Please help with my kitchen, which plan do you think?

9 years ago

Uh, I thought I was sooo good when I did my last kitchen (sold that house), this kitchen I am having so much trouble! I posted a few months ago (thank you for your help then), but we have since hired an architect because we are doing more than just the kitchen. He brought plans last week. The attached plan is what we think we are keen on - it also is the one that fits our budget. He proposed moving kitchen to an exterior wall, but that involves moving lots of windows, and is out of budget. We have to nail down a plan before we go to the kitchen designer (because we are moving walls).

Anyhoo, at this stage we can switch and move things etc so I would love if you all could look this over and see if it's good or would move or change anything else. Attached are the architects plans, then my ikea planner version of that plan with the kitchen in place.

EXISTING layout:

Plan:

My kitchen plans are the link down the bottom... I cant figure how to embed those? Should I move dining room door? The architects plans call for a billiard room where the dining room was. We have to decide whether we want that room to be the pool table, or the formal dining room. We still have the living room which we had intended to be the pool room. Also, I don't want a sink in the island, i want a large unhindered space. I was thinking of having a cut out to the dining room where the sink is, similar to this:

But bottom line, we want advise on if you have the door to the dining room moved to where the architect put it, does that allow for a good layout of the kitchen? The kitchen (if you think a square) has 3 walls with doors and one open wall. I'm finding it very hard to get a good layout! Please help!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Layout Plans

This post was edited by momof3kids_pa on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 15:42

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Comments (7)

momof3kids_pa
Original Author
9 years ago
oh, and both of the kitchen plans i did would have a bar sink on the pantry wall -- the ikea planner is giving me gray hair... although i cant complain because it's free!
Jillius
9 years ago
The dining room table seems nice in either location to me, but I think the pool table makes a lot more sense in the top left corner of the planned layout, in that space that is totally open to the living room. Pool, to me, is a fun hangout group activity. Where though not everyone may be playing, you still want to be able to talk to everybody who isn't playing and watch whatever is on TV with them between shots. Or yell at them to get up and come play or whatever.

Usually if you are eating at the formal dining table, everyone present in the house is sitting down together, so that table doesn't really need to be very open to another room where nobody is anymore.

That said, your current plan and planned plan are so extremely different (the foyer and stairs disappeared, the outline of the whole house has changed, walls have moved, fireplace is entirely different, etc. that I can't really tell what has happened or suggest modifications to those changes.

