Need layout help: small kitchen with multiple doorways
Downsizer_2014
9 years ago
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debrak2008
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDownsizer_2014
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Best Layout for small kitchen with three doorways
Comments (19)Ideally you need more prep room between the sink and the stove. Looks like you only have a bit more than 2' there. I would feel really cramped in that corner. I would evaluate moving the sink to the left, perhaps lining the right end of the sink with the center of the window. This would HUGELY improve your work/prep area. The words I typed by the sink may not be readable. I am not sure if I would put the DW to the right or the left. Ditto the trash. Depends on your dish storage. If you search on HOUZZ and GW, you can find many sinks that are not centered under windows. They can look fine. (Much better in real life or pics than they do on a diagram, where the lack of symmetry is so apparent) And in your case, the bigger prep area is SO desirable. I like the idea of planning snallow (4'' or so) shelves on the back of the door. You could gain a huge amount of space for canned goods and spices there. That the door can be opened all the way back into the adjacent door area makes it even more practical to do this and still have full access to the pantry and its contents. And I REALLY like the idea that you will mock this up with tape on your floor. That can really help. I hope some more people comment for you. We have some here who are really great with layouts....See MorePlease help with layout! Small space, lots of doorways
Comments (36)#5 is my favorite as well! That's why I chose it for the Zone/Traffic illustrations! :-) You have room for pot/pan storage next to the range, dish storage above the DW, plenty of prep workspace as well as cooking landing zone/workspace, and, with the ample upper cabinet storage, room to store most-used food items, etc. Dish Storage...If you notice in the last 3 layouts, I added a "dish hutch" style cabinet b/w the windows. it's a 24" cabinet that goes down to the counter. It's over the DW and partially in the corner area (but not too far since you want to be able to reach it), so it shouldn't take away from your Cleanup Zone's workspace or that wonderful expanse of workspace you have on the peninsula. DR Wall...Yes, you need to take the DR wall down for the refrigerator to fit. I tried a smaller one (33" wide), but then you really need to get a full-depth refrigerator and that takes away another 6" or so of aisle space b/w the peninsula & refrigerator, making the peninsula too narrow. (It cannot be recessed into the wall b/c it's on an exterior wall.) I suppose you could leave the wall up in front of the peninsula, but I was trying to give it a more open feel that I think will help encourage your family to use the DR more and be happy using it. We were never that happy with our closed up DR even w/the 53" doorway b/w it and the LR (there was only a 33" doorway b/w the DR & kitchen)...it always seemed isolated and cramped. Now that the wall is down, the DR seems bigger, even though the peninsula overhang actually takes space away (*sigh* another measuring issue forced this!). Maybe if we had a big DR we might have felt differently, but our DR was only: 13'8" x 11'1". (With 12" of the the peninsula overhang now extending into the DR, the DR is now only 12'8" x 11'1".) Another nice thing about the fully open area + peninsula is that the peninsula is a great place for staging food & dishes for setting the table, taking food to/from the DR, and clearing the table. Even if you moved the doorway, you will be dealing with structural issues, so I'm not sure how much you'd save by not taking the entire wall down...unless it's load-bearing, but I don't think it is given the layout of the walls... I think the load bearing walls are the ones b/w the kitchen/DR and LR/Foyer and b/w the FR and Laundry Room. BUT, I'm not a structural engineer so do NOT take my word for it! (I'm just guessing based on what I've seen here & in my home!) If, however, you did want to keep that wall, you could do something like this... OR...See MoreNeed Layout Help- Small Kitchen causing big problems
Comments (67)Newbieremodeler, This is my opinion but there are few things that are necessary in making a small home function well for a family for a LONG time, not temporarily until you buy a bigger house. But a well functioning home where you can raise a family. I am thinking about this alot lately because we are buying some rental properties and trying to make these homes "livable" for a family so they are easily rentable. These are things I am thinking about.... 1. Eat in kitchen is not necessary but a kitchen that is close and CONNECTED to an eating area is. (there is a difference) You can connect to an eating area with visual and physical connection. 2. Easy access to the nice green space in your backyard/sideyard that allows you to connect to the outdoors. This allows you to enjoy summer BBQs and perhaps entertain easily in the summer. (I would put sliding glass door from your dining room to make it happen easily in your house). You can't afford the linear foot without cabinets in the kitchen. So you have to put the slider in the dining. This is a typical small home solution. An easy way to make your house livable is to put a deck across the east side of the house (kitchen dining side if this give you a nice access to the yard and increasing the entertaining space without adding on to the house.) 