Does this kitchen make my family room butt look SMALL?

13 years ago

My first post on the Decorating Forum! I've spent the year mostly on the Kitchen Forum working on a new kitchen. I think we're finally narrowing in on a plan, which is moving the kitchen into the old dining room space and flip-flopping the family and living rooms. It gives me a GREAT kitchen. (Hooray!) But maybe the family room becomes too small??

Please help me figure out what to do with this space!! I'm having trouble figuring out furniture placement in the new family room as it feels awkward to me. We spend most of our family time in the FR where we play with toys and games with 2 young kids; watch TV and movies; and hang out. We need play space, some toy/game storage, as much seating as possible, and seating convenient to TV.

Here are the only 2 furniture arrangements my overworked brain can come up with at this point.

OPTION A: If the TV goes on the wall like this, I get lots of floor-to-ceiling built-in storage in a great visual. BUT the fireplace feels cut off from the rest of the room.

OPTION B: The TV is mounted above the fireplace mantel. I think the seating should be back far enough to minimize neck strain. I've never liked TVs above the fireplace, but it might work here. (I just drew in a sectional that we can buy for a good price, but I'm open to other seating options. With the small bumpout of sectional on the bottom end being armless, viewing won't be impeded.) The negatives here are less storage for toys and DVDs/CDs and having to try to figure out how you hook up cable box and DVD player remotely from TV and still have function. That gives me a technology headache.

Any other ideas??? Do you like one of these? Please help! I hear you guys over here are wizards with furniture placement!

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Comments (11)

mitchdesj
13 years ago
I'm not good with plans so I'll let others comment but I have to congratulate you on your title, I love it.
mjsee
13 years ago
what mitchdesj said. BRILLIANT!
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Jeesh, I love those photos. Have never seen a kitchen like that and it is beyond beautiful. Plus the dining photo perfect in loved colors and fabric. Idie, my favorite colors are red/green. But am not cottage, more rustic. Comment on the kitchen layout. One of the things that bugs me about mine is the less than enough counter space between the stove and sink. May have mentioned that whenver my kids show up, the 3 of us end up in the corner. Plenty of other space available, but they just seem to be magnets to the corner. Most of my past kitchens have been U or L shaped with more counter space between. If I could figure out how to move stove or sink over that would be my first option. Isn't going to happen though without a ton of remodeling. You have a lot of room for so many options. You could put the stove on an angle, add counter/cupboards on both sides. This wouldn't cost much as the outlet wouldn't have to be moved. Would be fun to follow along as you change things. Great so many people are responding too. Chris, You have done so much to your yard, plus love the kitties. We are working on a cat run too, the ole cat box in the house has finally gotten to me. Can't let kitties out, too many bears, lions and cyotes. And...I live in the city, but near the base of the mountains. We actually had a bear wandering around in the middle of town this summer. Poor guy and all the other wild life, must be really short of food in the mountains.
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this is very helpful, because i can see now that that is a door rather than a corner that is usable..which it appeared to be in the diagram..so yeah..my idea wouldn't work there. but your diagram looks like it would be very useful..i see you appear to have a small freezer too..could it be tucked into the closet area maybe with a pantry beside it..remove the closet doors..don't crowd the freezer too much..but if you put it in there and a maybe bookcase beside it too..that could hold a t v..there or a flat screen on the wall where the freezer is could be seen by the entire kitchen.. the sofa/loveseat there would work out well.. i see you have your brooms hanging on the wall..they could be put into a broom closet in that closet area beside the freezer too..to eliminate the visual clutter as an interior designer i'm going to throw out some advice you can take or throw away..one thing..your cabinets having 2 colors add too much contrast to the room..and the dark color closes it in..try painting everything a lighter color..say a soft warm buttery yellow, or pure white, off white or a soft grey..or something similar..or if you want a charcoal grey similar to your stainless steel appliances would blend them in and make a less chopped up look..this would save having to buy a lot of new cabinets..unless you plan to do that anyway..if you do..go with something that will blend away .. your wall color is nice and if the cabinets were all the white trim color that would be more uniform as well.. the metal wall backsplash around your stove is very distracting..it would cost very little money to buy some white subway tiles and some adhesive and grout and do a lovely backsplash around the wall space..and it would be fresh and lovely.. until you get things changed..try slipping a white bookcase under the end of the counter across from your stove..or build in some white shelves there..then you can get the appliances off of your countertop and give you more room and less visual and actual clutter.. if you go with plain white cabinets..you also could buy some small wall hung ones for very little money and hang them over your refrigerator and over your freezer (best in the closet i think) ..and that way you can hide some of the visual clutter that is ending up on top of them..and they'll just disappear. what needs do your diagrom not meet, you said it wouldn't meet all of your needs..a sofa bed there would sleep the overnight guests..the freezer in the closet with some more storage there will amaze you at what you can store if properly outfitted..the moving of the range will give you a fairly good work triangle but i would be slightly concerned over the frig placement outside of the triangle.. an option would be to make a really thin 2x4 drywall wall behind the sofabed and put the frig there..and use the opposite wall for just floor to ceiling cabinetry or counter with cabinets or shelves above..a simple 2 x 4 wall would be very easy to install and it would give you not only a great wall behind the sofa..but also hanging space on both sides for shelves..cabinets or utensils or artwork. it could be a partial wall only behind the frig if that was all you would need..or it could be only as high as the top of the frig with a shelf on top for plants or just to allow airflow. your windows are at a great height to be over a counter.. can't wait to see what you come up with..and hey that corner stove idea might work too..just make sure it doesn't block any drawers or cabinets that would have to open..that can be a problem with things near other things.
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Hi All, Here's the current layout. I posted it earlier but I think it got lost in all the layouts (sorry!). Catbuilder - you make a great point. I did consider those options. I've lived here for over two years now and the two biggest things missing are a comfortable place for a couple of adults to perch in the kitchen (I have no where to put people when they come by and I am working in the kitchen), and a kitchen table for small dinners and homework. Currently, my son does his homework on the coffee table in the family room and we often sit on the floor and eat there also. I don't want to give up the dining room. It's a lovely room with floor to ceiling windows and we often have many dinner guests. I also don't want to give up the "living room". I put it in quotes because really it's our library/quiet space. It's really nice to read there or work at the computer there. So, for the time being, I'm still trying to fit it all in. That said, I don't want a poor outcome because I tried to do too much. Debrak 2008 - That's a great photo, thanks! It looks a lot like my space. It would mean no kitchen table though, so I'm not too keen on it at this point. Gardenpixie - thanks for the isle measurements. Your thoughts are very reassuring. My space is so small, I would think 42" isles would look out of proportion. Thanks for the encouragement!! Does anyone have an opinion about Marti8a's layout? It does seem to maximize the space, but it seems to lose the definition of the kitchen and just feels a little out of place to me. Thoughts? Many thanks again! -kb
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I disagree with most. I believe the tan / golds with the grey look beautiful together. As a matter of fact they compliment each other. So don't work against it , work with it and enhance it! This is a nice room that is in harmony with the very colors your are struggling with.
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palimpsest
13 years ago
What happens on the other side of the fireplace over by the dining room? Is that the living room?

