The header bisecting the refrigerator really bothers me visually: its as if the fridge cabinet is holding up the header.

Is your refrigerator half in your kitchen, half out? Did you intend that? I haven't seen that before. Would you consider moving the dining area closer to the fridge?

hi mudworm!

wow, you have become a sketchup master!

1) one-level counter for clean lines and openess; we chose this, so this is biased. i'm not sure how much you're really hiding at an angle; you always have to keep your mess on one side. ;)

2) chimney (bias again). breaks up the wall of cupboards. looks like you have plenty of upper storage already. but you might be a kitchen gadget hoarder, so ymmv. :)

3) i think i have to see actual samples to form a color opinion.

4) the living room looks nice, but what is the wood room going to be used for? that just seems like too much of a good thing there. do you need that storage for a specific thing?

5) maybe people can suggest some furniture websites for you to peruse and expand your vision. one that comes to mind is "room & board".

i just want to add that the cab between the sliding door and window over the computers is kind of an obstruction gazing out for me. how badly do you need the storage?

are you going to tackle each room one at a time or simultaneously?

Here is a link that might be useful: room & board website

I prefer the undercabinet hood as well.

First, thanks to everyone who took your time to read my lengthy post!

@palimpsest, hmmm... guess that fridge under the header just jumps out at you, eh? I suspect some of our guests will feel the same way. The fridge really got me to scratch my head. The way it is, it'll be right next to our desk -- it had better to be quiet, but I simply could not find a better place for it. Even at counter depth, the over all depth including handles would be 30", so I don't want to stick it in the narrow galley (wall to wall 93"). But does it look like a sore thumb?

@mtnrdredux, it is indeed intended because of the window to its right (and to its left). Move the dining table closer to the fridge? I can't seem to be able to find any place for it though, unless I take out the office area. Right now, our living room is the center of all our activities, which I kinda like -- sorta a place for everybody to hang out in, whether working on the computer, watching a movie, napping on the back of the couch, or chasing a fake mouse.

@ironcook, a Sketchup expert? Ha, hardly. I did wasted my share of time along the way but also learned my share of lessons. I like it that I can somewhat easily change the color/texture of certain things (e.g. color of cabinet or countertop), which will help me since I have no imagination. Do you know that I can interact the cabinets (open and close the drawers and doors)? Also, I can watch how the sun/shade will be for any day and time of the year for my exact house. Re: the wood room - it got its characteristics, but it's basically the center hub of the house -- lots of doors and openings around it (I'm missing one door to a bedroom near one corner in the model). So, we cannot put much furniture in it. But we don't have a garage and our bedrooms are pretty compact, so I will use all the storage I can get (to hide clutter). That's why I'm putting the expensive kitchen cabinets along that one wall in the wood room. I'm doing it partly for the cats too. Right now we have storage bins piled high with a cushion on top. The kitties love to curl up there and spy on our neighbors across street. I'm going to check out the Room & Board website. If I can find a good solution that provides ample storage without requiring fixed cabinets, that will have its appeal. Thanks!

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Oh, and I keep going back and forth with the bar or open countertop, and chimney or undercabinet hood. Good to hear others' inputs.

oh, i see the cushion you have on top of the wood room cabs for the kitties now! well then, of course keep it. ;)

what i meant by too much of good thing was the monochromatic look; but maybe you meant it to blend in. i like the two-tone look of the cabs on the side of the living room.

and actually my furniture suggestion was for #5, your small cabs in the entry and dining. but hopefully something will stimulate some ideas. :)

the counter height is a personal decision. I like it both ways - for different reasons. high it does hide a few 'sins', low it affords more space to work, lay out food options.

the stove vent - i like the under cabinet one. I like the continuation of cabs over it (you have a lot of broken space already) and there's less of it to clean.

the fridge/header - could you put a slight arch on the header? it would softener the line of it.

the wall cab between desk window and door to the left of it - I agree, it's jarring. use that wall space for a piece of art work. maybe a kitty photo...

No i think nothing should be changed. Everything is prefectly planned.

Seems to me, the "wood room" would be a perfect dining room. Is there a reason you don't want to use it for that? It just seems that you have a lot of stuff going on in the main living space. Yet your style seems to lean toward more sleek and modern. Getting the table out and into the other room would help with the cluttered feel.

