Preliminary Floor Plan Critique Please!
Hilary Hayduk
6 years ago
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Kathi Steele
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Help wanted, please: Preliminary kitchen reno plan (Long!)
Comments (11)Oh, golly, golly, I'm so thrilled that you all have taken the trouble to read my tome and offer comments! Thank you, dianalo, rhome and bmorepanic! I really appreciate the suggestions and will give all of them some thought because that is exactly what I was hoping to get: fresh eyes that haven't been over and over the same old thinking, as I have by now. A few quick thoughts: rhome: It's a good point about the small size of the counter to left of the sink (between DW and sink). I gave it that space just as elbow room in case I do have the DW elevated above the counter. Without that space, I thought it would make it feel like you were doing dishes with the sink nearly touching a wall because of the vertical side of the raised DW cab. I am definitely not wedded to it, nor to the little 6" space on the other side of the DW. That's probably going to evaporate, anyway, (except for an inch or to of framing to keep the DW door from being slap against the wall) because the room is about 2.5 inches out of square in that corner. Odds are on that I either a) won't have any DW or b) will have it at normal counter height merely to use as an expensive dish drying rack. I plan to set up the finalized "test" kitchen, and work it, live with all appliances and water installed, before we go too much further along. It'll be ugly as Hell, but I've lived with inconvenient and ugly for years. So getting it down to just one annoyance in the name of making sure I've got it right seems like a good trade-off. Since both rhome and bmorepanic have identified issues about the corner pantry area, that obviously needs more thought. The 30" door is fairly fixed in position; it can't move south (it may be possible to move it north) because this is a timber-framed building and its southern edge is right against an unmoveable framing member. That's what the small box with an X in it signifies. (Note the similar one on the opposite side behind the range; that one controls the placement of the stove vent hood.) I thought the diagonal step-in gave me more storage space than truncating it by running it straight across. The little closet is just a niche to store the fire extinguisher and emergency supplies. My current fridge probably won't last too many more years and then I thought a FD model would give me more useable space in front, which is why I'm planning for a larger appliance in that space from the start. bmorepanic's mention of the grocery-to-house pathway brings me to an admission about one of the driving forces of my plan. The grocery arrival path is actually through the sitting room door at the top of the drawing. One of my biggest issues with this house is the traffic flow from the outside to inside. It's a direct collision of three things: a)I live in a region of the country where no matter how formal the house, nobody except dead people in coffins ever uses the front door of farmhouses; b) even if I could manage to change this deeply-ingrained cultural pattern, the classical "front" Greek Revival facade of my house - complete with double door flanked by side and transom lights and appropriately dressed with columns and pilasters - is inaccessible to anyone who arrives by car; and c) it makes me ab-so-lute-ly nuts not to have a distinct, graduated, intimacy progression from outside to inside. This is the one thing (perhaps even more than the non-functional kitchen) which is at the root of this upheaval. I figure since I can't change either the people or the surroundings, the one thing I can change is the pathway they follow. So I've decided to alter the room functions to match my sensibilities; when people approach the house (by the inevitable backdoor entrance) they will find themselves, whether they like it or not, in my public reception rooms, leading to my formal rooms (sitting room, office, etc.). Buried deeper within the house are the rooms I consider more private, like the kitchen. It goes against the modern grain, I know, but to me kitchens are personal workspaces, truly the "heart of my private home", which is not something that I like to share with visitors. And definitely not where I want to entertain casual visitors from the census taker to local politicians stumping for votes to the man who comes to see me about the fencing. Right now the kitchen is the first space inside the house. Meh! It's not like I want to show off to my visitors or them feel uncomfortable - even my "formal" sitting room is very low key and approachable, and relaxed. But I so much want - and need - that step-wise gradation of intimacy, that I'll do anything to get it. I have gone and back and forth and back again weighing this. But in the end I have decided that if I can arrange my rooms to satisfy how I like and still leave the structure largely changed (because it is so old and I don't want to make structural changes), I'm willing to make some sacrifices: such as I'll have to bring the groceries in through the sitting room (actually