What place in Alaska? Do you have running water and sewer? Is the space oriented for sun through the windows on deck and etc.?

Valdez...the snow capital of Alaska so we have to build with that in mind, as well :) It's an acre lot. Yes to running water & septic. Yes, the southern view will be full sun & lots of windows plus the greenhouse. I'll post a pic below.

We'll also have a full daylight basement which will house 2 storage rooms - one will contain utilities & a huge exercise room - we need that here since going to town (14 miles away) in the winter is not always 'fun'. :)

We go to Anchorage to stock up - we do have a store here but the prices are not good. We do the Costco, etc. run. We also have 5-gallon bucket storage for lots of grains, etc.
We'll have a loft which will have the guest BR/bath & loft study for hubby.
This is our winter southern view. There are mountains to the east & west as well:

Summer view:

South elevation. You'll see that we need a good pitched roof for snow shed, plus, the less angles in the roof, the better. We get lots, & I mean LOTS of snow! For scale sake - the deck comes out about 22 feet & I'm pretty sure the greenhouse is about 8 feet shallower:

Thanks!

Wow--what a beautiful (& challenging) place to live!!! I'm not showing my husband the view you have or I have a feeling we'd be moving (he loves to climb the 14er's here in CO). :)

I'm definitely not a layout expert, but it seems to me that if you have back problems, a wall oven is definitely necessary for you even if it means sacrificing some counter space. You have the island for prep space so hopefully that will make the more cramped counter space by your range tolerable. I do think you could have a longer run of counter on the other wall if you moved the frig down to the end. You'd only have landing space on one side of the frig then, but I think it would be more usable space not chopped up. The other thing you could do is put your main sink and DW in your island and put the prep sink in the corner. I envy you your task of designing your forever home in such an incredible location!

Your fridge is now back where it doesn't work in concert with your stove and prep sink... You decided to start over from where we went with the plan in your other post?

Here is a link that might be useful: previous post

I agree about switching out the main sink with the prep sink. I'd put the main sink in the island with a ledge behind it so no splashing and a prettier view for those seated there.
I'd then move the cooktop to the right a bit to get out of the way of the cleaning area if there are 2 people working.

Please keep in mind, I am not 100% sure what is what in your picture because the print and detail are so small. Can you enlarge it and repost please?
Do you have a picture of what it will look like looking straight on and not an overhead shot?

Thanks, flwrs.

Ha ha...I know what you mean about not showing hubby the pics...most men love Alaska! :)

Yes, I'm counting on my island to counteract the limited space beside the cooktop. Thanks for your input.

The reason the fridge is there is because the dishwasher has to be a certain distance from the sink in order for it to be useful while loading dishes. I didn't want to break up counter space any more than I had to.

That 24" at the end was originally only 12" but I needed a mini control center to control the flow of 'stuff' that comes into the house. Phone, recharge center, calendar...drawers for things not related to food prep like screw driver, pens, tape, that kind of stuff.

Most of the action takes place near the kitchen so I have to plan accordingly. I didn't want my island to become a repository which I KNOW it would become without some place to put it.

I will have a small office/study (& I mean small) toward the back of the house next to our BR but I know me...it's far enough away that I know I will pile up stuff on the kitchen counter for things 'I'll get around to'.

Thanks!

Thanks, rhome...I really don't know how this evolved into this! In looking at your drawings (which I will post below), I really DO like them & I'm going to see if it will work. Just wondering if there will be enough space.

My one concern with the fridge on the other side is it will stick out a lot since it's 36" deep. Do you think I could still recess it into the pantry some to work? Plus, there's a pocket door behind it.

Another concern...where could my mini control center be?

Thanks for your help :)

You can't recess it into a pocket area, but would it be worth it to change that to another door style? I think it should be pretty easy to inset the fridge into the pantry.

I need to point out that in the above drawings I forgot to include the prep sink on the island!

Here is the layout to show more about the clearances and room to work. My concern with the plan in your original post is the crowding around sink and stove and the fridge being outside the loop of the work area, not creating an efficient work path. I had only 11 or 12 inches between my range and fridge in our last house, but there was good counterspace on the other side of the stove, in addition to the island. With your original plan, the stove is hemmed in by the oven and the sink, and the sink area is crowded by the stove. I know you could go undercounter with your oven to improve things, but with your back concerns, I wouldn't want that.

It seems I did a plan that didn't show all the length you had on the sink/oven wall...So you may have more room than this plan shows, I can't remember for sure.

Great plan, rhome...I have about 9' from the inside corner of the sink to the end of the counter run.

My question - where would I put a mini control center? I guess I could use a drawer in the island for the stuff I want to store but no place for a phone, calendar, etc. What would you do?

Should I move the cooktop closer to the sink since I tend to work from left to right?

