I'd like feedback on my kitchen addition layout
schultzy
5 years ago
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DDS Design Services, LLC by Jeff Kida
5 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
5 years agoRelated Discussions
finetuning my kitchen layout--feedback please
Comments (14)Okapokesfan, since you specifically asked about island sinks and dish storage I thought I should respond. My previous kitchen was a small U-shape space with cabinets above the sink and dishwasher area. To open it up more we eliminated that leg of the U and put the sink and dishwasher in the new island. Our island is only about 7 1/2 feet long and we do not have seating at it. But your island is certainly large enough to have both. It seems like the majoriity of the GWers do not favor the cleanup sink in the island but I have to say I love my island sink set up. My sink faces a sitting area and my back yard. Directly behind my island is my cooktop wall. Except for a curved end cabinet I have all drawer bases there. The sink is slightly off set from the cooktop so that they are not directly opposite each other. The dishwasher is to the right of the sink? The aisle is 50 inches wide from the counter top edges. The dishwasher door and the cabinet drawers can both be fully open with out touching each other. I keep all of my everyday dishes, silverware, utensils and my pots and pans in the drawers. Unloading the dishwasher into the drawers is a breeze. I like it so much better than lifting dishes into overhead cabinets. I do put my glassware in an upper cabinet a few steps away. I do not have a separate prep sink but I find I have plenty of room to prep on each side of my cooktop and on the island. It is great to be able to pivot from sink to stove and visa verse. The aisle width and offset placement of the sink and cooktop also allows for one person to be at the sink and one at the cook top with out actually bumping butts. So there you have it from my perspective. I posted this picture of my kitchen on a different thread yesterday but here it is again so you can see my set up in case you haven't seen it before....See MorePlease step into my new kitchen layout - feedback please!
Comments (25)Peace, I don't have much time this a.m. (Saturday is our busy day, and I don't have any rendering software at home--to keep the job and home a bit separate.) but I have to say, that's a much busier roofline than your line drawing would lead me to suspect! And, it's surprising that the gables run N-S rather than E-W. That's why advice from an experienced contractor on the scene is so much better than an anonymous internet person! But, having suggested that you think out of the box, my first suggestion to you would be to try to live within the current plan without any expansion. That's always the cheapest, and it's the best investment for resale since additions won't "pay you back" unless you plan on living there for 10 years or longer. The chimney and the stairs really eliminate much of the potential openness between the family room and the living room. But, if you eliminate that wall all the way to the chimney, and use the sunroom space, I can see turning your current kitchen into a very efficient galley style arrangement that will still be as open as possible to the living room. Keep the sink in the same location (always a LOT cheaper!) or scootch it down towards the family room a bit, and just run that run of cabinets all the way along that new wall between the patio and family room. THe range would go on that wall between the sink and a full sized glass door (single "french" door") between the kitchen and patio. Put a pantry where you show the fridge, and put the fridge on the new "mudroom" wall (and maybe laundry?). That is, make a wall extend east from the stairwell through the porch (right about where the post is in the rear shot, I'd imagine) to create the other wall of the "galley" where you create a "snack zone" with a microwave (and maybe a beverage sink?) for all of those snackers coming in from outside. The new small "mudroom" would give a place for coats and boots and flotsam to drop before it hit the kitchen. You wouldn't have to change any of your footprint, and you'd get a very efficient kitchen that would be as open to the living room as structurally possible, with minimal structural issues to be solved. No, it doesn't give you an island, or seating in a kitchen, but it will literally probably be a minimum of 50K less of a project, which if you plan on moving in less than 5 years, might make these changes be more in the realm of being able to be recouped. Like I said, Saturday is my busy day at the showroom, so I probably won't be able to check back in until Sunday to see your response to my radical rethinking. And, I'm probably making a few assumptions about you that may not be entirely correct, such as this being more of a first or second home for you (I noticed the young kids toys.) rather than a home for a mature family. If this is a home from which you will never move, then the dollar amount "invested" in remodeling is less of an issue, as you will get years of enjoyment out of creating a larger and more functional space to live in. You might post your current home's layout with a request for other input about creating the optimum kitchen from what exists and you'll get a LOT more input from some very talented forumistas with a more specific appeal to a layout challenge....See MoreWould love feedback on my kitchen layout!
Comments (18)With the prep sink, Lavender's plan alleviates the issue with the barrier island but it doesn't do anything to make it safer to be at the cooktop with traffic coming through that door right into the cook. And the aisles are quite narrow at 36". Yikes!! Sorry, your kitchen is one of those that is too wide to be an efficient galley but too narrow for an island. A small, movable counter-height work table should suffice. This plan moves your range where it's out of the traffic corridor and safer to use although I would prefer to see a wider counter between it and the door for safety. I would go for a 30 range and be done with it. 36" max. Also, hoods should be 6" wider than the cooktop. A 48" cooktop means a 54" wide hood. Expensive and will probably need make-up air. This plan also has all the prep/cook functions on the same side of the kitchen will be a lot more efficient. And all the clean-up functions on the other side. It's much safer to get bonked by a passer-by when you're doing dishes than it is when you're cooking, for them and for cook....See MoreI'd love some feedback on this kitchen layout!
Comments (111)One more question for you. The window in the former kitchen is already framed in and I am getting ready to place the order for the windows. It was framed at 72" wide by 54" high to make room for the counter. Now that we are moving the kitchen, do you think I should make that window 72" wide by 72" high instead. It is an easy fix. Windows are set at 8'2" with 10 foot ceilings. Just curious of your thoughts. If we put a counter and cabinets on that dining wall, it would make sense to have a window that height. But if we don't, I am worried that it will look weird. What do you guys think?...See Moreschultzy
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