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What do you think of this large pantry and the kitchen lay out?

6 years ago

We are building a new home and have a rough draft of house plans drawn up. I would like a really large pantry ("dirty kitchen") to put small appliances on including mixer. I am wondering what others think of this configuration and also would like ideas about where appliances should go in relation to sink. I do not want anything in the island. I have not liked that in the past.

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Comments (4)

cpartist
6 years ago
I'm wondering what's with all the angled walls? They waste so much space.

In the dirty kitchen, that angled corner will be unusable. How will you get there or stand there?

The fridge is completely across from your sink with the island being a barrier. So that means you have to carry food from the fridge across the aisle, to the sink, then rinse it, prep it on the left side of the sink since the dw is on the right side, and then carry it to the cooktop?

The island is too large. 5' is about the most anyone can reach across to reach the middle.

People are going to be walking through part of your working kitchen to get to and from the 3 season room?

One other thought. This doesn't look like a rough draft. A rough draft doesn't have every single thing outlined. This looks like a finished plan unless the whole thing was designed by a draftsman.
bpath
6 years ago
I'm not sure I follow the dirty kitchen idea. Will you have small appliances in that pantry, do all the prep in there where you might need a toaster, blender, food processor, hand blender, then carry the prepped food into the cooking part of the kitchen to the stove, where you still might need the hand blender? If you are making multiple dishes for a meal, and we usually do, with items in varying stages of being prepped, will you be going back and forth?

if so, consider having the cabinets around the cooktop open on both the kitchen and pantry sides, and have some lazy Susan's, so you can grab some herbs, spices, oils, vinegars, etc, no matter where you are in the cooking process. And, have a dishwasher drawer in the pantry for the appliance elements.

