Please review our newbie-plan! Thanks!

10 years ago

Hi all,
Thanks in advance for reading this and for your help. My wife and I are in the planning stages of renovating the kitchen in our 1920s bungalow. We're totally rookies at this, so any input/advice would be really helpful!

Generally, the things we would love your input on are:
1) Will this floor plan make the room too cramped (especially the peninsula)?
2) Is this the most efficient floor plan we could use with our space? AKA - any other way to use more space
3) Are we allocating our cabinets reasonably by our mix of drawers/cabinets/pantry space? Are they located in reasonable areas?
4) Are we allowing adequate vs. overkill walkway space between peninsula/wall, end of peninsula/fridge, and work triangle?

Specifically, the things we would love you input on are:
1) Do you like the location of the fridge, or would you swap the fridge with the larger pantry?
2) Can you think of any way to get seating for 4 instead of 3 (without MAJOR sacrifices to counter/cabinet space)?
3) For our space, is it worth getting a counter-depth fridge? We currently have a nice fridge but it is quite deep?

Sorry for the quality of the drawings, I don't know how to use any special drawing software!

PS - we have 9 foot ceilings and plan on stacking cabinets to go to the ceiling and maximize space!

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

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blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
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blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
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I'll reiterate what others said. These are my opinions from a very personal perspective. However, these things may work for you. I really dislike having a washer and dryer in a hallway. I still iron some clothes, so I like a place to keep my ironing board up alot of the time. I'm not a fan of kitchens that open to the great room. When we have visitors I don't like looking right at the sink with possibly dirty dishes. Personally, I would like at least the island to run the other way to at least offer a visual separation. It's generally a poor layout for someone who cooks or bakes alot. The pantry is nice and large and will probably get alot of use because of the layout in the kitchen. Would be nice if it weren't so many steps away. I can see a layout this open if you have small children you want to keep an eye on in the great room. I like that your guest rooms are somewhat private, kind of in their own wing. If I were a guest staying in those room, I'd prefer a smaller closet with room for a couple easy chairs, or a bench to put a suitcase on. It's hard to read the dimensions, so not sure how large they are. In our new house, our guest rooms are way too small. We often have guests for 2 weeks, and it's difficult for them with alot of luggage. I find your master closets a bit awkward. Three doors opening up into the tiny hallway. Take a look at switching the closets and the bath. It would utilize that hallway space better, and you wouldn't have two long skinny closets with only hanging space. You might be able to have some shelving and a bench if the closet were at the end. I generally don't like closets at the end of baths, but in this case it works better I think. You might be shy on coat closets, and a place to put window gear. A bench to take shoes off might be nice, too. We have them at both our front and back door. It kind of reminds people to remove their shoes when coming in. Can't wait to see your finished product. It will be beautiful.
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I don't like the location of the powder room for two reasons. One has already been mentioned above. The other is that, if doors are left standing open (and they ALWAYS seem to be left standing open at the most inopportune times) anyone sitting at the middle seat at the kitchen bar has a straight view of the toilet. You don't mention where you'll be building so maybe this isn't an issue for you, but I don't see any closets or place to hang wraps near the front door. Are the small boxes labeled storage in the laundry room, meant to be cubbies? If so, I'm wondering if there might not be some way to rethink the laundry/powderroom area so that the washer/dryer, laundry sink, and laundry cabinets are moved toward the back of the house, the cubbies are moved down next to the entry door and the powder-room is situated between the cubbie area and the laundry room. Might need to incorporate some of that space the is behind the sink in the garage so as to widen the laundry room a bit. Is the garage sink a "dog bath", or for car repair clean up? Only other thing I see that hasn't already been mentioned is the fact that the plumbing in the secondary bedroom will run thru the masterbedroom wall. Not a huge deal. Just make sure they sound insulate the pipes good so that you aren't bothered by toilets being flushed in the middle of the night. Other than these few things and items already mentioned by others, the floor plans looks pretty functional. Small windows on the west side are not necessarily a bad thing. Especially if you are building in a hot climate, you don't want a lot of hot afternoon sunlight coming into your bedrooms. I would keep them short tho I agree that awning windows would look better than double-hungs. You might also want to consider using a hip roof with a deep overhang on the east and west ends of the house instead of the gabled roof. A hip roof on the ends would shade those east and west facing windows a bit more. Especially if the windows are short and are set high on the walls.
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I would not open the two public areas up to one another. If they're open to one another, what's the point of having two? Also, the living room gives you a more private, quieter spot. This is a very open plan, and I think you'll appreciate that quiet area. I agree that the powder room is a problem. I'd consider making the guest bathroom serve double-duty as a downstairs bath. You'd need to flip-flop the bathroom so that the tub would be against the wall, but it's do-able. I think the placement of the master bedroom is fine. It's convenient as you walk up the stairs, and it has a door. I think it's private-a-plenty. In the kitchen, I would switch the refrigerator /pantry and the range. This will keep your main work items all together in one spot and will move the less-needed items to the farther side. Also, I like the shape of the island in your space (though I am rarely a fan of odd-shaped islands), but can you reach it to clean it? This always occurs to short people. You have devoted a massive portion of the house to the foyer and the curved staircase (I read something recently that said curved items are the same shape as a dollar sign for a good reason.); do you really want to allocate so much of the budget to a hallway? No, I would not go with the expense of free-standing stairs. I can't quite read the room sizes, but I'm thinking the rooms are a comfortable size. Also you have a lovely bank of windows in the family room; it's not going to feel small. No fireplace. In my area, in a house of this size and scale, the lack of a fireplace would be noted. Your lot is very small to support a house of this size.
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I think I'd turn the office's door towards the foyer. It'd be more private that way. Secondary bedrooms look good, but both of their baths could use work: One has only a minimal vanity/sink -- no space for storage. This bathroom has no storage space -- no space for a hamper, barely space for a trash can. The other is trying to house two sinks in a too-small vanity; you really need at least 6' for two sinks to fit comfortably. I'd say make the mud room another 2' wider . . . so you can have shelves, lockers, or something else on the wall shared with the pantry. The storage would be very useful in that spot. Do you have a door from the mudroom /pantry area straight into the entryway? I can't quite tell, but I think you ought to have a door through that way. You don't want to be forced to circle through the kitchen if you want to enter the house and come straight towards the bedrooms. Note, too, that without such a door, you'd have to carry laundry through the kitchen and down the mudroom hall -- you're going to want a more direct route. Does the breezeway serve any function other than joining the house and the garage? I mean, I've seen some breezeways that also hold a couple chairs for reading . . . or whatever. The kitchen is large, but it's too choppy --- your work areas are divided from one another by walkways. I would want a pass-through between the kitchen and the pantry. If you're picking up lots of cans, or if you're moving lots of home canned goods into the pantry, you're not going to want to walk around that corner multiple times. Nice dining room and nice great room. Your plumbing is really spread across the whole house. This will be very expensive to install, and more plumbing lines = more opportunity for leaks in the future. You have three doors leading out to the back porch -- and two of them are within a few feet of one another. I'd cut out one of these. If you keep the one in the dining room, I'd consider making it a slider (take a look at the new sliders -- they're nothing like their 1970s counterparts) because a slider wouldn't interfere with the dining room table placement. Front porches usually end up being "just for show". As a result, I'd eliminate the steps on the sides. I can't imagine they'll be used much, and I'd save that money. This post was edited by MrsPete on Mon, Nov 3, 14 at 23:17
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blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
view 4 - stove wall
blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
view 5 - sink wall
blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
view 6 - fridge wall (last one, I promise!)
debrak2008
10 years ago
I would put drawers were ever possible (I see several cabinets I would change). Change the upper corner cabinet to an easy reach. More head room, more efficient, and will match the one below.

