Your kitchen is actually pretty cute! I love the table under the windows, and the backsplash is very similar to one someone here has just installed in her new (but a style appropriate to her older home) kitchen.

Will you be able to open the door from the family room with the dishwasher open? It doesn't look like the door swing sketch on your drawing is to scale. Do you need that door?

I so understand having to hold your baby in order for her to sleep. 2 of ours were like that early on, but outgrew it, but our last didn't really outgrow it...He just turned 4 and still likes me to lie with him until he falls asleep, and too many nights still tries to sneak in and sleep with us, and I get stuck between 2 bed hogs. It's hard, though, to 'do computer' while holding a heavy, sleeping baby...You'll need a chiropractor!

Glad you've joined us. I warn you that it's very addicting.

This kitchen space reminds me of Celticmoon's SIL's kitchen....compact and with lots of doors. Even so, she was able to fit in a lot of functionality, and it came out beautiful!

I must be getting old...can anyone remember the SIL's username so we might pull up that layout to inspire gozalyn?

Celtic's SIL is Barrelhaus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Barrelhaus' kitchen

I second rhome410's thoughts on the door to the family room. It looks like it will be a bit awkward in the kitchen if that door is open.

Welcome to GW. I am totally addicted :) My DH asked me the other day if I will still visit GW once our kitchen reno is done...I didn't know how to answer!

Hi rhome410 - We do need that door. The family room won't stay warm without that door since it's 2 steps lower than the rest of the house - the heat escapes into the main house if the door is open. I don't think there's a way around the door hitting the DW - our sink base would be too small. Hopefully the DW wouldn't be open too long. Come to think of it, the whole house is built that way! We have doors hitting doors and obstructing other things. Our house was built in 1943 and I guess the contractor wasn't thinking. The base cabinet near the family room door actually cuts into the door molding and then the countertop (the white laminate with gold specks) cuts into the door molding even more.

Yes, I definitely need a chiropractor! My back started hurting when I was pregnant and now even more so. She doesn't like her stroller either so I'm always carrying her.

You could change the swing on that door so it went into the family room. You might consider a new door with some glass.

Is that an ironing board cabinet?

Thanks for your input. We thought about changing the door swing, but there are steps on the other side of the door and we thought it might be dangerous?

I have thought about a new door with glass. I have to go do some more research on where to find a good deal.

Yes, it is an ironing board cabinet, but it's been converted to our spice rack. There are small shelves in there and I've alphabetized all of my spices.

Might be tacky, but how about a different style door...Bifold, maybe? I think you're right that it'd be dangerous to have a door swing out over the stairs.

I know, my DH suggested a bifold, but I didn't like how they looked. I wish there was an easy way to install a pocket door, but there are light switches on both sides of the wall. (kitchen switch and a family room switch) I don't think it would be very easy to relocate them and install a pocket door. Although, I'm not sure what would be involved.

I'm afraid a pocket door is not an option in that location. You would have to tear open the whole wall to put in the framing, and if there were any wiring, plumbing, venting, or intersecting walls, it wouldn't fit or everything in the way would have to move...So no way would it go in where the fridge alcove is, and you don't have enough width on the other side either. (You need a rough opening twice the size of the door plus 1").

Actually, the wall where the cabinets are and the 2 light switches continues past the depth of where the kitchen wall ends. (if my explanation makes any sense) I added an old picture of the family room looking towards the kitchen. You can see a sliver of the kitchen door at the top right of the picture. There's a black lightswitch to the left of the closet. When my daughter wakes up from her nap on my lap, I'll go measure the wall.

We may be able to do away with the kitchen switch. I never figured out how to wire the 3-way switch correctly anyway. I may install a motion detector switch for the kitchen.

But we would need to move the family room light switch to another wall - it would be the exterior wall to the right of the stairs. I'm not sure if that becomes very expensive to do.

But the kitchen end wall would be an 'intersecting wall' and the way walls lock together would keep a pocket door from crossing that intersection. I hope that makes sense. For a pocket space, you need a clear, flat, empty wall span with no walls coming into it (at a 90 degree angle) from either side.

Oh well, it would have been cutting it close anyway. It was about 33" from the door frame to the molding of the closet door. Thanks for the explanation.

I just thought of this...what do you guys think of having the stove to the right of the base angled cabinet and then a 21" or possibly 24" stack of drawers to the right? We're both right-handed, but will I miss the landing zone to the left of the stove since the angled cabinet is not really a complete cabinet?

Forgot to mention, the layout drawing only allowed for 31" from the door opening to the widest point of the base angled cabinet. The KD says it's fine since the angles of the cabinet allow for extra room. Any thoughts on how much room I really need to leave?

In your search for bifold doors, did you look at ones with glass?

As for your questions about the dining room door opening and about moving the stove down, I think these two things are related. As it is drawn, I don't think you have a problem with that opening. If you moved the stove down, I think it would feel too close. I like the idea of the drawer stack, but I don't see a comfortable way to fit them in here.

