Layout Help - U-Shape w/ Island - Plans almost finalized

13 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site and have been reading the forums and have gotten a lot of great ideas. It is now time for me to finalize my kitchen lay-out and I would love some feedback. After reading the "What do you wish you had known while planning" discussion I got a little worried about my lay-out and would like some some additional eyes on it. I would love feedback and if input on if there is anything that just won't work.

Our house was built in 1949. The kitchen was last remodeled in the early 90s and a second floor was added in 1996. We are not moving any exterior walls as we are to code on expanding out the back (detached garage) and it just isnÂt in our budget. Our kitchen is current galley style. Our plan is changing this into a U-shaped kitchen with an island by knocking down walls and raising the floor into our back room (FR). Our back room has floor to ceiling windows along the back wall so it is not an option to raise the floor the entire way (room was an addition and sits below foundation - see picture in photobucket album).

Our goal Â pretty much everything! We are looking to increase space, storage, counters, add an island and in kitchen seating.

Family of four Â My husband is the primary cooker, I am the cleaner-upper. We have 2 young daughters 4 and 1 years old. We see them as future helpers.

We are planning for our kitchen to be the hub of our house. We are knocking down a couple of walls to open up the space and are adding a large island. I see us eating, doing homework, socializing all around this island.

One of the walls we are knocking down is the wall in-between our kitchen and our Dining Room. We will keep the dining room table and will use this for any meals that are not eaten at the island. We currently only use the DR for formal occasions so this will be a change for us as we are eliminating the informal kitchen table that we use. Since we are moving into the FR we are adding a built in for the TV and an small office area where our kitchen table currently sits. This space will be lower than the kitchen and we have been struggling with what to do with it. I thought about doing a built in bench and table but feel that I have enough seating and would like an area for a desk. We see the kids doing homework and crafts here.

As you can see in our attached plan we were open to moving anything Â windows, doors, walls, gas, water.

We are updating all of our appliances. Here is our current tentative plan:

Range Â Freestanding GE Monogram Dual Fuel 36" + Hood possibly GE so we can take advantage of the current rebate they are offering.

MW Â Sharp Convection

DW Â not sure. Either Bosch or FP drawers. Undecided on this and concerned about current placement and being able to unload dishes into cabinet above.

Refrigerator Â Side by Side Counter Depth Â Samsung or GE Profile

Beverage Center in bar area

CanÂt live without Â the island, definitely donÂt want a peninsula. Would really like a cabinet pantry but are having an issue on how the upper cabinets meet up with the full height cabinets in the corner. I have reviewed posts and it looks like everyone wraps the corner and then go to full height. Really need a recommendation on what we should do with the corner so that it looks nice and we donÂt lose storage space.

Also can't live without the window over the sink. I am planning on doing a 48" counter height window.

We are hoping to break ground on June 7th.

Thanks in advance!

Kristin

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Comments (8)

bmorepanic
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Some of this is personal taste and some is guidelines. I tend to do technical comments - any humor is incidental!

Guidlines - I would allow 42" between sink and island and ref and island. If you get another size fridge, have kids, try to get past an open ref door or cabinet door, 3 feet is pretty small. On the other hand, you could allow a bit less room between cooktop and island.

You must have fillers on both sides of the corner to avoid having doors and knobs get hung up on each other.

Mixed in a bit with personal taste - be really sure you want the tall, deep cabinet beside the ref. I would like a tall, narrow cabinet in that position, but not a deep one. Why? You can't open a left or right swing door on that cabinet all the way because it will run into the counter or the ref. The last one to two feet of counter on the cooktop wall becomes unusable to a righty because a righty elbow will hit the cabinet door when closed. The counter will be blocked when that cabinet door is open. A narrow depth cabinet doesn't elimate all of those issues - it increases the usable counter.

I like drawer base cabinets and I could get another foot of them if that cabinet wasn't quite as deep. Full depth also means you'll mostly be taking things from the appl garage with your left hand because it will be awkward to use your right. You could be a lefty and then it would work fine for you.

The personal taste part is breaking up the depths a bit so there isn't a monolithic wall for very little storage space cost. I would also consider trading the refs - the big one by the clean up sink with the wine, and a ref drawer unit over by the cooktop or reversing the ref and the wine storage. If I'm getting a microwave meal from the ref and need to put in on a plate - I'm crossing through the cooks area to get a plate.

Move the micro towards the ref - even if the ref moves. A micro is a shared use item and often the first cooking appliance a child is permitted to operate. Where you've placed it - it becomes exclusively the chefs or kids and spouse invade the chefs territory. And it would be problematic to open both the micro and the oven. I don't know how often that would happen, but I don't want to replace any appliance doors.

If the ref stays where it is, move the prep sink out of the corner. With an sxs, the best landing area is behind you as you stand facing the open doors. You'd be dumping stuff into the sink or backing out (cause the aisle is so small) and placing stuff on the other side of the sink. I also like to have over-sprays on the counter instead of the floor.

