Can you show the original layout too, as well as the designer's?

Sure - here is a rough sketch of the kitchen as it is today. It has an electric range (we would like gas). The wall along the dining room has a closet, and then some free-standing, custom-built, low cabinets that are 14" deep and have sliding doors.

Sorry that the orientation is in landscape vs. portrait!

Sure - here is a rough sketch of the kitchen as it is today. It has an electric range (we would like gas). The wall along the dining room has a closet, and then some free-standing, custom-built, low cabinets that are 14" deep and have sliding doors.

Sorry that the orientation is in landscape vs. portrait!

{{gwi:2108978}}

Two things we're struggling with regarding layout are: the corner where we have the sink (does that make sense), and do we have room for an island. We're just going off of some high-level comments that a designer gave us and aren't wedded to this layout. This is difficult stuff! :-)

As far as the two things you are struggling with.... I am fine with the sink where it is. It might not be my first choice, but there isn't anything wrong with it.
And two, I don't really think an Island is that worthwhile here. You will end up with 3' between your cabinets against the wall and the island. As big as the room is, that may feel tight, and you certainly won't want two people in it.
The one thing that really struck me about the layout is the peninsula. It comes out so far it narrows the aisle way to the den. I would at the very least shorten it. I might even consider removing that small wall between the den and kitchen it able. And, I might see what it looks like moving the peninsula up the plan about 3'. this way you don't come in from the room on the left and hit the end of the peninsula.

I agree that there isn't enough room for an island in the middle of the room.

I think functionally, your desire for what an island can do (which is 5-6 feet of uninterrupted counter space with nothing overhead, where people can work on both sides) can be met by getting everything off the peninsula.

Consider moving everything on the cooktop wall up toward the top of the drawing somewhat. Get the sink off the angle, on the other leg closer to the cook top. Remove the angled corner and have it 90 degrees. Have the peninsula, by itself "be" your island. Have it with nothing above it, and nothing on it except for open prep space.

People are being nice (I think). You absolutely do not have room for an island. The kitchen is just shy of 12' wide and has cabinets (and a refrigerator) on two sides. Take away those 4' (plus counter overhangs), plus a minimum of 7' for two aisles, and you have an island that's 1' wide.

I would move your range a little to the left (toward where it says 5'6") and swing the sink and dishwasher around so it is on the same run of counter. Square off the corner as Julie said. Additionally, since now the peninsula will be "appliance free", I would make it wider - 30" or so - so your uninterrupted workspace will be even more functional.

Another alternative would be to swing the sink around so it is ON the peninsula, but like others said, the aisle between the peninsula and the family room appears to be much too narrow.

The first thing I usually look at in mid-century homes is whether the wall between the kitchen and dining room can be moved, shortened, or removed altogether to make room for a large, roomy kitchen. Houses built back then often treated kitchens the way restaurants treat theirs - a place for food-preparation work to be done for hours out of view of their guests. That's not how most of us use our kitchens today; now cabinets and appliances are designed to be attractive and seen by your friends and family, and is a place for entertaining, not just preparing food and cleaning up. Many new homes dispense with a formal dining room altogehter, because a large eat-in kitchen serves that purpose. Some go further and integrate the living room into the kitchen/dining area as well. That's what I did with the 1950s house I live in - why have 3 cramped rooms when you can have one large nice one that does everything?

As for your proposed layout, don't like it much. End the cabinet runs a half foot before the door openings so the doorways aren't so crowded. The appliances seems scattershot breaking up the countertop space needlessly. I avoid corner sinks unless the sink and cabinetry really are designed for it - a rectangular sink in a corner just looks and works awkward to me.

OK, I came up with two layouts for a first try plus 2 alternate oven/cooktop options.

Layout #1 leaves the full-height wall b/w the FR and Kitchen intact. Layout #2 removes that wall. The knee wall is removed in both layouts - unless there's a crucial need for it, it's wasted space.

Layout #1 has two seats at the peninsula; #2 has three seats. With at least two seats, there will be one for each child for snacks after school, for homework while you're prepping/cooking, or for helping out.

