Hi glad you posted here. Please post a layout with dimensions of the kitchen and a general floorplan, especially in relation to the sunroom you are contemplating expanding into. What sort of budget do you have? What are your goals for the kitchen aside from the fridge being in the way? Do you need more aisle space? Do you need more storage? How many cooks?

i have a similar size fridge that sticks into my aisle. It's only 3 years old and we are doing a complete gut aside from floors. I'm planning on listing my fridge on the local Facebook selling sites and Craigslist so I don't have to worry about the depth. I did consider that a counter depth doesn't have as much space but I realized I don't need a deep fridge since its hard to see and reach the back anyway.

Thanks for pointing me here! Is there a site you suggest for doing a kitchen floor plan?

I'm not sure on budget. Our contractor wouldn't give us an estimate to expand into the sun room until we had a plan from an architect/engineer regarding the beam needed to open the exterior wall/doorway. He said if we didn't have a $15K budget he wouldn't suggest wasting our time - I don't think that amount sounds terrible but it depends on the cost to move the refrigerator, extend the counter, rebuild cabinets etc.

I think to start I need to decide what is the ideal layout then decide if it's a big enough improvement to make it worth the expense. I really don't want to renovate the whole kitchen.

Oh and I agree completely about getting rid of the refrigerator and making counter depth work for us.

My main goal for the kitchen is to have a larger eat-in area for the table, we really need just a foot or 2 more length and width wise (moving fridge solves width issue). I don't need more storage and I'm the only cook pretty much :) our house isn't open concept so the idea of using the sun room space, which is about 11.5x11.5 and has nice high ceilings and room for non-dining seating, is appealing.

You don't need a fancy plan - just sketch it out, preferably on graph paper) with dimensions (and showing the adjacent rooms and doorways). You'll get lots of suggestions!

We have a counter depth fridge and also have an undercounter next to it; food goes in the one and drinks in the shorty. Counter depth may work very well and my apologies if you have already investigated -- but I get frustrated because a pizza box does not fit in the counter depth...

Just sketch it out on paper. Or you can print out graph paper online.

My hubby just said to me the other day when we were looking at fridges, well we can't fit a pizza box in there. I said, when is the last time we put a pizza box in the fridge! We rarely do and you can always transfer to a container. Stays fresher and keep fridge clean.

Re: island countertop, you probably need a new piece of granite to level it out and maybe redo the back panel of base cabinet ( if it's a separate piece).

Didn't know about or see pix of a sunroom before. How does that configure with the kitchen? Are you sure it wouldn't be viable as dining space (or at least part of it?)

Weeeellll... this might be an unpopular opinion, and I might be missing something, but I would move the fridge over to where the glass cabinets are, and then replace your island with some sort of rolling or movable cart. Then you need to determine if you are going to pay a fabricator to have the granite removed/cut/reinstalled for the remaining counter space by the fridge, replace with a different counter material (butcherblock maybe?), or just fill in with a pantry cabinet in order to replace the storage lost by nixing the island. I also would not extend the counter by the window unless you would be happy with a seam there, and again, having to pay a fabricator to blend. Not extending the counter would give you even more room in the breakfast room without eating into the sunroom.

Having been there, done that, with moving walls, as well as moving the kitchen to an entirely different room - it's expensive, and if I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't.

However, you should really post a layout on graph paper with full dimensions in order to take full advantage of the help that is available on this forum.

The problem with trying to move granite is that it often, but not always, has been installed was so much epoxy on the back that the only way to get it out of its current location may be to break it or to bust the cabinets below it. There is no certainty here, yours may be easy to remove or it may be a real mess and unusable.

I really like the look of your kitchen. I think it is quite beautiful except for two things: the apparently oversized refrigerator and that little six-inch high edge on the island.

I think that the refrigerator is in the correct location in that you can take things out of the fridge and put them on the landing space next to the sink, you can prep at the sink and move things down to the stove. That's the way it supposed to flow, but seldom does, that's really nice that yours does.

I know the purpose of that island edge is usually to prevent people from the other room from seeing into the kitchen, but it makes the space feel choppier. If you just redid the top of the island it would be much less costly than if you ended up redoing all of the countertops in the kitchen.

decoenthusiaste

This is what I suggested about this dilemma when originally posted, FYI, Houzzers.