2. Dining area that accomodates a larger group of people with rearrangement of furniture to host occasional parties, ie Thanksgiving, birthday parties, having another family over for dinner is ABSOLUTELY necessary for long term staying power of a small home. I think this is a more important criteria than actual eat-in kitchen. When the house cannot accomodate life's meaningful events in your own home, you feel that your house is not "good" or "big" enough. I think older home designs (pre-WWII) understood this well and gave generous spaces to the dining area even though they did not give enough to the kitchen. Imagine feeling that you can never host a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 at your house because there is no way to make it happen even with rearrangement of the furniture.... In your current kitchen, you can probably seat 6 to 8 adults in the dining and a card table with kids in the living room. Set the table close to the dining opening near the fireplace and have a nice Thanksgiving/holiday party at your home for 10 or more people. This allows you to create memories for your kids. In many of your plans, there is no way you can host the holidays at your home: ie the banquet kitchen and the kitchen eat in table.... These are great for larger homes where there are other areas to host a large party but not in a small home, IMHO. Do you forsee yourself hosting family parties? Dining rooms that are somewhat open to living room rearranges furniture easier for parties. There are people who never host sit down dinners (informal for families. I am not even taking FORMAL) at their homes because it is impossible. On the other hand, I have been in homes that are much smaller but the house makes holiday dinners happen. If you think having these life's events in your home is important to you, then you need to design for it. I think many of your designs show 36 inch opening between the dining and LR. I think this is smaller than what you already have. (58 inches, I am reading). I am not sure what the reason is behind this.... I would open up dining area as much you can given the load bearing condition. Figure out the house first then the kitchen. This is really important! This is not easy because you have to optimize everything and look ahead to the kind of family you will have. You need to have a reasonable plan for various phases of your family's life. For example, if you are a family that will watch TV in the basement, then you need to plan for the basement media room. More questions about the house: How will you use your basement as you have kids? Will you be satisfied with 1 bath on the main or wil need/want to add 1/2 or 1 bath on the main? Where is the nice part of the yard? How will you access that? Do you use the garage to park? If so, do you enter the house through the kitchen? Do you just use the garage as a storage and never enter the house that way? You can add storage in the garage easily to put overflow kitchen stuff in there IF you move the kitchen to where the dining is currently. (as is one of your ideas) In a small home, I actually prefer this type of arrangement than making a kitchen that is too big for the house... (there should be a balance of rooms in a given house) Do you have places for young toddlers/school aged kids to go and play on a rainy/cold day? Where will the toddlers eat? (I had a small toddler table next to my kitchen island for couple years until my kids were old enough to climb the stool easily. The booster chair streapped to the stool did not work for us as well.) Do you have places for teenagers to hangout and have some privacy? Do you have a place for adults to have a little quiet and solitute from one another. (Bedroom is fine for this if you design for it) Do you have a place for occasional overnight guests? How do you enter the house? Where to you drop your stuff as you enter? When I look at your LR, it looks underutilized to me. i would close that opening, and put a wall there so you can cluster the seating arrangement next to the FP. Then you move the kitchen where the DR is now. You create some storage in the garage that stores all your large occasional kitchen stuff. The dining room should have a large opening to the LR which makes the rearranging for large parties easy. You can see into the dining and you feel more connected to the family. (if you DH watches TV and he won't budge from that, then you need to be able to see the TV from the kitchen to feel connected to the family) The couch should face the FP and you can have a console behind the couch which will create a space near the front door a sense of entry. These are some ideas to get you started.... Good luck....See MoreHelp maximize seating in u-shaped kitchen w/ multiple doorways
Comments (5)(not a pro) I realize you didn't ask about this, but please make sure there's enough room between the refrigerator and the wall to fully open the door. You don't want to end up with this: Check the manual (install guide or owner's guide) for the model they have or are considering, for a picture like this that shows how much room is needed to fully open the doors (top image.) The goal is to open each door wide enough that the drawers can be removed for access and cleaning....See MoreDownsizer_2014
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