Where should my kitchen go?
We are in the first stages of planning a complete kitchen remodel in our rowhouse. We've gotten a coupe of contractors in to do initial proposals. Currently the kitchen is in the back of the three rooms on the first floor (the leftmost room in this layout):
One of the contractors proposed moving it into the center room. It's a larger room, and they said they think they could design a functional eat-in kitchen with a built-in banquette for the dining table in the nook that runs along the north side of that room. That would give us an extra functional space in the house, which we could use. We are four people in about 1400 square feet. I imagine the house will only feel smaller as our children, who are currently both preschool age, get bigger. It would also allow us to spend more time hanging out in the back room, which gets by far the best light in the house (we have a porch off the front, so get little direct light in those windows).
On the other hand, putting the kitchen in the center room seems like it might be a hassle. We cook at home for almost every meal. We'd obviously try to come up with a design that would help hide dirty dishes from the viewpoint of the table - I'm envisioning an island with a raised side, for example - but we'd still be eating most of our meals in a just-cooked-in kitchen. Entertaining might also be stressful, since we'd be doing any last-minute cooking right in the center of the action. We aren't exactly throwing big parties every weekend, but we do have friends over for dinner reasonably regularly. Mostly other couples with kids, so they will understand if our house isn't exactly pristine, but still might be annoying.
I would love to hear input, or suggestions about how to lay out a kitchen in the center room to minimize the potential hassles associated with this.
FWIW, it will be more expensive to move the kitchen to the center room, because we'll have to move plumbing. If we keep the kitchen in back, we'll keep the dishwasher and sink in their current locations (we have an electric induction range). But the cost difference isn't large enough that it's the deciding factor for us.
Comments (12)
5 years ago
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoA kitchen in the middle room is my vote as well. Add pocket doors to either side and voila when kids have company and so do you, you can close the doors and create some privacy, cut down noise etc... Most of the time the doors would be open allowing light and traffic flow for one nice large open floor plan. But when needed the pocket doors with a drop leaf dining table like this one...
you can set up one of the rooms on either side with a full dining table and sitting area for the party and shut the doors on the mess. Convert back to a living space when the party is over. I have a smallish house and have come to adore my drop leaf dining table and chest coffee table and other multi functional pieces of furniture.
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Jamie Ludwig