Please critique my floor plan before we finalize it!!

9 years ago

I'm so excited because it's taken several iterations, but we are finally getting close to finalizing the floorplan, so I wanted to get input from all of the amazingly helpful people here before everything is final.

Our family is made up of 2 working adults, 2 kids (ages 5 and 2), and 1 dog. I love to cook and make dinner 5-6 nights/week, usually with 2 little helpers, and my DH does the dishes. We entertain frequently, from a couple people to 50 people, and when I do I make pretty much all of the food myself. We have my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law over for dinner every Wed, my dad stays for a 3 day weekend with us about once/month, we have friends over for dinner about 2x/month (8-20 people), and we have larger parties (about 30-50 people) 3-4 times/year.

What doesn't work for us with the space right now:

1) The clean-up zone is on top of the prep-zone. My DH isn't very good about getting the dishes done, so he is frequently in the kitchen doing the remaining dishes from the last meal while I am prepping/cooking the current meal. This is a huge problem in our current space due to the placement of the main sink/dishwasher. Our isles are also not very wide so when the dishwasher is open nobody can get by (except Buddy, the dog).

2) The doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. It's narrow so only 1 person can get through at a time, and the refrigerator blocks the opening so when we have people over and I'm trying to get food out of the fridge I have to ask people to move and then nobody can get through until I'm done. It's super annoying.

3) I can't see my kids when they are outside. We have a beautiful patio and backyard, so when the weather is nice the kids are outside. I have 1 small window in the kitchen that is close to the corner so basically all I can see out of it is my DH at the grill.

4) When we have parties everyone is always getting in my way while trying to access the trash can, sink, etc. I need to have better zone layout so that they aren't crossing the cooking/prep zones.

5) We have mail and papers from school everywhere. Everything comes into the kitchen and there is no place to put it, so it just ends up on the kitchen island and the kitchen table. I'm a little OCD so this makes me crazy!

I've attached pics of the downstairs floor plan with current kitchen layout, and the proposed new kitchen layout with the modifications I've made scribbled on in pen (sorry about that). I would really appreciate any feedback I can get! (It's hard to tell in the picture of the proposed new layout, but there is going to be a pass through from the kitchen to the dining room at the sink, with open shelving for my cookbooks at the top.) I was thinking I might want to swap the trash can base in the island for the 24" drawer base, thoughts?

Also hard to tell in the new floor plan is the fact that the B18 I scribbled on there is going to be a second set of double trash cans for when we have parties, so people aren't coming over into my space. On the side of this will be a folder/organizational area that I've attached my inspiration picture.

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Comments (5)

