Kitchen/DR Pass Thru Question
I am buying a condo soooooon (I hope). The attached pictures are from the same model unit, but not the one I've contracted for. As you can see, the kitchen has a pass thru to the dining room. Some owners have taken down the entire wall to open the kitchen to the DR/LR, but I don't want to lose the wall cabinets to the left or the pantry to the right. However, I think I would prefer a more sleek opening. What are the negatives to eliminating the 10-inch high rise behind the sink and the 12-inch deep ledge that sticks out into the DR from a functionality POV? I know the kitchen would be more in view, but not sure how having just 9 inches behind the sink would look. FWIW, I'm also considering using the den opposite the kitchen as the DR. The DR area pictured is adjacent the LR and would be used to extend the LR space. So yea or nay to removing the 10-inch rise? Yea or nay to eliminating the ledge? TIA!
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Pass-thru behind sink: flat or step up: Pic/comments wanted
Comments (8)Will there be any seating under the overhang (e.g., a sofa placed under it)? Counter seating? Might be an idea, btw, since it's a rec/computer room and the kids could eat snacks there. With that much overhang behind the sink, I think a single level will be fine and will actually be more functional in the long run as well as easier for everyone to reach food or other things on the counter, regardless of their heights. As to how high to make the opening...since you're going to make it much wider, I think opening it up to the ceiling will give you more of an open feeling in the kitchen as well as connect with the children in the other room better. B/c of the wider opening, it should be to-scale. If you're concerned about the view from the back door, then when you "gentrify" the door area, consider a frosted glass or wood partition (depending on room style) b/w the door & comp/rec room that will hide the sink from immediate sight. I like your idea!...See MoreGFIC pass though question
Comments (34)All countertops? It is a little different here in Canada although my book is probably two years old and may have changed (and it may be a unified code, not just British Columbia) - you must have no more than 900mm/35.4" between outlets but as for GFI it says "washbasins" yet my kitchen section does not mention them, where it says "washbasins" it says all outlets gfi protected within 3m which for most kitchens would be the majority of outlets, in which case why would you not do them all; and 20amp outlets are permitted but lighting is not allowed to be on that 20a circuit. With the proliferation of espresso machines currently, and the emergence of plumbed-in models, I can see 20 amp and even 240v (I could have brought my old espresso machine with me from Australia) becoming popular, and no doubt in higher end kitchens there will be an espresso nook with specialised outlets and a water box recess thingy like is provided for fridges, eventually. My current machine just uses a water tank though. A gfci for an espresso machine seems like a good idea to me, water and electricity come very close together in them (and even closer when they start to leak like mine has) I still don't know if you can get GFI outlets that can be divided though - all the ones I've seen have no provision to separate the two individual outlets. For me at least, it's gfci two pole breakers. Probably around $100 each....See MoreQuestion, how to make the paint colors flow thru house
Comments (14)To mry193--YW, mry. Go ahead, take the plunge! Easy for me to commit you to all this agony, eh? :-) It is hard,sometimes, but it's fun, too, and so gratifying when you get something right. But that's the thing, as in cooking or buying a blouse we think is going to be absolutely perfect with "those" slacks...no matter how much practice we have, we all make mistakes now and then. We get "it" home and it doesn't look right, even if we have years of practice and have successfully executed color schemes before. So I say, don't be intimidated, jump in and when you mess things up, you can do what I still have to do often enough (even after thirty years, two apartments, one rental, five owned homes and probably, counting renos, a couple dozen color schemes): repaint or change the shower curtain. :-D What are you picturing in your mind's eye? What kind of colors do you see in your dream scheme? To hoosiergirl: Ditto your agent; you built a beautiful home, and I love the way you put everything together. [For skeet, if you see this and look at hoosier's pics, the very first photo I saw had a good example of the visual linking. Look at the way the finish on the door on the left side relates well to the floor color on the right, even though the wall colors are different and there's a different (carpet? rug?) color between the door and the other room's