Kitchen space too narrow for island?
I am in the planning stages of a major kitchen renovation. Wall between kitchen/dining area will be removed. Having a hard time fitting seating in kitchen area. Would love feedback on this plan. I'm concerned the island will be too tight. Behind the seating area of the island would be floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinets. Feedback?
Comments (15)
PROPPF.
4 years agoIt would be helpful to see what's just outside the space.
Circulation in and out of the kitchen/dining is important too.
Guessing you want to do this without adding on?
mama0599 thanked PPF.Related Discussions
What is too much space between kitchen Island and counters?
Comments (11)dawnk, you were right. Thank you! I just went to the house to map everything out and confirmed this. hollysprings - I am ok with the 39.5 inches between the sink counter and the island. My main concern was the other side. You were also right about the pinch point between the fridge and the island. That measures to be 39" and we are ok with that. GauchoGordo1993 - the fridge landing is something. It is a french door refrigerator and it is a monster. After playing around with the design a lot we could not find a better spot for it. We currently have no refrigerator landing so this will be a step up for us. Thank you everyone for all your help!...See MoreIsland for Narrow Kitchen
Comments (18)A round (or even an oval one at 90 degrees from present orientation) dinner table might help make the eating space more functional and less intrusive into the tight space opposite the end of the counter. Do you need all those seats at every meal, or only for guests? If not for every meal on a daily basis then the table clearances on the far side can be slightly scrunched-up, and perhaps the chairs can even be staged in another room until needed. This is kind of personal, but I think narrower aisles are also more workable for generally smaller and thinner people - they need less room to bend and turn and scoot past each other. I question whether building in the 12" cupboard will save a full five inches: you will still need some kind of wall cladding, so not all of a wall's thickness can be harvested. I plan on having a narrow island with no seating, just a work space. I have tested counter tops of various widths and find that one even as narrow as 24" provides very useful work surface. But 26-28" was better and allowed for the use of stock cabs below wth a standard overhang. The overhang has high functional value in a tight space. Our aisles are 40 to 42" apiece between counter edges. Both sides of the room have active, with full (or greater depth) counter work zones. (The range on one side of the kitchen and the clean-up sink on the other.) Another benefit I plan on incorporating is access to the shelves and cabs below the island from both sides. This turns out to be technically trickier than I, at first, imagined, but we are working on it. Of course simple shelves, or baskets set on shelves are easy to do. We are currently working on designing workable two-way sliding drawer hardware, but there both practical and aesthetic complications to what is commercially available at the moment. Still it's very important to us and allows two workers (one on each side of island) to be active without getting on each others' toes. A poster above said they made a scale model and mocked up the proposal. So have we, and this winter we're going even farther by making it a working setup to cook in for a few months. That way when we start making permanent changes we'll know for sure it works for us. At least make a full scale mock-up, if not make arrangements for doing it in a your current live kitchen. HTH L....See MoreHelp Me Decide - Narrow Kitchen Island
Comments (27)Hi Amanda The Cabinets on the sink wall are all 24" deep. I used Inset (vs Overlay) cabinets to be able to reduce the counter overhang to 3/4". The cabinets on the opposite wall are 13" deep with only a 1/4" overhang since there is no food prep in that space and it was intended to look like one piece of furniture. The Island is 261/4" wide which allowed 24" deep cabinets, 3/4" for wainscot on back side and 3/4" overhangs on each side. These were some of the small measurements that I thought through. Counter overhang space was total of 2 1/2" versus 6" if I used overlay cabs with the standard 1 1/2" overhang on island and counters. Distance from foyer entry to the island is 51". I also worried about the island being at the entry when I was used to a totally open space. I was also concerned about a zig zag route to my sink when I formerly had a bee-line from the foyer. It doesn't bother me in the least and that 51" does not feel like the island is crowded near the foyer entry. All my stools fit easily under the island and are always tucked away. You could test the feel by moving your table to mock the island location. The Island