Your kitchen layout looks great to me and I adore your color choices. I'm not a fan of blind corner cabinets or diagonal cabinets, but lots of people like them.

Since it's a new build, have you given any thought to putting your laundry room on the same level as your bedrooms and bathrooms? I really like not having to lug laundry up and down the stairs.

It looks like a gorgeous home in the making. Good luck with your market analysis!

Erika

Where do the other two doors go?

Erm, scratch my laundry room question ... I just realized your bedrooms are downstairs!

Thanks for the responses! I've been working on this for about a year now and it's exciting to (maybe) be close.

I've added the floor plan for the first floor.

Bmore....The doors lead to the family room.

There will be a second smaller laundry on the second floor.

I don't mind the blind corner, I actually prefer it over a lazy susan, especially if I add the blind corner swing outs. I could easily change the diagonal wall cabinet to something else as things do tend to get lost in the back of them.

Any suggestions on what colors where?

Is it okay to have the door to the pantry in the mudroom?

Also, would you cover the microwave with a door that lifts up or enclose it with a stainless trim kit?

You have obviously put a lot of thought and time into these plans - it looks like it will be beautiful!

I do not normally comment on layouts b/c there are so many more talented and wise voices here, but we have a very similar "frig/freezer" wall and chose to put the prep sink there. In yours, my question is - w/the prep sink opposite the range will you end up "butt to butt" to someone and block that walkway? I don't know your family make up, but our "snack zone" has worked out better than I imagined. We have plastic cups, plates, extra silverware, bread drawer, placemats all stored in the drawers on that wall. Bottom drawer is actually a step to reach microwave and cabinets above. Boys come through and can get whatever they need and don't have to come to the cooktop side of the island at all. Also, on the back side of our island behind the cooktop, there is an additional trash pullout -- one of the best decisions in the whole space as far as function. Great that you don't have to cross to the other side of the kitchen to toss something away.

My only other comment has to do with the opening to the pantry. My initial reaction was that I would want it to open on the end so that I could walk into one long pantry. Even though we, too, have cubbies and good storage in our mudroom/laundry area, half the time the shoes are on the floor and the stuff is overflowing and in your design I could just imagine that I would have to climb over things to get to my pantry. If the pantry is exclusive storage for the kitchen I would prefer an opening adjacent to that workspace. I am probably just compensating for my messy family -- in an orderly one, this probably would work just fine!

Your designs and color choices are really pretty, but as you can see -- I am definitely biased, love living with my blue/gray kitchen!

Couple of starter things to say.

Where seating in an aisle and the ref/frz and cabinets open into the aisle, the aisle needs to be more like 5 feet minimum. If those are 32" doors on the ref/frz, the open doors will block most of a 48" aisle. The same for the base cabinets on the wall behind the seating - a 2 foot cabinet door/drawer takes 2 feet of aisle. A seated body takes 2 feet of aisle and there's no room left for the person trying to use the cabinet or appliance.

The ref doors control access to the kitchen from the garage and the lower family room entrance.

Prep is structured across a main walkway.

I would want my main orientation to be the breakfast area and its lovely windows and people. I would want to face that direction doing prep work and be at least edge-on when doing cooking/cleaning.

I know it doesn't match up with the concept of spending a lot of time isolated, and slaving over the cleanup sink and looking out the window. But with a correctly placed prep sink? If you aren't using the cleanup sink for prep, and you have a dishwasher, how much time are you spending there?

So, I might think about whether I wanted the clean up area on the inside wall - so setup and cleanup is more convenient to both the breakfast and dining area - plus somebody can setup/cleanup at the same time cooking is occurring without walking through the prep/cooking area too much.

I know I'm a wimp, but I wouldn't be happy with the pantry entrance - its too far away.

And now for the big kahuna question! Are you sure you want to be completely cut off from the family room and dining room when in the kitchen? I am a sort of formal person, so I am not pushing you towards a more open floor plan unless you want one.

I really like most of it. The pantry location isn't perfect with it not in the kitchen, but definitely doable. I've said before that in my last house, my pantry storage was shelves at the bottom of the basement stairs, and I just felt happy to have it.

Things I would definitely change for me: Prep sink to corner by fridge instead of across from the main sink. No reason for the bottom-to-bottom situation you'll have if there is a worker at each sink, and it will allow the prep sink to be used for more things...By anyone at the seating side of the island or at the counter by fridge and freezer...Or just anyone coming through that needs water or a quick hand washing. On a corner it is easily accessible from 2 sides of the island, which is great. But no reason to have it accessible to the main sink side.

I would put the trash where you now show the prep sink, facing the main sink, and put the dish drawer where the trash is...Still handy to stove and prep area, but also to cleanup area. Many here also know that I split dishwashers into different areas in my last house and what seemed like a great idea in theory, was awkward, at best. I did not repeat it in this house, but have my dishwashers flanking the sink with the trash across the aisle in the island. LOVE it.