I might further flip the dining room with the family room as you have it now and make the L shaped area of the drawn dining room and the living room (I am assuming) one large living space. You might be able to get the TV area on the wall where the W/D is and seating opposite, then more seating in the LR area or the TV on the back of the oven baking area and seating around that with another area in the LR, acknowledging the fireplace.

I am assuming as a see through that the FP is in a contemporary house. Often the fireplaces were not the center of it all as they were in traditional houses but were off to the side, so it may be okay for it to not be the primary focus.
breezygirl
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi Palimpsest! Nice to see you over in Decorating! The lower right corner of the house would be the new Living Room. Sorry I forgot to label. We would like to keep both the Family and Living rooms. Bmorepanic tried to talk me into one big seating-type room recently. DH and I have thought about this many times during our 11 years here, but it doesn't feel right to us. We entertain A LOT and everyone seems to like to spread out and get separation from other guests when necessary.

Rhome410 drew a different arrangement over on the Kitchen Forum as I posted this there also. I think it could work.

Funny, this house is definetly NOT contemporary. It's just a house. No style, really. Just a house. It was built about 40 years ago in a solid neighborhood with great amenities, but is very basic. We're trying to give it some style and charm. We have/had (now torn out during demo) a very large brick woodburning fireplace stack roughly where mine is drawn with a firebox on each side offset from each other. It was a monster and took up too much space. We'd really like to keep a fireplace. I thought the double-sided one was a great idea to provide some separation b/w FR and LR, but yet keep the rooms more open than they were.
palimpsest
13 years ago
The planned dining area and the planned Family room area are essentially the same size, but you have more unobstructed wall space in the dining room, where you need almost none, and not enough in the planned family room were you need it, unless you float everything except the TV...which I think ends up in a not-so-good relationship to the seating.

You could still have two separate areas, for LR and FR, but they would be adjacent rather than flanking the fireplace...just something to think about
breezygirl
Original Author
13 years ago
Ah ha! I see what you mean about wall space and location. We had wanted more separation so I could have a quiet spot on occasion away from the kids and TV. I don't even have a master bedroom large enough for a sitting spot so no getaway there. I appreciate your comments and will think on them tonight after dinner.
colebug
13 years ago
What about using arrangement A, but replacing the couch in the middle of the room with two chairs, possibly with wheels That way if you wanted to cozy up to the fire place it would be easy to move the chairs closer to the fire. The chairs could also be moved to better see the TV if you want.

By the way, I've been in a house with a similar arrangement and it worked well.
breezygirl
Original Author
13 years ago
Colebug--two chairs instead of the couch is a good idea. Very versatile, like you mentioned. And when you saw you've been in a house with a similar arrangment, do you mean the furniture arrangment? Or do you mean size of the family room? It's an awkwardly shaped room give the aisles, windows, etc. Thanks!
lyfia
13 years ago
Option A seems very cramped if you have it drawn to scale. Option B I'm not so sure about either due to the location of the TV.

It seems like palimpsests ideas would be more workable, though I see your point about wanting a space away. Maybe you could do a sitting area in the kitchen part and then have the dining and family room in the other section. This way you could just use chairs etc. and also create a conversation area for when you entertain and have to do things in the kitchen without having the TV noise.
breezygirl
Original Author
13 years ago
Lyfia--both are drawn to scale. Over on the Kitchen Forum, Rhome410 drew a sectional in facing the TV with built-in cabs on the wall as in Option A. One sofa leg was against the window, and the longer leg had its back facing the kitchen. I think I like that the best. It's still tight though.

BUT.....Bmorepanic drew this completely different version for me. It takes advantage of part of a bumpout space that he had initially planned for but weren't going to use when we moved the kitchen. It needs a bit of tweaking, but I'm very interested in it. What do you think of this?
colebug
13 years ago
The house I was in had a similar arrangement with the dinning room on the other side of a wall and the kitchen and family room in essentially the same room like yours. It was nice for a party because everyone could be "in the kitchen" but could either be around the island or sitting on the couches (they had a sectional). The house also had a door out the back to a deck, and the small wall where you have the fire place. So in many ways, very similar to your house; I can't remember the dimensions, but it was a house on a city lot, so it wasn't too big.

Does this kitchen make my family room butt look SMALL?

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mitchdesj

mjsee

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Does this kitchen make my family room butt look SMALL?

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mitchdesj

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