Dining room built-ins or not, colors, etc?

10 years ago

Thanks to all here, I am moving ahead with my dining room project. I am putting in a built in wine bar hutch on one end of the room and on the opposite wall want to flank the 5' opening with 2 additional built ins or small buffets. Here is a basic layout of the room, I'm displaying it with IKEA stuff but not set on using IKEA as of yet. The room is 12'6" by 15'4". The windows are off-center as shown which is why the big built in is going against that wall.

The big built in will basically look like this (the design is pretty well set. I don't want to make further changes as this is what works with existing wall, power outlets etc.

I'm going to do the big built-in in a painted finish with the counter area being a cork product. I'm thinking a creamy white to a taupe color. I'm planning to paint the room an orange/pumpkin color.

My question is, would you do the 2 small china buffets to match (I can have them built by the same guy) or should I just buy 2 freestanding units? I only have 41" on either side of the door so looks like most things I can buy would be 36" wide.

Here is a plan of this part of the house-the plan does NOT show these built ins, just the room and a table.

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Comments (8)

Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
I'm thinking don't do it. Do you ever entertain large groups? With only 15' across and the one built in taking up more space, you might wish you had the room if you had a big group over. Further, the built in is helping to center the windows in the room, but the book cases will work against that. I like your final plan for the bar area...I think it'll work well.
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author
10 years ago
No, I'm doing it regardless. I currently have furniture on all 3 of those walls, just nothing cohesive and not overly well designed. I currently have an attic full of china and serving stuff that I have to traipse up a flight of stairs and unpack every time I use them. As it stands even with the current stuff I have in there I can extend the table out to 100 inches and still have room to walk around (this is when we are seating 10 people). Usually I only have one leaf in, not 2 so there is plenty off room. We entertain and use this room a lot but it is such a pain to go all over the house getting dishes from one attic, warming trays out of the closet, platters from the dresser in the foyer...
My question is whether to make those 2 buffets built ins or freestanding.
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This looks much better! The continuous row of drawers in the middle defines the space. I like the wine fridge at the side. Just make sure you have enough room for the door to swing. If you follow Celticmoon's advice about leaving a space by the walls that would give you the same kind of breathing room for it that filler would, and add to your furniture look. If you want the wine rack, it should go at the top, because of the visual weight compared with the open shelves, but it wouldn't be so great for the wine, since heat rises and up near the ceiling is the warmest part of the room. If you want to store some wine on the open shelves, you can get cradles or a small, wine rack on the counter or shelf--long term, it's better to store wine low and cool. Again, because of the visual weight, I'd suggest you do the middle cabinets with the glass, and have your solid cabinets on the outside pillars. That would give you a frame. Or do glass all across the top cupboards. Another thing you could do for the furniture look is do shorter upper cabinets all across the top, between the pillars, and an open shelf or two underneath all across. You could do all or part of the lower, shelf area with the built in wine rack, with weight of the cabinets above. If you did this current design as is, however, it would look fine. Better without the wine rack, but fine.
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annab6...I was looking at corner cabinets after reading this thread. Are yours flush with the wall? I found an example of one that looks like what you might find in an old house. (See link) It's sort of a black and white rendition but looks like it's treated like the trim. I love built-ins and I love corner cabinets so your thread got me looking at them :-) Thanks monablair :-) I think my builder thought I was nuts when I said I wanted cabinets the whole width of the room. He kept saying SHOW me what you want so DH and I drew these one night on a napkin when eating and talking about it at Chili's...lol. We still laugh about our napkin drawing I handed the builder. Here is a link that might be useful: Corner Cabinet
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Here's mine. I initially wanted a fully built-in unit but because the ceiling is vaulted the framers and my DH didn't want to drop it on one end to meet the top of the cabinetry. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with this free standing unit. It butts up to a wall on each end so I kind of got the built-in look I was after. The unit is 16' long by 9' high in the center. The doors aren't attached yet (they're just leaning there for the photo)as I still need to have glass put in them and the wood shelves are being swapped out for glass ones so the light will filter all the way down each cabinet rather than lighting up just the top shelf in each one. The cabinets are custom and site finished in BM White Dove. The wood top is American Cherry and finished to match my kitchen island. Excuse the mess and the stack of MDF on the floor, we're still under construction!
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Thanks Patricia for taking the time to read my post! I agree with the built-in banquette seating. My finance is pretty convinced that it's a great idea for big family dinners (which is funny since most meals we eat out OR eat in front of the TV since we live in a condo and it's only the 3 of us). As for the pictures, I took these with a wide angle lens, which unfortunately distorts the edges of the pictures (ie like a fisheye lens, but less severe). I took them like this to fit more of the room into a single snap shot. While the drawing isn't 100% to scale, it, for the most part it shows the correct scaling of the walls, nooks and crannies. We're mostly hoping to have general furniture layout suggestions to keep the room looking not awkward, with clean sight lines from walking up the stairs, out the patio and from the kitchen (far screen left in the diagram; it's cut off, but will be a full kitchen that has a pony-wall overlooking the stairs).
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Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
I'm sorry, I misread. Do you have baseboard that will be in the way unless they are built in? That may help you decide.
mtnrdredux_gw
10 years ago
So the title says "or not", but you don't want vote on "or not"?

If that is the case, i would do the buffets to match. A cork counter sounds very cool BTW; is it tile or?
annkh_nd
10 years ago
Are those wine fridges? I'm not keen on the placement - I think they make it look too chopped up. I think I'd put the fridges at each end, and drawers in the middle. You might need to split into two drawer stacks. Or, if you need non-drawer storage, put doors in the middle.

My understanding is that wine bottle storage as you've shown is not good for the wine (especially with windows in the room). Do you go through enough wine that the cubbies are short-term storage?
patricianat
10 years ago
For anyone considering built-ins or library for dining room, I suggest you take a look at this. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
http://niagaranovice.blogspot.com/search/label/Kate%20Middleton
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author
10 years ago
My vote is about the 2 buffets, should they be painted to match the big built-in or not. I'm thinking I could actually do them in a nice wood since they aren't huge, maybe walnut or something interesting. There is a baseboard there so that would be something to work around and may make freestanding a better option.

annkh, I can't put the fridges on the end without having to do a significant side support which would eat up about 6 inches of the total between the 2 ends, plus I don't want the wine fridges directly below the wine racks as they will generate some heat going up. That is actually where I originally had them so I agree with you on the aesthetics but the cabinet guy kind of dashed that. My main wine storage is actually in my basement so this will be short term stuff and tall liquor bottles mostly.
Here is a pic of a cork countertop for anyone who is curious,

Or maybe this one, I haven't decided. This second option pic is before it is sealed and grouted.

Here is what it looks like finished (this is a shower, but same basic look).
violetwest
10 years ago
I think I would do the two buffets in a nice wood, maybe to complement the color of the countertops, since your color scheme seems neutral.

As for built ins or "buy two units" question, I think it would come down to convenience and cost. It might be cheaper and quicker to buy them and have them installed -- depends on if there are units out there available to you that would fit your needs. If not, have the guy build them.

Dining room built-ins or not, colors, etc?

Comments (8)

Annie Deighnaugh

Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author

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Dining room built-ins or not, colors, etc?

Comments (8)

Annie Deighnaugh

Annette Holbrook(z7a)Original Author

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