Here is a link that might be useful: bifold French door

Ooh, those glass bi-fold doors are certainly an option. Much prettier than the regular bi-fold doors. Thanks for pointing those out.

So you think the stove might feel too close to the DR? I hacked the layout to show what I was thinking. We were thinking it would be helpful to have that 21" or 24" stack of drawers so that we can store pots and pans. We have a big wok that we don't know where to store. Perhaps in the oven when we're not using it!

I think the guidelines are to have 36" of clearance for doors, but with an angled cabinet, how much can I get away with? Maybe 34"? 31"? Also, when you walk into the kitchen, you walk in diagonally towards the middle, so it's maybe not that critical? I placed a huge cardboard box marking it off to 31" and I thought it may be ok. Is that just me?

Looking at the layout, I think it could work. You will appreciate having the useful sized storage, I think, more than any aesthetic advantage of the other. In our last house, I had my work space on one side of the range and only 12" on the other, and never really felt it was lacking for me.

I had a change of heart on the plans after seeing cloud_swift2's kitchen. She put a 24" base cabinet in the corner and cut a hole in her sink base to access the contents. I also thought maybe it would be nice to have a baking center over in the corner window. However, the distance to the top of the sill is 33" and I have old wooden double hung windows with integrated sills, so I would like to put 31" or 32" high cabinets there with a countertop overhang to allow for some stool seating. What do you guys think?

Here's cloud_swift2's kitchen for reference:
Picture of the blind cabinet in the corner:
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n208/cloud_swift/cabinets%20dec%2031/?action=view¤t=HPIM0721.jpg

View with sink in place:
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n208/cloud_swift/day%20before%20final/?action=view¤t=HPIM1072.jpg

Was this the photo you wanted to show? It's a cool idea, but what does it gain you to lose your lazy susan cabinet?

I'm having a hard time imagining the baking corner...especially when you want some stool seating, because it doesn't look like you could fit more than maybe 1? Do you have graph paper to sketch it all out on so we can get a true idea of scale?

I would gain a much bigger sink (36" vs 27") and the drawers to the right of the stove would be bigger too for my pots and pans (27" vs 21").

I was thinking of tucking the two small stools under the countertop only area of the baking center, which would be about 2 ft by 18" (depth of countertop).

It is probably a personal preference thing, but if you have a single sink that is close to 24" inside, it'll probably do a decent job, and I'm still worried about you giving up that corner storage in such small kitchen. You might feel less need for a bigger sink with the new dishwasher in place...Unless you want to bathe Little Sweetie in it, then the bigger sink will be nice. Although, I used to bathe 2 kiddos (old enough to sit up, of course) together in a 30".

It's usually recommended to have 2 ft of width for each seat. I know that stools aren't that wide, but people do need room for more than 1 ft each to be comfortable, and both adequately reach the counter.

Hey gozalyn, welcome to the forum. I really think you should reconsider a smaller sink base. I have an 11 x 16 ft kithcen and can't put in a 36" base. Currently, I have a 24" base with a single bowl stainless sink (interior dimensions 21 x 17) and it's really big enough. I'm not saying that bigger wouldn't be better, but I think you'd get a heck of a lot more function from a super susan than a big sink.

I can't tell how wide the door to your family room is but if it's 30", you could put in french doors instead of a bifold (which I find are too "delicate" for my household). We had a similar space problem in our master bath. We replaced the 30" door with glass french doors and it works great! I think the carpenter had to modify what was available off the shelf (I can't remember if he ripped bigger doors or added to smaller ones). I can show you a picture if you're interested.

We currently have a 33" single bowl sink and we're spoiled! I'm sure we can get by with a smaller sink, but it would also me more useful to have more drawer space to put pots and pans vs lazy susan space. I think the lazy susan wastes space since it's smaller than the actual corner cabinet and also has a pole in the middle.

Do you have a pic of the french doors? I'm not sure I can see what you mean. Thanks for your input!

Lazy susan cabinets don't have to have a pole in the middle...

A super susan is very different from a lazy susan. There's no pole. There are two huge discs, one sits on a shelf and one on the cabinet floor and they spin with the touch of a finger on ball bearing glides. I store ALL of my pots, pans and roasting pans in mine.

Here are pictures of the french doors and super susan.

That's what I did in our last house...All the pots and pans in a pie cut lazy susan (with a hinged door as cheri127 shows) except for some in the range drawer. My mom did the same in her house, only she had full-round susans and diagonal door.

Those doors are definitely a possibility. I like them better than a bi-fold door. I tried looking around for that size french doors - my total width of the door is currently 32". I think I may have to find an antique/salvage place. Thanks for the pictures.

I'm torn - I really would like a big sink since my current sink is 32". All of my pots currently fit in a 27" wide base cabinet, so I know they'll all fit in that cabinet as well. Am I really missing out by not having a lazy susan and then having a much smaller sink? Argh...decisions!