Please critique my kitchen plans
I am so excited to have nearly-final plans for a kitchen remodel. We are knocking out walls and opening up our kitchen and dining room area and I'd love feedback on our plans. We are a family of four who cook and eat almost every meal at home.
Details - The south side (bottom of plan sketch) has a large sunny window. We are proposing to add a small window on the west side of the house, and a built in bench below to give us more space in the rest of the dining area. The north wall is a passage into a large living room (not shown). We are planning to close that off a bit, might be hard to see from the images here.
The island is currently 10'*5', and won't include that divot at the seating area. I couldn't figure out how to show a rectangular slab over the portion with half-depth cabinets. I opted to have more storage instead of seating since the dining table is so close by.
The pantry closets on the right (east) wall will hold all our coats and shoes since we are losing our entry closet.
In addition to layout, I'd be interested in feedback on cabinet colors. I'd like a modern, flat panel look. Ideally a mix of wood cabinet fronts and matte acrylics. Not sure if we'll use ikea with special fronts, or a local cabinet company.
Comments (19)
Sonya Lunder
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Kitchen Plan--Please critique NYC small kitchen.
Comments (6)Rosie, Sorry for MIA. Thanks for thoughtful questions. You got me thinkingâ¦.. Here are my answers: Hi, Nancymark. To start, you don't say what needs all these changes will meet. What functions are you hoping to improve over the original layout? I wanted to create more cabinet space, so I moved the refrigerator and add pantry to the dining room. Very importantly, is there no way to work within the original footprint to get a kitchen that will function for you? What kind/amount of cooking does your family do? Good point. I cook dinner daily from scratch. So I do use the kitchen extensively and we love to eat. We have friends over for dinner but nothing fancy. Why do you want to move the refrigerator to the back wall of the dining area? That was my way of creating more cabinet space. I also want to get CD refrigerator which means I donâÂÂt have enough space where it is now. My vent hood is going to be 36â instead of 30â ( what I have now). What will an island do for you that a peninsula would not? Or, why do you want an island? Currently there are 6 feet inside the U. I think I am wasting space there, I usually cook alone. With the island, I can move it closer to the range and create seating on the other side. In addition, I thought I can possibly put refrigerator at the end of L, ie sink, then DW, then counter depth refrigerator. Regarding your current proposed layout, on first glance it seems to miss achieving improved functionality, not only because the refrigerator is now back in the dining area, but because of the positions of the potential work surfaces in relation to the work triangle. An efficient triangle would normally be defined by your movements from refrigerator to sink to stove--working within that triangle, but the island surface is outside that and so is that really nice counter space to the right of the sink. It would be helpful to examine, right in the beginning, any assumption that a sink should/must be placed in front of a window. Why? What makes rinsing lettuce and dishes so much more special than drying lettuce, chopping onions, measuring spices, beating eggs, and so on and on? :) GOOD POINTS....See MoreCritique my kitchen plan please. :)
Comments (19)We used to have a double oven range like that (small on top, large on bottom) and used the small one all the time. With the amount you cook I imagine you'd use both. but you really have plenty of space so I don't think you need to get rid of the oven stack all together - imagine that your range / cooktop could go on the garage wall where you currently show the ovens next to the pantry. The pantry gets moved to the other wall so that space where the pantry currently is becomes a countertop corner, and you end the run of cabinets with the oven stack next to the door into the school room. This puts a nice run of counter top between 2 stacked elements at either end (fridge and oven stack) which I think would further visually encourage pass-thru traffic to stay on the far side of the island, but would still give you lots of prep area (for baking / oven based items I'd imagine) on the school room side of the cooktop. Basically you'd be almost flipping the positions of the cooktop and ovens (sliding them slightly to the right so they line up with the end of the island.) As for exactly which ovens, I think you've got lots of options - it's just the question of which combination works best for you / your family. From your description it seems like you might be best served with 2 larger ovens. In my Mom's kitchen she has a double oven with the microwave above it and it works out fine although it does put the microwave at a slightly awkward location, though that may work for you if you only rarely use the microwave. If you want the microwave to be lower instead for kid access you could do one oven and a microwave in the oven stack, and then put in a range rather than a cooktop to give you that 2nd oven. This could be a great solution for 2 reasons: (1) allows you to have the primary oven in the oven stack at a comfortable height, (2) gives you a second full size oven for larger items / etc, while allowing that oven to be under the vent hood for cooking items where that is beneficial. And a further option you could consider if you really simultaneously cook a lot of items at different temperatures would be to make the wall oven something like the GE Single/Double - along with the range this would give you 3 ovens of different sizes, with 2 fairly large size ones....See MoreCritique my kitchen plans please!
