Layout help, please - getting closer!

12 years ago

We are inching our way along - hired a designer and made some progress in terms of the layout. But, still struggling with the island/peninsula vs. island decision.

For those that saw my previous post, I took to heart your suggestions as well as our designer's recommendation, and we decided to lose 12" of width from our adjoining room's closet so that we could put our double ovens next to our fridge. This frees up our range wall to be a focal area (and provides much better work space).

Here are three layouts from the designer - not a lot of detail (that will get added once we nail down the basic layout), but you'll see the general direction.

Large island

Medium island

Small island and peninsula

So, which do you prefer?? I am leaning toward the Large island version, but still have some concerns about the island being a barrier between the main sink and fridge. However, since it's a relatively narrow island, we could place items on there and walk to the sink and grab them from that side. Plus, we'd likely include a prep sink on the island anyway.

Looking forward to your thoughts - thanks so much!

~ MadsMama

Here is a link that might be useful: My previous post

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Comments (6)

remodelfla
12 years ago
I have to say I'm somewhat surprised that the large and medium island layout came from a KD. In both cases you have a total barrier island. Need something from the frig... either knock the cook over or walk around into the eating area to grab it and then take the same track back to the sink to rinse whatever off. The small island version is not so bad. Though... I might off-center the sink scooting it over right and put a prep sink on the island on the bottom corner closest to the cooktop
rhome410
12 years ago
We've seen lots of barrier islands and worse from KD drawings here, Remodelfa! ;-)

But it's not a barrier as long as it has a prep sink. I hope that you will not lose that, Madsmama, in the medium and small island options? I'm hoping it was just forgotten in the translation, but not intentionally left out?

How do you foresee the seating being used? Often? Having seating right in front of the fridge could be a big pain. How many seats do you want and need? There is a lot of difference between the 2 too-tight seats on the medium island and the 4 that will comfortably fit at the peninsula.

I'd want to move the range to the left a bit for 2 reasons...Not having to navigate around the island corner to go back and forth from fridge to stove, and so it is situated fully behind the island. I think it will look better as a focal point if the island and range, plus hood, all line up.

