HELP!! Kitchen layout for young family with dog
Hello -- we are in the planning stages of designing a new build and looking for help with the kitchen layout. The kitchen will be one of the most-used rooms in the house and therefore we want to get the design of this room right and build the other rooms around it. Everything is moveable and we are absolutely ready to go back to the drawing board to get this right as we are still in the planning stage.
The house will be approx. 2600 s.f. (1300 s.f. per floor) and we want the kitchen to feel proportional within this space.
A little bit about us:
- We are a young family with a one-year old (more kids to come!).
- We have a big dog.
- We spend a lot of time in the kitchen / dining area.
- Most of the time it is just me cooking, but sometimes my husband or guests offer to help. I would like to raise the kids to help in the kitchen.
- Whenever we have guests, everybody ends up in the kitchen. I need to keep them out of my prep zone.
- It happens very often that my husband just walks in and gets a snack, often while I am prepping dinner.
- I occasionally bake. I would like to have someplace to leave my KitchenAid mixer on the countertop.
- The items I currently keep on my countertop are: 4-slice toaster, blender, mixer and a tray with the oils/spices I use often.
Important design elements to be incorporated in the kitchen:
- Kitchen must be open to other living spaces
- Kitchen must be suitable for multiple cooks
- Kitchen must have at least one large window (ideally windows on two sides)
- Kitchen must have two sinks (one in prep zone and one in cleanup zone) -- we have this in our current kitchen and I would never go back
- Snack zone must be outside of main prep zone, but close to refrigerator and dishwasher -- need to promote "path of least resistance" in putting dirty glasses & dishes in dishwasher
- Refrigerator must be accessible even if someone is prepping
- Kitchen must have easily accessible walk-in pantry (we currently have 60'' linear feet of pantry and I find this to be insufficient)
- Kitchen would preferably have 36'' induction cooktop with separate double wall ovens
- Island would preferably have seating on two sides
- The kitchen patio doors currently drawn (parallel to island) are on southeast side, opening up to a covered porch and overlooking the backyard. I am flexible with the covered porch being accessible from the dining room instead if it helps with coming up with a more functional kitchen.
- Symmetry is important, but I am willing to settle for visual balance (I have to admit I would prefer the island to line up with the dining table, especially if they are approximately the same size)
Questions:
- Should I consider an entirely different kitchen layout? Is my cleanup area too small (approx. 7 ft long)?
- Should I do a u-shaped kitchen and have a run of cabinets along the right-side wall? Will a u-shaped kitchen with the island rotated 90 degrees feel less open?
- Is my pantry big enough?
- Is it a good idea to have the mud room connected to the kitchen? Is this hygienic? Will people constantly be bothering me while I am in the kitchen? I am not concerned about carrying groceries from the garage (people seem obsessed with this issue, I only go grocery shopping once a week). However, I am concerned about putting the dog outside and feeding him, which I often do in the morning or evening as I am prepping meals and would therefore have a quick path to do this. Initial plans had the mud room not connected to the kitchen. Any ideas & comments would be helpful -- I am very hesitant about this.
Attached is a plan of the kitchen with surrounding rooms. It is based on our preliminary plans, modified slightly by me and showing where I intend to place furniture and appliances. (As a side note: The preliminary plans had a bigger pantry and no connection between the mud room and kitchen. The door to the pantry was located closer to the perimeter of the kitchen, and the refrigerator and sink were in opposite places.)
Many thanks!!!
Comments (14)
mama goose_gw zn6OH
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoNice plan for the kitchen. I'd suggest moving the prep sink (at least 18" wide) to the other end of the island, to leave a drop zone for groceries closer to the fridge and pantry. You don't show upper cabinets above the clean-up zone, so drawers across from the DWs could house dishes.
Alternate plan with window over sink. It's nice to have a window over the sink, and it makes the fridge and snack area more accessible to the living areas, but then the traffic from the mudroom passes through the fridge leg of the primary prep triangle.
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Calling dog lovers, gardeners, and mess makers... (layout help!)
