Help with Ikea kitchen layout review

7 years ago

Hi all! We recently moved to a new house with a
pretty awful kitchen. We plan to totally remodel the kitchen next summer, so
I’m in the planning stages now. We're going to tear out everything and start from
scratch. I've never designed a kitchen before so I’d really appreciate any comments or suggestions on the layout
of the new space.

Here’s some info on the space- the kitchen currently
takes up about half of one larger room. The other half is a pseudo-family room,
but we are happy with the one living room we have, so we’d rather use this
larger space for more kitchen. Layout and pictures are below.

Below- Super closed-off space behind cabinets we only use to store an old couch for the dogs to hang out on...

We won't be keeping the appliances...

So we’re planning to tear everything out and to have the
larger room as a blank slate. Here’s my current design and link to Ikea plan.

Link: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI/Pages/VPUI.htm?LoadDesign=702461008a5f4419aea0e9a6770cf390&UIContext=SE_Menu&IsSharedDesign=1

Notes:

·
We need to work the kitchen around patio doors
and windows where they are. House exterior is brick and would be expensive to
move.
·
Kitchen is above decent size crawl space so
gas/plumbing will be relatively easy to relocate. Current design has sink
staying put, but we’re flexible on that.
·
The laundry room is a walk-through and has a
second entrance, so we’re planning to close in the laundry room to kitchen
doorway to gain wall for cabinets.

Please share your ideas, red flags, criticisms, and totally
different designs. We have lots of time to plan so I’m open to whatever! Thanks
in advance!

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Comments (9)

mama goose_gw zn6OH
7 years ago
Wow, that's a nice space--but hard to work around the doors in the
middle, and existing windows. I'm not a fan of cooktops on islands or peninsulas, but I think it probably works better for this space. I'd put a prep sink on the island,
and leave the left side of the plan for clean-up. The right side would
be the prep/cooking zones, and since there are doors to other rooms on
the left side, maybe the family can be trained to use that traffic path. If there is enough available space in the LR, then the island could be moved out another 6-12", to provide more room for traffic to pass behind the cooktop

I couldn't access the Ikea plan, so I did a quick and simple graph, guessing at the space available:

If you can post the Ikea plan, or post all measurements, it will be easier to give layout advice.

New to Kitchens? Read me First.
AnnKH
7 years ago
That's a challenging space!

Most folks here will advise against a stove on the island. It requires a lot of space around it to avoid splattering people seated, and it is very expensive to vent. To vent properly, you end up with a giant hood in the middle of the room.

