Galley kitchen remodel
First of all, I am so over the moon with this design. BUT I am getting quite a bit of flack from others that the island is too big and I am concerned about the space for the refrigerator being too tight.
Please give me your thoughts!!
1 - The size of the island is 9' 4" long and 5'8 wide. It is substantial but the dimensions of my open floor plan (kitchen, dining, living room) is 30' x 32' so I think that the room can handle it. My cabinet person wants to reduce the width down to 4' 4" but I think that will make it feel too skinny.
2 - The refrigerator is drawn in at counter depth in the former galley kitchen that will be turning into the butlers pantry. This space is 7' from wall to wall. I am very concerned that it is going to be too tight. Also the refrigerator is located right on the wall and in order to be able to open the door, the wall beside it will have to end before the hinges on the refrigerator door so as to allow it to open.
Notes on dimensions
1 - pantry is 7' x 10' 11
2 - island is 9'4 x 5'8
3 - range wall is 9'4
4 - sink wall is approximately 8'
Comments (22)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoFirstly, with an island that deep, I'd move the seating to two sides, and decrease the width. 9' 4" will not comfortably accommodate 5 seats--you need at least 24" per seat, so 8' 4" will seat 4, and 5'4" on the short side will seat 2, in a more sociable configuration.
I'd put a standard-depth fridge in the kitchen, near the living areas for easy access, and shorten the stub wall to allow the door to open. You'll have more storage space in the fridge, and more storage space in the pantry.
Have you considered a prep sink on the island?
Click to enlarge.
Sophia Benfield thanked mama goose_gw zn6OHRelated Discussions
Galley kitchen remodel
Comments (24)Thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess it just reinforces for me that the problem I have is how to configure the "breakfast room." I'm half tempted just to forget it, and focus my efforts and limited money on getting the most out of the galley. I hate this option, though, if only because it's probably not possible for me to squeeze sufficient food storage into the galley. Plus I really want to get better use out of the breakfast room space - with a small house it's particularly problematic to have wasted space. My last effort to make the room more user friendly involved putting in banquette style seating (a Home Decorators marked down version of the Ballard Designs corner benches)... it seems like it was never as convenient as it looked. Because of the proliferation of doors (entry door, closet door, staircase opening, opening to the playroom on the other side of the entry), it's hard to float a table in the center of the room without it basically feeling like you're sitting in the entryway or at the foot of the stairs. So after that long defense I've given a shot at a slightly different layout which satisfies my hopes for future Costco runs. Because of the stub wall on the fridge side, the high cabinets would be the slimmer depth models that Ikea has - only about 13 inches deep. I've stuck with what seems like an unpopular idea of a peninsula, which looks very strange because the Ikea software is quirky. I'd love any more critiques, feedback, ideas, whatever! I've tried to make it more symmetrical A couple of suggestions centered on eliminating the wall between the galley and the breakfast room - unfortunately it's just not an option. It would cost me about $5k to widen the opening so that the two rooms were better connected, and that's just not worth it to me - in part because it would create new problems (like the fact that you'd see all the appliances from the front door, which just seems wrong to everyone I ask.) @momtofour: is your kitchen on the FKB? If you have any pictures online, I'd love to see them. I think the idea of a super long run of base cabinets sounds great; in practice I'd worry that the countertops would just become a dumping ground for clutter. I currently have a 9 foot stretch of counterspace on the opposite side from the range, and I don't use it all that much, perhaps because I'm not a great cook. The other issue is simply that the wall stub is 19 inches (23 with molding) so I'd need to have reduced depth cabinets on either side of it. @doraville: Unfortunately I can't really move the stove without running a new gas line, which I ruled out at the start to keep costs and drama as low as possible. But maybe I'm overestimating what a big deal that would be? BTW I've almost settled on going with the lighter wood doors. What I like best about the darker wood model from Ikea is the glass door version, which has divided lites. But I don't need display space - I need storage space....See MoreGalley Kitchen Remodel...suggestions anyone?