Comments (12)lisacent. I did this layout before you provided your additional info, so I'm not sure how exact this is. A few things to consider. I personally don't have my microwave positioned over my range, so I know that this might be an important feature for you. But if someone told me I could have a pantry for food, if I just agreed to the microwave over the range, I'd do it. So I have put this in the plan for you. Also I gave you corner cabinets. I think you need the space for storage, so I'm utilizing every inch. i have also included a cabinet for trash and recyclables next to your sink and dishwasher. Another thing to consider if you're on a budget is that it's cheaper to get a 36" cabinet from IKEA than a 12" and a 24" cabinet. This plan I sketched needs ALOT of refining and changes, but I hope it will just give you another perspective about your space....See MorePlease kindly (or ruthlessly ) critique my kitchen plans
Comments (60)You better go easy on your neck or your going to give new meaning to "kitchen rehab" Yes, It is induction and I do really like it. It took some getting used to and there are pluses and minuses. A minus being that sauté pans sometimes move a bit when I stir them unless I'm are holding it with the other hand. I know that sounds silly and something I wouldn't have even thought of, but it just takes getting used to. Another minus is juggling pan sizes a bit so that they will fit on the "burner" circles. A big plus is that even my not terribly expensive pans cook beautifully and ultra evenly because the heat is so well distributed. I love how easy it is to clean up. No more heavy grates to remove and scrub. Stuff really does not bake on the cooktop at all. I can wipe it totally clean in 10 seconds even after a long day of cooking. Also, love how I don't get hot standing in front of it. There is just so much less heat coming off it. It think this will be a big plus in the summer. Yes water does boil fast and that's nice, but even better is how it holds a very low even simmer. My gas range always seemed to simmer too high....See More
Kathi Steele
6 years ago
PROGrey Heron Interiors
6 years agoSonya Lunder
6 years ago
loobab
6 years ago
sheloveslayouts
6 years agoKathi Steele
6 years agoSonya Lunder
6 years agoThanks everyone for your helpful responses! I've burned out friends and family with these options, and our contractor just wants to take permitted plans to completion.
Here is our existing ground floor. It is a split-level, so not drawn is a 2 bedroom part of the house with 3 bedrooms upstairs and 1 below. Those are the stairs exiting to the right (east) of the floor plan. Sorry this version is flipped around - the remodel is for the currently divided room labeled kitchen. We currently do all our cooking and eating in the small front (right) room, so this doubles our useful space.
Sonya Lunder
6 years agoloobab
6 years ago
gtcircus
6 years agosuezbell
6 years agoSonya Lunder
6 years agoSonya Lunder
6 years agoSonya Lunder
6 years agosheloveslayouts
6 years agoOur last house was a tri-level, but our living room was at the front of the house. It can be a frustrating floor plan. We removed our front closet in an effort to gain more space, but it ended up being a decision I regretted. I missed the bit of privacy the closet provided; anyone at the front door could see through our whole main level and it ended up really bothering me.
That said, I wanted to try out a plan that gave you a closet, a kitchen with an island with seating for four, and a dining room while keeping as much of your kitchen from front door view as possible. Came up with this...
Sonya Lunder
6 years ago
Grey Heron Interiors