Newbie Would Love your Expert Opinion on Kitchen Layout!

15 years ago

My husband and I just bought a house and are in the process of redoing E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

We're not going to change the kitchen's footprint (it wouldn't really make sense with the house's layout). We have this draft cabinet layout, and I'd love your opinion! There are a few things that I don't think are ideal, and if you have suggestions for fixes, I would be forever grateful.

Here are the issues:

1. The DW. With the angle of the sink, we had to move it over so the door didn't open right in your way while you were standing at the sink. That meant inserting a seemingly useless 9-inch cabinet between sink and DW. Seems like wasted space to me - I don't know how we'd use that tiny cabinet.

2. The wall cup cabinet. I think you need a cabinet where your glasses just obviously should be, right? The previous layout had that, but we had to insert a 9-inch pantry between the fridge and wall so the fridge would open, and that meant taking away precious inches where that cabinet was before. We've gone from an 18-inch cabinet to a 12, which seems like it will be really annoying to put our glasses in.

3. Does everything else look normal and okay? Like, is it okay to have drawers on one side of the stove and cabinets on the other?

Sorry for the crappy layout pic, which is TOTALLY NOT TO SCALE, but I wanted to give you some idea of what you're looking at.

I'm a total newbie, so I'll appreciate any suggestions you have! Thanks in advance!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

remodelfla
15 years ago
Hi kelly... and welcome to the forum! I haven't been here all that long and have found the info to be invaluable. Better then that, is the never-ending assistance that people are willing to give. That being said... sorry but your pics don't show up. Are you trying to post through a picture sharing site?
rhome410
15 years ago
I am hoping to see your pictures, too, but in the meantime I wanted to say that when we redid our last kitchen we ended up with a 6 inch space by our dishwasher...I thought that was really going to be useless and we were just going to make it into a spacer. Then I had the idea to make it into a cabinet to hold our stepstool and it became one of our favorite conveniences in the new kitchen! There are always ways to use funny little spaces. ;-)

12" does seem pretty small for glassware storage though, for your #2 concern...So will wait to see the plan before offering any advice there.

It is far easiest if we can see a floorplan of your space. If you have some graph paper (or can make some on your computer), a simple but accurate pencil drawing is all we need. Scale is very important in judging distances, etc. and the graph paper makes that part easy. Then you can scan or take a digital picture of the plan, post it to a photo site like photobucket.com, then post it here.