I appreciate all your help & I'm definitely going to use your ideas.

Forgot to ask...

I'm assuming each square is 12"? If so, it's really close to what I have which is about 9'.

Do you think a regular swing door would work? It should probably be an inside swing. I could then bump out the fridge into the pantry but I have to keep in mind the swing of the fridge doors.

I REALLY like the efficient work triangle of fridge, stove & prep sink.

Where would you put the phone/calendar/chargers, things like that? I guess I could use one of the island drawers for the non-kitchen stuff.

Thanks!

Thanks, diana...I did consider an island main sink at one time coupled with a raised dishwasher but it gave me very little prep space. If you go to the thread rhome linked, you'll see the idea.

Plus, the island itself would be 36-38" high and the raised bar to accomodate a 10" raised dishwasher would be too high for me for comfortable sitting. One of the downsides of a small kitchen & I know I can't have everything I want but I'm trying to get the high-priority items in. I appreciate everyone's input!

How about a charging station in the pantry, or an out-facing cabinet on the end of the oven?

If you do an inswing door into the pantry, it'll either block the window, or block your path to the shelves. Do an outswing...against the fridge would keep from blocking the other doorway you have in that area, but not be as easy for bringing things out of the pantry into the kitchen. So depends on which is the lesser of 2 evils. Have you ever considered no door on the pantry? That's what I plan for the kitchen forming in my mind for my 'next house'...;-)

This is a little OT, but in looking at your house plans I see that your greenhouse is separated from the southern wall of your house by the staircase (just outside pantry). That strikes me as not an energy efficient idea since you'll have an additional exterior wall on the greenhouse. There are issues relating to greenhouses being against household buildings, mainly moisture control ones, but having it free standing with no possibility of offsetting the added energy loss by compensatory solar gain (even if only during some seasons) would be a problem for me. Satisfactory moisture control at the greenhouse/mainstructure interface can be done, but it needs careful planning.

It's also possible I am misinterpreting your plan, too. If so, carry on as usual and ignore my query.

L

L...thanks for your input. We had to have access from the greenhouse to the outside and it does have a door at the end of the stairs both ways.

Another design consideration we have is we live right in the middle of bear country. Thus, the reason for 2 doors to get onto the deck & down to the ground and no outside staircase TO the deck. Mr. Bear is known for their Herculean feats so I don't want to leave anything to chance!

I'll ask the architect about this...thanks for bringing it to my attention.

rhome,

One main reason I wanted to have a door to the pantry is to keep it cooler than the rest of the house. The pantry area I have now is right off the arctic entry so it's very cool. I like it that way for pest issues. I know this new pantry won't be as cool but at least cooler than the kitchen.

No door is a possibility, though. What about putting some kind of door to the shelving area itself? Maybe a bifold door? Anything to keep it cooler. What do you think?

I was looking at your drawings and thought of something...

How about I put the microwave over the dishwasher & use that now empty space for my mini control center? I could even put doors there. I could have my calendar on the wall. I could still put cabinets above...the center doesn't have to be huge. What do you think?

I was also thinking of moving the cooktop down closer to the sink since I tend to work from left to right. I know it won't be symmetrical but at this point and with such a small area to work with...I think function beats form. Anyway...this will be such a huge improvement on what we have now so I'll be happy! :)

It sounds like you're forgetting that your prep sink will be your cooking area sink, and you have the island to work on? The idea is to make a triangle with the fridge, prep area (island workspace, including sink) and your stove. Separation between that and your main sink will allow any helpers, when you have them, to work without you all crowding each other, and when there aren't helpers, it's not that far for you.

If you use the island as prep space, will you need as much space to the left of your stove?

I want to make sure you're basing your decisions on your new and improved kitchen, not how you've always done things because of the layout you have now. You do have to take your own habits and preferences into account, but try to think a little out of the box to use your new kitchen to its fullest benefit/advantage, also. In addition, think not only of counter space, but the size of cabinets, uppers and lowers, you'll be able to fit to each side of the stove. You want to make the most of that space, too.

Thanks, rhome...you're right; I'm just so accustomed to the way I work now, I'm trying to fit that into my new space. My only work space (beside my kitchen table behind me = back killer!) is 35" to the left of the stove. The counter then makes a turn and there's about 15" of counter before the sink begins. But, that's usually filled with dirty dishes while cooking (no dishwasher) so basically, it's just the 35".

Is 18" an OK space on either side of my cooktop? I'll have a 30" cooktop by the way.

What could I use the space to the left of the main sink?

I really like this new plan & I've already updated the architect. Thanks!

What did you think of my mini control center I mentioned in my last post?

rhome,

Forgot to ask...what do you think of my pantry door idea? I don't want to drive the architect crazy :) Thanks!