is 90". I wanted it to line up with where the opposite counter ended and maximize distance from the table. Again alot of careful planning! I don't use the island for prepping but I do set my cookbook at that end. The cabinet end includes an 18" Trash cab, 27" microwave cab plus 3/4" wainscot on each end for 46 1/2" Total Cabinets. Seating side apron plus leg is 42" total. With the 3/4" overhang on each end, total counter length is 90". I searched forever for stools before I committed to my island size and the opening for the eating space. My concern was designing the island and not being able to find stools to fit completely under it out of the way. I intended to use 3 stools and the size was limited by the space between the island legs on the short end. I set the legs as far apart as possible to maximize space for the stool. Since 5 fit easily I keep them there. Back edge of island to table is about 42" which I think was about the same distance I had from the peninsula to table. However the table used to be directly behind the peninsula rather than being offset as it is now. I know you said you love having that door but it looks like it prevents you from using that whole end of the kitchen since the space is reserved for the door swing. Could that door be moved down even further? Wonder if there is such a thing as an exterior pocket door. Or perhaps the large window could be moved and replaced with a slider and give you the access you need. Perhaps that would allow you to add a sink window on the other end of the kitchen. Just some ideas that may be totally undoable!...See MoreIs my kitchen too narrow for an island?
Comments (21)I was actually wondering about something like LL's fat peninsula and realizing again that much more information was needed. But just for instance, in LL's picture, if the stove was on the end wall (and perhaps prep sink in the right corner), barricaded from young children during busy times by the fat peninsula, but the cleanup sink and refrigerator were on the children's side of the peninsula, leaving only counter on the passage between, mom probably wouldn't mind brushing past with dirty pots if the kids ended up working on the end as well as the side, and also working on the third side in the cooking area when it worked for her. A sink on the stove side so boiling liquids didn't have to be carried through the bottleneck would be good, though. One other thing that occurred to me about loving an island as opposed to a peninsula was that it could also involve that inside-outside peninsula-as-kitchen-boundary thing. All 3 sides of a peninsula can be completely in and part of the kitchen work area if the kitchen and kitchen finishes extend right on past to claim them. Children can even play "around" a peninsula if a crawl space is created on the wall side. :)...See More
mama0599
4 years ago
decoenthusiaste
4 years agoAre you allowing for 36-42" of floor space around the dining table? Your chairs are going to bang the wall when you pull them out to sit, and there is no space for circulation behind them if someone wants to be excused from the table. Someone else will have to get up to let them pass. It may be possible to do an island/table that runs east to west and is located closer to the dining end of your space. Here's an integrated one for eight, just for concept.
DUTCH Kitchens: TRANSITIONAL style · More Infomama0599 thanked decoenthusiaste
GRAIN Design-Build
4 years agoMinimum is 36" (between range and...anything) but previous poster is right, pulling a turkey dinner out of that oven would not be a fun time. Have you considered something on casters? i.e. :
Except obviously in the lovely styling of your new kitchen. I'm sure the builders can draw up something that works for casual dining in the space as well as moved out of the way for serious cooking :)mama0599 thanked GRAIN Design-Buildmama0599
4 years agoThank you for all the feedback. It is so appreciated! To answer some questions:
The dining table is in place already and my designer says that she included it on the plan as it stands now. I haven't double-checked those measurements though. It works fine as-is and the chairs do not hit the wall but it is a bit tight.
Excellent point about the turkey dinner! I could approach an open dishwasher from the side if necessary but not so with an oven. I will point this out to the designer.
What is the issue with the spacing between the sink and the stove, cpartist?
The idea of an island on casters may be my only option but really the point of the island was for seating more than workspace. We did an alternate design with a peninsula but I didn't like how the peninsula seating was back-to-back with the dining room seating. Plan below (this plan considered installing a slider to our deck but we have since scrapped that idea since there's a slider in the dining room.
Hello Home
4 years ago
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