Comments (5)First...it's so nice to see someone, in a similar position to mine! We don't have kids (or dogs) but we do have horses, barn kitties, indoor kitties (that don't go outside) and we live on a farm, have lots of mud...and need many of the same features you either have or want to incorporate! :) Rather than worry about the kitchen layout right now, I'd think about reworking that bathroom door (which it says you hate) and making some other changes to the other 'clean up' spaces...then addressing the kitchen. Could you change the bathroom around and put (from left to right) sink, toilet, shower? The window is a bit of a problem, but it could be made smaller (high window) over the shower, if you want to keep some light. This would allow you to access the bathroom, through what is now, the laundry area. What if you moved the laundry to the 'west wall' and put a laundry sink, under the window...with some counterspace? It would only be 24" deep (instead of closer to 30" with the washer/dryer) and would give you more room for the door to the bathroom. The laundry on the 'west wall' would be a better fit (without wasted space in between) and would give you some room for upper cabinets, too. Now, if you could make these changes, I don't think you'd need the door, from the kitchen to the outside, or mud room. Just keep the doorway as is (into the furnace area, but maybe screen the furnace/water heater a bit) and I'd take off the door and have a doorway. This would bring in light from the laundry room (and you'd just see the side of the washer) and provide easy access to the bathroom. Then...I'd keep the exact kitchen layout you have now, but maybe get rid of the table (if it's in the way) and use the peninsula with stools, from Option 1. This would keep people from walking through your work area (a negative I see in both options) and you and your husband would have plenty of space to cook, bake, clean up, etc. The stools would be handy for tea and a chat...and what else do you need, with the dining room so close? If you really want a dutch door, I'd open up the doorway by the stairs (as mentioned earlier) and put the dutch door, between the furnace area and the mud room. They're more practical, IMHO, as an interior door, rather than an exterior door. Hope this gives you some ideas :)...See MoreRemodeling family room to kitchen...layout help!
Comments (47)I like your inspiration photo. In fact, I think you can glean some good ideas from it with your layout. Gosh, that angled upper-view is hard to work from, isn't it? The red cabinet is the new pantry. You will want to check your aisle spacing there. You may need to go with shallower cabinets to keep your aisles wide enough. Actually, that is a good thing as pantry shelves should be shallower to allow for better access and less risk of losing food that gets hidden behind other items. While that cabinet may need to be shallower than when it was on the other wall, it can be longer so I think, in the end, you have just as much storage that is also more accessible storage. I definitely like the lack of traffic through the kitchen so much better with the door moved here. I was trying to decide if it would be better to have a counter in the red cabinet area or just floor to ceiling cabinets. Your inspiration picture gives a good mix of both. I think I'd be inclined to make that area into a beverage/snack center. Maybe move the microwave there, built in over the middle counter area, the toaster, and the coffee maker. It would also be a good space for a fruit bowl and such. This way if you're making dinner....and let's pretend it's a dinner that is going to cook for a few hours, maybe even something you're starting around lunch time, the rest of the family can come in and make a snack to tide them over without impeding on the cooking space. DH can make the morning coffee while you're making breakfast. Whatever. It would create a nice separation of space for different tasks. Think about what all you would store in the "red" cabinets. You may not want so many glass uppers if it will be food pantry storage. If you anticipate any nice glassware or serving pieces being stored there, the glass would be nice. If mainly pantry items, I think the open shelves would keep it open enough looking without needing the glass, too. Again, it depends on what you're storing there. I think you should keep the fridge where it is for easier access for snacks but also for grabbing that extra condiment or anything else forgotten....this is more important if you're sitting at the dining room table but I think it just fits better there.. And I'm not really one who likes looking at refrigerators that much. I think they tend to be big hulks in the kitchen. If you move it to the lower-right corner, you will see it from the dining room. Is that what you want to look at? Or would you rather look at your beautiful cupboards? All that said, moving it to lower-right would better fit the ice-water-stone-fire layout which is a great work flow. We move from fridge to sink/prep counter to cooking. If you recall, this is why we have been pushing you to consider a prep sink. So...hmmmmm...I'm just musing out loud here. If it were my kitchen, and because I have such a dislike for hulking fridges, I would really have to think about the extra steps from fridge to sink in this layout and weigh that against my fridge dislike to make