Stove and fridge too close? Help me gain inches, please.

13 years ago

Trying to decide on best cabinet placement, especially on stove/fridge wall.

We are DIY (very slowly!)and have kitchen stripped to studs at the moment. Below is current layout, but have some questions about best use of space. Any ideas are welcome!

One idea to gain more space between fridge and stove is to reduce the 15" cabinet between stove and corner to a 12" or 9" and add it to the counter between stove and fridge. Is it more important to have additional space between stove and fridge, or better between the stove and corner (and ultimately the sink)? I wanted to have enough space between stove and corner for someone to stand and prep, but then you can't use the counter in the corner on the sink side, so do you gain anything?

The 36" doorway on bottom right is to my living room. Not sure I want the side of my fridge to be first thing I see, so this option allows 5" for a sheet rock wall or I could use only 3" instead to do 2 fridge panels. Below is a picture looking from my LR into my kitchen. (You can see part of my kitchen goodies being stored in my LR.) Also, you can see that the fridge will be the first thing you notice.

This picture shows the view from the kitchen to the LR. The doorway will be moved down leaving only 7" in bottom right corner. And I was only going to leave about 3" (enough for casing)between the fridge and doorway. Fridge in picture is about 6" from doorway, so will be even more visible from LR.

I have been trying to squeeze as much room as I can from the doorway to add to space between stove and fridge, so I could use that extra 3" by eliminating wall and making a 30" counter by fridge. How important is it to add more inches to counter, versus using a barrier between fridge and walkway? And would it look weird to only have a wall on one side of the fridge, and not the other? I really like the boxed in fridges, but am afraid it would take too much of my wall space.

Any input you can give me on these questions, or any other layout input would be more than welcome. I am trying to make the best use of my space and know that inches matter. Thanks for your time and help!

Pamla

Here is a link that might be useful: Prior layout thread

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Comments (4)

rhome410
13 years ago
For me food usually goes from the fridge to the sink, and then is prepped at a convenient spot between sink and stove, so room between stove and sink would be more important. In my last kitchen, the stove was 11 or 12 inches from the fridge, so your 27" (I think that's what it says?) looks like a LOT.

I wouldn't be worried about seeing the fridge through the doorway. I'd want to make sure there's room for the door trim and maybe a little wall between it and the fridge. Wall or panels is your personal choice... I like either, but definitely like the fridge to have something on both sides. I don't think you'll notice the few inches once things are finished.
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bmorepanic
13 years ago
I'm kinda in the same camp of wouldn't worry about it. If you really want some inches, you can build a ref hut out of 3/4" side panels. Some cabinet mfgr's REQUIRE that you attach the over the ref cabinet to three different surfaces (Wall, side cabinet, ceiling, side panels) or they void the cabinet warranty on that cabinet.

Some people think any view of the ref from another room is evil, but I personally don't care one way or the other. I agree that you'll end up prepping between sink and range. Its always good to reflect on "prep" corners, tho.

The actual corner can't be used for prep. If you think about it a little, you can't get close enough because of the other counters - and there's the gap at the counter edge. Personally, I wouldn't prep on the range side (altho I would sit stuff there) because I'm right handed and my elbow would be in conflict with hot pots. It's an ok sized run on the sink side, but I'd have a concern about wetness, dishes (drying or dirty) and small appliances that tend to clutter up both sides of our sink area.

If you think you'll prep mostly between the range and ref, I'd exchange the range and the 15" cabinet. That creates a run of 42"-45" depending on the wall, nice room for devoted prep. It also means that you won't "run into" the chair using the oven.

The bad parts that I can see are that the range becomes almost a single person domain; if there is a person using the sink when you want to open the oven, they'd have to move. This has been discussed on the forum before, but think about the available access to the base corner unit with the range right next door. I've never had one, so I don't know.
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mtpam2
Original Author
13 years ago
Rhome & Bmore - Thanks for replying.
I guess I've been overthinking the fridge layout. My old fridge was smaller and used to be tucked in the right upper corner next to the sink, which wasn't great, but it wasn't sticking out in my face either! But I can't see another position for the fridge so guess I will get used to it.

I don't really envision myself prepping between stove and fridge. It would be more for space to set things when cooking and breathing room from the fridge. Maybe the toaster would be there as well. My friend has her stove next to corner cabinet, and sink in similar position, and it is a pain to use the oven if someone is at the sink. Thanks for reminding me of why I didn't want to slide the stove further into the corner!

Maybe I should reduce the space between stove and fridge to 24" or even 21" and make the cabinet between corner and stove 18" or 21"? I have the stove set about 18" from the fridge now, and it doesn't seem like very much space, but it would give me more prep room on the left of the stove. In the past, we have done a lot of prep work at our table, but can't do that when we have company, as this is our only eating area. If I can get a 21" cabinet there, plus the 12" counter space from corner cabinet, that would give me 33" counter to left of stove, and probably 18" or maybe 21" to right of stove. Would that be more usable?

Also, I think I will be more comfortable boxing the fridge in. I don't think I want to make the doorway any smaller than 36". It used to be 30" and we are really enjoying the wider passage way. So if I use the standard 1 1/2" fridge panels, I could have about 2" spacing between fridge panel and door casing. Will that look better than the panel tight to the frame? I haven't decided on a cabinet company, so not sure of all my options. Was going to do RTA cabinets, but not sure now. I need to finalize my cabinet layout so I can shop around some of the cabinet companies mentioned here on GW.
Thanks for your help and input. This is our first remodel, and my husband is a reluctant participant. He is very tired of options, so it's great to bounce these decisions off this forum.
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mtpam2
Original Author
13 years ago
So does anyone else have any input about putting more space between fridge and stove, or between stove and corner cabinet?

Also, does anyone have any good ideas for boxing in my fridge without taking up too much room?

All opinions on these 2 questions or on the layout or cabinet placement in general are welcome. Thanks in advance!
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Stove and fridge too close? Help me gain inches, please.

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rhome410

bmorepanic

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Stove and fridge too close? Help me gain inches, please.

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rhome410

bmorepanic

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