Kitchen Question

last year

Looking for suggestions for improvement for the kitchen. From my garage, you can walk through the pantry (12'7"x8'4") and into the kitchen. The kitchen is open to the dining room. All countertops in kitchen shown are 2 ft. The island is 9x4. The space from the refrigerator to the wall is 12 ft on this plan. If you count the refrigerator, it makes it 14'9" or so. The walk ways around the island are all 4 ft. There's a DW on one side of sink and an ice maker on the other. The windows above the sink are a 42x48 with a 24x48 on either side. We plan to put the microwave between the range and the fridge. The dining room will have a wood stove in it. There's room for a couple of chairs by the wood stove and a dining room table. The plan is to put plug ins and a counter in the pantry in order to use some appliances in the pantry. I plan for seating at the end of the island by the wall without any appliances. That wall may also have an area that's bookcase with a partial wine rack.

Right now it's by husband, myself and a baby. We may have more children. We live in a rural area. It takes us 1.5 drive to get to a town with a Trader Joes. We do cook and garden. We plan to use the island as a buffet to put out food when we have gatherings.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know.

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Comments (4)

chispa
last year
You have a large kitchen, I don't see the need to walk to the pantry to run some small appliances. I would design their use into the space you have in the kitchen. I have a similar size/shape for my kitchen and like to keep an uncluttered kitchen, but I still keep my toaster oven and electric kettle on the counter plugged in. I have a stack opposite your range with a built-in Miele coffee machine and convection/steam oven. I tuck the toaster oven and kettle between the stack and the corner so it isn't visible unless you are all the way in the kitchen. I do keep a couple of small appliances in the pantry, but they are not used there. Like the slow-cooker, which I only use a 6-10 times per year and less so now that we live in a warm climate.
emilyam819
last year
Try rotating the island, because the long side is where you want to do your work. You can have your buffet on the wine countertop; that area is underutilized. But if cost is a factor, you might consider an L + longer island instead of that other countertop (13 feet of cabinets and counter is a lot of money for possibly not a lot of gain).
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Agree with others, remove backsplash. That will make a huge improvement. Since white kitchens is your preference. I would hold on new countertop. If you do decide to paint cabinets, get a professional cabinet refacer. Wait 3+ months to verify the paint job is holding up to your liking before putting $$$ countertop in. There's too many times painting cabinets which had unforseen problems holding up. It would be a real expensive disappointment to put $$$ countertop on cabinets that you don't love. Once base cabinets are to your liking, treat yourself to a beautiful countertop.
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Drawers instead of base cabinets. I can barely make it out in the second picture, but it appears that the range has at least one of those spice pull-outs flanking it. Ugh, nope. Those pull-outs sound so nifty, but in real life you will not like them. Avoid. I am not a fan of pot fillers. You still need to take the full pot of water back to the sink so it helps only 50% of the time. And will some people in the house be forgetful and leave them on or leave them with a slow drip? Also, people I know who have pot fillers say that once the novelty wears off, they don't use them. Not a fan of wall ovens on a diagonal. When an oven door is open, that diagonal placement is an ergonomic disaster. The seating table or the island but not both. So intrusive on the space it gives me the heebie jeebies. I actually disagree with One Devoted Dame's comment about the recessed cans. While I do not like recessed cans in living rooms or bedrooms, I think they are an absolute necessity for lighting in a kitchen. How will you light the space without them. And 3 pendants over that island would be too crowded, yet the addition of a third pendant would not help light the rest of the kitchen if you were to do away with recessed cans. I do agree with One Devoted Dame that that kitchen is begging for color.
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do you mean you own it and wish to rent it? is this two walls only? I'd get a 24 in range. and something like an apt sized fridge.....yours looks 36 in wide. then I'd reconfigure the fridge/stove situation to gain the counter space you need. If you can fetch top dollar in the rental area then get some custom cab maker to deal with the jog...get a lighting plan...this looks terribly small so you have to maximize w smaller scale appliances and I would allow for at least a ledge in an upper cab for a microwave. Again ...your situation is unknown so advice can only be guesses.
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mcarroll16
last year
Agree with chispa and emilyam819:

1. We just ripped out a much smaller U kitchen. Same layout, sink in the center. As cramped as we were for counterspace, the arm opposite the range wall was vastly underused. It took constant vigilance to keep it from piling up with clutter. Planning in a small appliance zone there will make that countertop truly useful, and your appliances much more convenient. Consider ending that run with a tall pantry cabinet where you can store the less frequently used appliances.

2. Using blenders, toasters, etc. in a pantry will get messy, and you don't have a sink there for easy cleanup. What's more, you shouldn't have a sink. Given your remote setting, you are going to want some long-term food storage in that pantry. That means keeping the room dry and cool.

3. The most useful work space is adjacent too and immediately behind the range. The longer your island is along that dimension, the more useful it will be.
Janet
Original Author
last year
Thanks chispa, emilyam and mcarroll. That’s really good feedback. I appreciate it.

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chispa

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Janet
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