I did a search to see if you have posted your layout on here yet. I didnt' see one. I urge you to post your layout and some info about you and your family (members, how you cook, entertain, floorplan). You'll be amazed at the innovative response you receive.

A 10 x 14 kitchen is plenty big in a house your size (from the way you describe the house).

If you could post a floor plan it would be very helpful to come up with some ideas.

I know that in my 2 br, 1 ba house, I would LOVE to have space to add a powder room. There is just no where to fit it in this house.

Do you have a space in your kitchen to eat in now? A layout of your current kitchen would really help.

Yes, a layout, please. I've got a powder room that I'm going to great ends to keep, despite the design challenges it's causing. I just can't imagine not having it, but it would be easier to determine if it's a good idea for you with a plan.

well, as you said "frankly, I could use the kitchen space", then I would not steal any space to put in a powder room.

If you think you could put one in a linen closet, great! We have a 3 bd, 2 bath 1600 sq ft ranch. My kitchen is roughly 12 x 11 and there is no place to eat in there. Our remodel is changing that :)

BTW, I envy you your full basement! I miss my old one. Have you thought of putting a bathroom down there?

On a totally, unrelated side note: I grew up in a 3 bd, 1 ba ranch with a full basement. Family of five and the subject of remodelling or changing anything other than paint color or a dead appliance was never once in my parents' way of thinking. Now look at us.......... LOL.

Here's a quick layout:

Currently it's set up like a galley kitchen, with the fridge, cabs, sink, 30" stove and cabs L to R along the wall with the window, a cab opposite the fridge (adjacent to the coat closet) sporting a microwave, and a row of cabs next to the door along the wall to the living room.

No good work triangle, I'm thinking of putting a pantry drawer and sandwich station/beverage station/appliance garage where the fridge is (to the left of the sink) and putting the fridge to the right of the doorway, opposite the sink.

The original kitchen had the living room wall empty with a freestanding table for four in that area.

As to how it will be used, well, there's just me, but I like to cook--I have a 30" stove and an additional 12" Miele combiset that I'll be dropping in a counter, probably next to the stove, unless I make a small bar/mother-in-law's kitchen in the basement.

In a perfect world (one with a big budget) I'd knock the wall out between the kitchen and dining room, and open the wall between the kitchen and living room putting bar seating for two or three on the living room side--there's a nice stone fireplace in the living room, but not sure if the budget will allow--may change the pocket door to a double pocket door just to open it up a bit, at least...

I'm also thinking of making it the way it used to be, with linoleum floor and everything (but modern neutral colors), true to it's origins as a ranch home from '56...

I am open to any and all suggestions, referrals, etc...

Oh, remodelfla--when you said you did a search, was that a forum search, or should I drop the print in the photo gallery?

Thanks again,

Paul

We just sacrificed a coat closet for a powder room (you can see pics in the bath forum if you search for my user name) and it was a great trade-off for us. We have an entry vestibule where we can have hooks for guests' coats, but our family's coats are kept elsewhere, anyway. We really weren't using it for anything except storing junk.

If using the coat closet for additional kitchen space would be more valuable to you, then there's your answer, but I thought I'd chime in so you can see what a stolen coat closet can morph into. :o)

Just got done looking at the amazing kitchens in the finished kitchens blog--I think I can make do with the space at hand, and turn the closet into a powder room--thatwould raise the home value quite a bit more than 3 feet of kitchen space would, I think.

Beautiful powder room, by the way. I think if I turned the closet into a powder room though, I'd have to have the door to it in the kitchen, otherwise I'd have to rob too much space from the kitchen--I can't go the other way as that's part of the staircase going downstairs.

A 10x14 kitchen can work very well if designed properly. I'd love to have that much space.

A second bathroom is a godsend on many occasions. Hubby and I are just recovering from a bout of food poisoning and believe me, that second bathroom came in very, very handy.

If the linen closet/stealing space from the other closet is a reasonable option, I think I'd go with that, though.

It all depends on how much you like to cook and how many people you tend to have over as well as budget and structural considerations.

Where will the coats in there now live if it becomes a half bath? How often do you use it as a coat closet? If you edit it's contents down to the items you regularly use, will they fit elsewhere? How much of a trek to the 'other' bath? To other storage?

Much as I like the powder off my kitchen, I bike and I ski, and I'm amazed at how much space I seem to need for the gear for just me. I think it would be a big problem to have *no* storage in that part of the house...

I have a 1920s home. A PO turned the butler pantry into a powder room. When we bought the house we thought we would eventually move it somewhere else. We weren't thrilled about it opening into the kitchen either. Well there really isn't somewhere else. The lower floor is cut with french doors between rooms and has a lot of exterior windows (how they built them back then) so there isn't enough wall space for a powder room. When designing my kitchen remodel, I lusted after that space for a bake center and a place to hide the refrigerator not to mention the one beautiful 1920s original pantry cabinet. But function won out and the powder room stayed. Someday it will get a face lift. PO put some kind of plastic wall board in there.

The powder room has turned out to be one of the most used rooms in the house. I have an 86 year old mom and we save her knees on the stairs (only other bathroom is upstairs). She spends most Sunday afternoons with us. I use it a lot in the summer when I garden to wash my hands when they get muddy.

Our coats are on two coat racks in the entry way and that works fine. We have an attic, a basement, and a garage so storage is not an issue for us.

If the powder room opens to the kitchen could you use a pocket door so you don't have to worry about how it opens? To a certain extend it's not how big the kitchen is, it's how the space is used given the layout possibilities. It sounds like the kitchen size fits the size of the house. I agree that the powder room will add more value in the long run.

I also bike and ski, and that all goes in the basement. All my life our coat closet has ever been a repository of junk... Right now, I'm in a 3 bedroom all by myself, so I figured I'd use bedroom 1 closet as the coat closet...