Need help! Which floor plan is better? (House/Kitchen Remodeling)
flamingyue
2 years ago
last modified: 2 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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Need feedback on home remodel plans and kitchen layout
Comments (8)I know what you mean by "feature wall"....our home had 3 landings, being a split level,and it does make it nicer to stylize some of those pause and turn spots. However, a feature wall shouldn't command your planning. Gaining the enlarged space at family room area would be wise. You won't believe how much you will love that end of the home if you are going to do this. [ours was a great room built into the split level design in 1960-ahead of it's time and it still is current..it wasn't a mcmansion by any means-just really liveable].a few options: on "featurewall"-is a return down at the right by the UP staircase...perhaps use the right half of the wall therefore for building the closet ....keep the left half for the "feature"....then,the entrance to study [justone] could be moved to hallway area. If the depth of the return on the right can't work then perhaps cripple the studs and build closet going deeper back into sq footage of study....that gives you interesting options-like 2 hinged closets with solid wood carved doors vs bifold door for one closet. Doors can be quite the feature these days.for the size of study..allow for basics and not much extra.. can really be a counter these days....some storage....room for a 2nd chair and ESPECIALLY, an in/out that does not mix in much with the living part of home. If someone wants to tutor/home school/have a sewing business/see any type of customer, the NON mxing of the entry with main areas of home will be valuable. back to the closet thing: at the other entry points of home are there drop zones/closets? this is why waiting on the project really benefits because the finer points/needs emerge after you live there. I'd try shaving 3 feet off the 13 foot length of study for starters.tinker some with this part of the plan-you'll get the kitchen you want so work on the hall/study for a bit....you have wasted space currently....See MoreWhich remodel would be better for my house value?
Comments (17)I vote for the bathroom. If you are "looking ahead", here's our story. In 1989 we bought a 2bd 1ba cottage with an illegal 2-room apartment on the ground floor/garage level. After taking a hideous 18 months to remodel it in fits and starts, in 1991 it became a 2bd 2ba with a master suite downstairs to replace the apartment. When the RE appraiser came to look at it, he criticised us for putting in such a "disproportionate" and "huge" bedroom suite. Remember this is 1991 - very few people had ever seen big remodeled kitchens and master bedroom suites in our (older housing) city, let alone HAD them. We didn't get the appraisal amt we hoped for and couldn't refinance. Fast-forward to 2003. Neighborhood is gentrifying fast, old people moving out and young couples moving in. We decide to take out some equity and try the refinance again. Appraiser comes out, walks in the door, and says, "Wow, great job!" (tall cathedral ceilings, big picture windows looking out towards the hills). He goes downstairs and says, "And you even have a master bedroom suite! Gee, lots of people want these nowadays and so few of the houses around here have them!" We got an incredible appraisal, in fact he pulled comps on 3bd homes because he said so few 2bd homes in our area had the features we did. My niece and nephew, both of whom own homes and are getting married this year, would kill to have a master bathroom ensuite. Go for it!...See MoreLayout 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 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 More
flamingyue
2 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
2 years agoflamingyue
2 years ago
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