I
don't think a family of six will be happy with a smaller fridge. The
counter depth ones just don't hold enough food for a family that large,
especially as teenager appetites kick in. I would put it where the glass
cabinet and base are. It will probably still stick out, so I would
center it and flank it with a pair of tall cabs with pullout pantry
shelves for canned goods. When the fridge dies, you might find that two
counter depth fridges would fit there, or you might have kids in college
and only need one. Can you install that glass cabinet and base on the
wall in the eating area where the light switch is? Swing your island
around to "L" with the cabinetry that butts up to the fridge now. You'll
have to lose one drawer and door to the corner, but you'll still have
the three decorative trimmed panels facing the eating area and your
granite can probably be melded to the sink side granite. You'll also
gain a foot or so on the kitchen side of the eating space, so even
though the cabs on the far wall will take some space, if you get a
slightly longer table with two benches on the sides that can slip under
it when not in use, the table should be comfortable for all of you.

Thank you all so much! decoenthisate sorry I moved my post here but was sure how to edit my previous one. To answer your previous question we are here to stay in the house until the kids move out! So we are designing this for us not to sell.

Here is a sketch hope it's ok. I tried (not sure how successfully) to get it to scale!

Oh and regards to the smaller refrigerator I think it would be ok. I'm guessing we will go through so much perishable food as the kids get older that I'll shop 2 or 3 times a week anyhow. I'd never even now try to fit a pizza box in there. My husband will disagree I'm sure but I think we could make do!

I see four doors plus the slider to the sun room. Can any of those be eliminated? I'm thinking one of the two that flank that china cabinet area could be closed and give you room for the fridge without the expense of removing the cabinets.

Hmm I never thought of that. We do have a lot of doors in our kitchen - that door between the hutch and pantry closets leads to the foyer/front door - the basement (which is also our playroom) door is to the right just beyond that doorway though. I don't want to block off the other door because it would make our dining room not accessible. Do you think the refrigerator could be recessed into the wall where the glass cabinets are? The living room is on the other side of that wall.

I actually just walked over there and the refrigerator would be directly in front of the basement door if we moved it there. The sunroom is 11x11.5 and if we did make it part of the house that would solve the eat-in area issue (we'd still have to move the fridge though since it's in front of where the opening would be. Not sure it's worth the money that would cost though.

The suggested work flow is from fridge to sink for prep to stove. Moving the fridge across where glass cabinets are creates extra steps in that work flow. Also, it'll be further away from table for the last minute condiments or things you need while eating. It's also going to stick out into the path to dining room and may be a problem with someone at the fridge while others are trying to get into or exit dining room

Can you recess fridge into the sunroom space? Your aisles are pretty tight. recommended is 42" from counter to counter for 1 cook kitchen and 48" for 2 cooks. When your kids get older, they will be in the kitchen more, helping or cooking or getting things from fridge/pantry.

Are you dead set on keeping the island? Removing it would mean floor repair. A counter depth fridge sticks out about 4" past the cabinets to give clearance for the doors. If u want to keep the island, the counter depth fridge is your best bet in the same location it is now.

Maybe this has already been asked....but do you need a formal dining room? Maybe opening the kitchen to the dining room will give you space for a larger kitchen? And a dining room you use everyday.

I know it will cost more, but it might be a possible long term solution. Not exact, but maybe these will give you some ideas : )

I think I might move the fridge first to the right of the stove- where the glass cabinets are. Then going out on a limb here- I would get rid of the pantry closets and install a pantry wall that is inset between the studs. You might be able to gain 4 inches and get rid of the huge open swing doors. Both will seem to make a huge difference. One of my girlfriends has her fridge there and it works very well. They use the dining room very little.....I also like LL idea, but that has more money associated with it.

The sun room room doesn't extend far enough over to recess the fridge - there's about 21 inches of sunroom wall from the end of the sliding door over to behind the fridge. I can update the layout to include the sun room! This kitchen is really locked in a tight spot. We actually discussed all this before buying the house. We originally though we would take down the wall between the dining room and kitchen and move the hutch over to that wall you suggested deco! But having lived here we actually use that room a lot. Not for formal dining but for the kids 'projects'. Spreading out to do legos that they don't have to clean up right away, pour over sports cards, homework on occasion etc. It's nice with such a big family to have the extra space. I suppose we could find that space elsewhere but it would also be so expensive I'm guessing especially since we'd need to move the stove and reconfigure everything and do all new cabinets.

If you want to keep the island, could you do something like this? Can you add a downdraft to the island if you moved the range? I don't know if this would work but there's no seating at the island (so no one sitting too close to range) and you'd gain the counter space where the fridge is now....and more light!

