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rockybird

Does this butler pantry addition add or detract from my kitchen?

rockybird
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago

My midcentury home has a very open plan and lots of glass. I have been slowly remodeling it (with gw's help) and want to make a push to finish within the next year. The kitchen is completely open to the living room. It is bordered by a 8 foot glass entry door area and walls of glass, so any mess in the kitchen is very exposed. The new space would give a place to store bird food, microwave, nespresso, mail, etc.

There is currently a huge expanse of space behind the island, which is awkward to work with. In the plan, the island would be moved four feet into this space. The island would line up with the opening for two glass sliders and with the new flower bed (drawing doesnt show this accurately). We would line the back wall up with the casual room ext wall, which are not currently lined up. The whole space would "fit" into the 8 ft. glass next to it.

If I bumped the island forward, I would move one of the dishwasher drawers into it. I could also shorten the current vertical appliance walls from 9 inches wide to 4 in., which would give a wider aisle to the side of the current sink on the laundry room side (from 34" to 44").

I am hoping that I could open the pocket door to the end of the appliances to open up the butler pantry, but I think it might be too tight for this. Would it look wierd if it didnt open all the way up, but some of the counter was exposed ?

I like that so many things will line up if I bump the island forward, but will the loss of the extra space hurt the look of the home? There will still be about 10-11 ft. behind the island to the red rock wall on the other side of the front door.

I'm trying to consider all options, because when I finish the remodel, I will be tiling the house. I have some conceptual plans from an architect who worked with the original home architect. He likes it. I dont want to go back and change anything else once the tile is in. Thanks for any opinions!

Current:

Edge of island would line up with the slider opening and flower bed in the back.

Backside of appliances now. The space where the bikes are would be incorporated into butler's pantry. The alternative is to make this a shallow pantry. What angers me is that the first architect misdrew the plans for framing and there is 6" of wasted space beind the wall where the bikes are, that could have contributed to a pantry. It seems like a wierd place for a pantry to me.

Looking the other way:

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