Modern fireplace design for new build. Need help!
We are in the middle of a custom build, and while I have hundreds of modern fireplace photos saved here and elsewhere, I still cannot get a good idea on what to do with the area that will include the fireplace. As you can see from the top pic, there are two fairly large recessed areas. A cabinet maker drew this to give me a quote on some built-ins in these alcoves (hence all the broken-up spaces/measurements in the drawing). I'm not really sure I want to do built ins. I really like the look of the photo with the white cast stone but also unsure if this would be too much for the room. My husband would like to use stacked stone etc. I'm not opposed to that per se, I just don't know if that "sea of stone" will look good. Any ideas and suggestions are very appreciated.
Comments (52)
PROMark Bischak, Architect
4 years agoalladd
4 years agoRelated Discussions
New build farmhouse kitchen with fireplace, help with design!
Comments (12)I played with your plan a wee bit, turning the laundry room and baking pantry on their sides and moving your kitchen appliances around quite a bit. =) Both laundry room and baking pantry are wider in this plan, which means that you have better aisles in both spaces. I didn't realize until I working on your plan how narrow your baking pantry was. If you were spec'ing standard depth counters & cabs along one wall and 12" cabs on the other, you're left with less than 29" for the aisle. That's fine if you don't intend to work in their but since it sounds like you want to do baking prep in here, that's not going to work well at all, especially if you want your kids to help you. My plan does mean no window in your laundry room but you could always add clerestory windows between baking pantry and laundry room to let light flow from one to the other, like they did between spaces in this home. Okay, into the kitchen. I removed the wing walls on each side of the dining area so that you're not pinched for space around the table. However, as I wrote above, if you want to keep the walls, you can bump the space out instead. I moved the fridge out of the corner and against the pantry wall. That puts it close to your baking center; shorter walks to get eggs, butter, etc. I moved your clean up sink and 2 DWs to the wall next to the fridge. Here are inspiration pics for sinks against walls, not under windows. Moving the clean-up zone, opened up space to move the range top and hood to an exterior wall. Since you're concerned about noise, you should definitely look into adding an remote blower to your hood. This runs ducting up the exterior wall to your roof where your blower will sit. You'll cut noise quite a bit. I moved the ovens to right next to the baking pantry door so it's an shorter walk with pans of batter. I added a prep sink to your island to give you a good work zone between pantry, fridge and range top. The downside of this plan is that it puts the clean-up sink and dish storage the farthest from the dining area. It also means that anyone wanting to grab last minute items from the fridge to bring to the table will walk through the cook zone. Not ideal but I can't think of another way to address that at the moment. Oh, the other thing I did was recess the full depth fridge into the pantry wall so that it appears to be counter depth. I've no idea what your aisle widths were because you hadn't marked them but you have a large enough space to go for generous 48" aisles....See MoreNew build in design stage- layout help appreciated!
Comments (11)Thank you. If you can recess the fridge under the top part of the stairs, that should work--a full depth fridge will give you more storage space, and will be less expensive. I liked the idea of adding a little space to the pantry, since it's more of a work room, and if you have the fridge and freezer in the locations drawn, the extra space would give you more 'step back room.' It appears that you have space to push that wall out a few inches, and still have comfortable seating at the island. I'd move the sink and DWs down, to leave space for someone to squeak by, if the DW to the left of the sink is open. That would mean a triple window (better than a double any day ;), and I'd make the end counter flush with the wall beside the window seat, to balance the reveal on each side of the kitchen window. Then I'd add an upper the same width as the wall ovens, 30", which will also give you more space for dish storage. The narrow base cabinet between the DW and oven can house cutting boards and baking sheets. The clean-up sink appears to be only about 24", so I'd recommend at least 33"--big enough for baking sheets to lay flat. With four seats on the long side, the island needs to be only 96", or 24" per seat, which will leave more space in the clean-up aisle. The trash pull-out is on the end, convenient to all zones (except the baking pantry). The wide drawers on each side of the oven can house pots/pans, bake ware, and mixing bowls. Just because you have a dedicated baking area, does not mean that you can't knead bread dough on the island, with your kids near, and I'm sure you'll want to cut out cookies where kids can help from both sides of the island. Will you be able to easily vent the range on that wall?...See MoreNeed Design Help With New Build Floorplan!
