New build - looking for kitchen layout advice
BuildinginTN
7 years ago
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heatheron40
7 years agoBuehl
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Advice on Kitchen Layout - New build
Comments (7)Can you post a floor plan with dimensions? It's really hard to provide feedback off of elevation images. For instance, your ovens seem like they are outside of the kitchen work area. I wouldn't like that at all. Can you shift the entry into the kitchen (the one that separates the fridge and oven area)? If so, then you can get the ovens into the main part of the kitchen. If you post a whole house floor plan, we can see what suggestions might work for you. The other thing I notice is that if anyone needs anything out of the fridge during dinner time, he or she will need to cut through the cooking zone to get to the fridge. I can't tell if you have the room but perhaps arranging the appliances with fridge closest to the table, then DW, then sink with the range on the wall where the fridge is would work well. Then you could put a prep sink in the island....See MoreLayout advice for new build, please?
Comments (9)Warning...In all care and concern for you having the best kitchen possible, and because I think this is almost a great layout, I'm going to fight you on the prep sink issue. ;-) Please bear with me and read through... If you're concerned about losing counter space, keep in mind how much more than you had before. If you place a prep sink on the corner of the island, you'd still have approximately 6 feet of prep space in front of the range. That's 3 1/2 feet more than I have, and I wouldn't trade my prep sink to have more. Keeping it to the corner of the island would make it accessible from the end of the island for others to use it without getting in your way, and it leaves more of the island free for people sitting or spreading out a buffet. (For a buffet, you can put ice in the sink and keep cans of soda/beer or display dishes of things that need to stay cold, like shrimp.) Here are the ways we use ours that I shared in another recent discussion here: Washing and paring veggies, chicken, etc. for cooking. Draining and filling pots for beans, pasta, etc. Adding water and draining veggies steamed in the microwave. Washing gooey hands and adding water to baking projects. Filling the dog's water dish. Filling water pitchers to take to the table. Washing hands. Washing fruit for snacks. Filling water bowls for water color painting. Wetting down soil when using my island as my gardening station for starting seedlings. ;-) ...All sorts of things! I so love tending to food without working over dirty dishes. Mostly, it is an essential part of dividing my kitchen into work zones, which allows efficient work paths for different tasks (when working alone or with someone) and separates different work areas so that when there are additional workers or visitors in the kitchen, no one is under someone else's feet or fighting for the same sink or work space convenient to it. Swapping the fridge and oven would help if you're absolutely against having a prep sink, since then the island wouldn't be a barrier between fridge and sink. That swap would give you more room for a baking center, but again, a prep sink on that corner of the island will be of benefit for those tasks. When/if you ever have little ones under your feet, having a sink just a turn from the stove will be safer when moving to drain a pot of hot water, and later it will allow them to more easily work with you. This is a big change from what you've had, and you want it to serve you through entertaining much more and possibly through raising a family. Try to look beyond what you're used to and plan for the best in the busiest use of the kitchen you can possibly think of. Is a prep sink an absolute necessity? Maybe not...But you're planning a large, first class kitchen with a lot of use from what you're saying you want to do with it... Why leave out something that could be so valuable? Where are you planning to store dishes? I'd place the dishwasher to whichever side of the sink that puts it closest to the dish storage. Here is my kitchen layout and how the work zones and traffic patterns work. You can see that without the prep sink, there'd be much more running around, people crossing each other's paths, and too many uses for the main sink. As I said above, I do NOT miss prepping food over dirty dishes. You may never have many dishes in the sink at this point in your lives, but I'm betting large group entertaining and kids will change that. Best wishes! Here is a link that might be useful: Recent posts about kitchen zones on my blog...See MoreLooking for new build kitchen layout help
Comments (12)Thanks for the ideas so far. The window wall in the kitchen faces south and looks directly at a neighbor's bedroom but we do want more natural light. We are definitely including solatubes in the plan and there is the slider plus the windows in the family room to help. blfenton - the raised bar is angled since that opening into the kitchen is line-of-sight from the front door. We experimented with the iso view with it straight and it looked disconnected from the rest of the kitchen, almost "floating" between the kitchen and family room. We're still working to figure out what will be best there. I will try to get a pic of the overall floorplan. MG - we aren't fans of speedcooking ovens (have one in the RV and don't like the result) so we do want a set of double ovens and a separate microwave. That's what I've had for the past 20 years (in 2 different homes) We were also thinking more windows. I hadn't considered a sink in the corner; that might make for a convenient place for the espresso machine. I tend not to like to have my back to the family room which is one of the reasons the rangetop was placed on the side and the small prep sink somewhere in the island. I like the idea of the fridge closer to the family room. (fun face you drew on the island ;-) - those eye circles are supposed to be pendant lights) lharpie - the rectangular island is 4' by 4' 9" plus counter overhang so it's pretty good-sized. The prep sink we'd planned would be maybe 16" or 18". We had a similar arrangement 2 houses ago so that's where this comes from. bpathome - yes, most glassware will be in the uppers above the wine fridge. Special occasion glassware will be in the flex/entertaining area. Dishes would be in drawers in the island as you suspected :-) We'd mostly eat at the counter and family room. The flex space will have a table in it and will have a slider that goes to the (large-ish) covered front porch. Folks in the community tend to gather on each others' front porches to socialize and the flex space is there to give us some inside options. Thanks, Michelle...See MoreAdvice on dining room layout in new build
Comments (13)That is a long walk from the kitchen cooking area to the DR is the rest of this already decided it seems like a lot of chopped up spaces to me, the sitting room is for what ? It looks very small too many things I don’t like so I would go back to the drawing room but I do agree an improvement would be the use of spaces and swapping the study for the DR would be one I would do.That pantry is IMO useless where it is you will wear yourself out preparing even a simple dinner....See MoreBuehl
7 years agoBuildinginTN
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7 years agoBuehl
7 years agoBuehl
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoBuehl
7 years agoBuildinginTN
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