Kitchen Design for New Build

6 years ago

Hello! We are in the planning stages for our new build in the Pacific Northwest. I'm looking for some help with the ideal layout for the kitchen.

We are a family of 4 with two young children (2 years and 4 years old). Two dogs. This will be on acreage, hobby farm. We entertain only for the big holidays. We eat dinner at the dining table every night. Island will be for crafts/homework/activities for the kiddos, and additional seating when we entertain.

Would love a fresh eye on this, recommendations for appliance layout, etc. Thanks!

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mama goose_gw zn6OH

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I'm reading the kitchen as 17' 10" long, but that's still a lot of space for storage. I drew a tall, shallow cabinet on the side of the fridge, for brooms, command center, or pantry storage for often-used items.

With 18' width you can easily have a 36" or 48" range and/or separate fridge/freezer columns, but that would add considerably to the budget. Since you are accustomed to a MW over the range, I'd suggest putting one in a cabinet beside the fridge--it will be a little lower than eye level, but you won't need to reach over the range.

Kristin, lisa_a, and cpartist have some great ideas. The following plan has a range, but you could move a cooktop down and have wall ovens beside the fridge.

Click to enlarge

ETA, a different orientation, which blocks the working side of the kitchen from the LR sight lines, and gives you a view of the back porch while prepping. The island is almost square, with cabinets opening toward the sink wall, and an extra cabinet for storage. There is a wall oven, and tall pantry cabinets.

The cooktop is centered between windows, which are centered on the kitchen, but that might not work for the front façade of the house. If the PR could be crunched a little, you could add a few inches to the kitchen.

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Comments (14)

Kristin S
6 years ago
Do you need that much seating at the island? Seating for six when you're a family of four who uses the table as your main seating seems excessive. Personally I'd get rid of some of the seats and incorporate more storage onto the outer side of the island.

