New kitchen layout concern
Linda Hunt
4 years ago
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Comments (19)
felizlady
4 years agoRelated Discussions
New Bathroom Layout - Any concerns?
Comments (20)The shower in our last house was 60" wide by 34" deep from the back wall to the sliding glass door. The big glass expanse made it not feel at all closed in, but occasionally with 2 people in there I wished I had just a couple more inches of elbow room. We are doing 42" x 60" this time. I think you will be fine with 44" depth in the shower. I also think clipping the corner to make the bedroom feel more spacious is an inspired idea, and your long vanity will still look good. The area that looks tight to me is the distance from toilet to vanity. You do not want to feel like you could wash your hands without getting up. The Toto Aquia Wall-Hung Toilet projects 21 1/16" from the wall. It would be worth it to me to buy a new toilet to save over 5" in a tight space. That would leave you with about 40" between toilet and vanity, which lets you put in a decent sized door. Maybe you could do a pocket door that splits in the middle so half goes to each side? It looks like your bedroom door blocks a closet when it is open. We have that too, and it drives me nuts, so we are reversing the swing when we remodel. Depending on the placement of your bathroom door and width of the bedroom door, you may want to change the swing so the door opens towards the bathroom instead of the closet. Here is a link that might be useful: Toto Specs...See MoreFirst-time kitchen remodeler's concern re layout
Comments (22)Another idea with only slight tweaks to your plan: I reduced the laundry room by 1'-3" but if you go with stackable W/D, it's still a room, not a closet. Front load machines usually run 28" wide - even full capacity units - which leaves room for a 26" wide cabinet and counter between the W/D stack and the doorway. I changed the swing door to a pocket door. Light switch would go on the wall shared with the kitchen behind the fridge. This allowed me to expand the pantry, giving you a wider aisle between cooktop wall and fridge space. I switched the pocket door, too, so that you won't have issues with outlets on the fridge wall. Pantry light switch can go on the wall between laundry room and pantry. Yes, the oven/MW column is now in a pathway but if you are like most families and only use your oven 3xs a week, this may pose fewer hassles than your original 2'-2" wide aisle to the pantry, which will be used many, many, many more times than that a day. Moving the oven/MW column reduces the chance of door dings, as noted by athensmomof3. The 18" wide cab next to the fridge (oops, forgot to mark that) can serve as a landing spot for pantry, fridge and oven. It also helps make that area a bit more open in feel. I added a prep sink to the island and switched the DW to the other side of the sink as others suggested I'm not sure why your architect marked the cook top side of the island as being 2'-6". It should be 2'-2" (actually 2'-1.5" but I didn't want to mess with fractions on the plan): 24" deep cabs with 1.5" counter overhang. Is he or she suggested 27" deep cabs? But that implies a 3" overhang there. Very confusing. Anyhoo, I changed that and also enlarged the counter overhang from 12" to 15" (reduced the aisle between island and FR at same time)....See MoreKitchen Layout with Concerns about Asymmetry & Breathing Room
Comments (38)kleighj, here's another idea for the "island woes". You could put in silverware/placemat drawers at the left end of the island, directly across from the dishwasher (also reducing cabinet width there from 30" to 24"). Shortening the island by 6"would help reduce the chokepoint between the hearth room and dining room. I think that would be great for unloading the dishwasher. Imagine having the dishwasher open and the silverware drawer open at the same time and being able to move items from the dishwasher to the drawer with just a few steps. Plus it would be easy for kids or visitors to get silverware and placemats out of the drawers and set the table without impeding kitchen workflow. Its still close enough that the cook can access when needed. That would leave the microwave where you want it on the island and leave a full unit of 30" drawers next to the range for pots/pans. The 24" cutlery drawers labeled on your plan would stay and be used for knives and cooking utensils. You could even do two shallow drawers for knives plus utensils above one deep drawer if you don't think you need 4 shallow drawers here. I think having knives and silverware separated helps keep kids safe -- kids always need silverware and placemats but have no reason to be anywhere near the knife drawer. The only downside is that there is now some separation between the silverware and plates/glasses which I'm assuming would go in the uppers. On the right of the range I would switch the 15" drawers to 15" vertical of storage (e.g. cookie sheets). Finally not sure if you saw this before but if at all possible you should try to go with a 36/33 corner unit if your cabinet company offers that asymmetric configuration. You'll really appreciate that over the 33/33. I think you will have a great layout....See MoreKitchen layout help please - new kitchen
