Kitchen renovations,help w/layout please

14 years ago

Hello all!

I hope I've included enough information on my plan and thank you in advance for all suggestions!

My husband and I recently purchased 1973 ranch home with a small u-shaped kitchen.

We are opening a wall between the kitchen and family room.

My wants are; wall oven, gas cook top and island workspace. I do not want the sink nor cook top to be in the island. I want a flat work surface with seating for two.

Currently the wall with the pantry has a 30" cabinet next to it, the wall itself cannot be moved. (I think this area might work well for coffee/tea making, although it's far from the sink.)

The fridge I've inserted is 36", but will actually be less wide.

The house is brick construction, so windows and doors stay as they are.

I'd like to keep the eating area.

Can, or should I have less space between the oven and island?

Of course the big question is, will my layout work?

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Comments (9)

desertsteph
14 years ago
it looks like you have a nice LO.
deardre
Original Author
14 years ago
I just noticed one of the numbers doesn't show.
I am planning on a 24" double wall oven. (I've had 24" single wall oven in the past so two that size will suit my needs.)

Currently dismantling the kitchen. Removed all the popcorn from the ceiling. Came off fairly quickly and easily. Used a garden pump sprayer to wet it, then putty knife in one hand and a tray in the other to catch the pieces as they fell.
Previous owners installed 10 recessed lights, wondering if I'll keep them or if it's worth the trouble to remove and patch, patch, patch, etc. :)
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Actually, I should have mentioned that we eat in our dining room every day. I shouldn't call it a "formal" dining room, because it's not "formal". If someone bought the house, they'd recognize it as a dining room, separate from the kitchen (though it is completely open to the LR). When my kids were little, we ate mostly in the kitchen. Now that they're bringing home STUFF and dumping it on or next to the table, we eat in the dining room. Lately I've been more strict about decluttering and not dumping stuff in the kitchen -- so we're back to eating in the kitchen sometimes. Our dining table can hold 12 people when expanded, and sometimes we have that filled, plus people eating in the kitchen, too. So I'd like to have someplace people can sit in the kitchen, even if it's not a table. Seskatchewan girl: wow, what a lot of work...I will have to fetch my bifocals and take a close look!
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As far as I can tell the designer doesn't have too much lighting design knowledge. Are they an interior designer? The electrician won't be able to give you any information on placement, but rather be able to wire everything up. Beam spread all depends on the type of lamp (technical term for lightbulb) is used, and nothing to do with your line voltage. I highly recommend line voltage. You should be able to zone it how you would like, but I recommend having different switches for different tasks. Or even areas. Your undercabinet lighting should be separate from your kitchen lighting, this will not only help you on your lighting bill but will give you way more control. Also, I'm hoping with all this work you will actually have dimmers. Please remember that if you're using compact fluorescent you cannot use a dimmer, unless you have a ballast that supports it (very expensive ballasts). There seems to be downlights all over the place, am I right? You will want to make sure downlights are 18" away from the wall. Try to follow your contractor/electrician's advice as far as "how many lights can go on one switch". To me it seems as if you're trying to turn all the lights into task lights, as oppose to indicating task areas. A well designed kitchen is well lit, however it doesn't have to be lit up like a ball of fire. I would love to give you more details, however I really can't read your plans very well. Perhaps a bigger size?
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take out the wall between dining and kitchen.When you close up the door and get a window in,create a run along front wall that jogs around the support beam by brick zone, but does not make a 90 degree turn.Instead you'll pass thru to hearth room where the turn of counters was. Create a small L consisting of fridge/cooktop wall and perpindicular out from current fridge location.The fridge gets shifted over and recessed to where cooktop is- back into some sq footage of washer area[get a stackable setup for W/D in space remaining.] The other arm of the L could house a sink or possibly below counter oven-can you get the sink and cooktop along front wall? I see kids-the hearth room side of L can have stools/overhang. The house needs some flow-with the tight dining room and now removal of wall it will be more inviting and yet the living room still has that dividing wall for some separation. You'll get a visual"through" effect so the marginal view out the kitchen window will be minimized. When coming thru to hearth room,instead of the island in the middle of it all, you can do comfy chairs around brick/and the peninsula part of the L will have stools: you keep different uses for the hearth room - instead of all kitchen and all island taking over. Your linear feet available for these runs isn't really clear from your sketch-have to figure that out, of course. If you don't want complete elimination of wall between kitchen/dining-at least cut it back significantly...pretty much similar effect.You can keep the nifty original hallway storage setup behind the kitchen-don't you think that means less worry about storage in the kitchen and you can streamline the kitchen with a compact L and a long run at the front? Unless you gut your house,the kitchen is basically a pass through area-but by opening to dining and on through to hearth area and actually placing furniture at that end of the room,you connect the spaces in an inviting way....this would not be super expensive....I think you'd have budget money left for an outdoor kitchen.
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However, if you usually cook using the cooktop, and if you, say, cut your onions and soften them as you cut your chicken and then brown the chicken as you cut your vegetables, in the pattern that the vast majority of cooktop recipes call for, having the cooktop behind you is incredibly annoying if you don't have a helper. So for cooks who use the cooktop heavily, prepping with your back to the cooktop IS a major issue. I know that a lot of people don't really cook, but if you do, it matters. You have several options: prep next to the stove as soon as you start using it and turn your back on the people at the island that you put there so you would face them; prep everything on the island before you start cooking and add 20 minutes to your cooking time every night; or turn your back to the stove and either burn things or switchback and forth a lot, also wasting a lot of time. But I suppose CPArtist is a special person with eyes on the back of her head. Or she doesn't really cook. I do cook, although not frequently. And if you had spent lots of time on this forum like myself and most of the other regulars, you'd know that Kitchen work studies have shown that you spend the following amount of time at each major kitchen activity: Prepping - 70% (some studies put this number higher - more like 75%) Cooking - 10% Cleaning up - 20% So based on that study, most cooks spend the majority of their time prepping the food, not cooking it. And most people prefer to prep while they are facing their guests, family, etc. So once again, prepping with your back to the cooktop is not a problem. And quite honestly, most people I know, including the chefs I'm friendly with, will tell you to prep everything in advance and not as you go.
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jsweenc
14 years ago
DH did the same with our popcorn. Tedious.

