Help me with my open layout, please!
4 years ago
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Please help me with my kitchen layout!
Comments (21)Your kitchen is similar in size to mine. I have doorways where both of your corners are and no wall where your pantries are, so our layout issues are different, but the space for an island is similar. Having the island would make navigation in a wheel chair more of a challenge, so that might be reason enough to not look further. My island is composed of 21" deep (vanity depth) cabinets on the side with the prep sink and 13" deep door cabinets (basically uppers on a toekick) on the back side. I store small appliances, outdoor plates and bowls and less often used kitchen tools there. The shallow cabinets are a dream for easy access to all those things I used to have to dig for. Not hunting at all. I could see that being a plus for your DH, in general, if not in an island. My cabinet depth is 34" and my counter top is about 37". My aisles are 37" on the main sink side an 40" on the cooktop side, reduced to 37 where the rangetop bumps out (it made DH happy). We had roughly the same space before. We couldn't really change the footprint, so mer made it more functional. We don't have a problem with the aisles, and before we redid the kitchen, the one place we did have an issue was where the island cooktop and sink (only sink then) were almost directly across form each other. If DH was helping prep or decided to "help" by doing dishes while I was cooking, it was a constant butt bump. Now those zones are separated and there is a prep sink on the opposite side of the island. By letting us work on both sides, and even the ends, of the island, we have the same width aisles, but it really opened up our kitchen. I have never cringed and wished for just a few more inches, but I have often been grateful that my prep sink is just a pivot and a step away from both the cooktop (draining, prep, etc) and the baking area (egg goo, bread dough, etc.). And I love, love, love the fact that we kept the original size island (or slightly smaller -- originally one big open box with a huge downdraft blower and a couple of drawers) and made it a highly effective workspace and efficient storage....See MorePlease help me with my layout
Comments (7)Island vs table: Traffic can move around the table in 2 directions, but will just be blocked by the island. That's why in my kitchen I am glad to have decided on a shorter island and the separate kitchen table, rather than the long island I initially designed. But I like your inspiration photo and can see why you're drawn to it. I have 4 ft aisles in my kitchen...along the sides of my island, but 3 ft between the island and the range. That is the spot where there is a lot of back and forth, and the part of the perimeter with which the island has the most direct relationship, because of prep and cooking. There really is no relationship between the island and our cleanup area, except for accessing the trash that pulls out of the island toward the sink area...so no reason for them to be close, and lots of reason for people to be able to pass through if the dishwasher is open. So the 48" works well for us there. On the oven/fridge side of your island, more room would be nice, too, and even more crucial, where you have the ovens opening and the seating at the end. Our 48" between the island, which we use for baking, and the baking center and oven on the perimeter, does not seem 'too big.' I wouldn't want larger for that purpose, but that aisle isn't the main path between 2 rooms in our case. It's a useful distance with room for working while others may need to get through. I also found it not too large when my oven had to be replaced (again and again) and the guys had to get a cart in there to pull the heavy oven fully out onto, and I had to worry about them dinging up my cabinets. 42", and even 36", in some cases, can be 'workable' for aisles if that's all the room you have, but the 5 ft island is wider than necessary with the aisle width suffering, in my opinion..and seems it may look out of scale/proportion. Key phrase is that is an opinion...and of someone who doesn't live in the space. But... Have you allowed for cabinet doors and counter overhang, or is the 42" you have figured from cabinet box to cabinet box? If you haven't figured in those other measurements, you'll have aisles that end up to be only 39" from counter to counter. I do think the prep sink will lose benefit if moved off the corner and toward the seating. I'm always a little surprised about the priority of 'landing space,' which is not a constant necessity, and can be more flexible. There is lots of landing area around the sink, even if it's on the corner. The sink location can be crucial for most convenient access, especially if you want it to be multi-purpose and used by multiple people... Whereas, as long as there is some landing space, somewhere pretty handy, it's exact location is less crucial. Again, my opinion. If anyone looks at my kitchen plan, there is really no handy landing space to my main fridge, and I only miss it on the rare occasions that I'm cleaning out the entire fridge and my hands get too full too fast, and it gets to be an annoyance to go back and forth to the island. Otherwise, I don't mind getting things out of the fridge and taking a couple of steps. I don't even use my island as oven landing space, usually, but take a longer route over to the rangetop run, where there is stainless counter. Bar sinks placed 'out of the loop'...out of the work area... are a whole different thing and purpose than a prep sink. Those seem extra or possibly more frivolous to me, while prep sinks can be a constant and daily help...at least in my experience. I was hoping I was only narrowing the existing opening/traffic area to the dining room, and not affecting the table area. But I realize I don't know your table layout with the overall room shape and size. All in all, if you feel strongly enough about this island concept, and I wasn't trying to say it's a bad one at all (only offered other options or adjustments I saw for you to consider), I would still reduce the width by 6" or so to give that outside aisle more room. I would make sure you have the full 42" on the inside aisle, too. If that's a cooktop and not a range, you could gain 6" at the family room end, by scooting the island toward the stove a bit....See MorePlease help me with my tiny kitchen layout!
Comments (27)Hi Rosie! Thanks! Using the front room for dining is a great idea, however we DO use our front room quite a bit as well, because when I'm cooking/cleaning or watching a movie with my daughter, my hubby can go up front and sit in the sofa with our dog and read, so it functions as a quiet "away" room (Sarah Susanka, anyone?) but he can still feel connected to us. And vice versa. That's also where our fireplace is, and we like to hang out there, especially when our families come out from the east coast to stay with us. I think we looked into it being a dining room, but the proportions didn't work. Ah, the joys of small urban living! Maybe I should post that plan too! However, I also love hearing about your lack of need for a prep sink. Does your husband or anyone else use the kitchen at the same time as you?...See MorePlease help me layout my kitchen
Comments (13)No changes to the windows: Click to enlarge I wasn't sure about some of the measurements, so this is a rough estimate of cabinet widths, and there are no uppers. Having only one wall of cabinets plus island, I put the fridge (36", might be room for 48") near the DR, with a range. Alternate plan would be to extend the wall beside the pantry and put the fridge there, with the wall ovens where the fridge is drawn, since you don't want an UC oven, but that would make the island somewhat of a barrier. The fridge could also go in the middle of the pantry space, with pantry cabs on each side. ETA, I'm not sure if the fridge would be close enough to the island for landing space. The 30" pantry could be an upper with base, or a tall cabinet on the counter, with landing space in front of it. Blank space m/l:...See MoreRelated Professionals
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