Help me with my Kitchen Layout
We are close to finalizing our kitchen cabinets and I'd love to get feedback on the layout. We don't have a typical work triangle and curious to see if others have dealt with a similar dilemma. No windows here though looking out from the island are 2 large windows and we have a skylight above. We have an island but don't have a cooking surface (I don't like the vent hood coming down) or sink (husband does not want to see dirty dishes) on this.
We do entertain often and will use the island often as is. No prep sink. Also including pics of the cabinets on the cooking surface/sink. We have 36 inches on either side of the cooktop. I know 42 is ideal but had a challenge making that work with the upper cabinets. Finally we have one upper cabinet over the sink: not sure if we will use it but the wall looked very empty without it. Any thoughts on this?
Also, 4 feet in front of the refrigerator -the island facing this has the speed oven (which won't be used often)
Many many thanks for any input!
Comments (14)
yosemite1234
8 years agoThanks for the suggestion Noah: here it is.
I should add that the dining table will be to the left of the steam oven.
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help me choose my kitchen layout
Comments (8)lavendar lass--do you mean move the sink over to the area where the fridge is now? Hmmmm, I hadn't really thought about that. However,DH doesn't want the fridge next to the dining area (even though I put it there in #3). He hears every little sound and hates to hear it run. I don't know how it could be much louder there than on the other wall but......(sigh) :^) What about moving the fridge to where the ovens are and moving them to the other side of the range? Don't know if this would be an annoyance when you are opening the doors and someone is trying to come in the kitchen from the hallway. I would probably widen the walkway if I did that. As for having glass fronts, my dishes aren't that matched and I have too many plastic drinking cups for that to look good. I wouldn't mind having the very high parts be glass to put my good china in. Elphaba (awesome name by the way!), the longest leg of the triangle in #2 would be 7 1/2 or 8 ft. I have wondered about if that would be too much walking--it might be great for parties though. The walking area in plan #1 is also big, it just has the small prep area doesn't look that way. Great food for thought!...See Moreplease (!!!) help me with my kitchen layout
Comments (13)wow - thanks for all the helpful responses! live wire - thanks! the glassware is sort of caddycorner to the refrigerator so they are basically right next to each other. that is actually one of the things i thought about b/c now i have to go around a very large island to get from my glasses to my fridge and its pia! and it will be right across from the diswasher or above the second dishwasher if i leave it there versus moving it to the island. the oven on the fridge wall will be my "second oven" as i will probably use the oven closer to my cooktop for every day use. I did put a steam oven on the fridge wall -- have no idea how much i will use it....See MoreHelp me with my kitchen layout options.
Comments (9)palimpsest - I can actually move the wall to the right a few more inches, and move the the island. How much space would be idea between the island and the frig? Thanks for your thoughts. blfenton - Thanks for your suggestions. I think you are right, if I have the range, instead of the cooktop, I could have more cabinets on the right side of the sink, and the DW would work better on the right of the sink. Probably better for resale. OTOH, if I left the DW on the left, I just turn around when I unload it and put the dishes in the drawers. I unload dishes with no help most of them time, but then again, there's resale to consider. grrr What do you think about the island layout? Any thoughts on ways to improve? Would the sink be better on the end? I also thought about having it raised to bar height on the eating side and on the end cabinet that holds the MW. Also, I plan on the cabinets on the sink side being 28-30" deep. (another idea I got from GW). (Seems I'm questioning everything the closer I get to "build time". : ) All of a sudden, nothing seems right.)...See MorePlease help me with my tiny kitchen layout!
Comments (27)Hi Rosie! Thanks! Using the front room for dining is a great idea, however we DO use our front room quite a bit as well, because when I'm cooking/cleaning or watching a movie with my daughter, my hubby can go up front and sit in the sofa with our dog and read, so it functions as a quiet "away" room (Sarah Susanka, anyone?) but he can still feel connected to us. And vice versa. That's also where our fireplace is, and we like to hang out there, especially when our families come out from the east coast to stay with us. I think we looked into it being a dining room, but the proportions didn't work. Ah, the joys of small urban living! Maybe I should post that plan too! However, I also love hearing about your lack of need for a prep sink. Does your husband or anyone else use the kitchen at the same time as you?...See Moreyosemite1234
8 years ago
mama goose_gw zn6OH
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago24" landing space beside the cooktop is good, IMO. If you change the pull-out to 18" drawers, you'll have 42" in the prep space between the sink and cooktop, and maybe something like the following rough rearrangement--do the uppers look too strange?
controlfreak's suggestion for the base cabinets--not sure what you'd want to do about the uppers--24, 24, and 24?
yosemite1234 thanked mama goose_gw zn6OHyosemite1234
8 years agoyosemite1234
8 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThe functional progression is
fridge-->sink-->prep-->cooktop, or ice, water, stone, fire, but
it depends on the size of the kitchen, one's cooking style, how many
are cooking and helping, etc. If you flip the line-up, your island
will be a barrier between the fridge and cooktop, and anyone who is
helping with clean-up will be in the way, if you need something from the
fridge after you've started prep or cooking.
Keeping the cooktop/sink wall as is, and adding a prep sink to the
island, will eliminate the conflict, and provide a couple of other prep
spaces, for the times you have more help (right of clean-up sink, and on
the island, across from the right-side DW).
As
I mentioned, it depends on cooking style--you might be one who gathers
everything needed from the fridge, and never goes back while prepping
and/or cooking. My fridge is only 36" from my range, so I've become used
to taking things out as they're needed, especially once I start cooking
(eggs, butter and milk for bechamel, another carrot or stalk of
celery). My overflow pantry is much farther away, so I try to gather the
pantry items once. I have adapted to my layout, but it's better to make
the layout work for you.yosemite1234 thanked mama goose_gw zn6OHyosemite1234
8 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoIt would be better to have landing space on both sides of the sink, and landing space for the fridge, too. In addition, if you rearrange the base cabinets as suggested up-thread, you'd have a more compact work space.
A trash pull-out on the end of the island could be shared with the clean-up sink, or you could put it directly across from the clean-up sink.
ETA, I was confused about which was fridge and which was pantry, but I think I figured it out. :]
yosemite1234 thanked mama goose_gw zn6OHJillius
8 years ago
Noah Covert