I will be the voice of dissent and say that the fridge didn't bother me until everyone else pointed it out. But the cabinet next to the sliders does. It looks like you are trying to balance with the fridge, but what it really does is draw attention to how unbalanced it is. And, the more I look at the fridge, the more it seems that the cabinet above it bothers me more than the fridge itself. Does that make sense? Perhaps remove that cabinet from your images and see how it looks.

For your kitchen, the only thing that bothers me, functionally is the location of your dishwasher drawers between sink and range - which will be your primary prep space. Could you move it to the wall between fridge and sink, or are you afraid of it being too far from dish storage?

The closet near the front door "cuts into" the beamed ceiling with a soffit of sorts, so I would consider soffiting between the refrigerator cabinet and the ceiling just to create some structural "solidity" there. The fridge will still straddle rooms but it won't be "holding up" the beam. You could also drywall that side of the fridge as a wall rather than use a wood panel. You would have to make the desk a bit smaller.

I would *love* to become as proficient as you with sketchup! I am very impressed. I tried and was defeated by the program. I really applaud your progress.

Not a substantive comment on your rooms, I know -- I'll leave that to the experts. Plus, I'm just marveling at the medium still.

You're designating desirable window space to an office area rather than prime living space. It would be a more wise use of space to have your wood room be the office and put your dining area in front of the windows. Or combine the office with the dining area and put that into the wood room and increase the size of your living space, which is rather small.

@desertsteph and @palimpsest, I'll have to digest the information a bit more to see what we can do with the header above the fridge. For now, taking the cabinet above the fridge and the one above the desk (next to the slider) is easy for me, so I did it, again in SketchUp, and the images are posted below.

@controlfreakecs, we did have a thought to put some "formal" dining set in the wood room for the rare occasion when we entertain guests, but that's further down the road. We still need to evaluate the needs as well as the feasibility because of all the doors and openings in that room. As for the location of the dishwasher drawers, the placement is indeed out of the concern for its distance to the dish storage. The cab to its left is a trash pullout. I think it might make it easier to scrub food off the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Now the question is why do you think a DW is better out of the prep area? I thought it's the counter space that matters. Am I missing some key considerations here?

@aliris19, I had my moments of frustrations with SketchUp as well, but I stayed with it only because I really needed something to help me visualize. I found a couple of podcast series helpful, esp. the one from harwoodpodcast.com . It's a little too slow paced, but I put it on my phone and listen/watch it whenever I'm on the go.

Okay, here is the modified model. For now, I also removed the dining table because I too am not sure if it should be there. Now, does the fridge look less intruding?

Here is a side by side comparison (regarding the fridge/office area):

live_wire_oak, that wood room is kinda unique in the house, but to be honest, I always thought it was a bit too dark for me to enjoy sitting in. Windows are high, the ceiling and the walls are made of redwood, and it's north facing.

This is in a small house, and actually, the living room (at 15.5" x 32") is the largest room. We initially was going to use the spare bedroom as our office (which is a bright room in the back), but it has become apparent that both of us (and our cats) like to hang out in the living room where everyone else is. I've come to a realization that if we are to maintain our "lifestyle", we may just have to deal with the less optimal layout. Another compromise in life, I guess. But maybe I'm just not creative enough, which is true anyway.

Oh, I adjusted the view angle and exported another animation of the different views (1'10"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCnIbbrhWMc .

is there an option to take down the redwood and use a lighter colour material?

I like to hang out in the living room while using my computer too. What works for us is using a spare bedroom as an office with a desk and lots of shelves and cabinets for storage. The desktop computer is in the office and used when one of us (usually DH) wants quiet and/or solitude for work projects or games. We also have a wireless router so I can surf the internet on my laptop from the comfort of the living room couch. Maybe something similar would work for you. I think your living room would look a lot nicer if you moved the desk area to the wood room. Then the large room could be a combo living and dining area.

I think it looks better, if not perfect. Trying to picture what Palimpsest is suggesting with the soffit - that may be even better. I am sitting here at my computer in my office, which has a wonderful, big window overlooking my back yard. Can't imagine it any other way. While I agree that 2 desks, 2 chairs, and 2 computers takes up a lot of potential living space, if that is how you live, I believe in doing what works for you.

