New Footprint worth the money?

15 years ago

I am hoping you all could help me even though I don't have a drawn out floorplan as suggested for newbies. I don't have a program that I am able to create one on. Hopefully, I will be able to give enough details to get a good answer.

Our current kitchen is a narrow galley style with a dining area off to one end. The kitchen area itself is 14X10. We would love to open the kitchen up by removing a non load bearing wall into the living room. However, by doing so, we lose our beloved builtin. I believe it will be worth it in the end. We don't want to change the dining area that is to the end of the kitchen.

Here is where the drawing would come into play but I will describe it as best as I can. The kitchen sink is on the exterior wall. One end of the kitchen is the dining area and the other has a door leading to the office. The double ovens, stove top, and fridge are all on the wall we would remove. I would close off the door to the office and place the double oven and stove top there. The fridge would go at the end of the cabinets near the dining area, same side as the sink. It would basically be an L shaped kitchen...starting from dining area-----fridge, cabinets, sink, cabinets, turn into L shape, cabinets, stove, cabs, and then double ovens. I was hoping by losing the wall, the lr builtins, and the cabinets on that side, this would give me room for an island with seating. The kitchen would now be 12X14 but there wouldn't be cabinets and stoves taking up floor space on that side. What do you think? Enough room for an island/bar?

Would you go to the expense of redoing the kitchen in the way I described? I guess what I am asking is, would the change be enough to warrant a new footprint? Or should I stay with the galley and update it as is?

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Comments (6)

kahlanne
Original Author
15 years ago
The kitchen the day we moved in...looks the same now. The fridge is in the space on the right in front of my daughter. LOL.

The dining area to one end
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User
15 years ago
You needn't have software to draw your kitchen. Good old graph paper works just fine and then scan your drawing, put it on a photo hosting site, and then post it here.

Only you know your DIY skill level or the amount of money you're willing to spend for your remodel. I'd assess the two frankly and post back here. Average kitchen remodels in the us are approaching $30K without the structural work you're describing, or not in a "hot" labor location. How much is "too much" to spend to get what you want? How much work can you realistically do yourself to help stretch your budget?

Why do you want to do this? What is your vision for your kitchen? Define that first, and then see if there are other ways of achieving some of that. For instance, could a large "passthrough" on the wall serve to link the spaces better without completely removing your wall or drastically affecting your layout?

Do the graph paper thing and post it to kick around some ideas without any committments while you ponder the financials and skills question.
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madeyna
15 years ago
We did a halfwall pass threw in our old galley and where very happy with it. It completely changed the feel of the room and all I lost was aout 5 feet of uppers.
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homepro01
15 years ago
I personally love Galley kitchens. I would keep the galley kitchen with 30" counters on both sides and nice wide aisles. Your dining room is really close and I would not worry about having seating in the kitchen. There are several members who have beautiful galley kitchens in the gallery or on the finished kitchen blog.

Removing the soffits, more interesting cabinet styles, lighting that really fits the style of the future kitchen and an interesting countertop and flooring, you should have a really pretty space.

Good luck!
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amylovesbud
15 years ago
It sounds very similar to our final floorplan, except our sink is in the island and our rangetop is where you are putting your sink.

Here's the sketch:

Our dimensions are about 11'x 16' not counting the breakfast area. The 16' runs from the doorway to the left of the refrigerator down to the back pantry wall.

We're not done yet, but I can tell you that I really love the layout and it feels very spacious. I have about 4'4" between the island and the refrigerator cabinet run.

You also might go over to the gallery and look at jaymielo's kitchen - it has a very similar layout, but I think it's a bit bigger.

I hope this helps!
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bmorepanic
15 years ago
If I have this right, if you remove the wall a part of the kitchen will be wider than it is now. You're thinking of destroying the wall on the right side of the picture where your daughter is standing. You're also going to destroy the wall (?closet ?basement stairs?) she's leaning on on the left?

Ok, well. A run of cabinets plus counter top is about 26" deep, an aisle between then cabinets and island is about 42" to 48", a fat island top is 51"; a skinny top is 39". Chairs or stools must be in minimum 34" aisle, but if you want to walk behind the chairs, think more of 44" or greater.

So, you need between (26 + 42 + 39 + 34) 11.75 feet to 14.1 feet. In your proposed plan, the dbl wall ovens, the ref and the full height pantry would need to be on the sink wall. - maybe one of them could occupy the space where the ref is today but oriented in a different direction. Can you fit a pantry and ovens on the sink wall?

Is it worth it? Dunno. I can imagine you isolated in the kitchen today. If you did something smaller like opened a doorway to the living room where the ref is and relocated the ref, would that help enough? Conversely, is it ok to have the living room tv become your new best friend?
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New Footprint worth the money?

Comments (6)

kahlanne
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New Footprint worth the money?

Comments (6)

kahlanneOriginal Author

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madeyna

homepro01

amylovesbud

bmorepanic

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kahlanne
Original Author