Kitchen with a peninsular unit:

Kitchen with a peninsular unit

A bridge among kitchen and living room

The peninsular unit is a handy additional unit that articulates the space in a kitchen. The projecting element can give you extra worktop space, can house a sink and/or hob and can also be fitted with a breakfast bar.

A single kitchen-living room area is becoming more and more frequent in contemporary homes. An open space has become the heart of the home, be it a loft or a bedsitter, an apartment flat or a single house.
The versatility of the Valcucine programmes guarantees the possibility of personalising and constructing the living room, of integrating the functions and of co-ordinating elements, modules and materials. For example, the Valcucine wall panels can be fitted in the kitchen and in the living room or can be used as a way of visually connecting various rooms of the home. It is possible to co-ordinate the appearance of an open space arrangement by using furniture that aesthetically links the kitchen and the living room but that benefits from the specific functional elements used in each area. 


Electric System

The false ceiling used to conceal the hood flue pipe is also useful to hide the electric connections that come out of the wall and that power the hood and the lights above the worktop and above the table. We suggest you choose the position of the table before deciding the position of the able outlet for the ceiling light to avoid having to use unsightly ceiling extension cables for a perfectly centred light. If your table is more than 150cm long, it is advisable to provide for more than one light.
If the oven and fridge are too far from the electric board, that is usually located below the sink, a socket will be required behind the appliance. The electric cable outlet from the false ceiling to power the hood must be located near the fumes outlet.   
Due to the fact that the peninsular unit has an equipped back section, the electric cables must come out of the wall behind the back section. After the exact position of the back section has been decided, the electric cables must fall within the 11cm gap, measured across the centerline of the back section and in an area comprised between Y1 and Y2 (see fig.A) that varies depending on the height of the base unit (see page 88). From here the cables will be directed below the sink where they will become part of an electric board to which the various appliances will be connected.

Architectural Project

In an open space, every detail must be carefully planned because the kitchen shares the space with the living room and becomes the heart of the home, the place where you spend most of your time and where you give hospitality to your friends. For a good aesthetic result special attention must be paid to the hood flue that should be concealed or to the tower units that should be fitted inside an alcove. If it isn’t possible to make a fumes outlet in the ceiling but you still want a stylish island hood, it must be connected to the existing outlet that is usually at the top of a wall. At this stage, if you want to conceal the flue pipe, you will be obliged to build a false ceiling. Due to the fact that we are planning a kitchen-living room, we could take advantage of the need to conceal the flue pipe by lowering the ceiling above the entire kitchen area and aligning it with the walls, or with doors or windows to create a logical distinction between the two areas. In an open space it makes sense to install tower units so that they look as if they are alcove-fitted, flush with the wall.
If you want to fit refrigerators inside tower units that are as tall as the ceiling, it will be necessary to make holes to allow the hot air generated by refrigeration to escape. The aeration holes must have a minimum total surface of 200cm2. There are some refrigerators on the market that do not require these holes because they are designed so hat cold air enters half of the plinth while hot air exits the other half. The plasterboard wall must be made-to- measure depending on the height of the tower units. If a tower unit is installed in the corner against a side wall, knobs or vertical handles must be used instead of horizontal handles or enough space must be left to open the door. This space will then be concealed with a filler strip.

Plumbing System

Once the exact position of the island has been decided, the coordinates of the hood fumes outlet centerline in the ceiling must be calculated by adding the distance J (J is a variable that depends on the type of hood and is equal to 35cm for the most common types) where it intersects the hob centerline, to the position of the front edge of the worktop.
In this position, a flue pipe will run to the flue outlet in the wall, concealed by the false ceiling. For good hood extraction, the pipe must also be carefully chosen and positioned 
A gas cock can be fitted in a compartment in the back section behind the hob.
The plumbing pipes must also come out of the wall behind the back section. The pipes must fall within the 11cm gap, measured across the centerline of the back section and in an area comprised between Y1 and Y2 (see fig. A) that varies depending on the height of the base unit t is very important to remember that the drain pipe must always be fitted in the lowest position. The pipes will run from the wall to the sink base unit.