Comments (22)You’re letting the gag rage define the House. Everything in the house is about that odd angled connection. And the bulk and domineering visage of it is what will define your house. Do you want a GARAGEhouse? Why are the cars more important than the people and the house’s relationship to the surroundings. Angled garage plans are a plan of last resort. They are usually a cliche done by the inept in order to “add interest”. The architectural features of the house are what should be interesting. Not your Hulk of a garage....See MorePaint Help for modern open flr plan new build facing the west
Comments (1)IMO your furniture flooring all drive wall color and a W facing space will be hot in the afternoon so plan on some solar shades too I have no idea what highly reflective walls would even be a choice. As for what white you need to test with poster boards painted with 2 coats and moved all around the spaces. Make sure all the lighting is in before choosing wall color and all lighting LEDs in 4000K. I aslo would have suggested no higher than 10’ for ceilings but too late for that....See More- PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years agoMaybe an image of the house's front elevation may pinpoint that a little more accurately. I assume you would want some continuity running through the design of the whole house. "Napa Valley" tells me there are grapes being grown on the property, and this is the modern farmhouse I use to own:
alladd thanked Mark Bischak, Architect alladd
4 years ago- PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoalladd thanked Mark Bischak, Architect alladd
4 years ago
@Kirsten E. here is a photo of the floorplan that you suggested that I post. The kitchen and dining room area are to the right of this room. This great room will be our most used area of the house, plus it opens onto an outdoor living area that will be important to us and often used.
Thanks everyone, for your suggestions. I am rethinking the fireplace area now, based upon some of the pics and things you all said. Here is one such photo that was posted to another person's dilemma on another thread. I'm not personally wanting to do this type stone or mantel; however, the seating alcoves here might work for me as well. Any thoughts or further suggestions? Thanks.
Woodinville Retreat · More Infoalladd
4 years agoalladd
4 years agoalladd
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Kristin S
4 years agoI empathize. Figuring out what to do with our fireplace was probably the hardest single decision in our build. Here are a few more ideas for you, in case they help.
Inverness · More Info
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Santa Rosa Residence · More Info
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Wellshire Contemporary · More Infoalladd thanked Kristin Salladd
4 years agoKristin S
4 years agoWhile our dilemma was the same, our situation was a bit different. We don't like having a t.v. in our great room, so that wasn't a factor, and we have windows to the floor on both sides of our fireplace, so no dilemma of what to do with the niches. We were also trying to have something that split the difference between modern and traditional - sort of a streamlined modern. This is my favorite of our inspiration photos:
And this is the stone we're using to get the look:
https://www.arizonatile.com/en/products/limestone/crema-vosscione-lyon
The tile should be going up on the fireplace this week, so I'm happy to share a picture once there's something to see.alladd thanked Kristin SKristin S
4 years agoHere are a couple of inspiration photos from Pinterest that have interesting niches that might help inspire you.
Kirsten E.
4 years agoWhich do you think will be a bigger need for you - storage or additional seating? I think that would dictate my direction. For example, if I had a lovely book collection to display, I’d probably opt for a built in book case. You could also split the difference and do shelves or a built-in on one side and seating on the other. At almost 7 feet on each side you have lots of space. For the space on each side of our fireplace, we opted for additional seating. We’re still under construction so no photos of the benches yet, but here’s some of my inspo :)
alladd thanked Kirsten E.alladd
4 years agoalladd
4 years agoKristin S
4 years agoI will. They’re working on it today. Here’s the limestone laid out on the floor, and here’s the fireplace it’s going on.
Kristin S
4 years ago
WestCoast Hopeful
4 years agoThis is our fireplace wall etc. We have a tv over it. Things I would do differently is get a larger fireplace so it is same width as tv if not bigger. Use a solid surface material in one piece to create the mantel because we have had issues with this. But overall the aesthetic is exactly what we hoped it would be.
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4 years agoalladd
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4 years agoTerra S.
4 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoTerra S.
4 years agoA lot of our entertaining is based around guys watching football from the kitchen island, so the bug TV was important here as well. when we do other kinds of entertaining I generally use the TV as a giant piece of art with slide shows of paintings I like
The first picture here was my main inspiration but I just went back and have a couple more that might give you some ideas.
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4 years agopudgybaby
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4 years agoTerra S.
4 years agoalladd
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Terra S.