Comments (17)Here's my layout - very, very similar to Sena's. It provides three separate Prep Zones, all with approximately 60" of workspace and access to water. The primary Prep Zone is in the island with the Prep Sink and across from the cooktop. The two secondary Prep Zones are on either side of the cleanup sink. If someone is also cleaning up, then the secondary Prep Zone on the DW side will not be available until cleanup or unloading the DW is complete - but the one on the non-DW side is still available for use. Dish storage is on the Pantry side of the kitchen with 15" deep uppers as well as base cabinets. This location puts the dishes close to the DW for ease of unloading as well as on the side of the kitchen opposite the Cooking Zone and two of the Prep Zones, including the primary Prep Zone. This will keep those setting the table out of these zones and out from under foot of those working in the kitchen. The refrigerator is on the periphery for the same reason - it is easily accessible from the kitchen and the Dining Room and the rest of the house. Snackers and someone setting the table will not get in the way. There is a 6' long built-in pantry with 12" deep shelves on three sides. 12-inch deep shelves ares deep enough for the majority of items but not so deep that things get lost. 12" seems to be the ideal depth. You can get away with 15", but any deeper and things start to get lost! There are several advantages of a built-in pantry over a pantry cabinet: Much less expensive More storage space - no lost space due to cabinet walls & roll out tray shelf (ROTS) hardware and you can utilize the entire space - floor to ceiling More useful storage - no deep shelves over your shoulders that are almost impossible to see b/c even w/ROTS you still cannot see the middle of the shelves. You can see everything at one glance - no opening ROTS after ROTS looking for something Tray storage (cooking racks, cookie sheets, roasting pans, long platters, etc.) is above the MW oven in the oven stack. The trash pullout is in the island in the primary Prep Zone and near the Cooking Zone - both zones in which you generate the most trash & recyclables. It's also near the Cleanup Zone and the secondary Prep Zones. Note that the trash pullout is needed more in the primary Prep Zone & Cooking Zone than in the Cleanup Zone - but ideally it should also be near the Cleanup Zone. The island has seating for 5 - with one seat on the short end of the island. Having seats on two sides is more conducive to conversation. The cabinets on the sink run are 3" deeper than standard. This gives you more storage space as well as 3" more workspace depth. The base cabinets are 27" deep - if you can get them and they're in your budget. If not, then pull the base cabinets out 3" from the wall when they're installed. I did put in upper cabinets on the two side walls to give you more dish/prep tool/cooking tool storage space. The uppers on the Pantry side are 15" deep so even 12" wide dinner plates will fit. The uppers on the cooktop wall are 12" deep. They could be 15" deep as well, if desired. If you do not put upper cabinets on the walls, then you will need to create dish storage elsewhere. I don't recommend open shelves for anything other than items you use every single day. It only takes a couple of days for dust to start settling on items - requiring you to wash the items b/f using them and to frequently dust just to keep items looking clean. On the cooktop side, dishes on the open shelves will not only collect dust, but any stray grease, etc., will also settle on them. The hood is 6" wider than the cooktop - this is the minimum recommended. In addition, it should be 24" deep and the fan should be at least 600cfms. If you do plan to grill inside, then I recommend going even wider and a getting a more powerful fan (at least 900cfms). If all you do is boil water - then you can make do with a hood the width of the cooktop as long as you have upper cabinets flanking the hood. (If you do only boil water, then I question the need for a 48" cooktop.) The window is 10' wide to give you a lot of natural light and to open up the space. Normally, I would recommend a window to the counter, however, in this case I think it should be raised a few inches above the counter. It appears your kitchen is in the front of the house, so you don't want to make it easy for people to look in and see your dirty dishes or Prep Zones or Cooking Zone. Raising the window and putting in window treatments that can be partially closed when needed will help keep your kitchen condition private. (This is one of the reasons you don't normally put a kitchen in the front of the house.) Finally, I put in a 30" wide x 15" deep utility cabinet for a broom, dustpan, Swifter, etc. Here it is! Layout #1 . Layout #1 Zone Map ....See Morevinmarks
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4 years agoLinda Hunt
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