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• General building
• Thames Ditton
• Posted 29th Jul 2015

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To cut a long story short my ex wife bought an American style fridge freezer as I'd always talked about having one that made cold water and ice. She had not realised it required plumbing and it is too big to fit in the existing gap where the standard width fridge freezer used to sit and where the plumbing is.

There is currently a small non-load-bearing wall in the way that would need to be removed in order for it to fit.

This wall currently encloses a small utility area which is literally just big enough to house a washing machine and tumble dryer. The wall is brick not a stud wall wall but it is definitely not load bearing - it is 255cm high by 80cm wide, by 10cm thickness - and runs parallel to the main load bearing wall.

The wall joins the side wall of the house at one side and at the other it meets a stud partition which has a regular internal door providing access to the washing machine/tumble dryer.

To the right of this utility area is space for a standard full height fridge freezer and to the right again is the boiler cupboard which is enclosed within an oak fronted kitchen cabinet that matches the rest of the kitchen.

What I would like to do is remove the brick wall, and (only if necessary) the boiler cupboard, to create room for the American style fridge freezer.

The American fridge freezer will go where the utility area is currently, while the washing machine and tumble dryer move down next to the boiler. Some minor plumbing work will likely be required to ensure both the fridge and washing machine have a cold feed. Given the size of the washing machine (60cm wide * 60cm deep) it's important that the pipes behind do not protrude too far as that will push the washing machine too far into the kitchen area and interfere with the opening of the back door.

Also on this wall are surface mounted electrical sockets to power the fridge, washing machine and tumble dryer and these will need to be relocated to the back external wall.

I wish to retain some kind of enclosure for the washing machine to reduce noise as much as possible - perhaps a new stud wall with openings for the fridge and re-using the existing door for the washing machine.

I am on a very tight budget - at a certain point it would be more cost effective to give up on having an American style fridge freezer, sell it and just get another regular sized fridge freezer.

Fridge needs an opening sufficient to allow the double doors to open fully.

Hope that makes sense!