new kitchen, not enough worktop space

A photo might help, craftyone

There is nothing worse than not enough workspace, but having said that I agree it is important to be able to leave your various accessories out on the tops for ease of use. Some kitchens have pull out table tops that can give you extra space for specific tasks, could you have something fitted to suit after you move in? My worktop space is very limited and I have learnt to manage, a tiered tray can help with somewhere to put things, a trolley to load up with ingredients before you start that can go away when not in use can also help. I have also seen wooden boards that can cover your sink to make it useable space when required. I hope you enjoy your new home and find you can workout a suitable compromise for the work area.

No matter how large a kitchen is there's never enough workspace----not for me anyway the way I spread things around when cooking or baking.

When I bake ( not often these days ) I use a large enamel tray placed over the hob , it just gives me enough space to roll pastry and the mess is easily taken over to the sink for cleaning . I have no space to keep my Kenwood or Breadmaker out and I think that is what deters me from a baking session , such a faff hoisting them out of the cupboards . I have the trolly the OT gave to a friend and passed on to me when I had my hip done and I do use it to move stuff from the cupboard and to hold scales and ingredients

Some very good ideas already, particularly the board over the sink and a top for over the (induction) hob. Some appliances are just too heavy to be lifting, so it will have to be some sort of trolley too. It would be easy if I did not cook from scratch but I am not going to change my healthy ways. I need to keep my appliances out and I need to be able to roll them to access the sockets

Just talking it through helps, I have not moved in yet but a trolley parked on the other side of the peninsula, by the window wall and in the dining area. I will get my scale drawings and see if one will fit in there. I need to decide where the removers will put things and I have a small display dresser to accommodate on that wall. The trolley will have to move and I could move it to the kitchen area when needed. I will have to use an extension lead but I would cope with that. The socket in dining area is near to the skirting

Off to look at trolleys online. I will have to factor in the cost as a major cost but it has to be a solid trolley

I have found an island trolley on strong locking castors. It has cupboards each side and 2 leaves that pull out and are the right height for sitting by because they are lower than the top and they are strong enough to hold my food mixer. It is expensive but wood is expensive, it extends from 122 to 208 and the side shelves just pull out when wanted. I am excited, naturally will wait until I am in and done all the measurements and imaginings, even perhaps making a paper cutout to go on the floor, so I can see the area in proportion to the space

The cupboards can hold pans and mixing bowls which will be out of sight. I have done so much research, looking at various things for my house and I am thinking that this trolley will enable me to settle into my new kitchen

It will just have to be part of moving in costs and I will make do elsewhere

urgh, well that one is out, it comes in bits and the instructions are too complicated. It has runners and right and wrong ways and I am past even helping to assemble furniture

I had a new kitchen in the summer of 2017, and although I love it, I`m also seriously short of workspace. It didn`t strike me when it was being designed how much difference the reorganised cooking facilities was going to make. Instead of a floor standing cooker, I nowc have what I`ve always wanted, a wall mounted oven, and a hob ,set into my worktop, which doesn`t leave much space with a microwave on there. Then on the other side I was left with the same space, but as well as the tray with the kettle and teapot on and my breadbin, I`ve added a toaster, thereby depleting the space on that side as well. I`ve also got a George Foreman grill which I`d like to leave out, but there`s just no room, so poor old George has to live in a cupboard!

craftyone A handyman (You're so handy, Andy!) would assemble the trolley for you, for a fee. Alternatively, if you have a "Men's Shed" near you, contacting them might reveal someone handy but retired with time on his hands, who would assemble it in return for a contribution to their tea-and-biscuits fund. Thr contribution might even be in the form of some home baking! menssheds.org.uk/find-a-shed/

Can you afford to extend the kitchen outwards six feet or so?

If it's a fairly new kitchen could you remove the tall cupboards - perhaps get them cut down and buy matching doors, then refit, adding worktop?
I'm not sure if I've made myself clear, but I would find it difficult to work in a kitchen with inadequate work surfaces, particularly next to the cooker.

That being said, my mother always managed with an old-fashioned kitchen table and produced wonderful meals and lovely baking. Do you have room for a table?

11' is quite wide - is the kitchen 'L' shaped?
I'm trying to visualise it!

When we moved into this house, there was little in the way of usable worktop space. The only decent run was broken up by having a gas hob bang in the middle of it. There was lots of empty useless space. The only thing to do was to pull it all out and start again. If you can’t do that, Jalima’s idea of getting rid of one or more tall cupboards, extending the worktops and putting in wall cupboards might work for you. In my last house, I had a chopping board that fitted over the sink. It was very useful. Have you looked at IKEA? They have trolleys and workbenches.