If it were me, I'd also want to move the main/cleanup sink to the counter under the windows, then have a small prep sink on the island near the refrigerator.
my_four_sons
6 years ago
I might be the only one, but I have no clue what the drawings are trying to show. What’s that thing on the powder room wall? Where’s the dishwasher? What are the island dimensions?
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Also, cpartist, dining room only used on major holidays 3-4 x's at most a year so no worry. So if you only use it 3-4x a year, why are you building one in? Wouldn't it make more sense to combine the kitchen/dining into one space with room to expand at holiday times? I'm in the same boat as you. Mostly I do buffet style parties and with the exception of holidays, we don't sit down to dinner so I have one dining area that is part of my kitchen and can extend into the living area if needed. Why build something that will cost major bucks and only be used 3-4x a year? Guests will access front door and not garage door so no powder room there to see. On the small area you showed, it looked like the front entry since it says entry. As far as pathways,good input. I think I will have to really think my new furniture as to make sure the new stuff isn't overly large and overstuffed to maintain those thoroughfares. It will be mostly just us two at most times but I will really have to plan for furniture so thanks. Make sure your house has an organizing "spine" to it because when you have an organizing "spine" it helps make it much easier to move about and have good flow throughout. I've been in builder open houses where my friend and I were constantly guessing where to go next and what would be behind door #1. When a house is laid out well, with rooms only 1-2 rooms deep, one doesn't need to try and figure that out. It seems to lay itself out in an orderly flow. I'm excited to have kitchen so close to master. Dogs get up early and nice to be so close. I don't have an issue with it being close to the kitchen. That's personal choice. I have an issue with you having to walk through your work zone to get to the kitchen. That is not so good. The best homes I've seen with the kitchen near the master either have a path between dining area and kitchen to master or the master is off a separate hallway. In either case one doesn't have to walk through the kitchen to get to the master. Again this speaks of good flow and natural flow. The pantry will have a hidden entry (will look like wall cabinetry but will have a concealed door.(look like uppers and lowers but the "cabinet" pulls will open the one large door on either side) I like a hidden entry but I absolutely would not do a double door entry. And in this case I'm not sure it's the best use of space. Also, what do think about swapping the fridge and wall oven placement? Since cpartist said its roller skate distance, maybe I should. Yes that will help but your kitchen will not work for aging in place and that should be a consideration. I realize you're healthy now, but stuff happens. The best is to have an L shaped perimeter so you can slide your food stuff from sink to cooktop. That's what I did with my perimeter. In fact, I bucked what is commonly done by putting my cleanup sink on the island and my prep sink on the perimeter for just that reason. My Mom had Parkinsons and used a walker. She could easily wash and prep her food stuff and then slide it over to the cooktop because the sink was on the same counter run. However she needed help for carrying stuff. Roller skate distance can also indicate a barrier island and/or a kitchen that's overly large. You can have a smaller, efficient kitchen, esp with a large pantry, and you can have a large, inefficient kitchen. My parents had the latter at their retirement home, which influenced us greatly for our new house. So very true. Do yourself a favor and in your mind try making a meal in that kitchen. You'll quickly see it's very inefficient. And the other comment about where we would eat, BeckySharp, we sit at the bar mainly all the time. If you had the dining table as part of the kitchen and not so far away, you'd use it more often. Especially as you age in place you may or may not find the counter height stools harder to maneuver onto. Hence my suggestion that you build the dining room as part of the kitchen. We've had a formal dining room and basically hardly used it but when we do have the larger gatherings it's nice to have. So you're willing to spend what is possibly $20k-$30k for a space you'll use 4x a year when as mentioned you can combine the two spaces to make it much more functional for now and the future? How many can I seat comfortably on that size bar? Is the rule 24" or 36"? 24"
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Is there seating at the island? Too many offsets, corners and discontinuous work surfaces. Drawing too fuzzy to see dimensions. The stair winders won't pass inspection in most of the US. Stair width appears small too. Is this a revision to a stock plan? 2018 IRC:
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No, the architect hasn't finished all the details lol, this is a 95% plan. The bedroom will have a door from the hallway. The closet will have hanging shelves for clothes on the far wall with about 4' and on the bathroom wall have build ins leaving about 32" of space to stand.
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ILoveRed, I had thought about that (the higher seating), but we are both tall, so it's not a very big step up, but that's a very good point. I may have to revisit that idea. reff31, we do have a much different lifestyle than most people, so it does make it hard to design because our own needs are not the same as the vast majority of people's who are building a home, but I have gotten some really great input that has made a huge difference in my planning, and I have completely redone the kitchen, which was a mess. (It still needs some tweaking.) Cherie, I think that's not a bad idea of the prep sink by the cooktop. I tire of balancing things on my cutting board or dripping across the floor from the sink to the cooktop in order to get from prep to the stove. I am going to give that some thought. It would solve a couple of issues. I am going to have an outdoor shower by the pool. I have one now and absolutely adore it. I have a pretty outdoor table with shower gel and shampoos, and keep some fluffy towels in the sunroom I can grab on the way out. There is nothing like taking a shower outside in the sunlight! It's also great to rinse off after working outside and then jump in the pool for a refreshing dip without even having to go into the house. The master bathroom has two separate vanities - one for each of us. The bathroom is actually the same configuration we have now, and works very well for us. My husband has a home office and stays well clear when I am getting ready for work in the morning, lol. mama goose, I meant to snap a pic of our current two-level island last night but forgot. In looking at the photo of one similar to mine, it seems welcoming for a drink but not for a meal. (If that makes sense?) Hmmm, that's a problem for me. I think I may have to move the prep sink from the island to the counter, and make the island a combo of smaller prep/serving space and regular dining height seating. I agree with everyone it's not going to work well to try and have a giant elevated bar height seating space there. Or back off on my island size altogether and combine it with a separate table and seating at the back of it as suggested earlier. Edited to add, I think I may have found the perfect solution - I really like this idea a lot! How wide/deep do you think this island is? There's plenty of room on the great room side to extend seating in that direction. Here's a photo similar to what I have in mind for the microwave.
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rantontoo
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Will you really use three sit-down eating spaces enough to warrant the space for them...all within a short distance of each other? What are your aisle widths in your mock-up?
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Original Author
6 years ago
The island will definitely be smaller...my architect just drew it like that to show what we could potentially use, space-wise. I don't need it that big, though.

