New access to porch through kitchen...does it work?

12 years ago

I changed the access to the porch, so it's now through the kitchen. What do you think?
{{!gwi}}From Fairy tale cottage

The dimensions of the kitchen work space are 10' x 16' but the fridge/wall oven area is bumped into the back room...so there's basically 4' on each side of the 6' island. The door to the pantry area (by wall oven) is not the only access to that part of the house.

Here's the idea for the sink/window wall (Laura Calder's kitchen) and if you've seen her show, there is a french door to the back porch. With our long winters, I decided a sunporch would be better :)
{{gwi:1434538}}From Fairy tale cottage

I like this island...but would have the open shelves face the sink and stools on the other side. Great place to store the big bread bowl and some other larger pieces.
{{!gwi}}From Fairy tale cottage

Of course, marble would be lovely, between the fridge and wall oven. Here's a quick 'whole house' plan, if anyone wants to see how the space relates to other areas.
{{!gwi}}From Fairy tale cottage

Thank you for looking and please let me know if you have any ideas/comments/suggestions :)

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Comments (9)

rosie
12 years ago
I like it a LOT! In a perfect world, every kitchen would have a door to a great porch.
desertsteph
12 years ago
I think it's a great idea!

did your w/d move from the pantry area?

looks like the 'hall' bathroom is now a 3/4 bath and you have a big (w/tub) bath off of your mstr bedroom.

those are probably good changes!
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In the two places I've lived with such an arrangement, some investigation into the original floorplan has revealed that there's been either an addition or some remodeling going on. And people just took the easy way out and slapped a new room on right next to an existing room, without bothering to add a hallway or the like. In my grandparents' house, you had to go through their bedroom to get to the upstairs bathroom, which was, for a time, the only bathroom in the house, other than a toilet in the basement. The house was built in 1865 and the bathroom was originally a closet. It was the only space for a bathroom. That is, until my grandparents had 7 kids and took the smallest bedroom and made it into a bathroom. They also made a pantry off the kitchen into a powder room, to get a downstairs bathroom. My brother and SIL have a child with disabilities. They needed to either buy a wheelchair accessible house or modify the one they owned. They looked at many houses that had been remodeled for handicap access--SIL was appalled, really, at some of the remodeling. She said it was clear they just added a ramp where it was easiest and threw on extra rooms where it was easiest to expand the house, without any consideration of the flow of traffic through the house or how the rooms would open up to each other, or even trying to match the style/ finishes of the original home with what was going on in the addition. She mentioned bedrooms opening directly off the kitchen, or off the master bedroom, or just a section of the family room walled off to create a room. In one house, they punched through the dining room wall and added a bedroom/bath right off the dining room. And another where they enclosed a porch off the kitchen to make the accessible bedroom, so everyone entering the house walked through the accessible room into the kitchen, unless they used the front door. Which no one does in farm country. They ended up hiring an architect to add on a wing to their house--you can't tell where the old house ends and the new wing begins. They did end up with a dining room with no windows, but it has two sets of french doors opening into rooms with tons of windows and sunlight and you really don't notice. They paid extra to get the addition done right, but I think in the long run they have a house that doesn't *look* handicapped accessible and hasn't lost any resale value.
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If you want to do some trig, you can calculate this. You'll need your time zone, latitude, longitude, height of your windows and depth of your eaves/porch. The calculator below gives solar elevation angle [and azimuth angle*] for various times of day: http://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1224682331 It gets a little more complicated if you want to include the travel path of the sun from east to west, but you can get a general idea without that. If you want to include it [use the calculator above*], and I find this website to be helpful to visualize that angle throughout the day: http://suncalc.net/#/40.7128,-74.0059,10/2017.06.29/08:43 I understand wanting those patches of sunlight on the floor. Although, I live in Canada and our average high for July and August in my town is about room temperature. [*edited to add that I just noticed the first calculator includes azimuth angle. I still like the visual representation of the second though, so I've left it here]
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Susied3
12 years ago
LL, this looks (if I remember right) a lot like her kitchen set up. Doesn't she have the oven right next to her door going outside? I really like it. The marble counter between the o/r would be a perfect solution.

