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anna_daneri

Kitchen Dilemma - Awkward Layout, Several Possible Solutions

Anna Daneri
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

When we purchased our home, my one hesitation was the kitchen. Our house was built in the 1920s, so we're short on storage space, but the kitchen is actually pretty open. HOWEVER, some of our giant appliances stick out from the wall. They look like an afterthought and really cramp the space (especially the doorway to the hall!). I am trying to find a solution to 1) add counter space, and 2) tuck our fridge and oven so that they are flush with counters. I have come up with a few possible solutions:

1) Eliminate the pantry area and slide back one of these appliances. There would only be room for either the fridge or the oven, not both. This is the simplest solution by far, but still involves knocking down walls.

2) Eliminate both the pantry area and the guest bedroom's closet. This would allow plenty of space for everything to be tucked back, and it would add some extra counter space. BUT, we would lose a bedroom closet that we desperately need. We would have to find a place to add a closet back in that bedroom.

3) Move the laundry. There is a side porch that already has a roof. If we enclosed that space, we could relocate the laundry which would allow us to move one of the appliances into the little alcove where the washer/dryer currently is. The other appliance could go back into the pantry area. This solution seems to involve a lot of demo and construction.

4) We find more manageable-sized appliances and make do with the footprint we have, leaving the pantry intact.

All of these solutions have their drawbacks, and I would love to know what y'all think. We are hoping to spend no more than $20k on this project. Is that crazy to hope for just knowing that any of these solutions involve so many moving parts?? Here are some images for y'all-

Here is a labeled footprint of our entire house, as is:



Here is a picture of our kitchen when we moved in (we now have an island). Gotta get those giant appliances out of the way!!!



Here is a rendering of solution #2 - laundry would be in same spot. This is the solution involving taking in the guest bedroom closet:



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