LOL!! I LOVE IT! I don't normally yell like that in posts, but that is so excellent :) I wish I could offer more insight on the layout, but I'm way too enamoured with the Lego right now :)

OMG!!!!! HOW WONDERFUL!!!!! EXCELLENT MODEL!!!!

I'm not sure where the MW is. Is that it right next to the hood? I know you're hard put for space, but if that's so, it's going to diminish the beauty of your hood.

Is the black shiny part to the left of the cooking zone pantries? If so, can you insert a cubby for your MW there, and put cabinetry next to the hood?

The table area looks crowded and pointy. I think it would be a lot better if you nipped off the corner of the table that sticks out. Sort of like those restaurant tables that have a corner off so a wheelchair can pull up. Just whack on the diagonal. Obviously, that wouldn't work with a trestle, but I'd also suggest a pedestal with a flat round base would be easier on the toes and knees of anyone seated there. If the point of the trestle table was that it would be foldable, my reply is to get the pedestal table with tea table hardware so that the top flips to vertical. This is hundreds of years old technology.

I offer up these ideas because it looks like you're fitting in an awful lot of function in a very compact space. Another thing to do, regarding the table, is check with boat and RV designers and suppliers. If there's a way to make a comfortable table fit into a limited space, they've thought of it. I think you need something clever there, not just a trestle table.

Love the Legos. DH will get a kick out of the setup when he gets up. I'm constantly making him look at finished kitchens that he has absolutely no interest in. He'll love your lego kitchen.

I'm concerned about your banquette seating. Everybody will have to scoot in from the one side, which means that everybody will have to scoot out if someone on the inside needs to get up. Could the lowered baking counter be on wheels so it could move out of the way when needed?

Ok, I LOVE this model, especially the wand in the cook's hand. Don't we all wish that we had a wand to cook with, like Mrs. Weasley? (Harry Potter fans in our family!)

Hestia

That is too cool! Wish I had thought of the Lego mock-up (we certainly have enough!) Very creative. Although you might need to post drawings of your layout to get more creative. I was so caught up in the neat Lego models, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the function of your layout! :^) I will say I would make sure the pots on the rack don't hang down so far that you bang your head everytime you need to go to the sink. Great mockups!

That should say... "post drawing to get more critiques" Too enamored with the Legos...

The legos are splendid.

I wonder if you couldn't round the baking area into the table - so your effective baking area could become a lot bigger. It looks so tiny and cramped with the taller cabinet and its overhanging countertop affecting its usefulness. And I agree with laxsupermom about the crampness and relative usability of the table space with the "L" banquette.

The only other thing I can see in the forest of lego-ness, is that the cooking area appears to be in a main walkway. Partly personal choice and family patterns are factors in small spaces - sometimes you have to choose which design guideline you want to break. I'd probably work on trying to move it into a better protected spot. I just don't like kids brushing by pot handles and open ovens.

I can't comment yet as I"m too tickled by the cleverness of the lego model.

Thanks everyone for their feedback! Especially on the trestle table - I'd been struggling with the concept of that a bit, but at least I knew that I'd be shopping for that table far after everything else was decided, so I've got some time to figure that out. What about a table on wheels?

pllog - the microwave is the grey thing to the left of the hood. The black area is a wall, so no chance of moving it away. We decided to go with the small spacemaker instead of a MW convection so that it could be flush at normal upper cabinet depth. With the hood in Ocean Blue and pretty dramatic with the stainless steel lips, I'm hoping it will be ok?

hestia - That's a sword, not a wand! DH is hard at work, chopping up some mise en place.

bmorepanic - I currently roll out my pie crusts in a smaller area (with cabinets above), so to have that spot seems like a luxury to me, and definitely helpful since I'm 5'4" (on a good day). We like having a lot of space next to the range and ample room since we like to cook together, so I guess we'll have to keep kids (don't have any yet, but someday) out of the way. I was also hoping that they'd be able to chill out in the banquette area. You're right, though, that's right in the pathway of the "circle" that other parents say that every house must have, and we've seen our friends' kids in action.

Here is a link to all the plans:Kitchen Plans

Since this is already image-heavy, I'll post the planview and 2 main walls here:

Thanks for the plans. The cabinet framing around the MW will improve that. It's still not great with the focal point range and (expensive) hood, but looks better than in the model. It would look even better with a garage door, but that would be woefully inconvenient, even if there's room for it, just for aesthetics.

What I can see now, however, is a dark corner of the type Rhome warned me against, next to the fridge. Also, it seems like the sink worker and stove worker are going to bump into each other when they pivot. In a three doored galley you're never going to be able to "protect" the range. And I don't really see a solution given your existing structure, but I thought I should mention it.

Which way do groceries come in? Do you have a landing area for them?

