Layout help for kitchen in tax-refund house
weedyacres
8 years ago
I'm helping a friend make a cheap house livable. Here's the kitchen floorplan:
This shows where the appliances were in the PO's kitchen. We'll be getting some cheap CL/Habitat Restore cabinets and fitting them in as best we can. Goal is low-budget functional.
Overall dimensions are 10' x 12'-6".
The window is too low for cabinets to fit below it.
Any ideas other than a straight counter run along the sink wall and the appliances where shown?
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Comments (11)
cluelessincolorado
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Poll re Income Tax: are you expecting a substantial refund??
Comments (29)We have Vannie and Kelly beat.We will be giving the IRS $18,000.! See what I mean about almost enough to buy a new car? LOL Talk about Ouch! All because we were fortunate enough to inherit oil property from in-laws in 81 and were even more fortunate to be able to sell last year at a very good price.We have paid an average of $3000. every year since in taxes on the oil royalties on 2 producing wells,plus about $1200. a year in property taxes.I think it is a little unfair to have to pay 18% taxes on that one time windfall but that's the way it is.So much for being one of those "rich" Texas oil people! LOL...See MoreTax Refund....Am I being greedy???
Comments (40)Wow! Thank you for all of the great advice. In response to Serenity and others with questions: 1. No, I am not B**ching to my husband about the excessive money he spends on his daughter. That's why I'm on this forum. But, after giving it some thought maybe I should be more vocal. I think the reason my husband spent the $1700.00 on her last year behind my back was because he knew it was wrong and couldn't bring himself to tell or ask me. But he also couldn't say "No" to his daughter. 2. No, I do not with hold money from my step daughter. My husband and I do have seperate accounts and we split the bills. I tend to try to spend an equal amount on each child, while he tends to only spend on his daughter. 3. My step-daughter is by no means deprived. She wears designer clothing (because of grandma) while the other children get their clothing from Value Stores, she gets pedicures and manacures, eats out while we eat in, goes on vacation while we get to stay home, and drives around to parties on our gas money. Grandma pays outragous cell phone bills and gives her several hundred dollars a week to spend. 4. Grandma is also grandma to our son, but wants nothing to do with him financially. She says she must focus on my step daughter because she only has one parent (actually she has two, but her mom is a drug addict and a theif) 5. No matter how much I give or how hard I try, my step daughter does not like me. 6. My step daughter dropped out of school because she is allowed to do what ever she wants when ever she wants. She didn't feel like going to school and got kicked out. She would prefer to spend her time with her loser boyfriend. 5. We would never ever allow my step daughter to drive without good brakes, but up until last week there was no good reason for her to be driving around. 6. Grandma bought her the car too. 7. My husband will not stand up to his mom or his daughter. Anytime I try to step in I'm always the bad guy. 8. I know what they are doing is wrong. Children who are given everything appreciate nothing. She has had no job because she didn't need one. She dropped out of school because she didn't see the value in a good education. I truely believe she thinks the gravy train will last forever. 9. It drives me crazy because if she were mine, or even if I would be able to have some say in this situation I believe I could make a huge difference in her life. I'm going to HR on Monday to change how many deductions I take out of my check. It would be nice to have more money to spend thoughout the year. Also, then less of my money will be going to a cause I firmly don't believe in. I will also talk to my husband. If he still wants to spend his money on her that's fine, but I'm getting that swing set for our son before he is too old to enjoy it....See Moreplease help on kitchen layout (and house layout)
Comments (35)I'm offering the following as a devil's advocate. Both positions for your kitchen are viable choices with nice reasons to go each way. That's why you need to draw up all possibilities to consider. If the middle is right for you guys, this will end up reinforcing that decision. Versatility and size? That 15x30 room is looking very, very nice as it is, but the far end is prize square footage with all those exterior walls (light/views in up to 3 directions), and right now you plan to actually dine there very little--pretty but underused. If you put the kitchen down there, that addition would be used as intensively as it deserves to be. The living area for furniture placement would be the same, but it would be more strongly defined. Nevertheless the whole should still appear very spacious because it would still be part of a 15x30 room with kitchen on end and still be open to the north, which would extend additional living activities that direction, instead of east. The dining room might well end up used more for various activities in the middle of the house. In considering this alternative layout, how about a pretty door to the outside from a middle/dining room, French perhaps? And for that matter, are you sure you wouldn't have a door directly out from the kitchen? You have an entry in that end that looks as if it would need some reconfiguring too. Would it enter the middle/dining room? Last night I also thought of one other -- possible -- advantage to switching the kitchen and dining room: the step down. This could be a design asset for a dining room, setting it off as special as viewed from the living room. Since you don't plan to eat there a lot, even with young children you could have a nice rug under the table if you wanted it. You'd take that step mostly on the way back to the children's rooms--longer journeys. For the kitchen, you guys'd be making all the many, many little daily journeys between the living room and kitchen on a level floor. Morning sun in kids' hallway? Have sunshine everywhere and you eliminate the pleasure of entering a sunny room. A dim hallway is often a design asset because it makes the rooms opening off it all the more inviting. I can't see what that cabinet in the hall is, but with a little attention to attractiveness and interest, the hall looks pretty good to me. The only way I could imagine to improve it would be to extend it to come back around on itself -- children love to run in circles. :) As it is now, though, the hall enters a sunny middle room in the mornings, setting that room off really nicely, however it's used....See MoreLate tax refund help
Comments (24)"Pending" is another way to say "on hold". If this federal return was filed in April or earlier, it now being August, a refund should have been processed many months ago and there's something not normal going on. They can go to an IRS office and try to get more information at the Taxpayer Assistance Center (most require advance appointments, done online). Or they can just wait. If she's unemployed and they could use the money, there's an obvious better choice to go with. nickel, I know your suggestion is informed and well intentioned but keep in mind the IRS probably puts up with more needless guff from individuals than do most other agencies. They deal with too many ill-informed and misinformed taxpayers who come out of the box with belligerent attitudes. Yes, it's not perfect and has its own issues (many a result of inadequate funding) but I suspect most people in Congress get dozens of constituent complaint letters every month. I'll guess the writers get a polite reply that includes a helpful taxpayer services phone number to call. And the matter may go no further for all but the most significant or egregious cases....See More
weedyacres thanked mabeldingeldine
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
8 years agoweedyacres
8 years agoweedyacres
8 years ago
mama goose_gw zn6OH
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoUsing the window wall is a game changer :). You can center the faucet on the window to disguise the off-center sink. The cart doesn't have to be 48" long, but can be pulled out for extra prep space. The pantry could be framed with next year's tax refund, when the windows are being replaced. The DW could be installed the year after.
weedyacres
8 years agoWell, we went CL shopping and bought these cabinets (photos from listing):
And amazingly, they all reconfigured into something very close to mamagoose's design above, with very few leftovers. Here's my crude draft layout:
In case any of you are doing the math, the 18" drawer base on the mobile island is not in the batch we purchased yesterday, but we've got an 18" bathroom drawer base that will work well on one end, since it's shorter/less deep than the kitchen cabinets.
My friend really liked the "fridge surrounded by cabinets' and a 48" free counter along the LR wall, which the mobile island will provide. It'll also provide some mobile seating for her little ones if needed.
There's still some space to the left of the stove that we can find/build some pantry type storage, or just extend the counter space for now. Another parking option for the mobile island? :-)
Anyway, additional thoughts, or tweaks to improve this would be appreciated.
mabeldingeldine
8 years ago
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