Suggestions on how to make my kitchen design workable?
Ann Collins
3 years ago
We are finalizing our kitchen plan for a new build, and I'm just not satisfied with the appliance layout. My husband doesn't want the sink to be in the island so we moved it in front of the window. However, now we don't have a great workable triangle. Also, will the stove and refrigerator look cramped? Any ideas will be appreciated!
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Ann Collins
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Is my island workable or too big for kitchen scale?
Comments (17)cooki1268: It's from AYA kitchens 2009 winter catalog/magazine. Here's the link, but it's a huge pdf. I think it's page 12. We're not going with their cabinets, but I did love that picture (gotta find those stools!) www.ayakitchens.com/media/.../AyA_Inspired%20Design2_sm.pdf Thanks to all the other smart and objective advice givers! I'll show my current floor plan, which will help you all see where the doors lead to: We added the wall and opened up the basement stairs to close off the family room from the front door. We also changed the sliding glass door into a picture window and added the side garden door. We face west so we get a ton of light from the back windows and garden door. There's also a silly 40" raised breakfast bar behind the D/W. To answer some of florantha's questions: you can see my current kitchen layout does curve into a "U." I was trying to limit that for 2 reasons: not going to invest in a CD fridge and hate to see the fridge sticking out into the kitchen. As well, also dislike that dead corner between the fridge and stove. One cook household, and we do eat at home most of the time. Two kids that like to help with baking. I was trying not to move walls, windows, sink, etc., simply to put my money into cabs and counters. Need seating for 4 regularly, but have a large dining room table for bigger dinners....See MoreHow should I layout my kitchen? Need suggestions...no window.
Comments (4)I'm running out now, but I wanted to quickly show you what LRy511 did in her kitchen. I'm also building from a modified Don Gardner plan and I'm changing my kitchen to an L-shape with an island. I had the sink on the island first but struggled with the openness so I moved it to a wall where it would be blocked by the island a bit from the great room. Here's a draft of my plan to give you an idea. Without seeing your plan, I doubt you need a door from the kitchen to the dining room. Can you easily cut through the foyer to get there? My current kitchen/breakfast nook/family room is almost identical to the one in the original plan. My kitchen seems dark, but that is because there are only 4 can lights and 2 pendant lights over the peninsula. Make sure you have plenty of can lights and under cabinet lighting and you'll be fine. I think you're wise not to have the 2-story living room. You'll still get plenty of light from all those windows on the back. BTW, my current house plan is very similar to the one you are proposing, except we don't have the first floor master. In our plan the stairs go off the the bottom left corner of the family room and take up the space you have as a hall between the LR and FR. That opens up the foyer a lot. It's something you might consider if you can find another doorway to the master. Of course it might not work with your second-floor layout, but I thought I'd mention it....See MorePLEASE help!! How can I make my kitchen with oak look better??
Comments (24)Those are not oak cabinets. As I started reading this thread, I was starting to compose a reply -- "Am I the only one thinking those are not oak?" but then started running into a growing number of folks saying the same thing. They have a tight grain that looks like maple or possibly cherry, but the way they appear to have taken a stain makes me thing maple. Maple has a tendency to not accept stain evenly and you have some lighter and darker areas. I suspect they are not alder because that is a softer wood and I don't see any dings. They do appear to be in good shape. I'd work with them. As said above, if you have money for granite and tile floors, you have money for paint or stain. If you are willing to take the time to learn and DIY on the cabinets, you may be able to do both. You showed us a lot of the kitchen, but not two things I'd like to see -- your lighting and the cooktop. Do you have a vent hood? Does it exhaust or recirculate the air? I'm wondering if the cabinets have years of gunk built up on them. They look not only yellowed, but possibly dirty or dry. I would give them a really good cleaning for starters. You can't paint or stain until you do that anyway. Then I'd look at the lighting -- It looks like it may be adding to the yellow cast to everything. Any chance you have an older florescent fixture in the kitchen? The wood color looks better in the breakfast nook than it does in the kitchen. Changing or improving your lighting and cleaning your cabinets could make things look a lot different and neither of those should be budget busters. I would paint the walls with some color and then step back and take a look. If you want darker hardware, I'd buy new. It doesn't have to be expensive, but painting hardware is likely to be very temporary. So far, with DIY, we're looking at a few hundred dollars. I would like to remove the soffit in the kitchen itself if possible. If not, I'd paint it or give it a deep crown treatment to carry the cabinet line to the ceiling. You could also paint the ceiling crown to match the ceiling if it will not bother you that is will then be different that the rest of the house. I would not paint the window trim -- the window itself is stained wood and matches all your other windows. Once you get to that point, I would make a decision on painting, gel staining or stipping the cabinets and refinishing. Those are all things you can DIY, but paint and stripping will be time intensive -- which is why there is a lot of cost to them, especially if they need a lot of cleaning and prep work. You don't want any painter who isn't looking at good prep work because the job will not be good or last unless they do it right....See MoreSuggestions on how to make my living room less "blah"?
Comments (106)Color!!!! Must have color!!! You just have a bunch of random neutrals of same intensity put together - white, beige, grey, greige, black, white, brown wood tone, beige-grey, blue-grey. Monochrome can work but there needs to be a range of intensities (from very light to dark) and textures to provide visual interest. Read up on the 60-30-10 rule and decide which color you want for each percentage, and then be ruthless about sticking with the plan....See More
mama goose_gw zn6OH
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoMoving the fridge to the sink wall is better than having it in the corner. It's more easily accessed by those who wander in for a drink or snack. As for the path from fridge to stove--I go from stove to fridge when I need milk or butter for sauce, or if I decide I can fit an extra carrot or pepper in the skillet, after I've already prepped. Speaking of prepping--there is very little prep space to the left of the sink, and all that wasted space on the island and on the range wall. You could rinse items at the sink, then move to the counter to the right of the range, or to the island, to finish prepping, but there is also not much space to store dishes near the DW. If you extend the counter on the sink wall into the pantry space, you can increase the prep space to the left of the sik, and increase space for dish storage. (Plan on right). I'd also suggest moving the mudroom wall over and adding an extra storage cabinet, to take advantage of the wasted space in the pantry.
I'd put the fridge on the range wall, but on the left, and use a prep sink on the island. The prep triangle would be tighter, and with a separate clean-up zone, it will be easier for helpers to load or unload the DW, or gather dishes to set the table, without crossing the prep path. Everything isn't cramped into one corner, and the pantry doesn't need to change. I'd still move the mudroom door, and maybe the garage door too, to get it out of the corner. I also enlarged the window, because it looks as if the kitchen will be quite dark.
The white line on the fridge wall in each plan represents space behind the cabinets where they have been pulled forward to match the depth of a standard fridge box. If you're doing custom cabinets, you can have deeper drawers made, for extra storage, or just pull the cabinets forward and have deeper counter. Also in the plan with the fridge on the sink wall, you'll need to make sure the fridge door will open fully, against the stub wall, to pull out crispers for cleaning.
1929Spanish-GW
3 years agoanj_p
3 years ago
jkent9024
3 years ago
WestCoast Hopeful
3 years agoAnn Collins
3 years agoAnn Collins
3 years agoAnn Collins
3 years ago
PROMark Bischak, Architect
3 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
3 years agosuezbell
3 years agomama goose_gw zn6OH
3 years agoJoe Macker
3 years ago
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