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Fri, Jan 17, 14 at 14:55
lavender_lass
10 years ago
I like it! The only thing I would switch is the larger pantry and fridge, making it easier to access fridge (and closer to counter) and not blocking peninsula entrance. Also, a few glass uppers might be a nice accent.

As for seating for 4, I would think a stool could go on the end of the peninsula (especially with fridge moved over) but that would be the 'cook's spot' since it would probably be blocking traffic, otherwise. Nice place to sit and take a break/visit for a few minutes, have a cup of coffee, wait for cookies to bake, etc. :)
Cindy103d
10 years ago
It seems like the fridge would stick out further than drawn unless you get a counter depth. Could you possibly recess it into the wall? Even then, anybody getting stuff out of the fridge will be blocking the road.

You've got a nice amount of countertop, but not a good space for prep if you swap the fridge and pantry. Ideally you would prep between the sink and stove, but you don't have much countertop in that area. Could you move the sink and window to the right to add prep space?

This post was edited by Cindy103d on Sat, Jan 18, 14 at 8:19
OOTM_Mom
10 years ago
Your plan view shows a 36" sink, but your elevation show two 15" doors under sink...that doesnt add up.

You have several 9" cabinets. I find those pretty useless. Just something to think about. I am no expert, but I would try to get rid of some if not all 9". (The one oprning shallow 9" to the right of fridge makes sense)

Good luck!
blaster1492
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the advice so far, I agree with what a lot of whAt has been said. I will switch the fridge/pantry, and probably go with easy reach upper corners. Moving the window is probably not flowing to work with our budget, and I figured that the kitchen is pretty small so any countertop in the kitchen is pretty convenient prep space, especially the island right next to the stove.

As for the fridge, yeah the previous owners bought a beautiful new stainless steel French door fridge freeZer but it is HUGE! And deep. We have another fridge in the basement, so for the sake of our smaller kitchen we thought about swapping to a counter depth. Though we will take a hit since our current fridge is newer, I think in the lung run it might be best for the utility of the kitchen.

As for the 9 inch cabinets, I totally understand what you mean, but not sure how to get Around it given the limited dimensions on the stove wall. Any suggestions? Also we were thinking about using one for a pull out hanging
Pan rack.

Thanks so much and please keep the great ideas and feedback flowing!

Please review our newbie-plan! Thanks!

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