As to the dishwasher, it is generally considered "in the way" if you have it where you prep, because no one can get into it while you are standing there. This is a bigger issue in some kitchens then others, primarily due to how the kitchen is used and who is working there. My DH and I often work in the kitchen together, and when preparing a big meal one of us may be trying to load the cutting board just used for breaking down a chicken while the other is still chopping up veggies. It gets tiresome very quickly if the person prepping keeps having to move in order for things to get put into or taken out of the dw. The more people that use the kitchen, the bigger the problem becomes. Basically, it comes down to separating the prep/cook zone from the cleaning zone.

@stjamesb: Even though we've only lived in the house for 4.5 years, my DH is attached to the historical wood room -- he is attached to anything that's old. It was not easy to convince him that we should put light colored flooring down in that room (to be consistent with the kitchen and LR).

@kaysd: that would be a sensible idea. Currently, in preparation for the remodeling, we have moved the computers into our bedroom. We both spend a lot of time on our computers (for work and for surfing). I find myself rushing through chores so that I can also be in the room where he is with the computers. Our cats used to stay in the living room, and now they come to play in the bed because we are in that room.

@controlfreakecs and @palimpsest, I've been thinking about the soffit idea, but can't see how it works. Should it come all the way to the bottom of the header? If so, where should it start and stop on the two sides? Right up to the windows?

@controlfreakecs, when I'm in the kitchen, I shoo my DH out. So, I guess a multi-chef situation is not likely in our kitchen. But I can definitely see now how the DW in the prep zone would be a problem.

hi again, mudworm...

i just remembered that awhile back i had a thread about chimney vs. under cabinet hoods because someone mentioned that a chimney hood was "early 21st century". so naturally i got my knickers in a knot about it. ;)

btw, just in case you didn't know, palimpsest is a designer, and a very smart cookie. me, not at all! so i (personally) would defer to palimpsest's judgment in these things. too late for me, but not you. :)

No time to read everything, so sorry if this is redundant, but regarding more cabs for shoes, etc., cabinets're already very well represented everywhere else, and you can overdo anything, including built-ins. If you keep your eye out, you'll find a piece of furniture that'll work for you. BTW, like your kitchen.

Couple things that jump at me:
computer area side by side with a drawer in the middle. i would nix that. you will be running into it too much with the chairs: ie you both want to look at the web site together, work on your taxes etc.

Your TV cabinet and the other LR cabinets look like kitchen cabinets. Maybe it is the use of white couter with dark cabs. not sure... I would look for a design that does not look like a kitchen: open shelves to display books/decorative items? Other ideas? For now, your house looks like a giant kitchen with the couch in the middle of it. Sorry.

If you want to do the chimney hood, you need to do more open look, ie shelves, no uppers etc to balance out the open chimney hood look. If you want to fill in the wall with the uppers, the cabinet hood looks better, IMHO.

If the exterior of the house can carry it AND if you can afford to have it done AND there is a nice view out that side, I would look into creating a corner window where there is a triangular shelf. I would open the top wall on the window side. I would fill in the wall where the MW with solid wall of cabinets. You are not lacking counter space in that kitchen as is. This way, you gain storage AND light airy look.

There are just too many cabinets in that kitchen/house. It looks like you filled in every available wall with cabinets. Good design is balancing open spaces with filled spaces. This house design does not quite make it.

Look at your side by side picts of your window wall. Those large windows are great backdrop for open spacious design. The refrigerator blocks the open look. If you can make it happen, try moving the ref out of there and see how it looks.

I think this is a good start. Good luck.

Somehow the transition from the kitchen to the desk does not work for me as well. I think I expect to see something less kitcheny there. Try using a built-in integrated frig for looks. (I know it is expensive but...)

Really great inputs from all of you. Thank you for taking your time reading and responding! There are some great ideas here, but unfortunately, we will not be able to make all the changes due to various reasons. For example, we will not change the framing of the windows because that will require extra permit (I think); We will not re-do the walls and the ceiling in the wood room so we preserve its historical look (and to keep the budget down); etc. But @kaismom, you gave me some idea for re-doing the kitchen. (Love it in SketchUp since it doesn't cost anything to tear stuff down!)

I moved the fridge to behind the division wall and made it tall cabinets all across. I realize that this will make the galley kitchen look even narrower, but it got the fridge out of the way, and since this is a single cook kitchen, being a little narrow is not too big a problem (I have about 39" of clearance between the counter top edge to the other cabinet wall.) I also moved the dishwasher to the left size because now I could put a 33" drawer base by its side. Now, I have two 2-basket trash pullout (for trash and recyclables). Not sure if that's an overkill. The only non-drawer cabinet is there because the code require access to the propane shutoff which is hidden behind that cabinet. (We will not use propane but the pipe is already there.)

