Kitchen plinth style?

[Rollin]

What is the type of plinth treatment called on this kitchen?

[Paul Drawmer]

Bloody irritating. The reason most plinths are undercut, is to give room for the feet of anyone standing and working at the worktop. With the type of plinth shown, user will get more back ache.

OK if it's just for show.

[PAULJ5555]

Paul Drawmer said:

Bloody irritating. The reason most plinths are undercut, is to give room for the feet of anyone standing and working at the worktop. With the type of plinth shown, user will get more back ache.

OK if it's just for show.

They will also catch dropped food/liquids and dust, they will be a pain to clean and given time they will look grotty. The colour in the picture looks nice but will show up everything .

[Herbs]

Could you just specify a slightly wider counter top for that style?

[Andrew_S]

Using deeper counter tops will be expensive and will also compromise drawer openings. And will look odd.

You will just end up payimg a lot of money for a kitchen that won’t function very well and will not look right.

[hyphen]

I would call it skirting rather than a plinth?

OP - ignore the moaners who are too lazy to clean/overly clumsy, or have huge bellys preventing them standing close to the worktop. I think it looks lovely within that type of design.

Only downside I can see if you won't be able to fit led tape along the top as you do with the set in type.

[singlecoil]

It's skirting and they use it because it hides the wedges necessary to get the tops of the cabinets level when the floor is not. It's associated mainly with expensive kitchens (not good kitchens, just expensive ones). As stated earlier, plinths in a working kitchen should be inset. When I do a kitchen, I inset the plinths at the ends of runs, islands and peninsulas as well as the fronts because people often stand in those places.

[singlecoil]

hyphen said:

I would call it skirting rather than a plinth?

OP - ignore the moaners who are too lazy to clean/overly clumsy, or have huge bellies preventing them standing close to the worktop. I think it looks lovely within that type of design.

Only downside I can see if you won't be able to fit led tape along the top as you do with the set in type.

Their bellies would need to be at ground level if they were to prevent the owners standing close to the worktop.

[Paul Drawmer]

hyphen said:

...OP - ignore the moaners who are too lazy to clean/overly clumsy, or have huge bellys preventing them standing close to the worktop. I think it looks lovely within that type of design...

It is about ergonomics, not looks. With the arrangement shown, users will get back ache quicker than if the plinth is undercut.

The scenario you describe (it's bellies btw) will apply even if the plinth is undercut. If the user is prevented from getting close to the work top by their fat gut, then it isn't the plinth limiting their position.

[singlecoil]

It's worth mentioning that this style of plinth is only for 'framed' kitchens. Framed is where each door opens in an aperture formed by a frame fitted to the front of the cabinet. It's purely an appearance thing and is about as useful as running boards on a car. In other words not very useful and a waste of space.

It also means bodges are needed to incorporate modern integrated appliances such as dishwashers which are designed for normal 'laid-on' kitchens. The usual solution with those is to have door and frame opening together which means a visible gap is needed between that frame and the adjacent ones.

Another drawback of skirting plinths can be seen in the picture at the start of the thread- look at the unit to the right of the cooker. The skirting has to be continued to the side next to the cooker which means there needs to be a gap between cooker and unit. When foodstuff falls down there as it inevitably will it will be visible but difficult to remove and clean.

[Wozy68]

singlecoil said:

It's skirting and they use it because it hides the wedges necessary to get the tops of the cabinets level when the floor is not. It's associated mainly with expensive kitchens (not good kitchens, just expensive ones). As stated earlier, plinths in a working kitchen should be inset. When I do a kitchen, I inset the plinths at the ends of runs, islands and peninsulas as well as the fronts because people often stand in those places.

There is some truth in what SC states, however its actually only one of several reasons why skirting is used rather than plinths ..... this in the pic is skirting.

1, From a design point of view
2. For expensive kitchens which are actually cheap kitchens made abroad but massisve profit added before sale in the UK to make them expensive kitchens and the skirting hides the way the cabinets have been levelled (like SC states)
3. Because the customer specified them

Its a lot more time consuming to install skirting than plinth, and though its not as practical as plinth, ie you kick it when working in the kitchen, it does in my mind add a little extra elegance to cabinets. Personally I like a mix and match with the use of both skirting and plinth. Plinth where you work most in the kitchen, ie where the sink is and the cooker, skirting in less used parts of the kitchen. A proper bespoke furniture maker has no probs doing this, the so called 'bespoke' but mass produced companies, well thats a different matter.

Horses for courses really.

The kitchen in that picture is very badly designed and fitted IMO.

[Harry Flashman]

Paul Drawmer said:

Bloody irritating. The reason most plinths are undercut, is to give room for the feet of anyone standing and working at the worktop. With the type of plinth shown, user will get more back ache.

OK if it's just for show.

Absolutely agree.

These look great. They are not. I installed the in my last kitchen and very swiftly changed back. OK on an island where you sit on stools and chat, or anywhere for occasional use. Irritating by a cooker, where you could have to stand for a while.