Another "problem" with the layout, especially since you're planning kids, is that you either have to wait on them, or have them walking through the work zone to get juice or mustard. It might be very much worth the money to put a counter depth or even true built-in fridge where you have the cart/books. Or even sacrifice the window. Putting it there also makes it convenient to the DR. It's not such a big space that moving the fridge will hugely impact the standard triangle, and it could make all the difference for the flow.

If you did that, would your butcher block fit where you have the fridge? If so, one thing that switching them would do would be to de-tunnelize the foyer entrance, besides de-caving the corner.

Okay. I really get why you want that little eating nook. It would totally open up your plan if you axed it however. Even if you changed it to a cafe table and a few chairs. The banquette only gives you room to seat two people plus one squished in the corner. You could probably get two small adults and two tots if you're very friendly. "He's touching me!!!" Personally, I'd use the dining room for seating, and do more cabinets/counters. Check out Fori's plans (do a search for her threads). She has a little counter extension over cabinetry under a low window where some doors are. Very similar place to yours. It's a place where someone could pull up a chair, but not a permanent sitting area, and not a full deep overhang.

Generally, the kitchen feels crammed. I think you either need to edit, or expand your space.

I LOVE the Lego model! What if you put the range "caty corner" in the space where the refrig is located? It will be closer to the sink to empty hot pots of water and also maybe a bit more protected.

You could then put the refrig on the wall where the range currently is. That wall would be a great area for storage, double ovens, micro, or whatever you'd like!

Not sure about that corner table. It doesn't appear to be enough room for it.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a layout expert and not sure if you have enough room, but just some more thoughts for you to ponder!

Barb

LOVE the Lego model...I think it's a first on the forum!! Where in the world did you find such detailed pieces? My kids would go wild.

I am worried about the fridge location and what it does to that corner. It's even closer on the plan than it looked with the Legos. That corner will be so dark and difficult to access. I might opt to put a full depth, down-to-the-counter storage to make the most of it and forget counter space there. Of course, that would affect your current upper plan.

If you swapped the wider drawers to the left of the stove and the narrower ones to the right, it would move the stove more out of the doorway and not so much in the busy path?

I adore that Lego mockup. That will be worth the pain of a remodel right by itself ;-)

That said, although you have a big space - I think that kitchen is 20feet long - that's a lot of "stuff" for the space. If you hold back a little, I think you'll be able to get that space to look and feel its size rather than as cramped as I think it will be to work in (because of all the traffic ways separating the key functioning elements of the kitchen).

Couple of thoughts: you're putting in a BlueStar. I'd seriously recommend putting it against the outdoor wall so that you can vent it straight outside. As it is, in addition to an indoor venting scenario which will probably necessitate lots of twists and turns and inefficiencies in venting, you have your stove across a veritable highway from the sink. That can be dangerous. You've also got the makings of a black hole by the fridge as Rhome and plllog pointed out. That trestle table/banquette will be a nightmare to get in and out from.

I'd suggest redoing the layout as follows: on the exterior wall - sink and stove and perhaps your bookshelves at the left end in a tall pantry like space in stead of the fridge in its nook (see mahlgold's plan for the shelving concept). No fridge and no trestle table here. Also no lowered baking area on this run. Stove against one of the solid wall areas and sink can then go against whichever window you prefer (can they be moved at all, btw?)

Across, on the current stove wall, put the fridge and your lowered baking counter. I'd put the fridge on one end or the other of that run as works best for where the sink is. So your fridge will be across from the sink - I have that very same arrangement and it works very well for me. You could even have a small pantry on this wall since you have plenty of room.

In the space where you have your bookshelves, you may be able to put in a small (small!) pedestable table or some such. Or better yet, a wine fridge & its accoutrements ;-)

One of our major restrictions is that we don't want to muck with the existing windows. Getting permits for any exterior change (that includes window replacement) is a real pain where I live and adds significant time and cost. So, some of the layout is constrained by where the windows are, and I happen to love the original windows and the light it brings into the kitchen.

plllog - Are you saying the dark corner is in the upper or lower cabs? Below, we're solving that with a Hafele Lemans corner unit. Above, we're planning to put things we don't use that often but can't bear to throw out.

Moving the fridge to the cookbook/cart area is an idea (except for the windows), but then that takes up the entire space, with no counters next to it. Won't that make loading and unloading the fridge kind of difficult? Groceries mostly come in through the foyer, and I thought they'd land on the counter to the right of the sink. That corner originally had another cabinet with bookshelves above and drawers underneath (including a large pull out for the dog food), but we had to scrap that to stay in budget. :(

Thanks for the tip to check out fori's layout. Unfortunately, my windows are 23" from the floor. Way too low for any kind of counter, although that was something we considered at first.

bbtondo/rhome410 - The spot where the fridge is has a 7" recess. That's actually a full 33" depth fridge (the measurement is correct, the description is old when we didn't realize we had the 7" recess). That corner to the left of the fridge is basically an appliance garage without the garage. Underneath the upper cabinets, that's where the Kitchenaid mixer, rice cooker, and coffee maker will live, all which I either use frequently enough or look nice enough to leave on the counter all the time.

