - on the face & RH side of the c/b, and RH back wall recess then things will be more easy to judge whats required for opening up & supporting the c/b above the GF.

I've gone to extremes but the solution could be much simpler.

 

[AlwaysBestToAsk]

I'll grab a photo and full measurements tomorrow but the fridge is 91cm wide (so making the gap 100cm) the height is up to the top of the brick opening (i.e where I've taken the brick out to see behind it) and it's deeper than the fireplace is but we're fine with it sticking out so we'll only push it back as far as the current fireplace is so we do know exactly what we need with regards to measurements. I don't intend to remove the RH boxing in, it's just purely the opening we want to make and the rest can stay as it is. Behind the white plate is both a sooty flue and a silver liner (obviously going down to the top of the fireplace). The pipes behind there don't contain water as the ends have been cut off but there used to be a boiler to the left of the fireplace by the looks of it but this has been moved elsewhere.
Thanks