Last minute layout thoughts - much appreciated!
My previous thread was
here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2866954/school-me-on-galley-kitchen-layout
Based on some feedback from GW'ers and a little
deliberation, here’s the current plan.
We sacrificed continuity in wall cabinet width to
provide more "breathing room" for the range hood by making the two
wall cabinets on either side 30" instead of 36”
Added in another base cabinet that will really only
have one functional door (because the wall side door will be blocked by the
radiator – not pictured in IKEA plan because I couldn’t figure out how to add
it in the right place!)
Final considerations:
-Where
to put microwave? Perhaps as pseudo-built in with trim kit in upper or
lower cabinet directly next to fridge?
-Leaving
a full 40" cabinet above the sink vs a 20" - the 40" adds a
little symmetry around the range, and avoids what would be some choppy lines of
40cab-hood-40cab-20-cab. I see pics with full-height cabinets above the
sink. Do you bump your head? Is it awkward staring into the
cabinet? What do you think? Other
functional considerations?
-We
really wanted to get rid of wall cabinets and use some shelves on the
range/sink wall, especially by the window, but couldn't figure out how to do it
without losing too much storage. We could eliminate all the wall
cabinets starting with the one above the sink, but then we still have the funky
setup of exposed ceiling-height range hood in between non-ceiling height cabinets,
AND would have an imbalance with 2 cabs to left of hood and 1 to the
right. We could do shelving to the right of sink
instead of the last 36” wall cab. But this
might look better with a full 40” cabinet to maintain symmetry, and it’d be odd
to have a final, full-height cabinet over the sink, would it not?
-Finally,
any suggested changes to cabinet width/combinations? Do you prefer to
maintain a uniform wall cabinet width and sacrifice vertical lines between
uppers and lowers? Or sacrifice wall
cabinet width uniformity to maintain more vertical lines? Of course, we still sacrificed vertical lines
at the end to not have wall cabinets sort of blocking the window.
-We
can’t really make big changes to the appliance placements at this point.
Thanks for any input!!!!
(The
range hood has to extend to ceiling, because it can only vent out across kitchen
over ceiling)
(We are adding a full wall instead of a panel on the side of the fridge, as helpfully suggested by Clueless in Colorado to help separate the kitchen from the bathroom)
Comments (30)
Related Discussions
Last Minute changes..sorry long post!
Comments (15)Both cabinet pictures are beautiful. I wouldn't worry too much about the darkness of the cabinets, as long as you love it. I renovated a kitchen in our last house and originally decided to go with off-white/cream, because of the light in the kitchen (not much) and because I thought it would be too formal. I just could not seem to make the choice however, and kept returning to the dark wood (we used cherry, it looked very similar to the cabinet color that you love). So, I decided to go for it, along with the Absolute Black granite. To calm my fears about a "dark" kitchen, I used a wall of glass front cabinets and made sure we had high quality halogen lights, both recessed in the ceiling, and under the cabinets (all on dimmers). These decisions made a big difference. In the end, we did the right thing-I LOVED how it all turned out and the feel of the kitchen was friendly, warm and comfortable. Our GC told us at the end of the reno that it was his favorite kitchen he has ever done, and he renos about 25 kitchens a year. Quite the compliment! So, my short answer after this long response is choose what you love-it feels right for a reason. Good luck and post more pix when you can....See MoreLast minute upper layout HEEEEELLLLPPPP!
Comments (4)In our last kitchen, we had 11" between the range and the fridge, with our prep space between range and sink to the right, as you show. I wish you could move the sink away from the corner, so prep person isn't blocking the sink, but it's not possible. I think you've done well with the space you have. I prefer the first idea of having the open shelves from narrow cabinet to wall on the stove wall, instead of on the window wall as shown in one of the later renderings. Or maybe forego the narrow cabs, and run open shelves on the wall space to the left of the hood, and when you get low enough continue one (or 2?) across under the hood, so it's positioned as some do when they incorporate shelves into the range backsplash....See MoreLast minute layout advice
Comments (10)Sorry, I don't understand your question.. it's all about moving the island to the right or not? I think 4' between the left cabinet run and island is enough, even though the fridge will stick out farther. I have 4' and wouldn't want more. Remember also that a french door fridge has two smaller doors, so even when open, less of the aisle is blocked. I hope you don't mind my saying that I don't like the rest of the layout.. your island is a barrier between the range and sink. There's not a good amount of counter space with a water source convenient to the range. It just seems awkward. You take food out of the fridge, prep it next to the sink, then weave around the island to move it across that top aisle to the range? Then you go back across the aisle and around the corner of the island with your hot pot full of boiling water you need to empty in the sink? I also don't know your house's layout, but that top aisle seems like it could be a major traffic thoroughfare in your home, which just makes this setup more dangerous. I'm not trying to be harsh, just want you to know where I am coming from. It's cheap to move things around on paper, anyway :) SO, I would put the range on the wall with the fridge, put the cleanup sink & DW where the range wall, and put a prep sink on the island. MW goes between fridge and range, either in a shelf as part of an upper cabinet or a drawer MW below the counter. For a bit of style, I would put a dish hutch down to the counter or a tall pantry cabinet on the right side of the top wall to balance the tall oven stack, and center the sink between them. edit: beaten by rhome. :) Must remember to always refresh before posting. This post was edited by tracie.erin on Tue, Dec 4, 12 at 17:04...See MoreFinalizing cabinet order this week... any last minute thoughts for me?
