We did something similar to your back wall except I had 20' to work with. We did two 6' french sliders and two 4' hutches. The pic will give you a visual of the scale, sorry it was taken at night. Personally, I think you need bigger french doors for your space.

{{!gwi}}

i drool over your massive kitchen space! we also will have french doors, but they must fit in a 5 foot space...we can't even have the normal ones!
as for your design, i think it looks good, if you recess the double door as shown. and i like it recessed. if you do not recess the doors, then i think it would look better with 3, or 4 doors in a row, as the second poster showed. good luck kren

I do agree that 8 or 10 ft doors would probably be a better balance with the whole wall...as long as that leaves you room for the function you need at the bars.

I think having the cabinetry in the darker wood will help a lot toward achieving the furniture look. Details like corbels under the uppers might help. Maybe a heavier, more ornate door style and/or crown could, too. (I don't mean overly ornate, just with a bit stronger presence, and with something to make it stand apart from the rest of your kitchen cabinets.) Julie also shows a beadboard backsplash in those areas, which helps visually connect the uppers and lowers into one piece.

Small warning, these thoughts don't necessarily go together!

Try cutting out one of the windows and doing much more of a hutch top on that side that extends all the way to the ceiling. On the other side, increase the height and width of the window - possibly changing it to three narrower double-hungs or a very narrow fixed pane between two double-hungs. I might not do cabinets on this side in exchange for views.

Try a three panel, one door unit? Three foot door plus a pair of two foot sidelights - Total of seven feet? Maybe also ask for a transom? Even a narrow one? (Ouch! the cost)

The other thing I would try is wainscotting the jut out and adding crown across the entire space (ceiling height cabinets, jut out area, top of window area).

Julie-thanks for the photo-it helps visualize what it would look like with the larger doors.
On a different topic.. are you happy with the overall layout of your kitchen -ours is pretty similar and sometimes I question if I should make the back wall the main part of the kitchen. But I am trying to stay on track!
The most common comment is that it is a lot of 'wasted space' having all the open area behind the island , but it does seem like it will be used well with the patio/wet bar etc back there. How do you feel now that you are working in yours??

Kren/rhome-we definitely plan to dress it up with crown molding and will consider all the other detail you mentioned. Thanks for the comments so far.

bmorepanic- It does seem like it would be easier to get the hutch feel without the window. The window was considered there since this is what you will see coming in the front door and right now our double french slider is there so we are used to an immediate view of the yard. Guess some things will change with the new kitchen! I guess in my ideal world I am trying to have both - a view and a furniture piece!
Will look at the window dimensions and see what we can do there. Would it look unbalanced if one side had more of a hutch and the other side was no upper cabs but just windows?
The photo definitely calls out transom to me too! Will keep it on the wish list.
We really want more than one door that opens.We feel if we are designing the back wall for flow and entertaining in and out of the kitchen we want more than one door that can be left open at a time.
I wish we had the tools the KD has to actually put in the crown and details and some nicer colors they use!!

Julie-I also checked out you photos on the FKB ! Nicely done. Thanks for sharing them.

Proportion, yes, but also, Ravmd, what feeling are you going for?

I've seen a wonderfully appealing wall, shorter than yours, but with traditional old hutches framing a single set of doors. The home I'm remembering is an old-fashioned English style, with the doors framing and concentrating a very pretty view into the garden. The kitchen was basically old white cabinetry and walls and wood floors, but looked cozy as well as bright and fresh.

OTOH, looking out a very wide span of windows like Julie's would give your kitchen an entirely different feel. The associations that hop to my mind from the past are of connection to large living patios and pools, or maybe a panoramic view to the horizon (lots of those in Southern California).

BTW, is your desirable view broad, or would editing out parts improve it? Are there any privacy issues?

For what's in the picture you posted, my thought was keep the windows and the symmetry (I like them) but bring the upper units down to join the counters for a hutch/display rather than work counter look.

Rosie -good questions and will do my best to describe what I think.
I know exactly what you mean by the large living patio look and while I love that , we don't have that sort of view. So I would say I am looking for one that you described first but it wouldn't be 'old-fashioned' English since I believe we are doing white cabinets and soapstone on the other side of the kitchen. Would love inset but don't think it will work in the budget.

The view is more of a kid friendly backyard -better view to the right than straight out.Both of which will be visible from the centered french doors.

Here is the view looking straight out and more to the left.

We have not tackled landscaping in the back so the view can be improved. (And apologize for the pre-spring cleaning clutter...)

Thanks for all the thoughts and things to think about. Good questions that have me thinking more....

ravmd ~ I'm very happy with our layout. When entertaining, we set the bar at one of the hutches so it keeps the congestion in the cooking area to a minimum. Eventually, we will have a dining room table in the space between the island and french sliders. After costs of remodeling, the furniture purchasing is going slower than planned! Our slider overlooks our backyard/pool area. There is also another slider to the right of the picture. When standing at my island I can see the entire back yard.

I think if you (1) made the sliders bigger and (2) eliminated the window(s) and made more of a furniture/hutch look with crown molding, more ornate cabinetry, etc. you will have adequate view and light and still get the furniture feel you are looking for.

You can get a perfectly servicable bar in 63in -- 24in fridge, 15in ice maker, 24in sink base. I'd panel the fridge and the ice maker to make it look like nice cabinetry.

I'd also eliminate the windows. If you want more light, play with the upper cabinets -- interior lights, glass doors and shelves, mirrored backs.

Best of luck.

How about the wall cabinets coming down to the countertop as a way to make it look more furniture like. Also, I would nix thew 4 inch backsplash in favor of something more flowing and doesn't cut your visual space. Here's a pic of my hutch area:

In the bottom right side is an undercounter fridge. Part of the other side hides pipes.

Julie-glad to hear you like your layout. We envisioned a similar set up (minus the pool!) -wet bar could be used really nicely And even the left hutch could have desserts set on it when needed.
mooringirl-thanks for tips on the cabinet sizes to make the ice maker work.
I was hoping we could design something around the window as my sink will be on the wall perpendicular to the wet bar so I was hoping I would create some view by looking to the left out the window. I have looked at photos of glass cabinets mounted on windows for this reason .. but may be hard and costly to create this look.

Isandler-that piece is really gorgeous! Thanks for ideas on how to create a furniture type piece. REally stunning.
Unfortunately we are dealing more with cabinet salespeople at the moment so I think we are on our own to really get these pieces working right!

I did look thru some of my saved photos for ideas again and these were 3 that I thought were interesting The first 2 incorporated a window . Sorry I do not know who to give credit to on the first one.

Here is one I saved from stilesquinn's kitchen:

And bnaflyer is gorgeous but no window:

Just some ideas that could possibly help us spruce up those areas!

I love the last picture you posted (bnaflyer's). If you were going to do one hutch with window and one without I would choose the one without a window to be on the right of the french doors. That way you could still have window in the other & be able to have the view from the living room that you're used to.

I also like your idea of creating windows behind the hutches, but as you said, could be costly. Another idea would be to not have windows on the hutch walls at all. You have nice big french doors that will already let a lot of light in and could easily be opened to bring trays, etc. in and out while bbq'ing or entertaining.

Either way, I love your idea and think it will look great.

Wascolette-thanks for your post here and on the plan vote! I really love the trim work on bnaflyer's bar.
Aside from good advice, the reassurance everyone offers is so nice.

I think I would like it better with an 8' door or add sidelights to the 6' door. Would eliminate the other windows on that wall because they're competing and distracting the eye. Glass fronts cabs across instead of the windows on both sides. That way, you have 3 units...hutch area, door area, hutch area.