I would probably put the oven beside the cooktop, not under it. The oven would be a little higher and I see the contents without having to back up and bend over.
eastbaymom
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Where does the door at the top left of the plan come from? If it has to swing in, I would put the hinges on the other side. That way, if you have things in your hands when you come through the door, you can set them down on the counter even before the door closes.

If there is any way to put the dishwasher to the left of the sink instead of the right, I would, so that someone can still come through that door when the dishwasher is open.

Are you doing a pullout trash? Where?

I would definitely shrink the width of the island to allow more clearance past the sink and around the fridge.
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Re the T-shaped island... Seeing your inspiration photo helps me understand how you want the T-shaped island to function and it is a lovely idea. I'm just afraid that you may not have made the base of the T long enough for it to really serve the purpose you want. It looks like the seating area on each side is about 3 ft long. (I'm guessing based on comparing it to the width of your cabinets). I'm also guessing that you're planning on 4 people being able to sit together there(two on each side). If so, you may find that the two people sitting closest to the prep sink wind up feeling a bit squished. With a countertop blocking free arm movement on one side and a dining companion blocking free arm movement on the other side, 18" might not be wide enough. I could be wrong tho. Perhaps you could do a "mock up" by putting a couple of tables together to simulate the island then seeing if the planned seating area will work for your family. BTW - don't let your concern for your designer's frustrations at redrawing things stop you from getting your plans EXACTLY right. I didn't go back to my designer and make him fix the number and location of my porch posts yet one more time like I should have. He had had them RIGHT on one set of plans and then apparently pulled up a previously saved version and "lost" the correction on the next set and, having fixed the posts once, I didn't notice the problem again until we had already had 10 sets of the final drawings printed up and were in the process of getting bids. I had wanted one fewer post across the front of my house and the remaining ones each spaced about 18" further apart to make up the difference. This would have placed the posts so they FRAMED the front bay windows and my front porch swing symetrically. As it is, one post sits off center in front of my bay window and another post blocks my view from the porch swing. I figured, "what the heck, they're just porch posts. I'll just tell the builder where I want them to go. No need to get new drawings." Wrong! By the time we finally got thru the bidding process and had picked a builder, the issue had slipped my mind again. My porch posts are structural supports for the porch roof and for a deck that sits above the roof. They were framed up - exactly as the plans showed - and I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong until one day while getting rid of junk, I happened across an earlier set of plans showing the posts in the correct position. By that point, our porch roof was on and the roof deck was done. Changing the posts would have meant pretty much taking the whole porch and roof deck back down and starting over. Total cost to fix - nearly $15,000. I had to leave them alone. No one else notices the lack of symmetry (or, at least if they do, they'e too kind to say anything) but it bothers me no end and always will. Getting you plans exactly RIGHT falls under the "measure twice and cut once" mandate. If redrawing frustrates your designer, too bad. That's what you pay him for. (Besides, he's doing it on a computer so it's not like he has to redraw every line by hand. LOL!
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kristin773
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Bmorepanic Thank you for your technical comments. I hadnt even thought about the usability of the counter by the corner or the doors opening. I have been stuck on what the corner will look like and should have been thinking more functionally.

We definitely want a pantry. I think they were designed deep because of the fridge on that wall. What if I move the fridge to the end of that run and put the pantry to the left of it and narrower. Or what about a pull out pantry? Would that work?

I cant trade the refrigerators. The one at the bar is against a ½ wall that is only 43" high. We are using a wall to prevent people from falling since there is an elevation change between the kitchen and the family room.

I think I will move the sink to the middle of the island and the microwave to that corner. We are leaning towards a Range instead of top/oven combo. The plans have not been updated to reflect.

Eastbaymom The door comes from the driveway. (Deep single car driveway and detached garage). I set the hinges that direction thinking I would dump my groceries on the island. Do you think the island is too far to do that? I am worried that if I set it the other way that corner will become a dumping ground for clutter as we come in the door.

The dishwasher was originally on the other side of the sink but I moved it because I didnt want to block the path to the family room when it is open. Your suggestion is probably better since I have another entry to the family room but not one from the outside into the kitchen.

I hadnt thought about where to put the pullout trash. Probably on whatever side of the sink the DW isnt on. Any suggestions? We havent met with the cabinet maker yet so we dont have plans for any of the cabinets or drawers.

Thanks for your feedback!
kristin773
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Still concerned about the corner and having trouble 'seeing' a solution. If anyone has pictures that would be great!
bmorepanic
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Is the 2'4" wall-let by the second pantry required?

I did miss the 42" tall wall - sorry!
kristin773
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I don't have the final plans from the structural engineer yet. It may be needed for support. If not, what do you suggest?
bmorepanic
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I was thinking that if it could be 2 feet instead of 2'4" then the ref could be placed right up against the wall. Then do an over/under pantry into the corner. Not knowing your personal style, this is one way...
{{gwi:1854722}}
kristin773
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I should be able to go 2' instead of 2'4". Can you explain to me what the different width gives? Also, how should the corner be configured?

Layout Help - U-Shape w/ Island - Plans almost finalized

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