Hmm. We've got a meeting with the cabinet guy tomorrow morning. Looks like I have to think pretty hard about that fridge location and the window seat configuration before then. I'm leaning toward a smaller table on wheels, possibly with some expanding mechanism so that it's normally small and we can expand it when needed?

Underneath the upper cabinets, that's where the Kitchenaid mixer, rice cooker, and coffee maker will live

That's a lot to fit in that space and they'll all just be jammed together? I'm afraid that they will be hard to get at, especially the heavier ones. You will have to move these things, especially the coffee maker, to a different spot to use them? My sister had a fridge located similarly, only with a ft between the fridge and the adjacent cabinet run, where you have only a few inches. It was one of the major things she wanted to 'fix' in her remodel...The corner was so dark, and so hard to reach into, and worthless as useful counterspace.

Just don't want you to be unhappy and say, "Why didn't someone tell me?" :-)

Do you and your husband really have holes in the top of your heads?? Your Lego mock-up is adorable. It gave me the best laugh I've had for a week.

The only possible problems I see (and I'm no expert) is that the space to the left of the fridge seems difficult to use well and that it seems a long-ish way from the cooktop to the sink, plus you have to cross the traffic area.

I think you'll hate that corner next to the fridge also. And hopefully the door for that blind corner will open enough for your swing out thingie to work. I just think those situations are very un-functional. Maybe I'll be wrong this time. I also think the stove should be moved down, switch the sizes of drawers on both sides. Not only is it going to be in the way of traffic coming & going, but I worry the fridge user & oven user might be bumping butts. If you move it down the dishwasher might get in the way, but that's a lesser problem I feel.
Love the Lego mock- up too, very innovative . It must be helping a lot in visualizing everything.
Good Luck

Here is a link that might be useful: granite countertops

LOVE the Lego. The grilles and hood on the stove are particularly clever.

If they made a Lego Kitchen Obsession version, with realistic appliances, materials, lighting and friendly little plastic subs who always showed up on time, and who you could throw across the room or lock in a drawer when they were bad, they would sell thousands! And I would be late for work every day ...

Back to reality.

You might just consider a round table, or half round that people could slip around a little easier. If you have pieces that flip up, it can make getting in and out easier, at least until the table is set and people sit down. You also have to watch pinchy fingers.

I like the idea of a little banquette area in the kitchen. If you just attach bolsters to the wall, like a padded headboard, you don't even need a bench, so it takes up less room that way but is still comfortable.

Points for most creative post I've seen in awhile!

Groceries coming in from the foyer means that that's a busy door. Is your stove positioned because that's where the vent duct is? If so, I think it's more important than ever to move the fridge out. Yes, it would be more steps, for the groceries, but it opens the area away from the stove to help angle people away from the hot zone. You need some way to direct them towards the sink. How deep is your BB cart? If it can fit into the niche where the fridge is, and if it's not very deep, it'll really help to make the switch.

I agree that having no landing area right next to the fridge is not ideal. But it seems like a lesser sin to me. The counter by the cooktop isn't that far away, and if there's room for a door to swing against the wall that would leave a straight path for lifting heavy things in and out.

Re the banquette, it's very cute. Just please be realistic about it. It doesn't hold many people, though the drawers are nice. Thinking about it some more I realized that it's really the table that's the problem. If you ditch the table it becomes nice, casual seating. And it would be good with a little cafe table too. A place to set a coffee cup and a sandwich, but not serve a whole meal. They even make folding versions. If there's filler room between the fridge and the wall if you move it to that end, maybe there could be a slot to fit it in.

I hate hiking to the fridge, but having it where you show looks far more inconvenient to me than a few more steps.

Could you post a pic of the natural red birch shaker cabs? I'm planning on red birch and DH is planning on building them but I want/need a backup plan. What brand did you go with? I want one with very wide rails/stiles.

ROTFLOL!!! I laughed so loud, my kids - who are upstairs! - wondered what the heck was wrong with mom! LOVE IT!

I am so impressed with not just your mechanical skills but your creative use of Legos. I have at least one huge Rubbermaid bin full of them (usually right in the path from door to window in the playroom, perfect position to trip me up in the dark) and this use never occurred to me.

