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awkward kitchen layout help

13 years ago

Hi, I am looking for opinions on what to do with an awkward kitchen layout. The room is broken up by 2 doors that are on opposite sides of the room creating a walkway. On one side of the walkway is most of the kitchen, on the other side there is a beam way(rectangle nonarchway shown by the grey line across the room) and then about 3.5' by 12' of space and then a wall. We would like to incorporate this into usable kitchen space.

The dining room is on the other side of that wall. Right now there is a hole that PO used as a sort of bar area. At the moment we have our refrigerator in front of it to see if we would mind if the room was closed off and so far we don't mind. The house is 1904 and the closed off room seems to fit well. So, one plan is to put the fridge there with pantry style cabinets around it, but I am a little concerned that it will be too far out of the way. I also think I might like another sink somewhere for prep and a drink center and that seems like it may be a good location for that, in which case we were thinking we would open the wall up to the dining room which would result in the kitchen 1 drawing and move the fridge closer into the main area. What is not in the drawing plans is the island we are sampling as an island and then sometimes a peninsula off of the wall to the left of the range. No matter where I put it, it just seems to be in the way, as an island it blocks access to the DW and as a peninsula, it would block the cook in and get in the way of the fridge in plan 1. We have 4 kids, 22, 15, 13 and 12, so the kitchen is active. I want them to be able to help out in there, as I do not love cooking and am hoping that one of them will:). Our main goal is to take the awkward space and turn it into something that is functional. I am hoping that some of you might take a look at this rendering and share your opinions. We have a cabinet maker scheduled to come over Wed. evening and I really don't want to be uncertain when we try to tell him what we want.

We also purchased some sort of kitchen design software and put the kitchen on that and can try to post it if these lovely pictures my DD drew are not clear enough (scale is off so we added some measurements). Thoughts and ideas?

Plan 1

Plan 2

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Comment (1)

palimpsest
13 years ago
Some more specific measurements are really needed to help you plan out this space. Not just the overall dimensions, but the dimensions of each obstruction, so, for example down the left wall I count 11 measurements (face of bumpout, side of bumpout, back of niche where stove is, side of niche, face of that bumpout, door opening, the three sides of the post holding up the beam and the post to the back wall).

Then, is there a window? How wide and how high off the floor. Is there a radiator, floor or wall registers? Where does the traffic go at those doorways? Can either of them be moved? Do you have access to the pipes from the basement so the sink or range could be moved somewhere else? Moving supply lines, a drain line or a gas line is often much less of a big deal than people assume if there is open access from underneath.

A lot more information is needed before really valuable help can be given. Also refer to the Read Me Thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me if you Are New to GW Kitchens
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I will look to see if I have a floor plan, but if not, how would i go about creating one for you. I know I sound like an idiot but obviously I am clueless as to this kind of stuff and wish my husband would just let me hire a decorator lol! However, he just now gave me another big fat NO to hiring one lol! So needless to say, I am going to have to learn how to do this on my own and asking for help, however annoying I may be, is the only thing I know to do! So I apologize in advance for my ignorance! I will look for the floor plan! Thanks for responding!
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