Best wishes!
Related Discussions
Newbie needs layout opinions! Thanks!
Q
Comments (21)
Wow!! Great feedback so far. I am posting 2 more blueprints b/c I think I was very confusing before. The green crosshatches are where the "new" proposed eat in kitchen will go with the option of removing 2 ft from the dining room. I really would love to have the bathroom in the front, but... according to the architect, I could not get a bath to code in the space. I also think it would really detract from the symmetry of my foyer and living room. As for losing width, I would lose 5 ft with the new bath but gain about 5 ft by losing the old bath and changing layout from a U to an L. I also don't mind people coming through my kitchen to use the bath. I am sure I will only want to hang out in the kitchen once its done :o) This is the blank proposed layout from the architect. We can tweek it. But it's basically what I would have to work with for a kitchen if the bathroom was relocated and the DR wall was moved 2 feet. and a general respose to the comments... As for a desk, I would really like a stand up desk- a place to put mail, charge phones, put the bulletin board, etc. Really a must for how we live, but does not have to be huge. I do not currently have an opening from the kitchen/breakfast room into the living room. I have 2 small children and find it very difficult to keep any sort of watch on them and cook. So I would like to open up the kitchen area into the LR. The current opening from the foyer into the LR is 5 feet wide, so I was thinking to mirror that with th kitchen. LOVE Pllog's pocket door idea here. How wide do you think the opening should be? I really must have an island. A big area for prep and such. We often have 3 adults in the kitchen at once with 2 little ones running around. The current kitchen island was pathetic- really too small for function, on wheels so it moves, and just disrupted and crowded the flow. But I think with an improved kitchen layout, an island would be great. Mama, I love that fridge pic. I will look at it- just not sure the freezer width is enough, but I need to see it in person. I have a 36" SZ side by side now and I hate it. The freezer storage layout is awful!!! But if I feel it would be adeqaute, it would make sense. Here is an insiration pic I have that got me thinking of the separate RF/ Fr. But I am open to looking at that 48" SZ. Let me know if you think its better for my space. Bmore: I like the direction of this layout, but I am not sure about the wall of 3-4ft pantries. Was imagining a nice picture window and sink here with tall pantries elsewhere. I did sonsider moving the powder room next to the stairs but code by me is bath needs to be 3x7. Not sure I would have room for a table?? Thanks again to everyone!!!!
...See More
Would love your valued feedback on kitchen layout please
Q
Comments (14)
lisa_a... I am flabbergast! The ideas originating from this forum never cease to amaze me. That folks are able to take layouts and turn it around in a matter of hours, or less, and churn out something completely different simply amazes and delights me. Alright, DH loves your layout. He likes having a dedicated area for our kids near us, and especially one that is directly across and in line of sight of kitchen. We will likely still make our guest bedroom upstairs our office so kids aren't mucking in our stuff (missed bills are not a good thing!). While we'll keep the main floor office for our kids. It just makes sense to give them a space for arts & crafting/reading/playing while we cook. It'll also be easier to help them with homework later on, and yes, definitely easier to keep an eye on them surfing the internet. Concerns... We do entertain and have BBQs often in our backyard during the summer months. The most used path to our backyard is via the kitchen. Will the 42" entryway be sufficient space for people to go in and out of? Also, I'm not sure about putting a down-to-counter dish hutch by that backdoor. Post-BBQ, it's often a steady stream of dishes back into the kitchen for clean up. Would maximizing counter space here be more practical for post-party clean up? Did you perhaps mean an upper cabinetry-only dish hutch? That would afford me both cabinets and counter space. I really like the fridge location in your layout. Makes for an easy path to unload and store groceries when we get home from shopping. Should prep sink be relocated to fridge end of island instead? The current layout has both sinks so close to each other that I wonder if it's worth the extra money to put in two sinks. Also, assuming my dishes are stored in cabinets/drawers near the sink. Is that too far from the dining area? If I store them in buffet counter area, then I'd be carrying them across the kitchen from dishwasher to dining area. No matter what, a trek seems unavoidable. Any tips on how to get around/minimize this? Note, one of my kids' task when they feel up to helping is to put away dishes in dishwasher. So I've spent the past few hours trying to rework the layout to see if I can keep the existing wall between dining room and kitchen. This would save us a good chunk of money since that is a load bearing wall, whose removal would require us to put in a recessed steel beam. I've tried making our current dining room into kids' office/play area with pocket doors (we're loving the pocket doors!) and our office the dining area with perimeter counter space, but just haven't been able to make it work. Sigh! So it looks like the money will have to be spent. One improvement though (I think). I loathe the narrow hallway we currently have. It just seems like dead space to me. So rather than keep it, I've modified your layout to put our coat closet and duct work in the existing hallway space instead. This allows for a wider entry to the dining/kitchen area. This new closet would also be deeper that what we currently have, so I'd be willing to forgo the closet nook as I can stuff things into the deeper closet and also in the main floor office. I'm also tempted to extend the powderoom to 72" so the sink can go across the toilet, thus making the powder room foot print narrower and opening up the entry to the dining room even more. If I do this, I can then reposition the door as debrak2008 suggested to prevent toilet views.
...See More
Newbie in need of some of your expert opinions
Q
Comments (5)
Did your GC indicate that they were finished ? Cupboard hinges need to be adjusted individually. The gaps will probably be eliminated then. Perhaps you could ask him if he intends to do it or if he is expecting you to finish them. There is also a chance that he might be leaving the wood there to "take up" (acclimate) for a little while before he makes the final adjustments. If the cabinets have been in an environment with markedly different humiidity than your house he may want to give them a chance to normalise and either contract or expand before he spends the time adjusting them. Hopefully, they will not change shape or size to any noticeable degree, but the difference between well-fitting doors and gaps or chafing is about 1/16 th of an inch. I don't think it likely that he intends them to remain as they are.
...See More
Need your expert opinions in selecting granite for kitchen
Q
Comments (2)
This is obviously just my personal opinion; but I when using a contrasting wood for the island, I prefer the same countertop material as the perimeter on it. If you were to use the same color wood; then I'd say use a contrasting counter material. Shaker style is simple (which I love) and I love the look of a light counter (BR)on a light perimeter. I think the chocolate stained island will look beautiful with the Bianco Romano as well.
...See More
marzhere
15 years ago
You could use that small cabinet to store sheet pans, etc. Stand them on their edge and slide them right in.
kellym2
Original Author
15 years ago
Odd that the pictures aren't showing up - they are on my computer! I'm trying it now with photobucket... please let me know if you can see these...
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}
sarschlos_remodeler
15 years ago
I'm not an expert, but here's what I see: you have your main walkway through the kitchen cutting right across your cooking/oven area. Any chance you could swap your refrigerator and oven locations? That would give you better pantry space, too.
remodelfla
15 years ago
What is the large opening? and is that to scale? It looks so much wider in comparison to the room. If that's true... I'm wondering if you could close it up some to create a little extra wall space for storage.
kellym2
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your opinions so far! We hadn't considered switching fridge and stove - mostly to keep costs down by not moving the gas line. But now that you say it, I'll definitely look into that.