Carrie B
9 years ago
I find the layout hard to read. Can you post a larger/clearer photo?
momof2princesses thanked Carrie B
momof2princesses
Original Author
9 years ago
Is this any better?
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Wow MrsPete thats a lot to think about! I was not expecting to have to request so many changes to this plan. Considering we hired a professional designer to do the plan. I will do my best to address all the issues mentioned. Again thanks for everyone who has chimed in.. Great point on the double entry doors. I did not even think about turning the lights on. It looks like the master bathroom has double entry doors too. I am not sure I want to shut two doors every time I go in the bathroom. So if we flip the washer and dryer to the kitchen wall and make it come off the mudroom. What about the door entry from the mudroom ? Looks like the washer and dryer would hang out some past the doors edge. But I think this may be ok if they are placed on down the wall verses right beside the door. With the fridge I actually like it where it is for the most part. I like that when you look back towards the kitchen from great room, you dont really see the fridge. But this is also one thing I told the wife she could make the call on the layout of the kitchen. Also as far as all the plumbing goes I will be running everything. I have done a few houses that are rental properties and have all the tools to run pex and the drains. Ok, so maybe we need to make plans to eliminate a bathroom and add on for the pool area. When you say you would build one nice bath between the two bedrooms and having into opening into the hallway for a guest bath, do you mean the bath will have 3 entry doors, 2 from bedrooms and 1 in hallway? It seems like this would also put it really close to the half bath. Also what are the thoughts on a jack and jill? On the closets this is one thing I requested. I want some space for myself!! Otherwise the wife will take it over! I thought the divider wall would actually give you a little more room to hang things also. I do like the idea of putting the shower in the corner and moving the toilet. But at the same time I like the privacy of it being on the outside wall away from everything else. With the windows in the closets I am not sure what to do on this. I do agree its not the best scenario. I also do not know if I want a large window in the toilet room. I know the designer said he had a very difficult time making the windows work on the front of the house. We do plan to make changes to the doors leading out to the porch. I am concerned about furniture placement with all those doors. Also if your looking outside from the great room who wants to see the backs of outdoor furniture? I am kinda at a loss on how that will look. You all have been a great help so far, I am sure we will get this all worked up and build pics will be coming before you know it. I will also try to attach some pics that I gave the designer for ideas on what the wife and I liked. We basically gave him some pictures and he had us fill out a 3 page questionnaire.
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seattleCraftsman I'm so glad you posted!!! Your gorgeous renderings are what helped us all fall in love with our space. Thank you again for your work on our behalf! We appreciate your time and talent. I love what you did. I did end up moving the range down because it was the best way I could keep it clear of the sink/DW. Thank you for ALL of the great ideas! I'm going to be to working on this today and you've all given me much to consider. A couple of things: I agree about trash next to sink; however, I also want that dish drawer and the DW next to the sink and I can't have 3 things! So I have to pick 2. The other advantage for keeping the trash on the end is that people can easily access it without entering the kitchen. If I switch the fridge and pantry, then the fridge will be exposed on the right side and I'd have to figure out how to build it in. How would I do this? I'll talk to the IKEA kitchen planner, maybe they have something that I don't know about. The window seat is mainly for my little girl who loves to sit in my space while she is reading and be close to me. It's also a great use of the window. I think it's going to be a good fit for us for now. I may change it in years to come, but for now, my DD is really excited!! :-) herbflavor & eandhl--Thank you! I am going to consider your ideas. sudaki--I love your idea for the window seat too! sleevendog--Yours too!! valinsv--great point about the cabs next to the range. Going to have to give that a lot of thought. I do keep some "ugly" things there. I'm planning on frosted glass but still. tracie.erin--Thanks for the input about the wall! I need to make allowance for that, you are right! I'm going to consider switching the cab and fridge if I can figure out how to make the fridge look built in. may_flowers--The 18 inch cab will have a door and it will be connected to the 24in cab to its right, so they are treated as one for storage purposes. I'm using an insert from Lee Valley that will allow easy access to both and provide a good use for that otherwise dead corner. This wall backs to the garage, so I can't put a cab in another room... OK, have to fun to a mtg but thanks so much and please keep the ideas coming!!!
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The circulation was what bothered me the most in the original plan. Oh, and those skewed closets by the mud, kind of like just to have skewed lines. The kitchen did not have enough counter space, kitchen was looking to small for this house. All I did was fine tuning what you already had. I see not need of 2 stairs that close to each other. There are options that I can suggest but that means to change the footprint, while this was traced above your plan, to scale. I see no problem with the master entry off the dining room. The master bath could be lay out in a different way as there is enough room. I squared off the master bath corner as the shape you had only will complicate the roof and make it more expensive. Having a refrigerator side view from the great room is not that nice but if you prefer to have the refrigerator next to the small pantry, it is ok. You may not need a bulkhead between kitchen and great room. The change of ceiling and height may be enough but the way the columns are placed, you can have a think bulkhead. Without columns, you can have arches similar to the ones in your pics. I did not detail a few things, like windows or some exterior doors.. Hope this helps.
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mrspete not everyone wants or needs to save money by sharing their master bath with all the guests in the house. Personally I wouldn't want my guests using my master bath and checking my cabinets or mistakenly using my towel. i understand if you need to save money but niidawg is building a custom home and is planning to use an architect. My guess is the OP can afford to put in a powder room. Yes, I suggested making this the master ... and I also suggested making that bathroom the main downstairs bathroom. Could be one suggestion, could be combined. Personally, I think most houses on this forum are "over-bathed". I see no problem with a master bath being used by guests. I can afford to build whatever I want ... but I am thrifty enough to want it to be a good value, and this just isn't something about which I care personally. vwtyler - definitely not going with a sub-division for that exact reason. all the lots we saw that we liked had so much architectural restrictions by the HOA, we would have ended up with a building totally different from our desires. Additionally, we have an HOA now and i think they are very hard to deal with (to put it mildly). I'm so ready to be done with them. I understand the desire to go with no HOA. It seems that the new neighborhoods in my area are all being built by a cookie-cutter builder with very strict ideas. I'm not sure why people are jumping to build with them.
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funkycamper
9 years ago
These are just a couple of tweaks I'd recommend.