floor. So, even though the two areas are different, they're tied together with the same undertones and similar finishes.] To hoosier, again--That's a lovely kitchen, and you seem to have done a much better job than I have in using what look to be almost the exact same colors/tones (as nearly as I can tell from pics) in our kitchens. Aghhhh! Help me, hoosier! LOL I agree with you. We built this house not quite four years ago. The hardest part was picking the paint. I'm happy with a lot of the house, but so far I've repainted the kitchen twice, and as I noted above, I'm having to do it again. I hope I get it "right" this time! I was happy to see your cabinet color used with black appliances. That's what I have, except for the cooktop and fan (SS). I am struggling to get some cheer/energy in this room. The main difference is that I have the wooden cabinets on the perimeter of the room and the (soft) white cabinetry on the island. Do you have decent natural light in that kitchen? Mine's okay until about 2 p.m., then it gets dreary. There's a LOT of wood in here, with the cabs, the plank floors (a little darker than your tile, but the same reddish undertone), and a farmhouse table. There's a lot of warm painted furniture (chairs, pie keep, a linen chest), but it's still a heavy room. The walls were originally some kind of off-white (maybe...BM Ballet?). I thought it would be nice, because of all the (Early American) colors in the furniture, but, no. I think the white had too grey a base. Then I hand-mixed a soft green that looks close to the same hue as yours, except a bit lighter. I thought I liked it, but it became draggy as the weather got greyer. I also used matte, and maybe that was a problem. So...now I'm going to try a warm white (something like BM Navajo or Calming Cream) in *eggshell* on the walls) and a lighter, warm gold (like Marblehead Gold or Dorset Gold) on all the doors and trim. Like your house, there's a lot of trim/millwork. The palette on this floor mostly comes off of BM Philadelphia Cream/Guilford Green/Palladian Blue/Goldfinch. That's a beautiful fan hood, btw. Maybe warmer metal finishes would help around my kitchen. Anyway, nicely done!...See MoreKitchen/LR pass thru
Comments (33)Hey now, grumpy... I was there and watched the whole thing. This is my home and I wouldn’t have someone complete bad work to ruin something we’ve worked hard to get. There’s a 2x12 (yes, doubled with 1/2” plywood between) header up there supported by jack studs to the slab, along with new electrical. Please don’t comment anymore if you can’t be positive and offer true advice vs questioning my statement. And FYI- we were going to trim it out ourselves, but my mother is gifting us his finished work for Christmas. I was simply excited to share a progress pic, this is obviously not finished, lol....See MoreRelated Professionals
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8 years ago- 8 years ago
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoCan you show a pic of the pantry? I'm asking because I'm wondering if there isn't some compromise, like taking out the wall but maybe hanging a two sided cabinet where the cabinet on the left is, one with glass doors perhaps?
You also might be able to squeeze some pantry space on the wall under the opening facing the dining room. Even if it's just stud depth, you could add unobtrusive doors, maybe the kind without handles that you push on to open, and have quite a bit of storage for cans and jars, etc.
User thanked Olychick- 8 years ago
Olychick - Not sure I want or need to change the corner cabinetry (esp with glass doors), but I like the idea of adding storage under the ledge in the DR area, whether or not I remove the pantry. Stealing the 9 inches already "wasted" under the ledge, adding a couple more inches in depth, and extended along the entire wall would gain a YUGE amount of storage without giving up much space in the DR area. Would really work well if I decide to move the DR into the den.
Here's the pantry.
- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Cannot understand why 3 photos uploaded and the 4th didn't. Anyway, uploaded the pantry photo to Houzz. Let's see if this one makes it....
Kitchen · More InfoPlus, a new development: I got to see another unit that opened the kitchen from the hallway to just left of the sink. The pantry was removed and replaced with a drawer stack, but the corner wall cabinets remained in place. I loved it! The other thing I noted in that unit is placing the LR sofa/chairs on the opposite side of the room from the one I'm currently in (ref first photo above) will give tons more room for DR furniture in the DR area. Then I could use the den as a den rather than a DR!
I'm still going to explore storage cabinets/drawers along the kitchen/DR wall on the DR side.
Thanks for all your suggestions. If there are any more, I'd love to read them....