Comments (35)For the pass through, I am thinking that something like this would look a lot simpler/cleaner and less fussy. So you'd be keeping the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room that you were going to close and losing the two tall skinny vertical stacks of cabinets on either side of the passthrough. Not only would that visually break up some of the continuous walls of cabinetry, but instead of that whole complicated area where the oven met the pass through, you'd just have a nice clean, straight line of cabinetry dying into the wall and some open space. Visually, that corner of the kitchen will be a lot less heavy and won't compete with the range for focus. Also, functionally, if you are going to be using the dining room more often, I think it'll be nice to have the dining room that much more open and accessible to the kitchen. My last visual issue is how the angled windows now relate to absolutely nothing. They used to match the island angle and curve around a table. There were reasons for the wall to be like that. Particularly with everything else in the new kitchen's being so square and symmetrical, that architectural oddity looks SO out of place. You might at least do something like this to the island:And maybe do a range hood in an especially angular shape to tie into it all. This one that I posted earlier would probably work: You can see how that would related more to the window/island angles than something like this (made of curves and straight lines) would: When you repeat an element 2-3 times around a room, it looks like a deliberate design choice. With exactly one angle (the windows) in the room now, it doesn't look deliberate. That said, while I think any/all of those changes would make the kitchen look a lot better, it doesn't really address the functional layout problems that make this mostly a one-person kitchen. I'll do a different comment with some suggestions about that. Usually, you determine how much space you have, your goals, and then the general layout that would make the kitchen function best. THEN you figure out how to make the kitchen look pretty with everything where it needs to be to function best. It's always possible to make a functional kitchen beautiful. It is VERY difficult to do the reverse. And just brace yourself -- total symmetry is an enemy of function. The most useful kitchens have things staggered around the room so that people are not on top of each other when using them....See More
sheloveslayouts
9 years agoHave you ruled out the Ikea microwave base cabinet? Alternatively, you can install an under cabinet microwave next to the fridge or hack a microwave shelf into the upper cabinet (I'm still bummed Ikea doesn't offer a MW upper anymore.)
I'll echo what decoranna said about matching up base and wall widths. We got hung up on that in our first Ikea kitchen and it really doesn't matter at all, especially in galley kitchens.
You have those beautiful, high ceilings. Why don't you raise the 40" wall cabinets to the ceiling and add an open shelf below? Then you wouldn't have to worry about a shorter cabinet above the sink. Also, maybe if the bottom of the exhaust hood and the bottom of the cabinets could line up, you wouldn't have to give the hood "breathing room"; it might look good all lined up tight together? Anyway, something worth playing around with if you like this look:
red_argyle thanked sheloveslayouts
red_argyle
9 years agored_argyle
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9 years agosheloveslayouts
9 years agoThe first time I saw cabinets above an open shelf was in this kitchen. It's from 2008! I still think it looks great. At the time, this was a total revelation to me. I think it's become more common--I'll see if I can find some examples because I'm considering doing it in our kitchen and I've been meaning to look at inspiration pics.
sheloveslayouts
9 years ago- red_argyle thanked sheloveslayouts
Fori
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agosheloveslayouts
9 years ago
funkycamper
9 years agored_argyle
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9 years agoamg765
9 years agoI am doing the open shelf below the cabinets thing, so I have ALL THE PICTURES ;)
Houzz pics:
Maplewood · More Info
Nottingham · More Info
Hillside Drive · More Info
Washington Park · More InfoThis Apartment Therapy kitchen reveal is what made me want to do this
This blogger moved her existing cabinets up.
In both of those links the ceilings are on the higher side.
jlc712
9 years agoMy kitchen sink faces a wall, and I chose to do a shorter cabinet above the sink, with a narrow shelf connecting the cabinets on either side. I wouldn't like a full length cabinet there, I think it would be awkward. Having a few pretty things to look at makes up for not having a window.
I'm short, so I don't like the idea of moving the cabinets up with a shelf below. I'd need a library ladder :-)
My sink area is kind of like this-
Eclectic Kitchen · More Info
House in Darien · More Info
Swanson · More Infored_argyle
9 years agored_argyle
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9 years agosheloveslayouts
9 years agofishcow, those are great examples!
red, I'm not sure I understand your MW question. And I've never seen one of an above counter MW in person, but this is what was thinking might work for you:
amg765
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agored_argyle
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decoranna