Yay/nay to swinging door from kitchen to mud hall? --)

12 years ago

we need another entrance to the kitchen so we can get in and out more easily with groceries form the garage, through the mud hall, into the kitchen instead of going around a long hallway through the family room. anyway, it seems like a swinging door would make sense so we don't have to grab handles and twist while we're holding grocery bags. we don't want to leave the doorway open, so i'm wondering if anyone has thoughts about a swinging door for this purpose. this is going to be a georgian, somewhat historic looking house. any thoughts? thanks!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

Fori
12 years ago
They are more traditional from the dining room to kitchen but I think it would be great for your purpose. Be sure to have a porthole!
tncraft
12 years ago
Our original house plan called for a swinging door. I have tought about this over and over. We decided to go with a pocket door since we believe we will leave it mostly open and only close it when there are guests. :)

One good thing of going with a pocket door in ours is that it cleared space for other things in the mudroom. It made redesigning the mudroom more flexible and I believe we're able to utilize it more without a door swinging into it.
Related Discussions
Powder room off kitchen: Yay or Nay?
Q
Comments (40)
Here are some resources on sound-reducing construction. The one immediately below, and the one that is hyper-linked, look pretty good. The other one (''Suppressproducts'') might just be an advertisement for their products, I am not sure. Basically sound is vibration that is transmitted from the source to your ear by rigid materials (sound travels well through hard materials like wood) and air. To reduce sound, you want to reduce the transmission of vibration. Air gap is better than a rigid connection. A heavy, soft material (e.g. rubber) is better than an air gap. Techniques are: - Double layers of drywall with dampening material like the referenced ''green glue'' between them (not simply screwing one sheet of drywall to the other) - Staggered studs w/ separate floor plates (essentially making two walls, no physical connection from one side to the other) - Sheet of sound dampening material between the staggered studs (reducing sound transmission through the airspace) - Sealing openings in the walls (electrical boxes, holes for plumbing, gaskets around and under door frame) - Special doors, or (less good) a conventional solid door, or (maybe an in-between alternative) a conventional door w/ a sound dampening layer on one side. - Dampening material between subfloor and joists, and between ceiling drywall and joists - Sound-proofing paint (I've not heard of this stuff before, I am skeptical it does much) Since the bathroom is a small space, you can use these techniques without too much additional expense, and just the loss of about 6'' if using staggered studs and double drywall layers. http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/index.php?/library/articles/elements_of_room_construction http://www.supressproducts.com/soundproofing-articles/Soundproof-Sheetrock.html Here is a link that might be useful: Link
...See More
Glass Pantry Doors? Yay or Nay?
Q
Comments (13)
Thank you all for your opinions. I feel like I'll get tired of seeing "pantry" etched out and it does seem fairly trendy which is why I asked in the first place. You confirmed my hunch. I really like it now but its something I can see myself getting tired of and we don't plan on staying in our house forever so its probably better to keep things simple. I'll check out some other options for glass doors to see if there is something different I can do to break it up but the doors will probably end up staying as is. Thanks again, much appreciated!
...See More
Disposable decor? Yay or nay?
Q
Comments (71)
I do think we live in a disposable world. When my parents were married, you bought really good stuff and you intended to keep it "forever"! And as you got a bigger house, you got more furniture. Now, with so many outlets selling so much "cheap" (inexpensive) merchandise, it is not a "forever" purchase but rather for the season or until one tires of it. I remember toasters and coffeepots were a "one time" purchase. Now they are disposable -- if yours stops working, you just pitch and buy a new one. Decor is like that too -- especially holiday decor (any holiday, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course, Christmas). It's what is trendy that year. I know one lady who buys all new Christmas decorations each year -- she has a theme (usually by color) and instead of packing it all away, she puts it in a garage sale in the spring. She wants it gone so she can come up with something different next year. I also have a friend who buys new living room furniture every three or four years. It's not worn, it's not broken. She's just tired of it and wants something different. And some of that disposable has something to do with trends in the marketplace. And that's what they want you to do -- change your decor to the "latest" and "greatest"! If you don't think "life" is disposable, just drive past a garage sale -- and see the stuff they offer for sale. Even thirty years ago, that wouldn't happen. Martha
...See More
Marmoleum--yay or nay?
Q
Comments (28)
Thanks everyone for your help. Is it hard to install sheets in a larger (or honestly, average size) kitchen? I've started talking to installers. One looked at my floorplan and said the project was too hard for him. (he'd just lost his right-hand guy and was training someone new). He said if I went with a border around the edges it would be more feasible, but the labor to install would be costly. I talked to a "green" contractor who said they've only installed it in about 3 homes and they were all small rooms (like his mom's laundry room). Is this an issue, laying sheets in a larger room? Below is my floorplan. The total length is about 19'. The width is 10', but the W/D closet adds another 3' and the kitchen nook expands the width about 2 feet. So wall-to-wall from inside to W/D closet to the opposite wall is about 15'. I know there will be seams but is this floorplan a deal-breaker for marmoleum? I had another installer over and he says he can do the job and didn't seem worried at all. (But he also said they don't do borders, but could do a heat-welded pin-stripe). I've heard enough stories of bad installations that I'm wondering if this could require super-human installation skills. Or...does it makes sense to design with some borders to make the project feasible? Thanks for any thoughts!
...See More
jamiecrok
12 years ago
We wanted to put a pocket door in ours but didn't have the wall space for it to slide open. We are planning on doing a door that will swing into the laundry but concerned that it will limit the size of bench we can put in so I am considering just leaving it open. In all honesty the noise is the only concern I have since I don't keep our laundry in the room, but since we only run the machines once or twice a day I don't know that it will make much of a difference.

