Kitchen idea - feedback and suggestions pls

I am builing a small kitchen in the back of the house. The builder has put the sink plus some cupboards. Also a gas point and power for future oven and cooktop.

The house is still under construction and I have to finish this part of the kitchen myself after handover.



I am thinking of making it L shape but may need to loose some cupboard space. Also I like a small pantry. They all need to fit within the space before the window.

Any feedback will be appreciated

Whats the space being used for, games area, granny flat........

Michelle it is a Granny flat. Therefore need a fully functional kitchen.


Fridge space will be next to the entrance on the left.

My thoughts
- along the wall, I would put a full height pantry in the corner (maybe single door 500-800mm wide?)
- along the wall, I would put the stove/oven/hotplates
- then I would have a open bench in front of the wall cabinets. The open bench would have the sink. Could potentially also serve as a breakfast bar too.

What are the dimensions of the area you are willing to lose to the kitchen?

Hi Pete_n_Pet

We have the a sink already in the cabinets.

Also the dimensions to work would be around less than 2 m from the end of the bench to the Window.


Hot plate / overn will go against the wall.(Middle)
Next to the window have a pantry

Only concern is a the gap / connection between the exiting cabinets and the new cabinets against the wall. I might have to re do the corner cabinets so they can be opened?

If you are going to place a pantry next to the window and the the stove along the wall next to the pantry, I would be a little concerned about loss of natural light to the stove by the pantry.

It depends if you want to join the new cabinet to the existing cabinets. If you do that, you'd lose the access to the corner cabinet. From the looks of it, you have 2 double door cabinets and a single door cabinet?

Good point about loosing the natural light into the Kitchen.

What do you think of this option?

I do have 2 double door cabinets and a single door cabinet, maybe need to change the cabinet door -with the cabinet doors used for coner cabinets and have another cabinet next to the wall with the small bench extention plus 1 overhead cabinet.

Followed by the pantry in the middle

Oven / Cooktop next to the window with a overhead cupboard on top of the rangehood.

Hopling to get the L shape and not loose much space.

Would it look good?

I think I get what you are describing. I'd probably extend the cabinets along the window wall without overheads. Put in a pantry (600 maybe?) and then a cabinet for the stove/oven next. Just keep in mind that you are required to have minimum bench space on either side of the cooktop (I think it's 300mm, but I'm not sure, so you'd have to check).

I'd start from the window and work my way in - this will probably let you know what size cabinets you can fit in.

Alternatively, take out the existing corner cabinets and put a corner pantry in there (like this). You can use the other cabinets next to it, along the window wall

Thank you for that, I love the corner pantry idea, I know we may loose some bench space, hopfully that can be made up on the other side.

Can you recommend any good cabinet fitters in Melbourne? Hopefully I can order the corner pantry and arrange them to match the existing colour etc...

This will all happen once my house is finished before we move in.


Also good pickup about the minimum bench space. Which means if I get the corner pantry in then I have have the Cooktop in the middle.

I will update my progress here and also in my building thread - (Hoping my house will be finished in the next 3 months)

Sorry, can't help you with a cabinet fitter in Melbourne - I live in NSW.

If you have the sample laminex tags for the existing cupboards, you can probably do an order through a local flat-pack kitchen place near you. Or check out your local Bunnings/Mitre 10 and see if they can help with matching the laminex.

Glad you liked the corner pantry idea. I wasn't sure if you wanted to keep the existing cabinetry as is.

Unfortunately, with Council regulations my builder could not do a full kitchen. Therefore, they made provision and I did not have a full vision of the kitchen during house planning / contract.

Now I need to play around to fit a proper functional kitchen and if I need to rip the existing cupboards, I am prepared to do it. (Hoping that we will be able to reuse those cupboards in another area in the house)