Forgive me I know you'll get lots of help but I have to start out by asking, what is a spice kitchen?

A spice or chinese kitchen is a small kitchen where Asian families do most of their cooking and frying. It is meant to be the "dirty" or used kitchen. Although I will not be using this kitchen for cooking, I need to have it for resale value. No choice there. The spice kitchen will come in handy for storage. Thanks for asking. Tami

Cool, never heard of one before. Always learning something new on here!

Any suggestions Deedles? I know that you have good taste!

Tamko, I've heard of spice kitchens but strictly from reading, so it's fun hearing from someone in a neighborhood where they are required equipment.

As for your "squishy" wall, it doesn't seem to unbalance the fairly generous space in its perimeter position, and I think it's also saved by that location as it will be viewed end-on or from an angle from most important view points. The one view makes it virtually disappear from the living room, and the other from the table foreshortens it to a significant degree. Plus, if that end wall (stove wall) is designed well, everyone's gaze will go there first, scan the whole quickly like a well composed painting, and then settle back on the important elements toward the middle. On a more prosaic note, this is a very typical configuration and people are used to it, so it won't attract attention for that reason either. I'm guessing it'd take a TKO to describe even one significant detail of the refrigerator wall after the fact.

The issue to me is whether it would feel wrong to you guys for some reason while you were in the kitchen seeing it in its whole. We do get quirky about various things after all. I now walk across the kitchen to my refrigerator (like yours) specifically because it didn't feel right looming between me at work and the kitchen table, not because there wasn't a good spot for it in an optimal position by my work counter.

Will we get to see your finished kitchen, hope, hope?

Thanks Rosie for the words of encouragement. I have become obsessed with this issue and benefit greatly from others here on the site. I think that the layout will work for us. Yes, I will post the pictures when all is done! Thanks again. Tami

I would consider adding a prep sink closer to the work area between the refrig and cook top. Otherwise you'll to walk past the stove just to add a half-cup of water to the frozen beans before the pot goes on the stove. That would drive me bats.

One in the island would work.

May I ask where in the world a Spice Kitchen is a necessary accoutrement for resale?. I was curious and glad to have read the answer to question about what it was. Could you make it more convenient to the main kitchen by having a door about where your ovens are now? Or would that defeat the purpose? Having a door there would also make it more convenient to use now as a pantry.

Couple of things

---it seems like the measurements of things are off a bit. The total of the kitchen and eating area is 20 feet. You're not including the assumed aisle between the kitchen and the dining area? And the spice kitchen is a bit longer than the kitchen proper, but yet its measurements show it as shorter.

---Is the eating area the only dining space? I'd be worried because 7 feet is the absolute minimum width to have people seated on both sides of a table but without room to for them to become seated. As as example, a 3 foot wide table with people seated on both sides needs about 32" on both sides of the table for people to pull out their chair and become seated or a space about 8'4" wide. Add another two inches on both sides if you have a wall.

In this design, you might need a walkway from the kitchen out the deck door or to maintain a walkway to/from the deck if dinner is being cooked outside, but eaten inside. During this month, we do that frequently as we have very high heat and humidity readings combined with a high mosquito population. And it looks like you'd need a traffic way to kitchen/from the family room all the time.

I'm not sure what size table you're thinking about, but if I start with 16'3" then subtract for those cabinets in the eating area, an actual 30" aisle past a seated person and 34" for the person on the end, I get a maximum table length of about 82". Doing the same thing for desired room width, again using 3 feet for the table width, 30" clear aisle to the door + 24" for a seated person + 36" for the table + 24" for the seated person + 36" to the island counter edge is about 12.5 feet from the door to the deck. If the kitchen counter has stools, add on another foot minimum to maintain a narrow, but passable aisle when both the table's chairs and stools are occupied.

--- Can you shorten up the bar sidewalls and extend the length of the spice kitchen?

Thanks for the responses!

Liri -- I live in Richmond, British Columbia. Asians make up a very high percentage of the population. Housing prices are highest in Canada! Thanks for the advice about the prep sink -- I have been considering it.

Bmorepanic -- Wow! Very thoughtful feedback -- which is what I am looking for. It does look like some measurements are off a bit. For all intensive purposes, I will go with the numbers. I was hoping to have a kitchen table that measures 78" by 42". Dining room is on the other side (as pictured). There are 5 of us at the table.

Pic didn't load the first time.

The 16.3 x 10.4' measurements are for the U shaped cabinet area only. Please disregard the arrows.

Here's my 2 cents. The door into the bar needs to be moved up the wall or you will need to walk around your dinning room table to get a drink. This will allow the spice kitchen door to be accessed through the 'main' kitchen to make it more convenient as a temp pantry, and the oven and fridge moved down to create a longer wall. You could move the ovens to the corner to the left of the range (by the spice kitchen door) to create more space by the fridge. The fridge could also be moved down to where the ovens a shown and a built in could occupy some of the spice kitchen space - so you could have a full size fridge that looks counter depth.

Thanks Cam349 -- definitely food for thought. All this great advice -- that's why I love GW!