I switched the fridge and beverage center locations. I don't see how your congestion issue when the fridge door is open problem is resolved if you keep the fridge as placed in your plan. Your location for it also means the island is a barrier island to the prep and cook areas. It also makes sense to me to have the beverage center nearer the dining room when entertaining. The red lines indicate the path you would have to take if the fridge stayed there. The green line is the shorter path with the new fridge location. Multiply that path numerous times in the course of preparing your meals, especially when you entertain dozens, and those extra steps really add up.

I suggest you have the upper bleed into the corner instead of making the turn. This allows you to put bigger windows on each side of the range for more light and better views of the backyard to watch the kids.
momof2princesses thanked funkycamper
momof2princesses
Original Author
9 years ago
funkycamper, thank you so much for the feedback! I did actually consider putting the refrigerator where the beverage center will be, and there were a couple of reasons I decided against it...

The first is that the space is only 69" long, so there isn't enough space for the 48" built in refrigerator plus the pantries, so I'd still have to have some of the pantry space be over where we have it shown. One of the reasons we are getting rid of the pantry that is there now is that it's pretty annoying having the pantry space split across the kitchen like that, I frequently find myself running back and forth from one to the other. Plus, if there is something I need from the other pantry I would have to go over to that side anyway, so it would seem to be more convenient to have the pantries and fridge together so I only have to go to one area to get the food.

The second reason is that currently we have a regular depth refrigerator in that space and the opening to the dining room is 2 ft 5 in. We are widening the doorway to 4 ft and putting in a built-in (therefore counter depth) refrigerator, so I figured that would keep the refrigerator doors from blocking the doorway when they are open.

Although I do love the idea of getting as big windows into the space as we can, the reason we have the upper making that turn is that we are going to have an appliance garage under it to put my food processor, blender, and stand mixer. I didn't want them to be too far from the range since I will likely be using them either right before or right after things come off the stove/out of the oven.
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funkycamper
9 years ago
The long walk between prep and fridge would bother me more than the door to DR being blocked when the door is open. I would split the pantries to get the fridge closer to the prep area because that extra long walk isn't necessary. I'd want my kitchen to be more efficient. Organized pantries should allow you to keep the items used most commonly during cooking in the pantry next to the fridge. Use the other pantry for more snack items, cereals, crackers, overflow, etc. Anything that isn't normally part of cooking.

And I would just do an appliance garage under the straight run of upper cabinets and have bigger windows. But I'm a bit of a window addict so I almost always choose windows, lol.

While we're talking about how I'd do it if it were my kitchen. I'd put the microwave in the beverage center and put the wall oven under the counter so I could have a bigger window on the other side of the sink, too. :) This would also allow those who are heating drinks or snacks to do so without entering my prep space.

Just some things to consider. It's your kitchen and it needs to be designed for how you live. I would go nuts with your proposed fridge location after awhile. But you have lived with it so you don't appear to mind it. If it works for you, ignore me.
momof2princesses thanked funkycamper

Please critique my floor plan before we finalize it!!

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Carrie B

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