If you use the golden ratio on your window of 60" wide, then the "correct" height is 37". In other words, a window 60 x 36 is going to look very pleasing. Save some money, stick with what you've got, and you'll like it.

brick

For me, the decision would be driven by the symmetry & aesthetics from the external of the home. How does it line up with the rest of the home, windows, trim, fascia?

I don't think anyone else can tell you whether it's going to bug you over time, but you might be able to pretty accurately work it out for yourself.

What I see is that the kitchen will have plenty of square feet of window in either case, and that the sink window seems to be the same height as the other.

So, if you think what will bug you is a foot of wall between the window trim and the ceiling, you might want to think about what you might do with that space that will make it less irritating to you. Depending on the style of kitchen you are going to have, you might consider an open shelf to display whatever and make the bit over the window interesting.

This example doesn't look as though it would be the style of a kitchen with sliding windows, but I suspect that you and your wife would find some way to adapt it to the style your are going to embody in your kitchen if you were so inclined.

Alternatively, you could continue a run of whatever it going to be on either side of your window over the window; e.g., shelves or a second tier of uppers.

{{gwi:1580376}}

Plus, there are tons of things you could do with whatever way you are going to shade your windows.

All that said, only you can decide whether the fact of having made an error will make you crazy every time you look at it for the rest of your days.

BTW, "OK, I screwed up" is a pretty disarming way to start a post. Good luck.

Jejvtr has a very good point...Because I'm confused about whether you're talking about bringing it down further or up more...or both. The tops of your windows should be consistent, I think.

Our kitchen window is 78" x 40". I have regretted that we didn't make it counter height and bumped out 6" or so. But without bumping it out, it's probably nice to have some wall for backpslash so that all the water splashes don't end up on the window...and with window trim we have a tiny little space in which to install the tile, so that might be a consideration, too..

All that being said, we reframed windows when we noticed things we didn't like in the building process. Thankfully, we didn't have windows ordered yet...but it's much easier to change now than 2nd guess or wish you'd done it when you had the chance for the rest of your life.

Thanks all. Originally the window was to be 42" high, aligned with the top of the other window, and nearly down to the counter. (80 - 42 = ~38) I mentioned it to the builder last week but at the time I felt pretty good about the rough opening of the window. Once the window went in, it just looks really small. So I was considering changing to the 42 or going big for the 48. The 48 would throw off a whole bunch of the lines though, which is a good point.

I think this just calls for deep breaths, and focusing my obsessing on some other detail... I'll post about lights tonight.

This was a really painful part of decision making for us - we would have liked to do even more to connect to the outside, but settled for increasing the size of the back window and dh moved it (I'm still blaming him a little bit as this caused big floor plan changes!). We were afraid of running out of money if we tried for anything more.

Its a slider (48 x 72), with a center picture window and two flanking movable sections. The previous casements were about 72" high by 36" tall arranged as a pair with a center divider.

This had a number of unanticipated effects - just about all of them very good. The air flow increased quite a bit over the casements. It increased the feeling of openness throughout the first floor of our small house. We never need to turn the lights on anymore. We joke that no one will ever see the kitchen because visitors are all too busy looking out the window.

Seated at a table height seat in the kitchen, you still see a lot of the view. Surprisingly, this happens from some seats in the dining room also.

I also wish I had bumped it out a little bit.

I've been pondering this some more and don't want to cause trouble, but... My sister has a 36" window, and like I said, I have a 40". You might not notice it if you stick with the 36", but I think you might say, "I'm so glad we did this" if you change to get the 6" more inches. It does make a difference. Just not one of those things you notice til you have it.

Oh, and I didn't say last time, that we have a slider, too...For the reasons your dw wanted one. And, like Bmore, it has a stationary center, so I'm not looking at the divider.

Okay... this is a lot to think about but I'm seriously considering going from the 60x36 to a 72x42 with 3 24" panes. Now I just need to figure out if such a thing exists... Likely I'm going to get a price on this and drop the issue.. but it's worth asking. And if I'm going to do, now is the time!