I have a removable laminated top that came with a fridge long ago, when kitchens were not fitted. It sits on top of the ceramic hob most of the time, giving more work space.

Could you put a flap at the end of the peninsula which you lift up and support with legs for the time you are working? It would then go down out of the way the rest of the time.

Or any form of extra surface made by folding a flap down or up somewhere, attached to the wall, which folds upwards (or downwards) out of the way when not in use.

Also there are pull-out tables which fit into a drawer space. They sort of roll out. Wouldn't take much weight though - no good for kneading or rolling out, and they are slightly lower than the work surface.

Or one that swivels out - like in this picture.

Flaps are a good idea too but it is a brand new kitchen with integrated everything, so I cannot re-model what is there. It is L shaped on the peninsula side and a run of tall units with oven, small oven and fridge/freezer on the side opposite the longer part of the L. The worktops are all on the Lshape. So I am pretty well resigned to either have that large trolley as a peninsula that I can move, or yes maybe a table in the space but would prefer a unit that I can move around. I`ll have to be patient, live there first and decide in time. A large trolley is more useful to me because I can put pans below for storage. I have 10 drawers where I live now and will be going to 3

I managed with far less space in the distant past but have spread as I got older. I just need to get some self-discipline and look on it as a challenge. The trolley I am looking at most of all has a stainless steel top and two big shelves below, the top will make it look more modern than a big wooden butchers block top

Flaps are a good idea too but it is a brand new kitchen with integrated everything, so I cannot re-model what is there. It is L shaped on the peninsula side and a run of tall units with oven, small oven and fridge/freezer on the side opposite the longer part of the L. The worktops are all on the Lshape. So I am pretty well resigned to either have that large trolley as an island that I can move, or yes maybe a table in the space but would prefer a unit that I can move around. I`ll have to be patient, live there first and decide in time. A large trolley is more useful to me because I can put pans below for storage. I have 10 drawers where I live now and will be going to 3

I managed with far less space in the distant past but have spread as I got older. I just need to get some self-discipline and look on it as a challenge. The trolley I am looking at most of all has a stainless steel top and two big shelves below, the top will make it look more modern than a big wooden butchers block top

Sadly I think that you are going to have to re-design your way of working rather than this new kitchen.

If it has been ergonomically designed I'm sure you will get used to it as long as you can increase your worktop space.
I did think that if we have a new kitchen everything will have to be in the same space as I am so used to moving around in this one. In fact the removal men loaded some of the cupboards for me many years ago and I always meant to re-distribute everything - but never did!

ps they have been cleaned out regularly!

yes you are right, I will have to get used to it, programme my brain and not mourn the kitchen that I have right now. I will live with it, including the fitted appliances which would not be of my choosing. I will look after it, keep the laminate worktop protected. I am trying to think from outside the box, it helps me come to terms

The mobile unit is 120 x 60cm and 90cm high, its worktop workspace is equivalent to 2 worktops and yes I do think that steel will look nicest in the kitchen. I think that the present worktop space in the kitchen is about 3 worktops worth ie 180 cm, maybe, not sure. So I get a sink board and a nice cover for the hob, plenty on amazon. The mobile unit would almost double the worktop space

The utility is tiny and they have fully fitted it, there is some worktop space in there, my breadmaker could live there and some lighter appliances like my soyabella milk maker, they could be in a utility cupboard

It is not just worktop space that bothers me but where to keep my essentials.

If you get a trolley island make it a bit lower than normal worktop height which will be more comfortable for rolling pastry/kneading bread/mixing cakes. We moved last year and were in the same position. We upcycled a small cupboard to make an island as we had plenty of room to get around it and it gave us much needed extra storage.

Thanks rubysong, I will remember that good advice. It is out of my system now, thanks to everyone. Plenty of excellent ideas but just have to wait, patiently

Morning craftyone.

Could you install a pan rack on the ceiling and perhaps use wall space to add shelves?

I'm not sure that's clear (obviously more coffee needed).
Installing a pan rack hanging from the ceiling gives a better description.

If it's any consolation I have a butcher's block on casters for the purpose of giving more worktop space, which is currently piled high with unsorted papers . Sigh!
Luckily I do still have space for a kitchen table which doubles up as workspace as the places under the wall cupboards are filled with gadgets and jars.
I inherited a 1950s larder cabinet - now used for tools in the shed- which has mouseproof drawers and a pull out enamelled worktop. I marvel at how people managed back then. This is one similar