OH! I just reread your previous post. Part of what we were trying to accomplish for you was getting your fridge closer to the action, and you haven't achieved that in any of these plans. What about swapping the oven/fridge area for the closet, so the closet in the next room is moved right, and the fridge and oven get the prime spot closer to the range?
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Comments (17)
Pocket doors are a good solution, especially for the closets, because you never want any two doors inhabiting the same swing area. Actually, that's a safety issue and may be covered under the local building codes. So put the W/D upstairs, and put a TV in that room. Gorsh, another TV isn't all that expensive. Go online and meander through some of the sites for 'closet designs.' The reason small walk-ins aren't very good is that they are small walk-ins. They usually bear a strong resemblance to a crowded cave and are extremely difficult to adapt to useful, convenient, usable storage. You also lose the visual openess (means that the whole bedroom looks smaller) when you enclose a space that used only to stand in while reaching for a hangar. A single-use space isn't too efficient. And I know from experience that not many children are going to go into that cave to get and/or put away shoes. It doesn't seem to matter that they are small enough to bend over without putting their butt through the back wall, it's just that they WON'T bother. Their viewpoint seems to be that shoes and socks belong in the same armreach, and socks are usually in drawers so drop the shoes near the sock drawer. Uh, huh. This doesn't apply to those folks who walk in the door and immediately remove their footwear -- and I'm one of 'em. [I keep houseshoes and yard shoes by the most-used door; dress shoes are stored on the wall in the dress closet.] Okay, we appear to have a difficulty with tactile use of a 4' wide space. Go to your present bathtub; hang some hangars from the shower curtain rod. Measure the space -- it'll probably be real close to 4' from the far shoulder of the hangar to the wall. Now get into the tub and walk up and down with the wall on one side and the hanging clothes on the other side....that's what you are planning to allow for the closet.
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Comments (33)
Well here is where your KD can help you a lot in making sure that the ideas you have will actually work. With the exact measurements, she should be able to advice you about specific conflicts, like the dishwasher when it is open and the doorknob. Is there actually an 18" dishwasher? I didn't know that. I would not worry about the door being open n the summer. That is just a fact of life I don't think you can get around. And I would assume you are not running the dishwasher more than once a day, so it's a small window of time that it is an issue. I have my refrigerator behind an open door in summer and that never has reached annoyance levels. I don't even notice it. Well, maybe you have a fairly solid plan! :-) I think you can still tweak it and make it suit you, but the basic layout might just work. I seem to have run out of suggestions…lol. I wonder if Sena thinks it is a workable plan? I'd run it all by the Kitchen Designer again and see if she sees any issues or has any more suggestions. Snow is coming down like mad the last hour, but I don't think it's going to be too bad. I just hope the rain misses us.
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Comments (14)
My concern is aisle widths. The width between the island and the right hand side is 3'1" (37"). If this doesn't take into account counter you will be down to perhaps 34" aisle width when subtracting potential counter overhang from both sides. I'm assuming you have kids given the homework room and I can envision (may not happen - you know your routines better than me that's for sure) a traffic spot that may require traffic lights and that is the area that comes out of the homework room (and whatever other rooms are down the hall) and into the kitchen or through to the dining room, coming down the stairs and into the kitchen and also standing at the beverage center. The other area of concern is the seating at the top of the table. The aisle width is 4'5" but if someone is trying to sit down and then sitting down they need about 2-3' to do that. It will be tough to walk behind them and you won't beable to open the DW. There's just no breathing room or air in this space. The room can't take a deep breath. But not my space.
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Pretty please help me get started on my laundry room layout :) :)
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I'm baaaack!!! Thank you so much for helping me with my powder room, so on to the next dilemma. Any ideas or opinions are welcome (and begged for!). Figuring out where the sink and w/d go are the biggest decisions because it turns out plumbing is one of the first items the builder needs! The room is 15’ 4 “ long and 8’ 6” wide (from wall to wall) I’m sitting here with tracing paper and am already blocked!!!!! :) Hopefully my goals aren't too lofty: Passage way I’m hoping to have a passage way from the closet to get into the laundry room. I love the idea of coming in dirty and just taking my clothes off in the closet and walking them into the laundry room to hang dry or toss in the washer. At the very minimum I want a ‘pass' through so I don’t have to carry baskets or so I can toss in a wet bathing suit. I currently sort my clothes into different baskets as I take things off, so if I only have a pass through and not a walk through, maybe I would stack my baskets on shelves in a cabinet and have that cabinet accessible from the laundry side too. *I want a raised w/d *I’d like one deep counter for folding in which an entire shirt will mostly fit. *I rarely rarely sew, but I’d like a spot to sit and sew on a button or work on a stain etc. *I will want a space for a nice sized pull down ironing board *A big area for a drying racks (hanging and laying flat). I will consider getting a drying cabinet like this one, but it's completely not necessary http://staberdryingcabinets.com *I’d like to have space for a steam cabinet if they should perfect those. The reviews aren’t great. *I was hoping to have a rotary iron for linens, but I don’t know if it will fit. *If I don’t put in a rotary iron, I want a line to hang linens so I can use a garment steamer on them. *There is another area for housekeeping items, so I don’t need to store vacuums etc. If there is room, storing overflow items would be nice (extra tp, suitcases up high perhaps, linens/towels) The venting for the w/d will go through the roof, so the w/d can be placed anywhere in the room. I hear it’s more efficient for the sink and laundry room to be close for plumbing purposes.
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Laura
Original Author
12 years ago
Remodelfla and Rhome - thanks for the input. There are some challenges with the space - we can't swap the position of the closet and fridge/oven due to the adjoining room's configuration. It's just not feasible (think I posted a pic in the previous post). We would have a prep sink in the med. island option, but probably not in the isl/pen. layout (there would be a clear path to the sink from the fridge in that one since the fridge would be on the end of the run).

Agree about moving the range a bit to line up. I think she was just waiting for us to decide on the island placement, then she'll get everything aligned.

Thanks again, MadsMama
rhome410
12 years ago
Redhead47
12 years ago
What bothers me about this layout is that I don't see a "landing space" near the ovens or the fridge. For me, that would be really important. When you take a hot casserole out of the oven, where do you put it? You could set it on the island, but that's not as good as next to the oven. It's also in a traffic pattern.

Same with the fridge -- in the midst of cooking, I reach into the fridge and gather several ingredients at one time -- butter, eggs, milk, for instance. I wouldn't want to have to carry them around the island to the work area during prep, or back to the fridge. Or go from the fridge all the way around the island to the cooktop. Maybe you work differently? And maybe most of your prep will be on the island. (This objection is in agreement with what rhome410 was referring to, I think.)

Food for thought, anyway. Maybe the fridge & oven locations are the only ones that will be possible, but I sure would want a landing space next to each if it were my kitchen.
rhome410
12 years ago
I don't use landing space next to either my oven or fridge, but instead turn to the space behind --or across the aisle sideways, so I would find peninsula and/or island useful for that. But that's what this place is all about...Different opinions that come from doing things differently, so those planning can decide what advice suits them best. :)

Layout help, please - getting closer!

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remodelfla

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Layout help, please - getting closer!

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remodelfla

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