Built-In Kitchen Appliances: What To Plan Before You Buy

Choosing your kitchen appliances is often treated as a separate decision from choosing the kitchen itself. You might have a good idea of the oven you want, pick out a fridge freezer and decide that an integrated dishwasher is the right option for you, then expect your kitchen designer to work out where everything will go. In reality, built-in appliances are part of the kitchen design from the very beginning.

Their dimensions, opening requirements, ventilation, electrical requirements and even the way their doors are finished can all influence the cabinetry around them. Choosing an appliance after the kitchen has already been designed can create unnecessary complications, particularly if the appliance you have your heart set on doesn’t quite fit the space planned for it.

At Hamilton Stone Design, appliances are part of the wider design process, alongside your lifestyle, cooking habits, layout, cabinetry, and finishes. The aim isn’t simply to find a place for each appliance, but to create a kitchen where everything works together.

So, what should you think about before you buy?

Start With The Appliances You Actually Need

Before getting into measurements and cabinetry, it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about how you use your kitchen.

Consider what you use every day, what you use occasionally and what you don’t really need at all.

For example, you might want to think about:

• Your cooking habits and how often you cook from scratch
• Whether you need a single or double oven
• The size and layout of fridge and freezer space you require
• Whether an integrated dishwasher is important to you
• Whether you use a microwave regularly
• Whether a built-in coffee machine would genuinely be useful
• Whether you want a wine cooler
• Which appliances need to live in the utility room rather than the kitchen

This is one reason it’s useful to discuss appliances early in the design process. Plan your kitchen around how you use it, rather than trying to fit your lifestyle around a predetermined collection of appliances.

Don’t Forget Electrical Planning

Once you start thinking about appliances as part of the kitchen design, electrical planning becomes important too.

Different appliances have different electrical requirements, so the exact models being specified can influence the electrical plan. Socket positions and other connections need to be coordinated with the kitchen layout and appliance requirements, rather than treated as an afterthought.

This is particularly important with built-in appliances because much of the equipment will be concealed within or behind cabinetry.

Your kitchen designer, electrician, and other relevant installers should therefore work from the correct appliance specifications when the final plans are prepared.

You don’t necessarily need to know the technical electrical details yourself. What matters is making sure the information is available at the right point in the design process and that the appropriate qualified professional carries out the installation.

Think About Ventilation And Extraction

Cooking appliances bring another important consideration: extraction.

The type of extraction you choose can affect where you position the appliance and how you design the kitchen around it.

A traditional overhead extractor may require ducting within the cabinetry or surrounding structure. Other systems take a different approach.

Downdraft extraction, for example, can be incorporated directly into or alongside the cooking area. 

Again, the important point is not that one type of extraction is necessarily better than another. It is that you need to consider the choice alongside the layout, cabinetry, and wider kitchen design.

Cabinetry, Doors And Appliance Panels

One of the easiest assumptions to make about integrated appliances is that they simply disappear behind a cupboard door. They don’t.

The cabinetry must be designed specifically to accommodate the appliance, including its dimensions, fitting requirements, and the furniture door or panel that sits over it.

The relationship between the appliance and the cabinetry can affect everything from the size of adjacent doors and drawers to handle alignment and the overall proportions of the kitchen.

This is especially noticeable when several integrated appliances sit side by side. Good planning helps the cabinetry look intentional, rather than like a collection of individual appliance housings.

Don’t Forget The Small Appliances

Built-in appliances aren’t the only kitchen technology worth planning for.

Think about the appliances you use every day that you probably don’t want permanently sitting on the worktop.

The kettle. The toaster. The coffee machine. The air fryer. The blender.

These aren’t necessarily appliances you would integrate into your kitchen cabinetry, but that doesn’t mean they can’t influence the design.

A dedicated appliance cupboard, breakfast cupboard or other concealed storage area can give these everyday items somewhere to live when they’re not being used. Depending on the layout, you may even be able to create a practical space where several of them can be used without moving everything around the kitchen.

The result can be a space that feels much easier to use day to day because everything has a place.

A Built-In Appliance Checklist Before You Order

Before you commit to your appliances, it’s worth making sure you and your kitchen designer have considered the following:

• Appliance model and specification confirmed
• Appliance dimensions checked against the proposed cabinetry
• Door and furniture panel requirements checked
• Door opening and clearance considered
• Ventilation requirements confirmed
• Electrical requirements confirmed
• Plumbing requirements confirmed where applicable
• Appliance access and servicing considered
• Future replacement considered
• Surrounding cabinetry designed accordingly

Exact requirements vary from appliance to appliance, so always check the manufacturer’s specifications rather than relying on standard assumptions.

Bringing It All Together

Include the appliances in your kitchen on the design board from the start.

From the height of an oven to the opening direction of a fridge freezer, from the furniture door on an integrated dishwasher to the position of a built-in coffee machine, small technical details can have a surprisingly large impact on how a kitchen works.

That’s why appliance selection is best approached alongside the kitchen design itself.

At Hamilton Stone Design, the process starts with understanding how you want to use your kitchen, then brings together the layout, cabinetry, finishes, and appliances to create a space that works as a whole.

A well-designed kitchen isn’t simply a collection of beautiful cabinets and impressive appliances. It is how all of those elements work together every day.

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