Would you install an oven in a studio apartment?

My friend bought an old studio apartment (18 sqm) inner Melbourne and will be doing a bathroom and kitchen renovation. The kitchen will be a straight run of 4-5 cabinets about 3 metres long with matching overhead cabinets. There isn't much space so do you think it's worthwhile putting in an under bench oven which is 600mm wide? They will install a 2 burner cooktop (300mm) but aren't sure if the oven is worth installing and taking up precious storage space.

 

I would consider putting in a convection microwave or one of the small 450mm deep combi oven microwaves. I don’t think a full sized oven is necessary.

 

Thanks for your advice Westminster, I just had a look for some oven/microwave combos on Appliances Online but they're 550mm deep.

I forgot to mention the benchtop can only be 500mm deep because it's restricted by the front entry doorway, so that means base cabinets can only be 480 deep.

I'm now thinking of putting in a 600mm free standing oven with 4 burner cooktop. No gas at this property, only electric. Spoke to property manager who said it's now regulation that all habitable properties must have an oven.

 

Side note to all of this, ovens are looking like they will become part of the minimum standards in Victoria in a couple of months. Still no word on whether this will be a full sized oven or whether a small combined oven/microwave will suffice. Just an extra bit of food for thought if it will be leased out

 

I'm guessing that rules out a dishwasher too then with that depth. Won't a freestanding oven have the same issue?

I have seen setups where the bench is less deep in one section then comes out to a wider section for fridge/oven. So the area behind the door swing could be a shallow pantry or even the wardrobe for the apartment and then the kitchen

It really depends on how the layout is going to be managed

 

What's a full sized oven? 540mm, 600mm 750mm, 900mm or 1200mm?

I'd say the standard might be 'oven' however I would find it hard to justify in a studio, bedsit or new-style boarding house (self-contained) situation.

 

There's no room for a dishwasher or washing machine but they have communal laundry. I just had a cabinet maker give me a $3,800 quote for kitchen which I'll go with. What we're gonna do is have 2 sets of 500 cutlery draws at the entrance and these cabinets will be 480 deep with 500 top, then we'll widen the top to 600 and have standard size cabinets for the rest of kitchen (600 sink cabinet, 2 X 400 base cabinets). So it should work out ok and we can use standard 600 under bench oven, 600 cooktop and 600 rangehood. I'll post pics when it's done.

 

I would consider making one of those banks by the door into a 400mm full height pantry and then a 600mm bank of drawers with 2 cutlery drawers and one deep drawer underneath

 

Probably should have said standard oven, rather than “full size”. Ie. I don’t know whether a toaster oven would suffice.

I agree and have a couple of apartments fall into this category, but the minimum standards will apply across the board to all residential tenancies. Will be interesting to see what it actually is because there will be a lot of places that may need to do updates which can be extremely costly depending on the exact requirements.

 

Great idea, thanks for the tip, I'll get the cabinet maker to adjust plans. I'll lose 400mm benchtop space but some pantry space would be more practical.

 

Could I suggest that you find out what the other apartments in your building have?
Then go one step classier.
If another property is to let in your building and yours is better...
If I were the tenant I would go for the better equipped one!
I hope this helps

 

You shouldn't lose anything because you said there would be 2 sets of 500mm wide cutlery drawers in that location. I am suggesting changing that to a 400mm wide pantry and a 600mm wide cutlery bank

 

For small kitchens consider fittings which enhance access and use. Eg pull out basket rather than shelves for pantry. That way you can use all the cubic space. Narrow dishwasher (450) or a single dishdrawer. etc. Appliances that arent 600mm width will cost heaps more.

 

But if I install a 400 pantry then I will lose that 400 worth of benchtop. However if the 400 pantry was a 400 set of draws then I'd have that extra benchtop space on top. So having 2 banks of 500 draws gives me 1000 of benchtop space.

 

Yes I'm happy my oven cabinet is now standard size so now I can put in a normal 600 under bench oven. The sink will be 450 square drop in with no drainer.

 

Gotcha - my brain wasn't working

 

Consider the plumbing. The waste can take up loads of underbench space where if it was ducted hard to the wall etc it could cost a tad extra in plumbing but open up space under. Some sinks have overflows that eman its position are even worse. May be worth engaging with Reece etc. Every 100mm will count

 

I originally chose a rectangular laundry style sink for the kitchen but it's a lot deeper than a standard kitchen sink so I decided against it and went for the shallower sink. Part of the reason is this unit only has a small electric instantaneous HWS that is located in the sink cabinet. These units are quite tall so I couldn't have a really deep sink otherwise the HWS wouldn't fit.

 

I just completed a laundry rebuild. It can be hard. One suggestion is higher plinths and so a higher benchtop. That and some good plumbing options can steal some extra space for a deeper sink. I ended up getting a plumber with flexible waste offset v's the fixed sink waste to gain 150mm for a 60litre tub.