I foresee a new HGTV show featuring Lego kitchen mock-up competitions. A "Design a kitchen with Legos and win your dream kitchen!" kind of thing. You've got a head start on us, that's for sure.

I hope there is a permanent spot on the bookshelves for that lego mockup, that is just too cute!

That said, I think the main trouble spots have been pointed out.

In terms of the seating, I agree that I don't think the banquette is the best solution for your space. Possibly consider combining this space with your baking center needs by putting in a long table in front of the window(topped with marble). This could function as a counter with stools for seating (and a nice view out the window), and a great space to roll out pastry, etc. You could possibly even work in a spot to store the mixer, etc. in the corner (with cookbooks on top?).
This would also free up some counter space next to your sink (you could return that to full counter height).

Thanks again for all the feedback. While I wish everyone just loved the plan (especially after I've paid the KD for them and am already meeting the cabinetmaker tomorrow!), it's good to get all the feedback. Better to flush out all these things and be prepared than have a potential problem down the road. Nards, have a lot of thinking to do tonight.

mindstorm - The Bluestar will vent up, one 90 degree turn across the ceiling, and straight out the wall. Not as efficient as straight out the wall or straight up, but one turn should be ok, no? What counts as a "veritable highway"? It's 6 feet between the Bluestar and the sink, and I measured it out in steps - turn, 2 steps and I'm at the sink. Is that really dangerous? The windows can't be moved without severely impacting the budget, so there really isn't room on that exterior wall for both the sink and the range. That window on the left is only 23" off the ground, which is way too low for a counter or any appliances.

rhome410 - We always move the appliances out from the wall when we move them because I don't like the steam coming up and hitting the upper cabinets. The Kitchenaid might move to the baking counter, and it's possible we'll move some to the Hafele if it's too crowded. I guess I didn't really care about that counter space right next to the fridge and just thought that with the undercabinet lights, there would be enough light?

dedtired - No holes yet, but likely by the end of this project!

granite-girl - Interesting idea to swap the cabinets next to the range, and at least an idea that doesn't require me to start back at ground zero! The one thing is that the cabinet on the right is a little different in that the door opens on the side facing the doorway so that there's a bigger door and easier to get into. But I'd give that up if it meant for a better flow.

growlery - I don't quite understand the bolster - we're planning on a small bolster on top of the chair cushions. There still has to be a solid bench for people to sit on, right?

plllog - I just measured that spot when I got home, and it's not big enough even for a cab-depth fridge without changing the window, which isn't an option. I think I could even do without any table for a while - trestle table sounds like it's definitely out. I don't mind the idea of a cafe table, but is a round table with rectangular seating strange?

remodelfla - I don't have the sample door yet, but will post when I have them. We're currently planning on 2.25" rails/stiles, but we did also consider 3". Since none of our doors are overly large, I think we might stick with 2.25". Before we decided on a custom cabinetmaker, I saw some samples at KitchenSync of Ultracraft (but with red birch, there's no plywood box option) and Crystal by Quest.

lisa_a - I want a commission if they start this! Then I'd be able to afford more for my kitchen remodel!

rubyfig - Thanks. I posted this earlier, but it's only 23" up to the window, and I think that's too low for any kind of counter, isn't it?

RE; 23" to window. Got it. But if you put a table in front of the window (not under it. I see a marble topped table--on large casters), I am taking a guess that it will look fine up against the window, while still adding function as a countertop.

Yes, you're sitting on something, but I find these niches are not comfortable if your back, and the back of your head is right up against the wall. Maybe it's just me, but I want more support at my back, but there's no room for a bench back, so if you feel the need for more cushioning at your spine, you may need to get a little creative. If you don't, then don't worry about it!

Yes, you can throw down some pillows and squish them into shape.

Or, if you want to keep the banquette small, and reserve butt space for sitting, you can mount a thin cushion, in the style of a padded headboard of a bed, directly onto the wall. Either up from the bottom, or mount rail and hang the cushion from the rail. Just make it so you can slip it on and off for washing.

Interesting twist today. We met with the cabinet maker this morning, and he said he put in an almost identical window seat at another house ... and the owner made him take it out. I was actually able to go and tag along and look at it before it was all torn out, and it's true, it's really cramped. We came up with some options, but I think I'll start another thread to get some votes/feedback.

rubyfig - Interesting idea. We're moving furniture around to play with the space and see how things would look. I'll add this to the list!

growlery - I get it now. There's actually a 4" thick back cushion that fits under the windowsill, so I think we're on the same track. The whole seat is 24" deep, so 20" usable depth once you factor in the cushion, so I think that's more than enough room.

Okay now seriously - you've GOT to pitch this to Lego.com. There's a market out here...and Lego is always looking for ideas. Why not target adults?

Now, that's a great idea - both your kitchen model and pitching to the Lego company!!