It looks like it's just a totally new house
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Thanks everyone! I'm glad to hear that others agree about worrying less about some of the symmetry and getting wider (more functional) cabinets/drawers instead. :) wannaknow- My kitchen is about 13'x18'. It opens to a dinnette that's about 9'x15'. I will also have a wetbar and dropzone nearby- that's why neither of those zones are shown above in the cabinet layout. I'll attach my kitchen area floor plan from the builder below. Just in case you're interested. :) prariemom- I actually have a pull-out trash/recycle in the island across from where you suggested it by the sink. That way I can easily access it for my prep trash and clean up trash. That was rhome's brilliant suggestion. :) herbflavor- I was already writing WAY TOO MUCH in my original post. LOL. My mother makes stained glass, and she has offered to make me a panel for the top transom. I just need to sketch something out and figure out colors, and I'm sure it will be beautiful. That window faces due south, so I'm sure the colors from the stained glass will be beautiful in the kitchen. This is why I requested a transom for the kitchen. :) I haven't met with the finish carpenter, but my builder assures me he will do something nice with the hood. I'm a bit nervous about it too. My builder's description sounded much nicer than the rendering looks. Eeek. :-/ taggie- thanks so much! I hope we spend a lot of time in our kitchen. After talking more this morning, DH and I have already figured out several places where we want to switch from 3 to 4 drawers. I had worried about it at the design meeting and then forgotten until you mentioned it again. Unfortunately all the cabinet options our builder gave us are framed. Oh well. lavender_lass- I'm so glad to hear you like it! The KD pointed out the issues with the glass too. The house windows will have grids so we are going to use solid panels in the cabinets. I'm still hoping to paint some beadboard for the background of the glass cabinets, but I'm going to wait a while for that. We're getting "glass-ready" cabinets and then heading to a stained glass store to pick out the glass. I have no idea what I might fall in love with there. As I mentioned above, I am a bit nervous about the range hood as well. My builder promised it would look nice. Taking a deep breath about that one. wiemom- I'll have to search for some pics of your kitchen! I'm really hoping the layout works for us. Glad to hear you like the way yours is set up. :)
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I agree the aisles are too tight. 36" between island and fridge is pretty squeezy. Also, you said you plan to put "Mixers etc above the refrigerator." Not sure how tall your ceilings are but cabinet depth refrigerators are usually taller than standard depth, so you're not likely to have much storage space there. PLUS, mixers etc. can be heavy (unless you're talking about a hand mixer, not a stand mixer?) and trying to reach them from over the refrigerator seems dangerous. In a kitchen that size, I would ditch the refrigerator drawers and prep sink and add storage instead (then you could put your mixers etc where they are easier to reach). I would put the range/hood on the window wall where you have the uppers now and the sink on the island. Then you could do a continuous counter instead of a raised bar, which would give you better work space and limit the junk collector nature of the raised bar. Having had three raised bars now, I HATE them. Where counters stay reasonably clutter free, clutter never fails to find a permanent home on a raised bar. I don't know why. It just is. By moving the sink to the island, you will have room for dish drawers in the island, so you won't need the upper cabs. Few microwaves are less than 15" deep. You could build out that wall a bit to give you room for standard depth pantry cabinets with pullouts, or a corner pantry closet like natal's. Take a look at her pantry in the thread linked below. We have a very similar set up, except that our "corner" pantry is 42" wide, not 53, and it works great. Here is a link that might be useful: What size should a step in corner pantry be
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Honestly, I didn't consider the size of your kitchen, just my own feelings about it. I have a kitchen that's probably the same size, if not a little bigger and I can't wait to be rid of the island (well, it's gone but I don't have a new kitchen yet!). My old kitchen layout was similar to yours. The island was relatively small (3x5) but it was still in the way. I'm not a big one for cooking with people around but I do like them to set the table, to help when help is needed, or sometimes to participate as a family effort because it's enjoyable. And that's where I got the thing about going clockwise and counterclockwise. Because ample room for one person is a logjam for more than one. There's something about the way you've sketched your kitchen that looks very old fashioned to me and definitely says "kitchen table" rather than island. (Not to say an island would look wrong.) And the lower level of a kitchen table is a joy to use and enjoyable to look at. But is it in the way if it's smack in the center? I don't think the aisles are too narrow for one person but for more than one it's an issue. I know that lots of people here like the idea of using the island to establish their cooking space so as long as the triangle is intact, the island keeps other people out. I'm just introducing the fact that sometimes people don't work in a kitchen like that. And that bare space is nice -- people stand up there during a party, they traverse it while others are using the kitchen, during Thanksgiving when everybody is trying to cook different things they traverse a lot but don't bump into each other. The open kitchens I know and have used are very nice and don't seem empty to me. I'm just suggesting that you consider it. Is that at all helpful? I know that not having an island is heresy!
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I spent quite a big chunk of my childhood living in Argentina, with a similar culture and lifestyle to Paraguay. We also had a live in housekeeper with her own bedroom and bathroom, but years ago people did not entertain in their kitchens, so there was only one kitchen, which was a separate room with doors. It seems the open concept house, with most of the action taking place in the kitchen, has also become a concept for those in some areas of South America, hence the need for 2 kitchens. Did you know that many of the mainland Chinese immigrants with larger homes also have 2 kitchens. The second kitchen is quite small and called a Wok kitchen. All the greasy/smoky cooking is done there. You will see these quite often in CA. Since the parilla is going in an "indoor" room you will need to use a vent hood above it to remove smoke and grease. I miss a good asado de tira and mollejas! Any plans for a basement? We had one under part of the house in Buenos Aires and it was a great space for storage and my father had a small workshop set up for himself. The floor in the entry was glass block which let light into the basement area. It was a very modern house at that time. You could do much better with closet placement in the bedrooms and storage (pantry, linen closet, utility closet). The maids room needs a closet. What are you storing in room "deposito"? I know that in many area of South America closets are done as furniture pieces that buyers will add after they buy a house, but since you are building it would make sense to build them into the plan.
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momof3kids_pa
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for looking Jillius! We are hoping it to feel like a whole new house! I photoshopped the new plan right over the existing layout so you can see better the changes. We will moved the existing wall of the kinda small kitchen over roughly 4 feet to take away from existing formal dining room (13.2' x 22.5') which we rarely use. We will move gas fireplace too because we do not like how massive it currently is and its not in a good location for furniture placement. We are considering making the current wall between dining room and family room a half wall so we can do just that... talk to people watching tv to come join us!! We just dont know whether to have the doorway between dining room/billiard room because it adds some difficulty in cabinet placement, but on the flip side it does add nice flow!

Does this pic help in seeing the changes proposed???
deickhoff0
9 years ago
I can't say about the kitchen..need to study it a bit. I will say I would not put a half wall where you are considering it. I'd leave it open.
momof3kids_pa
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for looking also deickhoff! the wall between existing family room and existing dining room is a solid wall. The architects can take down the whole wall with column supports, or make it a half wall with columns - he said wide enough to put "stuff" on (pictures, etc), or leave it full solid wall and put a new doorway opening in. There is currently no connection between those 2 rooms, doorway to dining room is currently through kitchen at the top of that wall and living room at front of house.
momof3kids_pa
Original Author
9 years ago
(double post, sorry)

This post was edited by momof3kids_pa on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 15:51
deickhoff0
9 years ago
I suppose I'd go with the column support. I wouldn't want a half wall. I would want the doorway from kitchen to dining/billiard rm for flow.

Please help with my kitchen, which plan do you think?

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Please help with my kitchen, which plan do you think?

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Jillius

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