a decision. You will be walking extra steps in this layout. I walk extra steps in my own kitchen just so I could put my fridge in a less-noticeable niche and I'm quite happy with that decision. It's only about 1.5-2 steps farther than the previous fridge placement but it has allowed me to have a baking center and made the view through my over-sink window better and easier seen from the rest of the house without the fridge sticking out and blocking it. So carefully consider whether those extra steps will be a bother for you. In the end, most of us have to make a compromise or two to get what we want. And, in the end, since we're all different, only you can make that final decision. It's really best to have as many options as possible to consider before pulling the trigger. If SIL is willing, I think you should have her draw up a plan with the door moved to the lower-left and the fridge in lower-right and share it here so we can all give you feedback on that plan. Or maybe someone else will pop in here and create one. I'm better at seeing problems than I am coming up with solutions so I'm not seeing a good way to do that and keep your sink under the window that you so desire which also keeps the DW out of the prep zone. And, to me, those issues are more important than a few extra steps to the fridge. Oh, gosh, sorry to ramble on so long. I probably wasn't much help, was I?...See Morehelp with layout of main floor kitchen dining family room
Comments (1)I find nothing odd about coming into a FR from alook sliding door might be a better idea. foyer , I do however never like a PR next to a DR and definately not with an entry from the DR. You will need to work on that. I would turn the pantry into pullout pantries you will get 2 x the storage . You could see if you can fit a PR into the space off the new FR where you seem to have some extra space where the closet and that other space behind it is and I see plumbing there too. The main sink and DW are a long way from the new DR and if you post the pics of the kitchen plan with all measurements marked maybe someone here can change the layout a bit. The new DR space seems not huge and inswing doors might not be a good idea there . French style sliding doors might be better. IMO the sunroom looks too small for a FR but without measurements really hard to say....See MoreHelp me layout my open kitchen/family room
Comments (16)If I were going to make moderate modifications, this is what I would do, as you enter from garage shifting the garage door to L into mud entry w/separated laundry room, walking past new storage/pantry on R and into expanded kitchen - sink wall and range wall extended; larger island; addl cabinetry (or could be furn like sideboard) at stairway wall; shifted sliders to patio towards fam rm; fam room bumped out into yard slightly and fp re-centered accordingly; office footprint enlarged with closets flanking french doors, one facing foyer and other into office. I don’t love the long wide hallway leading into DR from kitchen - dead space, but this is as far as I got during my short commute. Also, furn is NOT to scale and I should have deleted it before saving, but......See More
sheloveslayouts
5 years ago
laurafhallen
5 years agosarahachevalier
5 years agobailey183913
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoGreat suggestions by mama, to add to her 1st slight change, I would consider using a cabinet for trash on the end of the island by the dish drawer, across from your clean up sink. It'll save people from coming into your cooking/prep area when they have misc garbage like wrappers and recyclables etc to dispose of. It would also be handy to clean off plates, etc before washing or putting in the dishwashers.
This is a picture of my trash set up. In an 18" Ikea frame, 2 15" drawer stack. Top drawer has a bin for compost and burnable garbage (we're in the country). Second drawer is the same set up for pop cans/recyclables, and dump garbage.
Yes, the container for regular consumer garbage is small, but that just means I empty it before it gets smelly.
Also, I would do as laura suggested and keep the island surface one height. But absolutely keep the prep sink.
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agosarahachevalier
5 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
5 years agoCan the piano go against the stair wall, or is a stair well bad for acoustics? (And bad for anyone upstairs, trying to avoid someone practicing his piano lesson?)
I like the idea of having an alternate path through the pantry, so that traffic to the upstairs and living areas can bypass the kitchen, but if you have to choose, I'd keep the mudroom connected to the kitchen.
sarahachevalier
5 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoIf you can relocate the piano, you could do a circular pattern. I made the snack area a tall pantry with ROTS, with MW drawer across the aisle on the island. The walls of the pass-through hall could be framed for stud-bay storage for canned goods and small boxes. The dogs bowls could also be housed in a recessed niche in the studs.
[Houzz article--stud bay storage[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/tap-into-stud-space-for-more-wall-storage-stsetivw-vs~26936417)
ETA, you could also recess a full-depth fridge into the hall, to provide more cold storage.
rainyseason
5 years agosarahachevalier
5 years ago
cpartist