please chime in on this kitchen layout issue...

16 years ago

We are renovating a center-hall colonial (built 1920) including the existing gally kitchen. We are keeping it gally style and can't seem to figure out how to place all the appliances that we want.

Here is a description of what is going on:

Left side: this side houses the window and the kitchen sink below it. There will be cabinets on either side on top and the lower cabinets will house the garbage pull-out, dishwasher and some base cabinets. At the end of this run, there will be a built in 36" refrigerator which buts up against the bathroom door.

right side: this side will contain the 30" gas cooktop (maybe 36") in the center (opposide the window and sink) with a custom wood hood and some pot drawer underneath. On the right side and left will be upper and lower cabinets. to the end of the right side (almost opposite the refrigerator but not exactly since the left side is a bit longer than the right side), we will install a single 30" wall oven with cabinets above and below.

Mud room: This will be an extention of the kitchen. It will be opposite the bathroom door. There is one wall that can hold cabinets. We will be putting glass cabinets on the upper part (to hold our glassware) and the lower cabinets will be mainly for storage. There will be a cut out in the center looking out into the breakfast nook.

The issue for today:

1- microwave. We rarely cook with the microwave but its a necessity since we have a small child and often heat up her food/milk in it. We would like to avoid a countertop unit (since we have limited counter space as it is). We also don't want to mount it to the bottom of the upper cabinets because we are looking for a clean streamlined look. The only options we could think of is

a) putting the microwave under the wall oven. While this seems like the best option, i'm not sure how convenient it would be. Our single wall oven is going to be placed at eye (?) level -- basically, once the door is open, it will be flush to the countertop (our kitchen designer said this would look best). Putting the microwave underneath is might be too low. I would like to avoid having my daughter play with those tempting buttons and melting a few of her toys in there! Also, that might be uncomfortably low in putting food/liquids in there.

b) putting the microwave under the wall oven but installing a drawer microwave which is easier to load/unload. Our issue with this is that i've been reading mixed reviews of those units (repair issues). Also, the fronts of those units tend to be rounded or have bumpouts and might look funny under the streamlined flat look of the wall oven. I always figured we would match the microwave and wall oven for a clean look

c) putting the microwave above the wall oven and lowering the wall oven. I'm not sure how convenient this would be in using either unit. Will the microwave still be too high? Also, would we have to put the wall oven much lower (which kind of defeats the point in my opinion).

d) installing the microwave in the mudroom -- granted its still very close to the kitchen but it might be a bit too far away. Plus, I never envisioned that area to have anything to do with cooking -- more storage.

I don't know. We have a whole house to remodel in record time and I feel like we are getting stuck on the smallest of details. Unfortunately, I don't have the time I would love to dedicate to design this kitchen so I would appreciate any and all advice on the microwave and anything else that might seem "off". Thank you!

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Comments (2)

Buehl
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Will you have a walk-in pantry? Many people who only use their MWs occasionally put them in their pantry.

As to mounting it above your single wall oven, that's actually an ideal place since they both can be mounted at almost any height as long as you meet the minimum distance requirements (see your oven and MW installation specs). I think the ideal height for a MW is b/w your waist & chest. I think the oven should be lower than that anyway.

Please note though, that it's difficult to give advice without "seeing" the kitchen and without more information such as wall lengths, etc. I suggest you draw your kitchen to-scale, preferably on graph paper, with doors/doorways, windows, etc. marked along with their sizes and distances b/w each other & walls and post it here. See the "Read Me" thread (linked below) for more information on posting.

I know you're trying to remodel quickly, but I assume you don't want to spend all the $$$ on this remodel only to have it not work for you.

We can help you quickly w/a design if (1) we have the necessary information and (2) there's a quick turn-around w/responses. If you do go the post route, let it be known in the post that you have a small window of opportunity to work on the design.

HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!
rhome410
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Out of these options, I think I'd go with "C". It seems the most reasonable choice for height, as well as being handy to the fridge. I think you should be able to figure your heights so that it's not too high and the oven isn't too low. If you had dbl oven it would be more of an issue, but with a single, it should be pretty easy.

One other option would be to put it in the bottom shelf of an upper cabinet (having shorter doors above), but maybe that would ruin your sleek look or interfere with storage for which you already have a purpose.
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I'm going to point out a couple of considerations about that layout. They are just in case you haven't thought about it. I'm sure you have as its just about the layout you have now. a. Using the cooktop will sometimes involve asking the person at the sink to move. (Anytime those drawers under the cooktop are opened). b. Using cabinet one will sometimes involve asking the person at the cooktop to move. c. Its going to be harder to get into the corner uppers with a modern hood that sticks out further - perhaps even more than today because the corner upper cabinets look like they might be smaller. d. Be careful about leaving allowance for fillers in the corners and up against a wall - particularly when using frameless cabinets. In a corner, the filler on both sides needs to be the depth of the door AND the depth of the handle plus a tiny bit - so that the cabinets on both sides can open properly. Up against a wall, you should allow for a 3/4" piece of starter molding - except that you may need more to clear your door casing. e. Be careful about wall cabinets with wide doors that open over counters and the amount that the hinge allows the door to open. Looking at the wall cabinet door arrangement over the dishwasher - it looks like you've skipped the first cabinet and put dishes into the second cabinet. You may want to rethink that. You could get brained by the cabinet door or left in the slightly odd situation where the door doesn't open wide enough to be able to pick something out of the dishwasher and put it away without first putting it on the counter to avoid crashing it into the counter. Or you have to walk around the open dw door to put stuff away. This is just my personal opinion, but I would move the dw back over to the left and put the main dish storage on the first cabinet to the right. f. Same wall cabinets - opening the center cabinet prevents both other cabinet doors from opening - certainly not the end of the world or anything.
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please chime in on this kitchen layout issue...

Comments (2)

Buehl

rhome410

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