OT: Do you have a door from your bedroom or bath going out to the back area? I would HIGHLY recommend it. We have a VERY similar set up, but our hot tub is behind the master bed/bath and paver patio left of it. Putting a door to the outside for direct access to the hot tub "enourages" us to use it more often. Don't know why, I think because it's just so easy, not having to dry off/walk through the house wet. We didn't have a door originally, moved a 2 1/2ft linen cabinet, put in single french door, it's great.
User
12 years ago
It's still superfluous. Combine all of the porches into one across the back of the house, divided into different segments so that it can be constructed and evolve over time.
lavender_lass
Original Author
12 years ago
Rosie- Thank you! One reason I wanted to do this (besides Laura Calder's kitchen LOL) is because my mom wishes her access to the deck was actually to a porch. That's influenced my design a bit, since it would be more usable year round, as a porch.

Steph- I'm glad you like it, too. I left the laundry in the mudroom (for now) and may put the freezer back there, too. Not sure what exactly to put in the new 'back hall' but I like the flow, a lot better!

Susie- She does have the ovens, by the door...but I wanted the fridge closer to the sink and oven by the island. I'm glad you like the marble there, because I think it will be a great place for it, too :)

We don't have access from the bathroom to the outdoors, but it would be nice in the summer. It's the winters that concern me. Are you in an area with a lot of snow?

Green- Thank you for the response...and we did combine the porches. The sunporch and greenhouse are now all on the same side, which faces south/southwest. Not the best side, but I didn't want the greenhouse on the front, facing the road. The back would be northwest and gets much colder in the winter. Nice for a deck or screened porch (for the hot tub) but not very good for a sunporch or greenhouse.
bmorepanic
12 years ago
I'd trade the ref and oven also because
(1) I use the ref a lot, the oven not so much so the amount of door interference would be much less.
(2) I'd like the ref doors to be able to open all the way without running into a wall
(3) it provides a little better access to the rest of the house.

Or possibly reverse the whole thing:
lavender_lass
Original Author
12 years ago
Bmore- That makes a lot of sense! And the flip is interesting, too. Let me play around with it and see if it will be any more difficult to vent the range on the inside wall. It will be electric, but we're hoping to have a grill included.

I played around a bit more, with the back hall. Any thoughts? The sink area is for watering plants, cleaning veggies from the garden (which is off to the right) and maybe making drinks, for an outdoor party. There will be gardens/flowers on the left side too...so the greenhouse will be fairly central, even on that side of the house. Oh, and there's a sink/work bench in there, too. We're hoping to grow a lot more food, in the future :) {{!gwi}}From Fairy tale cottage
mamadadapaige
12 years ago
Lavender,
It truly is a fairy tale - I love it!
Was thinking to just make sure what kind of space you need for your refrigerator to open and bins pull out - just check the specs if you know what model you'll be using.

Could the hall bathroom become a powder room? Was just thinking that with the sink right by the door and what looks like a narrow amount of width between the sink and shower it might not be as commodious as it could be but maybe you need the shower in there? I see a staircase ... will there be bathrooms upstairs as well?

I LOVE your plant watering area - just fantastic!

The island you show above is GORGEOUS and would seem to fit very well in your house.

It all looks absolutely magical with the gardens, greenhouse, pergola, etc.
lavender_lass
Original Author
12 years ago
MamaPaige- Thank you! I'm so glad you like the plan :)

I'm not sure about the bathroom. I think it's about 9' x 7' but with my 'cut and tape' it's difficult to tell, for sure. A powder room would be fine, except that we may have a guest room/office upstairs. I'm not sure if we'll have space/plumbing for the bathroom...so the 3/4 bath downstairs is kind of a backup plan, just in case.

So glad you like the plant watering area. We have this wonderful sink from the old farmhouse (drainboards on each side) that is too shallow for the kitchen, but I think it would be great, here.

That island is one of my favorites. I found it, while looking under 'english country kitchens' on Yahoo. They have some lovely kitchens and so many great ideas!

It's such a small house (right now) and we wanted to keep the charm, but add on some modern spaces. I'm glad you think it looks magical...and you've probably seen my 'inspiration pic' for the exterior...but I just love it! Of course, it will be a bit bigger, with the kitchen/porch :) {{gwi:1397301}}From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

New access to porch through kitchen...does it work?

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rosie

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New access to porch through kitchen...does it work?

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rosie

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