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Kitchen seating idea for small kitchen/living room - ideas?

4 years ago

I'm designing the kitchen layout (see links at end of post) for our new home (900sqft, 3 bed, 2 bath, and 1 shared living room/kitchen area) and am looking for any comments, criticisms, or feedback on the current design plan I've come up with. It's going to be shared by myself and 2 other adult family members, but we may have kids in the future.

The shared kitchen/living room is 23'7" by 13'7". It is also where the front entrance to the house is.

I'm trying to come up with the best idea to maximize kitchen space (since we spend most of our time in the kitchen) without overly sacrificing the living room portion of the space. My current idea is an island with wrap around seating for up to 5 (3 on the 6' side, and 2 on each end) but this would be the only dining space in the house. Does anyone have suggestions for a better layout that would allow for a more "usable" dining space, with more comfortable seating?

The island is fine for everyday eating, but on the rare occasions we have guests over it might be a bit strange, and I would prefer for my parents to have a more comfortable seating than bar stools if something else could fit. I thought about a dining table but wasn't didn't want to sacrifice too much counter space.

I've been looking into "kitchen nook" ideas (see photo links below; they are just very rough illustrations of what I am picturing) where bench seating is incorporated along a peninsula to make the seating area a bit more comfortable for everyday use but am not sure if that would help or how it could be incorporated. I also tried a layout (see link below) with bench seating built in instead of the pantry, and like how that looks but it makes the island space somewhat redundant (2 separate seating areas are not necessary for us and take up a lot of space).

Thank you for any feedback and suggestions!

Higher quality layout image links:

Layout angles:

https://imgur.com/a/WcfwjRG

https://imgur.com/a/QiBJqsK

https://imgur.com/a/kA1FCew

Layout with bench seating:

https://imgur.com/a/7A6E314

Bench/nook seating rough thoughts:

https://imgur.com/a/eNi7GXS

https://imgur.com/a/GH3UJL6

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Comments (3)

emilyam819
4 years ago
Can you show the whole house layout? I ask because it seems like your main work aisle is a traffic way to somewhere else.

And can the window change location?
herbflavor
4 years ago
Run the great room off the entire side or across front of structure. One position only for opening to bedroom and bath corridor. You have two openings to bedrooms ... not feasible. Don't you want to run the great room all across one side or the other w kitchen contained within....toward the rear, envision French doors to outside deck or patio. Use a table at a position within the great room that is an easy position for real use. There are lots of manufactured homes popping up w similarities...maybe you should have a look Instead of wrestling w something nearly impossible.
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Hi Guys, Long time no post. :) We've been quite busy! We replaced the boiler (a rather harrowing experience), talked to a well known MCM architect here in Minnesota, visited various cabinet construction facilities (got a tour of the shop!), visited Ikea to see the new sektion line, visited flooring stores, etc. In the mean time I've been thinking about some of the advise I've gotten here and from the architect we talked to and tried to make some modifications to the original design. I sort of like it, but it didn't pass the wife test. She likes the stacked stone look, and in some ways likes that the upstairs is more closed off, but doesn't like how it segments the living room away and is afraid it might make it too dark (I think that might actually be nice for viewing the TV, but oh well). She liked the original design better in that regard, so it's probably back to the drawing board. Figured I'd post it here though in case anyone had any thoughts. Other things we are kind of generally gravitating toward after visiting cabinet/flooring shops: - Rift sawn white oak or quarter-sawn maple slab cabinets. Probably horizontal grain. (yes, the picture shows shaker, that's just what the program has available) - strand woven eucalyptus flooring. Worried about cupping with humidity, need to find out how stable it really is. Also concerned about ability to refinish in 5-10 years. Not particularly green if you have to replace it all! Alternatives might be doing quarter/rift sawn oak or maple (should be very stable) like the cabinets. Costs a lot more though. - Want to integrate some stacked stone or long tile. There's a MCM house we almost bought (so close!) that had an entryway we loved with long pieces of mixed height ledgstone or stacked stone. Trying to see if we can integrate something like that into the design.
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I guess I should have mentioned there's a fireplace on the all brick wall of the living room on the far side of the living room, and the current entrance has a partial (3/4 height) wall/bookcase to separate it from the family room.
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mama goose_gw zn6OH
4 years ago
You could put the fridge on the short wall (possibly recess it into the closet behind?), and put the sink and DW on the perimeter. Then use a table for seating.

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