Thanks for the help. If anyone can show me there fixed center sliding windows (particularly if they are 3 same sized panes) that would be awesome.

Here are my windows. They are bumped out 6 inches. My ceilings are 8 feet. I had much concern on this- and came to GW often. There is a thread on it: search counter height windows. The window measures 39.5" with the frame, and is 104 inches long. They sit 5 inches above the counter. I wanted them to sit on the counter, but it didn't work out. I choose to have wood instead of a granite backsplash to make it the window area bigger.
I love the windows as they came out. The space above looks better in real life than in the picture. Hope this helps.
Joan

Brickton,

If you're going to alter your windows, now is the time to do it. Once you start going forward with the rest of the build, it'll be too late to go back. If the price is reasonable, and you aren't screwing up the function of the kitchen, go for it.

I say this not because I think the current one won't be fine in general, but because you're already disappointed. When my new windows went in, I was thrilled. You should feel that thrill too, and unless it's prohibitive (which it shouldn't be), it's worth redoing. I don't know where you live--things may be less available--but I was able to custom order a window to my specs and unusual requirements for little more than stock.

I've never heard of anyone regretting having a bigger window!

An inexpensive option not mentioned (or if it was, I missed it) is to move the window you have up those 6 inches. Yes, that means the window won't be at counter height but its top will line up with the nearby window and, if it were my kitchen, I'd gladly give up a counter height window to have the window tops line up instead.

In your current plan, what is that window's finished height? If the window is only 36" high and your plan calls for it to be near or at counter height (assuming standard height of 36"), then the top of the window may only be 6' or a bit more above the floor. Imagine yourself standing in front of that window. Imagine adding window blinds that, when pulled up, reduce that height even more. Will you like that? Or will it feel claustrophobic? It would to me.

If you have the center pane the same size as the outsides (possible), you could have the sides crashing into each other if you ever try to open both. That's why the center is usually larger, I think.

Mine has the bigger window in the center, but here it is...again, it's 78" x 40".

lisa, sorry for the confusing description. Right now the tops do align, we wouldn't change this.

rhome, that makes sense.. if they were equal we'd probably have to switch to casement. Hmmm. I don't know if that is wife approved. But I would love the look of 3 24" windows.

I might stick with the same width and see about adding the height (ie making the sill lower) but only the 6"

So to answer my question: About $80 per inch.

My builder gave me the quote for the change, I'm going with the 42" high window. I know it will make me that much happier. The cost to change to a wider, different style window was going to be heftier (more expensive window, a lot more labor for changing nearly the entire wall's framing, etc.) and my wife didn't want casements though we do love the look. So it made the decision quite straight forward once I had a number.

So thank you, all of you. I'm so glad that I know about this place because it makes it so much easier to be able to get 10 or so very informed opinions in a few short hours when trying to make a decision like this.

This won't be my last crisis post by a long shot as we have a long way to go in the build, but I want to thank all of you who chimed in. It gave me the right perspective to think ahead of time so that I knew when I saw a figure if it was worth it or not. Woo! Here's the rendering, with the proper sized window back in effect.

Yeah! Decision made, and you feel happy about it...Great! Full speed ahead...so we can all see this kitchen finished! :-)

Quick update on this for those who helped me out. So the window came in a while back and it turns out they shipped the wrong size (48", not 42") but I did some measuring and considering and we decided to use it, because hey more window and we could do it without being more than 3/4" higher than the other window. Also it turns out my door is a 84" / 7' door.. not standard 80" door. I don't have an inside view uploaded but here she is from the outside.

In the end I'm even happier that they sent the wrong size, the extra foot of height looks so nice.

I'm glad things turned out this way. I have one window, over my sink, that is extremely high--almost up to the ceiling. It is amazing how much more sky and light that extra bit of window brings in. You can really see the difference when I lower the shade halfway; the kitchen gets much darker and more closed in.

I hope all of your crises turn out this way!

"There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them though we may."

What a great outcome. Congrats.