Can you stick a fridge in front of a boiler cupboard?

Posted by specofdust@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 16 comments

Hi all, I'm trying to plan redoing my kitchen at the minute and in the hopes of moving my fridge out of a cupboard to make a pantry, I want to stick it in front of the cubby where I keep my boiler. I'd stick it onto lockable rollers to that I could move it out the way easily enough to gain access to the boiler, but is it safe to do so from a heat perspective? Obviously it's part of a big project so important to look into before I actually do anything. Picture attached here, in the image, the fridge is in the top right, directly in front of the cubby where the boiler is. The cupboard on the bottom left is where it currently resides, but I'd much rather have that as a pantry for all my food. [2D plan](https://ibb.co/fGpVhD9)

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16 Comments

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scifisam2020@reddit

Moving a fridge around really isn't good for it. If you ended up having to move it several times due to issues with your boiler than your fridge would almost definitely stop working. I had my boiler moved recently, to one of those awkward corners that's hard to reach. It meant I lost a cupboard there, but I hardly used it anyway because I needed a stepladder to get to all but one corner of it, and it made a massive difference in freeing up space for actually usable storage in the rest of the room. It was easier than you'd expect.

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

>Moving a fridge around really isn't good for it. If you ended up having to move it several times due to issues with your boiler than your fridge would almost definitely stop working. Really? Why do you say that? I can't think of any mechanical reason that that would be the case.

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scifisam2020@reddit

Because of the oils and lubricants it uses for cooling. Tilting the fridge, or it being uneven, is the worst problem, but moving it would also mean you had to turn the fridge off and leave it to settle for several hours. Not a big deal if it rarely happened, but needing to access a boiler isn't really that unlikely.

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

Mmm, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt but no, rolling a fridge in an upright position is not going to do anything bad to it. The refrigerant is the main thing to worry about, in older fridges true enough them being horizontal could be very bad, but in newer fridges so long as they're given time to settle after being horizontal they will be fine. A modern fridge will not stop working just because you move it on rollers out of a space and then back into that space.

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scifisam2020@reddit

Possibly, but I'd be vary wary. Even a slight adjustment could cause problems. It sounds like an older home, so the floors might not be even, which would make using wheels more difficult. And you'd have to move it quite a long way forward to get access to the boiler cupboard. It's also partly my opinion because it doesn't really sound like the best solution anyway when you're having the whole kitchen redone. If there were no other options, then it'd be worth the risk and hassle. You might have come up with a solution no professional kitchen designers have come up with - I mean, that could happen, genuinely. But it would also mean that your fridge could only ever be there, so if you want to sell at some point in the future, it would put people off. Is there any way in which a separate fridge and freezer would work? Fridge at reaching height, freezer under the boiler?

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intangible-tangerine@reddit

Our fridge is next to the cooker as it's the only place we could put it. It's far from ideal as energy wise but it works fine.

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

Did you notice higher energy bills with it located next to the cooker?

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blackthornjohn@reddit

The fridge dumps hot gas into the grill on the back to cool the gas down,,putting that grill infront of the boiler will waste a fiar chunk of money in running costs and replacement fridge costs.

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

I understand the fridge dumps its heat out the back, although I'm really not sure how much difference the boiler makes to ambient temperatures. Modern condensing boilers seem to shed surprisingly little of their heat to the surroundings.

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blackthornjohn@reddit

Yeah but ideally the back of a fridge would be in the coldest part of the kitchen, if you box in a combi boiler, say for instance with a fridge, the surrounding area gets considerably smaller and will be considerably warmer.

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Paulstan67@reddit

I personally wouldn't want the boiler blocked in (I'm assuming it's a gas boiler) as it will need ventilation. Also the heat generated by the boiler will affect the workings of the fridge. So you would need the fridge pulled away from the wall/boiler. The layout of the kitchen (with the door positions) is terrible. I personally would move the "kitchen" into the dining area to make a corner L shaped kitchen utilising the cubby for the fridge. And move the dining area near to the window/ boiler area. Sitting at the table would be much nicer if you can see out of the window. Also it is a small area do you really need a dining table for 4 people? Or could you get away with a table for 2 that can be extended if needed?

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

It's a gas combi, so ventilation requirements reduced compared with a regular boiler. Have actually been considering as you suggest, with the dining area next to the window, although the sink/washer/dishwasher are annoyingly tied into the only water point on that wall so would have to stay there. Dining table is nice to have, have considered moving it to the living room, but yeah I want one that size so that I can have people over for dinner.

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Paulstan67@reddit

If you are remodeling the kitchen anyway, getting the radiator moved and the sink moved would not be a huge expense. Half a day's work for a competent plumber. You would have a much more user friendly kitchen and dining area. If I was a guest I would feel like I had been "put in the corner" while you were finishing to food prep. If the table was near the window, I could watch you and talk to you much easier.

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

It actually feels much roomier than the diagram makes it look, even though I've got all the sizes in correctly measured. You are definitely "in the corner" but then, it's a mid-sized UK flat (so, tiny) and so you kind of expect to be squeezed in. I consider myself lucky to even have space for a dining table tbh.

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Tim-Sanchez@reddit

Couldn't you have slightly less counter space and move it to the left of where it is?

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specofdust@reddit (OP)

I could, yes, however it is undesirable for several reasons, namely: 1) I want to maximise counter space as I like to cook 2) It leaves me with the question of "What do I do with the space in front of the boiler?" 3) It breaks up the room, having a 6 ft 6" fridge not up against the wall. I should have stuck a cupboard and countertop into that space on the diagram, as I would in reality. I've updated the 2D plan image to show this ([Also here](https://ibb.co/dQx3Zhj))