I think it really depends on how you use the room. If it will be messy or have dirty laundry everywhere, a door is a must. The only other concern I would have is if you have small kids who may get fingers pinched easily (mine are 1 and 3 and always like to stick their fingers in the jambs especially when we are at a friends house who has a swinging door...boys...)
tilenut
12 years ago
We have a pocket door, mostly left open, as tncraft says, closed for guests. Swinging door would be fine, but consider door swing, will it block light switches, need bumpers, etc.
brianadarnell
12 years ago
I too was going to suggest a pocket door. I think the swinging door would be annoying for me personally. Especially because this is typically the door that always gets left open except for when company comes over. On our new house, I was surprised to learn that a pocket door door can match all of your interior doors.
joyce_6333
12 years ago
Our old bungalow had a swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. It drove me nuts. No matter which way we had it open, it was in the way. Ended up taking it out. In our new home, we have several pocket doors which are usually open. But it's nice to be able to close them when we have guests.
cjc123
12 years ago
I have seen clips that one side screws on the door and the other end to the floor, baseboard or upper cabinet so that the door can stay open. I like the idea of being able to keep it open and out of the way when making lots of trips. Agree get one with a window in it so that no one gets hit or teach everyone to go slow pushing it!
mamadadapaige
12 years ago
We have a swinging door between our kitchen and dining room. Primarily when there are more kids in the house than just my two, someone gets hurt. Someone above recommended a porthole... I second this. In my situation I would far prefer a pocketdoor, but what we have was in place when we purchased the house.
kaismom
12 years ago
Swinging doors are terrible and useless IMHO. I have multiple pocket doors in my house, and there are places where I should have put in pocket doors and did not. I am all in favor of pocket doors. They are extremely versatile and useful and do not use up the floor space for swing as others have noted.

If you are putting in a swinging door, it uses up twice the floor space as one sided door.
threeapples
Original Author
12 years ago
We cannot do a pocket door because we have a staircase on one side and a closet on the other. So, since this is not possible, and because a "porthole" on the door might look really silly, maybe we should just do a regular door? Why/how does a swinging door take up twice as much space? Would a regular door be a bad idea in your opinion(s)? I really don't want to just leave this as a big opening. thanks!
tilenut
12 years ago
How about one of those accordian style fold aways?

Yay/nay to swinging door from kitchen to mud hall? --)

Comments (11)

Fori

tncraft

Related Discussions

jamiecrok

tilenut

brianadarnell

joyce_6333

cjc123

mamadadapaige

kaismom

threeapples
Original Author

tilenut

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Yay/nay to swinging door from kitchen to mud hall? --)

Comments (11)

Related Discussions

threeapplesOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

threeapples
Original Author