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Renovating: layout changes?

6 years ago

I made a rough layout of my current kitchen that I would like to renovate. There are currently two areas: a kitchen area (the lower part in my drawing) and the eating area (the upper part). There’s a door separating the two areas. The shaded rectangle in the middle is a column that I cannot move.

Do people have any suggestions in terms of what I can or should change during the renovation? It’s a challenge to fit some of the appliances in here, since it’s a very tight fit.

For example, the current cooktop is only 24in, but I am considering upgrading to a 30in model. The leaves very little room on the right side for the corner cabinet.

The current space in between the fridge and oven is interrupted by a small countertop space with lower and upper cabinets. I'm planning to do away with the countertop and just have a flush wall of cabinets.

I also need to find room for a small wine fridge somewhere.

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Comments (4)

mama goose_gw zn6OH
6 years ago
That's a challenging space! If you can move the lower door over, you could put the sink and DW on that wall and have a galley work zone. It's unclear if there is a pass-through between the kitchen and dining area, but you could use shanghaimom's example of a range with pass-throughs (pic to follow).

In such a small space, I'd use an integrated cutting board to extend the prep counter. If you leave a positive reveal on the sink, a custom cutting board will be supported by the exposed edge of the sink.

I'd suggest leaving the landing space between the fridge and ovens, for convenience and safety, with the wine fridge below. You could have a deeper than standard upper that comes down to the counter, with an appliance garage at counter level. Doors on the appliance garage can open downward to rest on the counter, and provide a wider landing space. I did this with my MW cabinet, and covered the inside of the door with sheet metal, to use as landing space for hot pans or dishes from the oven. I use it often!

In the little space in front of the column, I designated spice storage--racks or a custom shallow cabinet. You could also have racks for hanging utensils and pot holders.

There's an upper cabinet on the wall to the right of the range hood, and uppers over the sink run. The cabinet to the right of the range hood would be 24" wide, so if there's at least 12" between it and the hood, you can have two 12" doors.

Shanghaimom's range:
More pics of her kitchen

Link to pic of my MW cabinet door 'landing pad': link
newton031 thanked mama goose_gw zn6OH
cluelessincolorado
6 years ago
Can you switch from cooktop/oven to range?
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newton031
Original Author
6 years ago
@mama goose_gw zn6OH thanks for the suggestion, but I wont be able to move the door. Anything inside the kitchen I can move, but changing anything outside of it is too complicated

@cluelessincolorado what would be the benefit of doing a range? Also, I dont think I have a large enough exhaust vent for a range-type stove. Only 4in for the exhaust pipe
cluelessincolorado
6 years ago
Do you currently have an electric cooktop or gas? Range, induction or otherwise, would allow you to free up space occupied by oven.

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