First of all, Welcome!

THere are others here who are really good at this and will give you some great ideas--I just have one at this point--I think that door going into the DR is the main thing that's going to bug you--that is, having your main workspace be a thoroughfare. What about closing off that door, putting cabs on that wall (making an L from the stove wall), making the peninsula an island (making access to FR easier) and using the study as the route to the DR? I don't have a clear idea of how much you use your DR and of course that would affect this decision.

It might also make more sense to switch the study and DR. THen the DR would have more relationship to the FR for your casual entertaining.

Oh, one other small thing, although I know you said you weren't working on this part of the kitchen yet...if it were me I would want the stove centered on the wall with landing space on either side. JMO.

Good luck!

Holly

Holly, my DH (who is the chef 90% of the time w/me as sous chef) couldn't agree with you more about the stove centered on the wall. He wants to upgrade the stove and center it, but that will of course require new countertops. It may still happen, though.

I don't think I can close off the DR door, because it will still be our main eating area and I don't want to have to go around through the family room (or the living room, which is the long leg of the reverse L shape where the dining room is the short leg). And I can't switch the DR and office, although that idea did give me something to think about, because the DR is open to the LR (and DH and I both work from home some days, so need a messy, quiet office).

Hmmm, I'm stuck.

I'm sorry, I think I was confused. So the doorway at the bottom of the kitchen is to the DR...the room to the left of it, which also connects to the FR, is the office...right? how then is the DR open to the FR? I'm still confused...

I think you need the FR and DR to have a relationship :), along with kit/FR and kit/DR, if I understand your living style. Maybe if we saw the whole house laid out...

Here's the whole house (or all but a couple of edges). The DR and the LR (existing) are all one L-shaped room. The FR will be new, the room the kitchen is opening up into (I guess it should be called a great room?). You know, now that I'm looking at this, maybe the answer is to have an island instead of the peninsula and shove it further into the "family room" part of the space?

{{gwi:1753490}}

vinny,

we were in the same situation... renovating family room, mudroom, etc., but leaving the kitchen for phase 2 (or in our case phase 3)... in the end, half way through the renovation we decided to add the kitchen as part of the project.

just wondering if this would be a possibility for you??

for us, we decided to make it work at this point because of the incredible disruption we were already undertaking to do the FR and mudroom... not to mention the MESS!!

the fed just cut interest rates by .75%... how about a home equity line of credit?

sorry if this is cheeky... just wanted to throw this out as an idea.

I think pushing the island into the FR is a good idea...then you could have the door to the DR move to the L (as you're looking at the plan) and so have a less interrupted workspace to the R in the kitchen (the stove wall). The only problem then is that the island might be too far away from the other counters...

it might also help if you moved the door to the office? move it to the L and you have a lot more room to play with kitchen wise.

The problem with the current range location is not just that there is no landing/workspace to the left of it...it's also that it's right in the main passage through the house. I strongly encourage you to at least change the range location--and vent it externally :-)

What are your countertops? If they're laminate, I think you can redo them fairly inexpensively (at least compared to stone or solid surface!) Besides, you have to put in a new countertop on the peninsula and to the left of the refrigerator (unless those are tall cabinets, but you seem to have upper cabinets there, so I'm not sure what you're doing there).

Moving the island: How big is your FR? From the looks of it, I don't think you can afford to lose the space in the FR that you will need to move the island into it. Have you considered making the FR's left exterior wall flush w/the MBR & MBA walls? That would give you more FR space and still give you that staggered look, if that's what you're looking for (don't move the Office wall). OTOH, if you don't care about the staggered look, perhaps you should just make that left exterior wall flush the entire length...I would think it would be less expensive or at least the same cost since you don't have to build in the "stagger"...but I'm not a home builder, so I could be wrong. I've seen, however, that whenever you deviate from simple straight lines it costs more!

Think about placing the Office door...from which room will you be going to/from the Office the most? That will determine where best to put the door. I suspect it will be the FR, but I don't know that. If you have 2 doors, you're taking precious wall space for your computer, bookshelves, etc.

Where is the front door? Your layout doesn't show that. Is there an alternate entrance that family uses (e.g., Garage door)?

BTW...if you're going to be buying new cabinets for the island and pantry, I'm not sure it's cost effective to do the kitchen in phases like this. Unless you plan to reuse your cabinetry in phase 2, which is probably doubtful if you plan to redesign the kitchen altogether, then I think you might be better off saving your money now b/c cabinetry is not cheap...it's usually the most expensive part of a remodel (~50% of a remodel cost). I would consider taking down the FR wall to the counter level of your current wall of cabinets and leaving the base cabinets as-is (obviously you will have to take down the upper cabinets when the wall comes down). OR, if phase 2 is soon, perhaps leave the kitchen intact for now and take the wall down with phase 2...that way you don't lose storage now. For pantry room, consider putting in shelving to get you by for now.

If you do take down the wall, then you could get inexpensive laminate countertops for now and even put in a small overhang. Then you could also switch the range w/at least one of your existing cabinets and put in the same countertops on that wall that you are putting in the island. Is your range currently vented to the outside? If it is, then moving it now may be problematical...OTOH, moving it now while new exterior walls & ceilings are going up may be more cost effective...of course that means you have to finalize your kitchen's design now rather than later so you know where to place the duct work for the vent....tough decision here!

If you just put in shelving to the left of the refrigerator for now you will not need new countertops there. Laminate is usually inexpensive enough that you could probably replace the countertop to the right of the refrigerator to match the new counters on the "island".

I think there is a lot to think about...sorry if I'm making this more difficult, but I thought you would want a frank assessment....

Thank you! You're not making it more difficult, you're revealing the difficulties! I'm going to mull this for awhile. Really, my problem is I just want a new master suite at this time, but need to figure out a way to do that without messing up the kitchen, which isn't beautiful, but is workable. I don't want to make the kitchen worse, and I'm not sure we can afford to do master suite and kitchen redo in one swoop.

The stove is not vented, which also drives my DH crazy (this set-up didn't meet code in Texas, where we last sold a house). I like kitchens where there are a couple of different finishes, so I was hoping I could get island/pantry in a new style that complemented the ones that were staying, then keep the old ones even in phase two, rearranging them and getting new countertops. They are relatively new (previous owners, about five years ago) and although cheap, still in good condition. Maybe that's a bad idea.

The front door (which is the most-used entrance) comes in to the top right of the drawing - you can see the foyer, but not the door. So you're right, a main thoroughfare of the house goes right by the stove. There is also a garage door that comes in the basement, down the stairs you can see in the drawing. Most groceries come in the front door (delivery).

*sigh* I need to regroup. Thanks for your insights!