Need help! Which floor plan is better? (House/Kitchen Remodeling)
flamingyue
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
We are trying to remodel our house, and our builder offered several options. Please help to see which one make more sense. Your advice is really appreciated!
Original floor plan: Every room is individual and the kitchen looks small and dark.
Remodel option 1: Turning dining room into kitchen, open the wall to living room.
Option 2: Keep kitchen as the same area, open office and dining room, and close living room access to dining room.
Option 3: Similar with option2, but have access between living area and original dining room, add storage space in the kitchen.
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Layout Help - Kitchen/Floor-plan Remodel
Comments (25)KathyNY76, We looked at the option of a longer island and would love to have been able to do that. The biggest issue the width of the kitchen. If you look at GreenDesigns drawing, the door that swings open would actually only leave a few inches of space between the door and island. The current island is only 30" from the base cabinets as it stands now, hence why we are considering eliminating it. The issue is the drawings I posted show a little more room width wise than what is actually there. My apologizes for this. For a better sense of what I am referring to, here are a few pics reposted. This is facing the wall where the peninsula is shown in the drawings. The wall is not load bearing. This is facing the same wall from the kitchen. There is currently 30" of space between bottom cabinets and island. This is facing in opposite direction. We usually use this door to come into the house. So given the above, any changes in opinion?...See MoreNeed help with kitchen remodeling plan
Comments (12)On costs: I assume you're wanting to know generally how much things cost so you can make a decision about whether you can afford this. This advice is just ballpark general, not meant to give you a solid number, but an idea. Are you thinking of a contractor to take care of demo, electrical, plumbing, cabinet installation, painting, and possibly flooring? If you need someone to remove a load bearing wall and add in a supporting header, you'll almost surely need a pro. The advantage of a (good) contractor is that things will get done on a reasonable time schedule and done right (cross your fingers). He or she will also pull permits and call the permit people for inspections (if someone says he "doesn't do" permits - run). Using a contractor will almost double your budget, but has obvious benefits. If you DIY, you save money, but you also extend your timeline and rely on your ability to do the labor. You'll probably still need to find a plumber, electrician, and maybe a cabinet installer and flooring person. If that's a load bearing wall, you'll probably need a carpenter and a drywall person. You still need permits, so you have to go down to the city and figure out how that works. DIY should only be undertaken if you're good with tools, good with measuring, have patience and an even temper, and know what lies beyond your skill set. If you work full time, plan on this project taking a goodly amount of time and stress. Do you need new appliances? The first time we did this we only needed a new fridge. We're pretty middle of the road on our appliance tastes and budget, so a refrigerator we were really pleased with was around $1200 on sale. More recently we needed everything, so around $1300 for new fridge, $1100 for an induction range, and $850 for a Bosch dishwasher (worth it!) - we try to hit sales. Cabinets come in a big price range. At the least expensive end you can go with Ikea cabinets, which people here think highly of. Prices I've heard range from $4000-$8000 for Ikea. Along the same lines you can check out Barker and Scherrs online for doors for Ikea boxes or the whole cabinet. Both come with good recommendations from GWers. After that, you can find decent to fabulous cabinets fully assembled that will run from around $10,000 to $60,000. Ours for a small to medium-small kitchen ran about $14,000 and we'd do it again even if we had $35,000 to spend if we wanted to. Other stuff: Sinks can range from $150 for something simple to $2000 for fancy-schmancy. Figure at least $400 for a main sink and possibly some more for a cleanup sink. Faucets can range from $100-$1200 or more. Range hoods, microwaves, backsplash tile, countertops (at least $5000 unless you do laminate), pendants for over the island, and general and undercabinet lighting (always more than you think) all add up. If I had to guess based on your current kitchen and what you want to do, I'd guess you're looking at a minimum of $35,000 if you spend very carefully. $50,000 wouldn't be unreasonable....See MoreKitchen Remodel- floor plan help
Comments (9)A few things: No need to steal space from the powder room. You wouldn't gain enough to be worth the expense. It looks like you would have to relocate plumbing to make it significantly smaller (and then it wouldn't be that much smaller). You don't have room for an island. It's already tight between the peninsula and the cabinets on the wall. In your mind, make the peninsula an island by adding a walkway on the other side. See how much "island" you have left. You wouldn't have much of an island; it would be more of a sand bar. Update your lighting! Since the dining room will become your new office. it is a good idea to put the pantry there. I would think about taking the door down, but not filling in the opening. Put a bookcase in front of it in your office, and a cabinet in the new pantry. Then when it is time to sell, you can just take the cabinet and bookcase out and put the door back up. Or this might be a time for a barn door in the office (it just never opens)???? Still thinking about that one myself.........See MoreHelp! Starter home in urgent need of kitchen remodel!
Comments (93)Good plan for keeping to the budget. A couple comments: 1- The dishwasher may have to go next to the stove (not on the sink wall) because its door has to open all the way- 26 inches or more is typical. Check the opening measurements on the dishwasher you choose and allow a bit extra for how it fits under the counter. Of course before you finalize your cabinet plan, you could try scooting the stove over a few inches to see if you can get a dishwasher to open on the sink wall with enough clearance. 2- To retrain yourselves to go in the front door, use concrete parking stops or plain trash cans to make it impossible to drive all the way up to the kitchen door. It's the kind of structure discipline designed to control crowd movement in amusement parks....See More
flamingyue
3 years agoSorry, wrong picture for the current floor plan. Don't know why I can't edit my post, but the original floor plan is like this:
We are a small family, my husband and I only have a 4 year old daughter. So I don't think we need a duplicate living room. I want to have a open kitchen combine with big family area and small dining area. Personally, I like option 1, but this plan doesn't give me some storage space. Also, dining room is a little bit awkward position. By the way, the wall between living room/dining room and the wall between office/dining room are all load bearing walls. For cost consideration, we only can open/remove one of them.
damiarain
3 years agoflamingyue
3 years ago
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