Small Kitchen Layout Help Needed

RWeb1970

13 years ago

Hi,

I am looking for ideas on redesigning my small kitchen and eating area. Both my wife and I enjoy cooking/baking and the layout we have just doesn't work for us. Issues we have:

- We have a young child and almost always have a drying rack for dishes/bottles out above the DW which limits our counter space.

- Not enough storage space

- Prep area is really only big enough for one person.

- Prep area is more or less blocked if someone is at the stove.

- Corner cabinet between stove and sink is completely inaccessible (except around the plumbing clean-out).

- We do not have a formal dining room and would like to have the potential to seat 8 for the occasional dinner with extended family and/or friends.

- We'd like to have a door into the garage.

- With young kids, I'm not at all a fan of bar-type seating.

Here is what the layout currently looks like:

Here is the 'optional' floor plan if the builder decided to include a garage door (we don't currently have any way of entering the garage except from outside).

My first thought was to remove the load-bearing wall that separates the kitchen and family room but removing it completely would necesitate a new section of foundation in the basement to support the increased point-loads and very some creative plumbing/hvac work.

Nevertheless, here is my very rough idea in sketch-up (note, I've reversed the layout because that's the model we own):

Using two larger columns to provide both structural support and plumbing/hvac runs is also a possibility but given the 10' width of the kitchen, I just cannot make it work when I tried to lay it out. In this case, we thought about trying to fit a built-in eating area and replace the back patio door (sliding) with a single glass-paned door and a window.

I'm very keen to hear everyone's thoughs. Thanks.

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Comments (4)

marcolo
13 years ago
Funny. First thing I thought of when viewing your original plans was how nice it would be to take down that wall. You do have to ensure it's possible and within budget.

Your new plan looks good, with some caveats. That table looks too big--realistically, someone sitting and eating will have their butt on the coffee table. You might be able to fit an island with a regular overhang, but I understand you wouldn't want that as your only eating space with small kids. An attached table that allows seating only on the sides, with no butts in the LR, might possible work.

Is that patio door your main entry to the yard? In your current plan, traffic seems to go right through the working space of the kitchen.

As far as support columns go, take a look at this thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on islands with support columns
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lavender_lass
13 years ago
Do you have other homes connected to yours? If not, I'd put some windows on the sides, even if there's not much view. Even high or clerestory windows, will let in a lot of light.

One other idea...could you use the layout of your builder's second option, with the sink and cooktop on that wall...and use a large table for your prep space? You could have chairs on the side facing the living area and the patio doors, but the table would work as a prep island for everyday.

When you have more people over, add a few leaves, a table cloth and more chairs. If necessary, turn the table, so it fits through a wide opening between the two rooms and then for more room, move the coffee table/ottoman, out of the way.