- 8 years ago
I think you may be living in my condo in San Diego! lol It took me awhile before I solved(sort of!)the problem of the pass thru, since it was completely useless as a pass thru for me, even though it was on the dining room side. I used 2 wood and metal wall decorations which completely filled up the space but still allowed the light to come thru. These are not identical but very close. I used eye hooks screwed into the frame and hung with a few inches of chain. What you are looking at are the two color variations. I stained the frames very dark.
User thanked patty_cakes42 - 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
After weighing all the above advice and suggestions, I've decided to remove the pantry and the wall behind it over to the wall cabinets left of the sink. The wall cabinets in the corner by the sink will remain. I will add base cabinets outside the kitchen along the remaining "half" wall, facing into the DR. However, I need to decide what to put into the 15-inch void left by removing the pantry: drawer stack or base cabinet? I will be outfitting the existing large hallway cabinet with shelving to serve as a mini-pantry/coat closet.
Here's a rough sketch which still needs to be reviewed by the kitchen designer and my contractor (Monday!). The "?" is the soon-to-be-replaced pantry location.
Kitchen · More InfoI still haven't decided whether or not I'll remove the wall down to the kitchen counter or keep the 10-inch rise, despite the Notes on the plan above.
The DR cabinets will not match the kitchen. They will coordinate with my DR furniture (natural cherry). There is an end wall between the hallway and kitchen so the change between the two cabinet runs will not be seen. Again, still to be addressed with the kitchen designer.
Just because it's fun, here are photos of the counter I've chosen (Cambria Windermere) with white and with cherry cabinets:
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Kitchen · More InfoI'll be very happy to have a home of my own again. All my belongings have been in storage since June.
- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Last first (because that's how my mind works):
Yes, practigal, I can change layout (not the location); however, it will not give me any payback in the community development, and, frankly, I don't want to spend the dinero to completely redo the kitchen. My retirement income and time will be better spent on FUN (and wine - see below)!
chibimimi - 1 thought; 2 great minds! Here's the photo I pulled off GW last night that had me re-thinking whether I wanted a drawer stack or a cabinet:
You have no idea how much I troll this site. I'm more of a lurker these last 6.5 years, getting vicarious thrills from all of you!
I also thought I might install a wine cooler there, but all the ones I like that seemed to fit got low ratings due to noise, so I scotched that idea. Then, someone on GW linked to an article about James Beard (maybe about his culinary school?) with this picture:
Kitchen · More InfoI thought, what? Wait, wouldn't this work behind a cabinet door? So I got out of bed, emptied one of the pullout drawers in the existing pantry and loaded it with wine:
Kitchen · More InfoI could get at least 3 (maybe 4) pullouts in the cabinet (15 or 20 bottles!) and a drawer above to hold accessories. I would need to locate cradles for the bottles or drive myself crazy listening to glass rolling around every time I opened or closed the drawer. Trash or wine? What a choice.
robo - I'm keeping the end wall so I can use 2 different cabinets. The existing kitchen cabinetry definitely looks "kitcheny" vis a vis my more formal LR/DR furniture. While I don't mind it showing through to the LR/DR, I want to coordinate the new DR-facing cabinetry with the DR furniture (natural cherry). The new cherry cabinets will abut the existing white ones. The existing finished wall is 5 inches and there's a 2.5-inch filler between the DW and the pantry. I could probably gain 2 inches just by rotating the studs 90 degrees. The remaining wall needs to incorporate light switches. Can that work if the studs are rotated? For electrical code I might have to replace the existing outlet that's on the 10-inch rise to the right of the sink. Mockett opportunity? I'll explore with the designer and framer to see if I could gain enough to get an 18-inch cabinet. Great idea!
Olychik - Thank you! All that I've said in this current post is based on making the counter one level!
By the way, if anyone knows where I could get pulls like those pictured in the following photo, that's what I'd like in gold (brass?) on the new DR cabinets, which will coordinate with some of the LR furniture. I'm envisioning slab front cabs, no external drawer, but one at the top inside.
Oh, boy! When I'm in the midst of construction hiccups and delays, I'll have to remember how much fun it's been planning this stuff. FWIW, here's the overall layout of the place:
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