I think the aisle widths you have will work well. We have 42" + around the two working sides of our main island, and it's great so far (haven't gotten to use it to its full extent yet).

The only other thing I can say is... bump (to give the experts a chance to see it).
User
14 years ago
It's the space between the fridge and the island that could be a problem. "Regular" depth fridges are around 32"-36" from front to back. Counter depth means just the box is the 24" and you have about 6" of door and handle sticking out. Your layout will be tight around the fridge if you are using a regular depth refrigerator as you are measuring your aisle width from the sink, which isn't the narrowest portion. You need to measure the "pinch point". Also, all full sized fridges will be 36" wide, and you need to plan the kitchen around standardized appliance dimensions, even if you don't plan to use that size. When it comes to replacement or resale, having a fridge spot that will only fit a 33" fridge is a big mistake.

Also there really aren't any choices to speak of in 24" ovens. 30" has become the standard, and you barely can find 27" ones anymore. 24" are virtually nonexistant and if you ever have to replace it, you won't find a match. I would never restrict myself to such non standard choices.
sclee
14 years ago
dearde, your LO should work. I have similar dimensions (43" from island to range) and 40" from fridge to island (sticks outs abt 6") like what live wire oak said.

It does look tight in the LO the way you placed the couch and it's proximity to the fridge, but otherwise, it should work. If I were you, I would keep the recessed lights! Good Luck!
Buehl
14 years ago
Any chance you could move the window? The door on the right wall?

I agree that the refrigerator is too close to the sofa in the FR. I also think you should be careful about how much space is b/w the refrigerator & island...my CD refrigerator is 31" deep once you count the doors & handles. If yours has similar dimensions, that leaves you w/36" b/w the island & refrigerator...a little tight, but livable if you have two doors instead of one.

Yes, keep the recessed lights.

Wall oven...while I do agree with Live_Wire_Oak that you shouldn't be limiting your future choices to 24" ovens, I did do a search and found approx forty 24" double ovens. Of what quality and "features", I don't know.

BTW...you're probably not receiving emails of follow-up postings, even though you checked the box requesting them. This is b/c you don't have the email option turned on in your profile. See the "Read Me" thread for more information. Scroll down to the post with the subject "Getting Emails Sent To You...3-step Process".

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!
palimpsest
14 years ago
I am wondering, since you will have a layout that has an island and sofa hovering near each other in close proximity, if this wouldnt be a better kitchen for a peninsula (A U shape kitchen in essence) to open the space while still defining it.
deardre
Original Author
14 years ago
I apologize if I post twice, my browser is giving me trouble today.
Thanks for the suggestion for 27 inch oven. Everything I read said standard is 24, 27 and 30.
Couch shouldn't be sitting there, I was concentrating on kitchen layout and didn't move it, sorry.

buehl-- House is brick, I'm not moving the window nor door.

palimpest-- Peninsula is an option, I wanted to exhaust island idea first.
deardre
Original Author
14 years ago
buehl--
wanted to expand on the house brick,
the window I absolutely don't want to move. The door could possibly be moved as its wall is in the carport and not as noticeable. As I wish to retain the eating area though, I wouldn't want to move it more than 6-10 inches. I would gain important counter and oven space, but don't know if it's really worth the trouble.

Kitchen renovations,help w/layout please

Comments (9)

desertsteph

deardre
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jsweenc

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sclee

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Kitchen renovations,help w/layout please

Comments (9)

desertsteph

deardreOriginal Author

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jsweenc

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sclee

Buehl

palimpsest

deardreOriginal Author

deardreOriginal Author

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deardre
Original Author

deardre
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deardre
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