This would solve your venting problems and give you more 'everyday' room. The space looks a little tight, between the chairs and living area. Best of luck with your new home :)
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Angie_DIY: The path through the kitchen is the shortest path from the dining room to the bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry, all of which are accessed via the hallway. DH is often working at the dining room table while I'm cooking, but he can get from there to the back of the house via the living room as well. With only two of us here, there is not that much traffic to deal with. I asked about the traffic flow, though, because these aisles seem small. I can make them a little bigger but at the expense of the counter by the fridge, which is one of the things that I like about this plan. I think I will mock the aisles up in the kitchen and see how they feel. iroll: Thanks for the feedback! Our house has several extraneous doors. The floor plan above shows the one between the living room and the hallway. There is also one further down the hall. There's a small addition on the back that looks like it dates from the 1950s. They extended the hallway as part of the addition, but they left the door where the hallway used to end. We haven't taken these doors down because we occasionally find them useful for blocking sound and light traveling through our small house when one person is making noise in the living room or kitchen and the other wants some quiet in the bedroom. We also store stuff (like our grocery bags) in the little space behind the kitchen door. The opening between the dining room and the kitchen used to have a door, too. It must have been taken down decades ago because you can now barely see the mortises for the hinges under many coats of paint. This door swung into the kitchen towards the fridge, which makes you wonder what the original kitchen layout was.
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I would put the dishwasher on the side of the sink closest to dish storage, which I'm guessing is on the right of the plan. As much as I prefer the dw next to the sink, I would consider moving it to the fridge wall somewhere (about a foot from the fridge, maybe), so when it's open, you can turn and reach it easily from the sink, but the open door doesn't block access to the whole corner and all that counter space. If you move the dw, and aren't doing the trash compactor, which is drawn awfully big anyway, your sink may fit! Are those stools drawn at the end of the cabinets by the stove? I don't see room to make those work.
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Twn85, do you have pictures of your final design? Would love to see it. Laughable, that may be an alternative. I definitely don't want to go shorter, as I am 5'9 and DH is 6'3. My only thing is that I'd have to add some granite to the left of the stove (where the current fridge is now, before the corner begins to make a peninsula) but maybe I could take what I'd be cutting out on the other side where the fridge would be moved? I don't know enough about granite to know if that's an option. Honestly I'd love new counters but even getting DH to consider any of this is enough of a challenge - he sees the square footage and thinks I'm crazy and high maintenance (okay, I AM but still) to even talk about putting money into an already "big" kitchen with upgrades. As for what I like to do in the kitchen - I'm a pretty much make-from-scratch cook. I am a SAHM and spend A LOT of time in the kitchen, either cooking, prepping or cleaning. I like having stations - baking, cooking, coffee, etc. I don't like a lot of appliances on the counter but I DO have a lot of heavy gadgets I'd want a spot in a cabinet or drawer for. There is a small TV in the corner of a countertop to give me company while I'm in there because I'm usually alone, although I'd LOVE to have (adult) company - other times, I have my small (ages 5 and 3) children to "help" out, and having a place for them to put their stools to spread out and pour ingredients is very good. The breakfast nook bugs me right now - the window seat is not currently there and the outside chairs are right in the walkway from the garage door into the FR. However, I'm not a big fan of stool seating b/c family dinners are really important at this stage in our lives. I know eventually the kids will need a place to do homework but if a sink goes at the peninsula, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. One thing you may be able to see is the architect suggested cutting out that pantry cabinet and extending the archway that leads into the dining room. The purpose there would be to make that more of a breakfast room than formal DR and maybe put some comfortable chairs where the current breakfast nook is for conversation. A peninsula would block that idea, though, I think. After reading these responses, I've gotten to thinking. We currently have a temporary island where the suggested one would go. It's smaller and not as functional and I just assumed that functionality was what was missing. However, DH doesn't help me as often as he used to and now I'm starting to think it may be how tight the kitchen seems now, rather than him just trying to avoid any work (or miss my engaging and witty banter.)
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I think you'll really appreciate those extra inches as it would give more space for someone to be at the sink while someone is cooking. Two people may be a bit crowded if one is prepping but you could also prep to the right of the stove, if needed. Not as convenient as it's farther fro the sink but it is do-able. I like how you changed the cabinet by the door as well. I know some people will shudder at your blind corner cabinet. They're not popular here. I have one and I don't mind it as I only store things deeper inside it that I rarely use. I rarely make a bundt cake, for example, but I'm reluctant to get rid of my pan. So the once a year or so that I have to get on my knees, remove the items directly behind the door that are more frequently used, and dig for the bundt cake pan isn't a big deal to me. If you decide to use the blind corner, consider your storage needs and ensure that you won't have to put things in there that you use often that would make the blind corner very annoying.
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RWeb1970
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the feedback so far.

Is that patio door your main entry to the yard? In your current plan, traffic seems to go right through the working space of the kitchen.

It is. As it stands, that sliding door opens and you need to skirt around our round kitchen table.

Do you have other homes connected to yours? If not, I'd put some windows on the sides, even if there's not much view. Even high or clerestory windows, will let in a lot of light.

There's no possibility of putting windows in the kitchen which is why I'm not keen on moving the sink to the builder's 2nd option. With a young (and growing family) I'd like to get the sink facing and one prep area the living room so we can keep an eye on the kids.

We can put windows in the living room wall and that is certainly something else we're considering.
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RWeb1970
Original Author
13 years ago
I should add, thanks for the link "thread on islands with support columns" marcolo. The issue I have with support columns in an island is that every sketch I make ends up with too much space in the centre of the kitchen for people but not enough for a rectangular kitchen table. Making a u-shape layout that tied into a support column and then along the garage and 'no-window' walls would work, but we really want to put in a door there.
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Small Kitchen Layout Help Needed

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marcolo

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