The island dimensions are whatever we decide to make them, and the dishwasher goes where it makes most sense. In other words, the layout shown is just a suggestion. We can put things wherever we want them within the space constraints.

My_four_sons, the square drawn to the left of the powder room is (I believe) a beverage fridge, but I doubt I'll use one. The item above the powder room wall is our wood stove.
lisa_a
6 years ago
Hello from a fellow PNWer!

If (big if) I'm reading the drawing correctly, your kitchen is 18' top to bottom and 22', left to right on the plant. That's a very large kitchen. Lucky you! But I don't think you're using the space to its full potential at all.

With standard depth cabs and counters (25 1/2" deep) and a 48" aisle between window counter run and island, your island could easily be 142" long. Wowza! That's more like a continent! And it will require more than 1 slab and a seam. I can't tell how deep it is but you'll want to watch depth so that you can clean the center of the island. If you're tall, you could get away with a 60" deep island but most prefer an island depth less than that.

Yes, to Kristin's comment to move the clean-up sink and DW to the window wall and add a prep sink to the island. The prep sink could double as a craft sink.

Where's pantry storage? Is one of the walk-in closets on the other side of the stairs your pantry? That's quite a hike from the kitchen.

Which space are you designating the dining room? The one above the kitchen or the one to the right? Do you need tables large enough to seat 8 at each?

How do you intend to use the desk space on the window wall? Will you really sit at the desk? Or would a "command center" to keep track of schedules, appts and school projects (your kiddos will be in school before you know it) suffice? You can do that without adding a desk. If you want to sit down, sit at the island. btw, most people are eliminating desks in the kitchen.

I'm also curious about what the thing is next to the powder room. Ditto for the thing behind the island. See the ?s on the drawing.

Please provide a clearer drawing so that we can give better advice. Thanks!
lisa_a
6 years ago
Oops, I was posting and drawing while you posted answers to 2 of my questions.
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Original Author
6 years ago
Lisa-a the table in the tan shaded portion above the kitchen is outside on the porch. And while I expect that we’ll put a table out there at some point, I’m sure you understand that we’ll really only be able to use it like 30 days of the year :) :) :). Man am I sick of this rain!

Yes, the larger closet by the stairs is the pantry.

I like your idea of a command center. I don’t see the need for a sit down desk area in the kitchen
rantontoo
6 years ago
Okay...porch...helps clarify plan. I think the beverage/snack center is a great idea especially as children grow up and for entertaining.
Kristin S
6 years ago
Are you considering adding a fireplace or propane heaters to the outdoor dining area? We're in Portland, and my parents did both of those things at their house, which has expanded how much we can use the outdoor space exponentially.

You asked about appliance layout - what appliances do you want? Refrigerator/freezer size? How many dishwashers? Wall oven(s) and cooktop or range?

Hope you're getting the same sunny day there that we're getting here - it's such a nice break from the usually PNW February gray.
User
Original Author
6 years ago
Kristin that’s an excellent idea! Will look into propane heaters.

Unfortunately, today was rain AGAIN. We’re about an hour north of Seattle.

We’ll do a French door fridge/freezer, 36 inches wide. We’ll do an electric range (double oven) with microwave hood. One dishwasher. Double-bowl apron front white sink
cpartist
6 years ago
No microwave hood!!!! They are useless. You need a real hood. Get a drawer microwave or a built in.
User
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks cpartist. I guess with all this space we can afford to, huh? I’ve always had microwave hood because counter space has been an issue but that won’t be a problem with this kitchen.
cpartist
6 years ago
Exactly and have you also considered doing a separate double oven and a cooktop instead of a range?

Kitchen Design for New Build

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