For breakfast, you'll toast the bread or whatever in the pantry, then bring it into the kitchen for spreading with something from the fridge? What about grilled sandwiches, you'll make the sandwich in the kitchen, then carry it into the pantry to put on the George Foreman?
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sayde, that's an interesting thought about deepening and extending a few of the shelves on the back wall. I had also considered a small wall hung cabinet similar to my spice cabinet beside my stove. rhome, no the shelves wouldn't protrude into the doorway. It's hard to tell from the photos I posted, but 5 inch shelves would just be flush with the left side of the door opening. I might think about some kind of upward lip on the shallow shelves to ensure things don't fall off. And yes, the shallow shelves would make the back shelves 29" (the 5" would still be there, it would just be blind). The doorway into the pantry is 30" wide, and the buffet on the right is shallower than the doorway by 10", so with my 5" shelves on the left, I'd still have 40" of width in which to navigate. That sounds like plenty to me, but I guess I don't know until I see it. The back shelves are 12" deep now. They work great for some things like the toaster oven and boxes of cereal, but I'm not crazy about how they work for canned goods when I only have one or two of something. If I have a dozen cans of the same thing, they're great because I know that all the cans front to back are the same thing. I keep wishing for more shelf frontage. I keep all the things I use frequently on the shelves I can reach easily, and extra inventory or ingredients I use less on the high shelves. The top shelf I've reserved for my vintage enameled fish poacher. Not my most practical purchase ever, but I like seeing it there.
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My pantry is a little longer --60"-- but I put 24" shelving in and aftermarket rollouts. It's kind of a mix of shelves, my beverage fridge, a rolling cart with storage, and the "shelf reliance" can holder, but there is room for a lot, and the roll outs (just rev a shelf off the rack) make everything accessible. I understand the reluctance to put deep shelves in, and I've had uselessly deep shelves myself. But it may be something to consider. I have two doors on mine so everything is easy to get.
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But - you will be prepping next to the sink...and the majority of people spend 70% or more time prepping and only 10% or less actually cooking. You don't stand in front of the food and watch it cook, do you? As to induction, that's all well and good, but it has nothing to do with the scalding steam billowing out from a pot of boiling water or grease splattering while browning meat or similar. It's the hot food and related things (e.g., steam & grease) that are the greatest issue, not the type of cooking appliance you're using. However, if you have: (1) A good island hood that is properly sized and has strong enough CFMs: At least 6" wider than the cooktop 27" deep 900 or so CFMs (preferably 900 at Medium to cut down on noise – the stronger a fan is, the lower the setting you need to use to be effective and the quieter it will be) Is mounted properly (no more than 30" above the cooking surface in most cases) --and-- (2) Your island is at least 48" deep - with 24" b/w the back of the cooking surface and the edge of the seating overhang ...then you should be OK. You'll still prep at the sink with your back to everyone, but that may be OK with you. Dish storage can easily be in drawers. You don't need uppers for dishes!
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Interesting how people looking at the same picture see something different ... Take away the doorway and this is the classic U layout. Maybe you could call it a Broken U, but a U is uninterrupted and keeps everything within reach of a single cook -- that's the strength of a U. An L is better for shuttling traffic through /allowing multiple cooks, and that's the functional style we have here. The hood should be six inches wider than the stove below so that it really catches all the odors and grease rather than allowing them to be deposited onto your cabinets. I know this is common advice here, but I've never found a need for a wider hood /never had a problem with odors or grease -- maybe my hood is stronger than average? A related issue: When your stove is on an interior wall, you have to figure out how you're going to vent. It's certainly not an insurmountable issue, but it is one that you need to address. Like others have said, you probably want all drawers in your lowers, rather than a mix of drawers and cabinets. Yes. Inventory your current kitchenware, then assign everything a spot -- that'll allow you to accurately determine whether you have an appropriate number of drawers and cabinets. Personally, I'm planning for my base cabinets: 3 cabinets, 3 three-drawer stacks, 1 four-drawer stack, and 1 pull-out behind a cabinet drawer. I could not have predicted these specifics without having "assigned" items to specific places. The island looks very large. Will you be able to reach the middle of it to clean it? Always a concern for me. A prep sink in the island would do a lot for the layout, that's the biggest change you need if you want to keep the basic layout here intact. I'm not a big fan of repetitive items, but I agree that if the OP's going to keep this layout, a prep sink on the island would be helpful. Realistically, though, adding a prep sink is expensive and would eat prime island storage. I'd rework the plan rather than do this. Other thoughts: I agree with the idea of moving the oven(s) to the side near the sink, and I agree that this area appears to be a potential clutter magnet -- perhaps go with a tall cabinet here instead of countertop? You need to flip the pantry door. Imagine you bring in groceries, set them on the island to organize them ... you have to walk around the pantry door. Best would be a pocket door, but I'm not sure you have the space. You're going to serve beverages from the area near the refrigerator ... but the dishwasher is on the far side of the room /with the island in between. Since you wash so many glasses, it'd be better if the dishwasher and beverage area could be closer. The dining room looks fairly far away from the kitchen; plus everything's going to have to be carried around the island. Any possibility the family room could go into this area (if you rework the mudroom, it could have windows on two sides) and place the kitchen directly in front of the dining room? Overall, it'll be a pretty kitchen, but it could massively improve in terms of function, work zones, placing things in convenient places. "Walk through" mentally and imagine yourself doing everyday chores: Putting away groceries, making your favorite casserole, fixing coffee or a soda, cleaning up after dinner, etc.
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Mrs Pete
6 years ago
If I were building this, I'd call the "dirty kitchen" a Scullery. Better connotation than "dirty". Thoughts and questions:

- Three stools on each side of that (large) island will be cramped ... yet I agree with CP's comment that no one will be able to clean the middle of this island. Do you really need a stool for every family member? Typically people just perch at an island for a snack ... and with 24" apiece, I don't see people wanting to eat meals at the island with their elbows tucked in tightly to their sides.

- I don't like that the sink /dishwasher are across from your main work area ... and they're in the pathway to the 3 season room.

- Is that 2' angled closet for brooms? If so, nice location, though I'd reverse the door swing.

- I think I'd like a larger window above the sink in the "dirty kitchen" ... and perhaps another sliding window so you could pass snacks through /use this area as a snack serving area.

- It would be practical to move the "dirty kitchen" sink to the other side of the room /so it'd be closer to the refrigerator's water line /the powder room. The fewer walls that hold water, the less your build costs /the less change for leaks.

- What activities do you anticipate happening in the dirty kitchen? Storage aside, I'm not really sold on the idea, but if I heard details on your plans, I might come over to your side.

- Those angles are going to be expensive, yet they don't offer good function ... or even efficient storage.

- Your dining room looks to be quite a few steps away from your kitchen.
Kathy Wackerle thanked Mrs Pete
muskokascp
6 years ago
ditto cpartist. The flow of this kitchen does not work with the fridge clear across from the sink. One way to solve this would be to add a prep sink between the fridge and stove top. I don't mind sculley/dirty kitchens if they run parallel with the main counter run and are easy access by just popping in behind. There are lots of great examples on houzz. Your example is a totally walled off separate room that would function poorly.

Is that a microwave or wall oven in the main walkway to the porch? Opening hot ovens with people wanting to walk by is a safety risk.

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