Concept sketch with relocated cleanup, range and ref/frz. It cuts down on windows onto the porch and adds a "window" looking into the family room. Larger prep sink, handwashing/bar sink in the little cabinet run in the breakfast room. That little run becomes more formally an entertainment/drink/coffee area.

Not pretending this is ideal or nothing.

{{gwi:1938319}}

I forgot to write about one other thing I'd change:

I would move the island closer to the stove and/or deepen the stove run counters. The tighter aisle allows for easier, more efficient turning from island to stove and back as you prep and cook. The deeper counters allow nicer work and setting space, and I don't know if this would work with a range, depending on if it as a back piece up the wall, but I have a lot less spatters on the wall with the rangetop pulled out about 3 inches. This is nice, because I have a rough slate backsplash that isn't as easy to wipe down as other choices I might have made.

Best wishes. I think you're headed for a great kitchen.

Alice,

I love your kitchen! The step is very inventive. Did anything need to be done to it to help it support weight? Our microwave in our current house is in the island, but it will be over the counter in the next house and my little one will no longer be able to reach it. I may steal you idea!!!

Most of the things you have mentioned, I have already thought of but ruled out for one reason or another. I'll elaborate on my thinking. If I put the prep sink in the snack area then I don't have a view when working there, even though it does make that side of the kitchen more user friendly. If I move the sink to that side of the island then I am in the way of anyone sitting at the counter and in the way of anyone needing to get to the fridge. So I settled on the end of the island closest to the range. Also in another drawing while fine tuning the kitchen, the entry to the pantry was at the end facing the cubbies. I moved it because I thought that the door to the pantry "ruined" the line of sight through the house, since it wouldn't be centered like the bedroom door at the opposite end of that long gallery. I let aesthetics rule over function on that one.

Bmorepanic,

Thanks for your comments. Some I had thought of, some not. The fridge blocking that main entry has been my biggest concern. In an earlier plan I had moved it to where the range is as you did in your drawing and put the range in the middle of the wall where the fridges currently are. But the range was too far away to be efficient because I actually had to travel around the island much more in my triangle then I do with the fridge on the lower end. Also that wall is too long to make my 36" range be a focal point. I would need at least a 48", which is not in my budget. There is actually a 54" aisle on the island seating side, which while not the idea of 60" is better than 48". The prep sink, is actually in the end of the island facing out the breakfast room windows. It does have the inconvenience of being in the way of the range. Our last four homes have had the open concept with the family room. DH does not like it as the sounds of the kitchen make it difficult to hear the television in the family room. Your drawing above with the arched opening between the two doorways is EXACTLY like our last house except there were only columns separating the two rooms, no wall. In my very first drawing when I first started planning this house, I drew the kitchen almost exactly as you have it, except the size of the pantry didn't change, only the opening moved and I didn't have a prep sink in the wall next to the family room or a window into that room. The problem I had with this drawing is less light into the kitchen area, only room for one dw and I now have the range and main sink butt to butt. There was wonderful symmetry with the two "hutches" at either end of the window wall run, a 24" window over each 33" pot and pan drawer and the range in the middle. But I thought it would be better to have the prep sink back up to the range rather than the main sink. Here is my original drawing....

Rhome,

I like your advice on flanking the main sink with the DW's and switching the trash to the island. If I add another 6 inches to the island on the range side and shorten the aisle to 42" then the cabinet facing the fridge would be 21" and I could fit in an 18" square prep sink still on the end with the range facing the view through the breakfast room but on the corner closet to the fridge rather than in the center.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Keep them coming.........

I'll try to play around with the ideas mentioned above next week and post more drawings. We are headed out of town for the weekend.

For easier comparison--the proposed kitchen...The prep sink is planned for the center of the island closest to the range. If I extend the island on that side by 6" I can move it to the "bottom" of that end of the island, and no longer be butt to butt with with the range or the main sink.

{{gwi:1938322}}alt="Sink, island, range, pantry">

Takes deep breath
You know, your windows over the sink won't ever look like that or produce a lot of light because they are actually windows into a deep porch.

This last layout you posted is almost exactly like mine except I have wall ovens in the corner where your blind corner is and my island is closer to my cooktop (thanks to rhome for suggesting that right before I finalized my layout!). My prep sink is in the corner of my island just like yours. There's no conflict with the cooktop because we use it from the other side.

Have a nice weekend!

Erika

Here is a link that might be useful:

Humor me for one more try:

Erika's sinks aren't back to back, and even so, I fought about that one a bit. ;-)

1) In this plan, anyone from the bar side of the island (or getting something out of the fridge) wanting water/a sink will go through the cooking area to access one. Why not put one where they and the cook can both reach without walking in each other's way?

2) Moving the sink will leave the most valuable real estate open for prep directly in front of the stove and not at someone's elbow...Wash, prep, turn, and drop into the pan.

3) I don't know why having the sink on that side would ever block anyone's access to the fridge, as they would be offset from one another. If you have room for sitters on that side, there is room for someone standing at the sink, who will take up less room. My prep sink is situated straight across from my oven (4 ft aisle) and it doesn't cause a problem with its use.

My last words on the subject. (I think!) :-)