The fridge and a tall pantry could go where the range and right side cabinets are now. And the microwave might work under those upper cabinets where the fridge is now...and you could extend the granite or add another surface...maybe butcherblock? Just an idea.

It doesn't sound like you want to do major changes. I started out thinking I would just do a cosmetic facelift and now a year and half later we are planning on a complete gut except floors. I just didn't like the cabinets themselves after thinking about the layout and where I was forced to put things I was running around all over the kitchen to grab prep items, dishes, etc.

what do you think about removing island but making it a peninsula as someone above suggested?

A simpler solution would be to buy separate columns for fridge and freezer. Does the fridge go beyond the upper cabinet width wise? You can fit the 30" fridge column so it doesn't stick out where it is now and put the freezer over by the glass cabinets. No need to redo any cabinets except for the glass one to accommodate the freezer.

You all have really wonderful ideas thank you!

Swapping the fridge and stove would be a great solution actually... do they make full size fridges in 30" depths? I will have to research that option it would at least give me more light and sight lines.

This process has made me realize we would be throwing a significant amount of money to not really solve our problem. I'm thinking we will paint the cabinets and stain the island, change lighting and hardware for now, just to brighten and update the space and consider a full renovation and taking down walls in 5 years or so, when I can handle the idea of having 4 kids and no kitchen!

I may still look into opening the wall to the sun room space somehow though because I really want more light and access to our yard.

We had a nearly identical setup, at least in the kitchen/sunroom part. Check my threads and you can see how we incorporated our sunroom--it did involve a beam and all kinds of $$, but we are almost done, and I'm so glad we did it. Decoenthusiaste's plan eliminating the island and adding a peninsula is pretty much what we did. We are getting our counters in 3 weeks, and then I'll post my full reveal.

and we have 4 kids and we've had no kitchen , and you are right to be afraid:)

I meant 30" wide, not depth for fridge column. The depth would be 24". This is Thermador but several brands offer this option. The freezer column is sold separately and can be installed separately in another area.

http://www.thermador.com/refrigeration/refrigerator-columns/t30ir800sp-30-inch-builtin-fresh-food-column

i wouldn't put a cooktop in the island. It's messy and venting isn't that great.

I would move the table to the sunroom....and have a few comfy chairs and maybe an ottoman in the kitchen. Your sunroom is beautiful and if it's winterized, I'd take out the slider.

A comfy, upholstered chair in the kitchen is so country/European. Why not have a place to sit and read a cook book or talk...and keep the legos in the sunroom : )

The columns come in many different sizes. You can do 30" wide, 36" wide, 24". Whatever works. I think they might be taller. You'd have to see dimensions to see if it makes sense to keep the uppers. In my new kitchen I'm eliminating all uppers except for a hutch on sink wall and a pantry cabinet on the fridge wall. I can barely reach the 2nd shelf and uppers are mostly useless for me.

And the beauty of the columns is that you'll have flexibility when you ultimately do your full remodel.

I also like the idea of moving the eating area to the sunroom, that's probably a very easy and simple no cost solution.

https://magnoliamarket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Meek_Magnolia_Photos-9263.jpg

Did you see this clever big lego board on "Fixer Upper?"

Hi! Just saw your questions about the moon room dimensions--I'm tucked in for the night but I'll go down and measure in the morning. We had a vaulted ceiling in there too and we brought it down-it made me a little sad but my overall goal was to make it feel like part of the kitchen , and having two different ceiling heights over my kitchen table would've felt weird and tacked on, in my opinion. I'm waiting to take pictures until the counters go in on June 6, but we did end up having to put a beam in--I think we did a fair job of minimizing the interruption. I'll post measurements and a picture of the beam in the morning.

Love that! Agree same flooring with perhaps an area rug under table, an easy to clean indoor/outdoor one. I wouldn't touch the ceiling height in the nook, keep it!

That's a nice sunroom : )

You know, if the table is going out into the sunroom....I'm becoming a fan of the peninsula. Measurements aren't exact, but something like this?

And maybe even a plate rack to fill in the space from the fridge...

Hi I'm not quite sure I understand when you say extend seating into sunroom. Would it be party in kitchen and partly in sunroom?

Is your current table large enough for your family and does it fit in the sunroom with two of the wicker chairs?

What are your plans for fridge? If you keep where it is, were u thinking of getting a counter depth or built in columns? Does moving the fridge to the hutch area work for you in terms of proximity to table and overall work flow and cooking efficiency?

Yes. Post a new floorplan