Comments (11)Your kitchen has really great natural light, some of which would presumably be given up if you took the door out of the end. It is hard to tell from your photos how the computer room is configured to the kitchen or whether there is or could be any space available in the laundry "porch." I am coming at this having made the cranky discovery that, as a rule, small older kitchens cannot readily accommodate today's huge looming refrigerators without having the room's proportions thrown out of kilter and giving up a lot of usable space. The rightly much admired enigmaquandry started out a different kind of galley kitchen, one that had less light than yours and a blind end to boot. As brilliant as her entire project turned out, I think it was relocating her fridge from the galley proper that allowed the space to blossom. Even sandyponder, whose much larger and wonderfully imaginative kitchen you can easily find here, decided to place her refrigerator in her pantry. As you might imagine, I too have just escaped a finite set of bad options by deciding to put the refrigerator into the just-large-enough pantry of the Sears kit house I am renovating. The fridge will be immediately outside the 10' x 11' kitchen, and the main space will be much more useful and well proportioned for its absence. I may even be able to make the two windows in the room bigger. The alternative, from my viewpoint, would be one of the wonderfully tall but shallow and relatively narrow Liebherr refrigerators, all of which are well outside my budget. Good luck. Your cabinets are great. Here is a link that might be useful: enigmaquandry's brilliant solution...See Morecondo galley kitchen remodel
Comments (3)Have you read the "Read Me" thread? Scroll down to the "Posting Pictures" post for directions. BTW...you probably are not getting responses to your thread emailed to you even though you checked the box that says "Check here if you would like copies of follow-ups to your message emailed to you." This is b/c you do not have the email option turned on in your profile. See the "Read Me" thread for more information on this as well. Scroll down to the post w/the subject "Getting Emails Sent To You...3-step Process" Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!...See MoreGalley Kitchen Remodel - what do's or don'ts and make sure's?
Comments (34)Hi everybody!! Thank you for all your input. At this point, I have decided to go with Ikea Ringhults for the kitchen. I placed the order and will be waiting patiently for 7 SEKTION cabinets. In the meantime, two walls will get knocked down, soffits removed, kitchen floor redone. Lighting question: would these lights work at the red "x"? (That kitchen on the right will be knocked down). Lights: 4 inch led wafer - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-Contractor-Select-Wafer-Series-4-in-Canless-Selectable-CCT-New-Construction-Remodel-Integrated-LED-Recessed-Light-Kit-WF4-LED-27K30K35K-90CRI-MW-M6/308905674...See More- 6 years ago
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago- 6 years agoThis is about all I have. The layout that I provided originally was done by my architect cousin at no charge and I don't want to take advantage of her services. Please note that most of the dimensions shown are not accurate. You can refer to my original layout for the correct dimensions.
The gray area is the carport. Starting at the far right that shows 10' is currently the laundry room.
The space immediately to the left of that is the current galley kitchen. The current kitchen ends in line with the left edge of the carport.
There is actually an entrance door at the top left of the carport.
The orange space at the bottom is a front porch. The front entry is on the far left of the porch. As soon as you enter, there is a hall on the left about halfway up.
That side of the house holds 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The guest bedrooms are on the entrance side of the house and the master is directly opposite.
My husband will not extend the master bedroom into the dining area because of the window and fireplace. Same with the kids bedrooms. I wish I could because everything on the left side of the house is pretty small!
Forgive my crude drawings!!
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Did you all consider moving the kitchen to the front of the house? We did a gut renovation and rearrangement of a small ranch style house a few years ago and by moving the kitchen to the front it really opened up a more efficient use of space. I really enjoy seeing what's happening in the neighborhood while I'm in the kitchen, but enjoying the backyard view while I'm in the dining and living areas.
This layout creates a foyer area with a small coat closet, which is nicer than being plopped right into the living room from the front door.
(click on images to enlarge)
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
Oh--instead of having a walk thru pantry with an all fridge and all freezer, you could just have them side by side in your kitchen. This drawing represents 30" fridge and 30" freezer. A 6.5' wide reach-in pantry is on the opposite wall.
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