Spotlight On: Kitchen Plinth & Kickspace Heaters
Radiators are a great way to heat our homes, but they generally take up a large amount of wall space. In most rooms, they end up hidden behind furniture, or they’re positioned so you can work around them. But in other rooms, that wall space is a real premium such as your kitchen, bathroom or utility room. Plinth heaters (sometimes called kickspace heaters), are designed to fit neatly under most types of fitted furniture, kitchen plinth & fascia boards, display units and even false walls.
They eliminate the need for a conventional radiator, giving you the freedom and flexibility for space saving design ideas, leading to:
- more cupboard & storage space
- increased work surface space
- additional space for kitchen appliances
Central heating plinth heaters are up to 24% more efficient than standard radiators
Kickspace heaters come in various shapes and sizes, and importantly, use various forms of heating – so you’ll always find the one that’s right for you.
Central Heating Plinth Heaters
Sometimes referred to as ‘hydronic’ or ‘wet’ plinth heaters, these models connect to your central heating system just the same as a radiator. They come with flexible hoses, making it easy to connect the heater to your regular pipework and then position the heater just where you want it. When your central heating is switched on, hot water is pumped through the kickspace heater’s fins just like it would with a radiator. A sensor then activates the built-in fan to push the hot air out into the room and switches it back off when it detects that your central heating is no longer switched on (when the water in the pipes cools down).
Central heating plinth heaters usually have a boost mode, which puts the fan on a higher setting to heat the room more quickly. For warmer weather, they can often be operated in fan-only mode, helping to circulate cooler air around the room.
Electric Plinth Heaters
If plumbing isn’t available, you don’t have central heating or it when you need an easier install, an electric kickspace heater could be the answer. Quick and easy to install, they connect directly to a standard 13-amp electrical supply and generally offer two heat modes – high and low.
Dual Fuel Plinth Heaters
These offer the best of both worlds – they connect to your central heating but if you need a boost of heat when your heating isn’t running, will run in electric-only mode. They help you to save energy by avoiding firing up your whole heating system, and leave you with the peace of mind that you can always get a blast of heat quickly.
How do you control kitchen plinth heaters?
The other great thing about plinth heaters is that they’re easy to control with thermostats and controllers/programmers. Our Diamond Bidex plinth heaters are available with a 7-day programmer, giving you the ability to have three time periods each day and preset the desired room temperature. A great energy (and money)-saving feature is the controller’s ‘open window sensing’ technology – which detects when a window or external door is left open for an extended period of time, and switches off the unit (or the fan, for central heating models).
Fascia grille colours
Depending on the model you choose, there are a range of fascia grille colours to choose from, including stainless steel, black, white and brown. This helps the plinth heater to blend in to your kitchen unit plinths. The grilles can usually be easily changed in the future if you change your kitchen units.
The Diamond Bidex range
Our Diamond Bidex kitchen plinth heaters are available in both central heating and electric-only versions, in a range of grille colours.
Bidex 500 – Central Heating
Easy to install and use, the Bidex 500 is a central heating kitchen kickspace heater. It’s designed to heat a room of up to 30m³ and has two heat options – standard and boost. Compatible with a room thermostat or programmer, the unit can be controlled easily to give you maximum flexibility and energy efficiency. The optional 7-day programmer has three time periods per day, built-in room thermostat, and open window sensing technology (it’ll turn the fan off if it detects that a window or external door has been left open).
The fasica grilles are available in stainless steel, black, white and brown so there’s a colour for every kitchen, and there’s a ‘fan only’ mode to help circulate air in warmer months.
Key Features
- Central heating fan convector
- Optional 7 day programmable timer and room thermostat
- 700mm long 15mm compression flexible hoses with isolation valves
- Size: 320mm wide x 100mm high x 310mm deep
- DT50° Heat Output: Normal 896 watt (3057 BTU) / Boost 1166 watt (3979 BTU)
- Approximate room size: 30m³
- Maximum working pressure: 8 bar
- Level floor area is required below unit
- Guaranteed for 2 years
Bidex 900 – Central Heating
If you’ve got a larger room to heat, the Diamond Bidex 900 is designed for rooms up to 40m³, with a heat output of up to 7087 BTU. Available in black, stainless steel and white.
Key Features
- Central heating fan convector
- Optional 7 day programmable timer and room thermostat
- 700mm long 15mm compression flexible hoses with isolation valves
- Size: 405mm wide x 100mm high x 310mm deep
- DT50° Heat Output: Normal 1.9kW (6370 BTU) / Boost 2.1kW (7087 BTU)
- Approximate room size: 40m³
- Maximum working pressure: 8 bar
- Level floor area is required below unit
- Guaranteed for 2 years
Diamond Bidex 1.9E – Electric
The Bidex 1.9E is the electric-only version completes the Diamond plinth heater family. Designed for quick and easy installation, no central heating is required – just access to a standard 13 amp electrical supply. There’s a 7-day programmer with built-in thermostat included, so it’s easy and energy-efficient to control and run. Two heat modes (standard and boost) give you the flexibility to heat a cold room quickly, and there’s a fan-only mood for warmer days.
Key Features
- Electric fan heater
- Includes a 7 day programmable timer with room thermostat
- 700mm long 15mm compression flexible hoses with isolation valves
- Size: 320mm wide x 100mm high x 310mm deep
- Heat Output: Normal 950W / Boost 1.9kW
- Approximate room size: 33m³
- Level floor area is required below unit
- Guaranteed for 2 years