If it'd possible to make the layout work without moving the large appliances though, that would be ideal.

The huge opening by the fridge is the doorway to the dining room. I'm sorry for the less-than-great drawing, but it is definitely not to scale. I'm traveling for work a lot (mid-renovation!) So I don't have access to the pretty drawings that ARE to scale.

Thanks again - SO much! - for your suggestions!
Buehl
15 years ago
Welcome Kellym2!

When you say you don't want to change the footprint, I assume you mean you do not want to change the location of any appliances or the locations/sizes of windows and doorways...is that correct? If so, you may not have many options. However, if you're willing to consider other layouts, you may get more input.

You do seem to be open to swapping the refrigerator & range...which would help with a point I was going to bring up...that your range would be better protected on the other side. It would also make it easier to drain pasta, etc. if you don't have to walk across the room to the sink....you could even "slide" it if you needed to!

If you don't move the refrigerator, does the cabinet b/w the wall & refrigerator have to be 9"? Could it be 4" or 5"? 4" is big enough for a 4'' Broom Closet and it would give you another 5" to use b/w the DW & sink...a 14" cabinet (or 12", if 14" not available in your cabinet line...which would then give you a 6" broom closet).

Do you know the dimensions of the space...wall lengths, window/door/doorway widths, distances b/w walls/windows/doors/doorways? It's a little difficult to put it all together. It would also be helpful if we knew what rooms adjoin the kitchen in all directions.

BTW...if you just sketch your kitchen out on graph paper and label the walls, doors, windows, etc., it would be easier to get the whole picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Newbie Would Love your Expert Opinion on Kitchen Layout!

Comments (8)

remodelfla

rhome410

Related Discussions

marzhere

kellym2
Original Author

sarschlos_remodeler

remodelfla

kellym2
Original Author

Buehl

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Newbie Would Love your Expert Opinion on Kitchen Layout!

Comments (8)

remodelfla

rhome410

Related Discussions

marzhere

kellym2Original Author

sarschlos_remodeler

remodelfla

kellym2Original Author

Buehl

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

kellym2
Original Author

kellym2
Original Author