I made a very quick sketch of something to think about - how about a walk-in pantry in the corner where you now have the fridge, and build a wall perpendicular to the door, for the fridge? Without dimensions, it's impossible to tell if this can work, but it would bring your appliances closer together.
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Thanks Amanda (huango) and numbersjunkie and rebunky! shifting the sink is a great idea and completely do-able. I agree, get it out of the corner. Most of the collisions happen there. :-| with a single level peninsula, I thought the that the tall skinny faucet would look odd, sticking up all by it's lonesome. Do you find that the extra counter space makes up for the not being able to hide stuff behind the second level ? good idea for more cabinet space over the fridge. that's a blind corner base cabinet to the left of the range I never thought of turning the cabinets to face out the other direction! Nope...no formal dining room. Some neighbors use the formal living room as a dining room or put a larger dining table in front of the patio door, as benjesbride suggested. the consensus is that the shorter pony wall must go. I agree! Thanks! - Mal
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Are you just replacing cabinets and leaving fixtures (cooktop, fridge, ovens, sink) in the same places? I think there's room for improvement with your layout--particularly getting your cooktop off the island. Are you open to suggestions regarding floor plan? 2) should I add more drawers? You can't have too many drawers, so I say all base cabinets should be all drawers. 3) Do I have too many cabinets? I think you're the only one who can really answer question since you know what you need to store. I think it looks like a good amount. 4) would silverware left of the sink be odd? Generally speaking, I think putting the silverware in the corner is less than ideal. In addition, in this layout the area to the left of the sink is prime prep space and anyone prepping there will have to move to let someone else grab a utensil. 5) how do people feel about the built in microwaves? Are they convenient or no? After buying our Ikea Sektion cabinets, I put our microwave on a low shelf in our temporary kitchen setup and learned that I hated it. Too late. The biggest issue is having to squat down to keep an eye on my kids' quick oatmeal. If it begins to really annoy me I'll probably get an undercabinet microwave or a small countertop. If you're going with a microwave drawer, that makes more sense in a base cab, but I've never used one. 6) Am I crazy for going with Ikea cabinets? Nope. They're a great option.
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Ok, I finally made it home. As you'll see from the sketches, we are in the early conceptual stage of house design with our architect. LOL.... It was said and agreed upon on the build forum that architects aren't great kitchen designers (and neither am I) :) :) We like this particular layout, but I wanted to make sure that we could get a functioning kitchen before we move further forward with this particular variation.Garage is in the top right corner which I cut off on the picture. I agree that a true butlers pantry opens into the DR, but we are both ok with it as it is because it is also quite like a wet-bar for us. We still can stage food and remove dirty dishes, etc to this spot. And a section through the kitchen: And finally, a more squished in version of the kitchen: Hopefully that gives everyone a better idea of what we're trying to do.
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@rantontoo, Gotcha, thanks it does make sense. So any different layout ideas to avoid the barrier issue? I guess I feel like there's an inherent trade off between efficient kitchens with good lines and ones with lots of counter & workspace... or have I just never seen a really well designed kitchen layout? :) There is a powder room directly behind where the fridge is, then the garage is on the other side of the powder room. Edit: Actually the powder room might only be behind the microwave area. Might be the hallway leading to the powder room right behind the fridge location. Either way, there is about 6' of the house indoors between the back of the fridge wall and the garage.
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freeoscar
7 years ago
How big is the entire room? Can you post a pic of the fireplace? What kind of fireplace is it? I'm asking because I'm not sure I understand how much empty space would be left and how you would use it - why not incorporate it and make a large, eat-in kitchen that overlooks the patio? Or perhaps a mudroom/pantry off of the door to the garage?
Kristine
Original Author
7 years ago
Sorry everyone, not sure why my Ikea link didn't work. Here is the link again. In case that doesn't work, here's the overhead view that shows overall room dimensions (23' x 21'). Doors start 9'3" from the left and 7'9" from the right (2x36")

For a while I tried different designs to get the stove off of the island. I had it on the back wall where the fridge is now, but then I had a hard time fitting the refrigerator in with the window.

I like the idea of a prep sink in the island, I think that would help break up the room because right now the sink is pretty far away from the other appliances. It also shouldn't accumulate dishes if still have the clean up sink under the window which was our original concern with a sink in the island.

I can get a picture of the fireplace tonight. It's kind of annoying that it is in this room, because it's at a diagonal it takes up a lot of space. We are planning to just have a little sitting area in front of it.

We were thinking about making the area as you come in from the garage a mudroom area. We're in Colorado so there are always coats and snowboots. Probably no additional framing, just cabinets and a designated area.

Thanks for your input!
dcward89
7 years ago
I think a cozy little seating area in front of the fireplace is a lovely addition to a kitchen...sometimes a kitchen is all hard, cold surfaces and that would really warm up a space. No ideas about the layout, there are others much more expert than I here!
mama goose_gw zn6OH
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
You have more space than I'd guessed. You could put the fridge on the left side, closer to the LR entry, so that no one needs to enter the prep space to access it, then move the oven next to the French doors, and leave the pantries on the right side. That puts the prep sink closer to the clean-up sink, but also puts the cooktop in a more protected spot. Cooktop is closer to the ovens, for dishes that need to go from searing to roasting.
sena01
7 years ago
How big is the FP? If you can move the sink/DW to the other exterior wall, here's another idea.
Kristine
Original Author
7 years ago
mama goose- I like the idea of having the refrigerator on that side of the room, but I put wall cabinets there by the dishwasher for all dishes and glassware. Is there another solution for that storage? It could be that the two cabinets you have next to the fridge would fit all of that.

sena01- Thanks for the suggestion! The FP is probably about 8' on that diagonal. It isn't a small amount of space. Looking at the space, anything on the fireplace side of the window is going to feel funny next to the fireplace so I think like the idea of keeping everything behind the window.
mama goose_gw zn6OH
7 years ago
If you need more space for dishes you can keep some of them in the
drawer base below--flatware in the top drawer and plates and bowls in
the lower drawers? GW discussions--dishes in drawers.

Help with Ikea kitchen layout review

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mama goose_gw zn6OH

AnnKH

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Help with Ikea kitchen layout review

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mama goose_gw zn6OH

AnnKH

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