However, I still face the choices what to do with the opening at the kitchen: leave it completely open, have a one tier open counter, or have a small breakfast bar. I personally like the look of the one tier counter, but I have no good aesthetic sense; hence I appreciate your input.

Currently, I'm putting this IKEA VÄRDE drawer unit for the two non-open options. Either way (one level or bar), I have a 40" opening from the short wall to the other side of the opening. I wonder if that's too narrow for the kitchen installation. But with the hallway at 39" wide, and the opening at 40", I can't foresee any problem with getting the appliances and cabinets in. Hope someone can point it out if it will be a problem.

Without further ado, let me take you on a tour in our newly remodeled house. Again, click on an image for its full size.

Overview. North is up.

Living room, seen from the wood room.

Looking into living room standing at the front door.

Same exact angle, but this time, we put in a bar (open counter or tiered) at the kitchen. You probably have to bring up the full size to see the difference.

View from the couch. This picture explains why we choose dark cabinets in the wood room -- so that they do blend in.

Now, what if we have a bar (open counter or tiered) at the kitchen?

A look at the living room from the desk area.

Okay, this series is important. which option would you vote for? Open? One level counter? Tiered breakfast bar?

Here is a look into the galley kitchen. Three options again.

The wood room.

Just to insert a couple of section cut views of the kitchen.

I would probably do a two-tiered breakfast bar in your case.

I would also leave off the two corner cabinets and leave off an upper on the left of the range to give the appearance of no upper cabinets in the direct view of that area. In other words line up the end of the uppers with the fridge opposite, essentially.

I would also tweak the opening(s) and wall unit so there was equal space to each side of the wall unit of full wall and try to get the wall unit centered under the ceiling beams since it comes so close to them. The openings don't have to be the same size but it would be nice if the space in between them was balanced.

"taking the cabinet above the fridge and the one above the desk (next to the slider) is easy for me, so I did it"

I think it looks much better with those 2 out. not so congested. and the header doesn't look like it's held up by the fridge anyway!

the top of fridge space can be utilized otherwise. i know my sister would use it as a place to display one of her southwestern figurines. If you're tall enough you could maybe use it to hold a pretty storage container (pottery?) of some kind.

I am so happy you moved the fridge! It looks great, bravo!!

Agree, of course, w Palmpsest about trying to remove uppers from the LR line of sight.

I really like the solid wall of cabs with refrigerator modification. i would puntuate the solid wall with one or two open niches. These are very wonderful way of creating a bit of color and personality to the monotonous wall of cabinets.

I would move the Dish drawer to the right of sink. You will end up getting squeezed between the open DD and the sink while you stand in front of it.

Around the TV, I would not do any uppers. You need to lighten up your design a bit. There is no need for those uppers and they make the room feel too heavy.

There is so much storage in that house. The file cabinet next to your desk gotta go. Again, you are bringing in a line that does not belong there. Leave that open as you had it before. Just keep the lower. You can use the storage under the TV for the overflow.

I would do what Palimpest suggested. Also bring up lower line of the upper cabinets to line up with the bottom of the hood. There should be a continuous line of the bottom of the hood, the bottom of the upper and the line created by the break in the doors of the tall cabinet.

I am a bit confused about the dining area with just two chairs... Is there no dining area? Will you make the wood room the DR? If you are nixing the idea of having a table near the work stations, I would decorate that differently rather than put 1/2 of dining.. Maybe a corner reading area with a comfy chair and lights?

How much room do you have behind the couch? It does not look like there is enough to float the couch.

We ripped out the carpet this past weekend -- that demolition marked the official commencement of our remodel. We will see how long it takes us. I'm going to the building department tomorrow morning to have them look at my lighting design (been reading Title 24 guidelines all of this evening). If anyone has any comments on the lighting design, please please let me know. I feel so clueless about the actual practical aspect of the design.

Here is the latest design. I took lots of the advice from this thread. Thank you all!!!

I put this human model here just to see that on the rare occasion when my DH does use the kitchen, whether the range hood will be in his way or not.

hi mudworm... just want to say your kitchen is looking terrific! :)

Hi ironcook, I also fell in love with my kitchen on the computer screen. The real life transformation is much less romantic though. So many questions and so many decisions to make! Well, so far, I'm enjoying it...