Layout #1 has double wall ovens + MW Drawer. The two alternate cooktop wall layouts for #1 have a single wall oven with a MW in the oven stack. (The MW can be a countertop model placed in an alcove built into the oven stack.)

Layout #2 has a single wall oven (from alternate 1a).

Both layouts...

• Both counter runs along the wall are 3" deeper than standard (28.5" vs 25.5") with 27" deep base cabinets and 15" deep upper cabinets. Those extra 3" provide extra workspace, deeper cabinets for more storage, and help narrow the aisle b/w the two walls a little bit. I don't recommend deepening them anymore, though, b/c you then have to shorten the peninsula to compensate so you have usable aisles b/w the peninsula and refrigerator as well as b/w the peninsula and wall above.

  Note: I appear to have mislabeled the counter depths - the counters are 28.5", not the 29.5" that the labels say in the layouts.

The Cleanup Zone is separated from the Prep & Cooking Zones. This makes it easy for multiple cooks prepping as well as allows someone to be cleaning up and loading/unloading the DW without getting in the way of the cooks. (As a family with both parents working full-time, we found that cleanup and prepping/cooking often happened at the same time.) If the DW is running, you won't have to prep over a running DW (steam venting on you while working is not fun - nor is the heat that often accompanies a running DW)
There is both a cleanup sink and prep sink (you'll see why when you look at the layouts - the cleanup sink is across a 90" aisle from the Prep & Cooking Zones).
The aisle b/w the Kitchen and FR at the peninsula is 43" wide.
The peninsula has a nice expanse of space for school & science fair projects, baking projects, staging food for parties, wrapping gifts, other crafts and/or sewing projects.
With the prep sink in the corner, two things are accomplished: keeping the main/most accessible part of the peninsula free of "obstacles" and utilizing the corner area with a sink base (both corners and sink bases are notoriously poor for storage - so combine them into one and minimize their impact!)
There is at least 45" of space b/w the cooktop and prep sink (45" with DOs, 51" possible with Single Oven)
The refrigerator is located so that it's easily accessible from both inside the kitchen (for cooks) and outside the kitchen (for snackers) without cooks...

buehl, I hope you're here when I start my kitchen reno! Beautiful examples and well thought out. However....

"-We've thought about doing a long galley that spans the space, ...." Forget the kitchen designer; you're on the right track intuitively.

I would remove that wall in a NYM if it is not load-bearing. And if it is, I'd have a contractor shore it up so I could have a space fitting for a family kitchen. You'll have room for desk, aka paper depository, and kids' homework station as well as an eating area.

I absolutely *hate* sinks without windows, particularly if they're stuck in a dead-end corner. You might have to run water lines, but having a BIG sink under the window will make a world of difference.

Tomatofreak - the kitchen has no exterior walls, so no windows are possible. That's another reason I made the counters deeper.

Regarding sinks and windows - the advent of DWs changed the whole sink + window paradigm. In the days b/f DWs, a lot of time was spent in front of sinks - washing and drying dishes by hand. With DWs, far, far less time is spent at a sink cleaning up (in fact, only 20% of kitchen time is spent cleaning up today - and that includes clearing/wiping down tables & counters and unloading the DW as well as light rinsing (if you even do that) and loading the DW.)

Today, most of the time spent in the kitchen is spent prepping (70% or more) - so the zone that should have the best location and "view" is the Prep Zone. (10% of the time is spent cooking - actually standing in front of the cooktop or ovens.)

The knee wall can easily be eliminated and that's what I did to gain 4.5" or so without taking up space in the FR.

The full-height wall, though may not be as easily removed - but I agree 100% with you - make that a priority b/c it makes a difference in openness and functionality - and, it may not cost that much!

In point of fact - that's what we did - although in our case it was the wall b/w the DR and Kitchen - wow! What a difference it made!

One point - I'm not sure what an "MCM" kitchen would look like, so my suggestions may or may not fit the style of the home.