the current kitchen) to get to my new kitchen. The additional the distance is only about about 6 feet longer (immaterial at a farm where the cars are stored in barns at least fifty feet away, not in attached garages), and it's unlikely it will be embarassing to us to haul the groceries through the sitting room, since we'll be the only ones present while hauling! I will put some more thought into the corner step-in area and see how it can be improved. Your observations are very useful to my planning. I truly appreciate the time and trouble you have taken. I'll post some updated sketches in this thread rather start a new one. May I also say thank you for your kind words about my amateur drawings. I have struggled to the point of tears trying to use computer room planning software. And because so many people who ask for advice have mastered this, until now, I have been too abashed by my lack of skill to post without a computer drawing. Back soon, with another version(s) of the corner pantry area. Anybody else want to put in their two cents? Nancy...See MorePreliminary - Please critique
Comments (27)Thank you everyone, I sent this to the lady yesterday and I will get her feedback later tonight or tomorrow. I will explain a bit: Lets just say that they like to have everything tidy and "contained" in their areas. She does not want a mud bench or cubbies - sounds familiar, ILoveRed? She also likes symmetrical. The closet in the back area is to place all the "mess", shoes, boots, coats, etc. and the vacuum cleaner. They do gardening. What I call M* (Management, but many people call areas like this a mudroom. for some other people, the back hall/entry is the mudroom). In this case, is just a small area with a counter/cabinet to keep mail and keys, and other things like a printer and router (almost forget this one, thank you BPathome) . This will be the place where she will place her handbag, cell phone and things that she deals with on a daily basis. This area needs to be "handy", near the kitchen. She does not have a computer, all she uses is a tablet, and her husband has a laptop that he keeps in the master bedroom. All of you game me ideas and a few of them will be included in the floor plan - we will give it careful consideration to everything mentioned here. On the other hand, this is a custom home but they keep resale in mind. They are in their late 50's / early 60's. No kids at home but they visit a few times a year....See Morecan you please critique preliminary design sketch
Comments (16)No worries, its not mean. Thanks for the feedback. You are correct that the lanai looks huge in proportion. Obviously it isn't scaled but I was trying to have the lanai go across that entire side but with the dining area and master pushed out then it makes the entire area pretty big. We started with a plan that was straight across but decided to push out master to take better advantage of the view and we had thought to separate lanai somehow between main area and master to make it more private. That area needs more work, I agree. I was trying to avoid that bathroom situation actually. The guest bathroom and kids bathrooms are both tucked down a short hallway although perhaps their entry doors are still too visible as drawn. I'll look at that as we do better drawings. The master is one of the reasons I posted. It does not enter through the bathroom at all so another failure on my sad sketch. I have had difficulty envisioning a good layout for the master plus closet and bath. We did not want an entrance door to the room straight off the living room. But we also want to have the bed on the interior wall facing out to the views so its difficult to place the closet and bath entry. I wanted the closet and bathroom closet together but I also dislike the idea of entering the closet through the bathroom. So I came up with one plan to have hallway going straight towards the master bedroom but just before entering you can turn right to a short hall leading to walk in closet on the right and you pass by that to the bathroom entrance. My husband thought some more buffer between living room and bedroom would be nice so this plan has the same hallway to the right before you enter the master leading to 'hers walk in closet" and the bathroom but also has a regular "his closet" with sliding doors along the left side of hallway as you approach the master bedroom. The hallway as you enter to the master bedroom area could also be completely closed off by a door so that entire area can stay private. Does that seem more reasonable?...See MoreHi all, could you please critique the attached floor plan?
Comments (4)@Kristin S - I was thinking the homework space might end up somewhere in one of the bedrooms upstairs. We don’t need the en-suite on the main level immediately so might use that as an office / homework space initially. Thanks for your suggestions. @Mark Bischak - thanks for you suggestion on the MBR entry. And yes I am working with a local architect. @The Cook’s Kitchen - not entirely sure about the roofline yet but will definitely keep the structural support in mind given the open floor plan. Thanks!...See Morecpartist
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