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Design Dilemma Kitchens living room

Kitchen and living room help!

last year

Kitchen and living room help!

*Please excuse our not so professional blueprints. We are remodeling my husbands great-grandparents farmhouse that was build in the 1903’s and every inch of this house has had to be remodeled. We are doing all the design ourselves with the help of an awesome local GC.*

What would you change about this layout? How can we make the space more functional, specifically the kitchen? Does the island placement throw you off? Should we turn it the other way? What am I not seeing?? Help me make it awesome!

I am leaning towards turing it to be horizontal because I worry that it should be proportional with the cabinetry behind it. Plus, I would get 9ft or 10ft island as opposed to an 8ft island. We are open to extending the kitchen countertops/cabinets past those windows even though we’d lose natural light.

Here are my worries:

If we change the orientation of the island, is that going to shorten my living room and make it narrow and awkward?
The dining room table would have to be moved if we move the island. Would you move it area in front of the pantry wall?
Would you move the living area to face the hall to the back of the house?
What about the awkward entry space?

We live 45mins from the nearest grocery store and cook three meals a day in our home. The kitchen and living area is the absolute most important space to us. PLEASE HELP, I am overwhelmed and running out of time. I need to make a decision about my cabinetry soon. Sincerely appreciate all of your help in advance!!

Comments (5)

Kendrah
last year
Your layout makes a lot of sense to me. I'd keep the island where it is. I might change the dining room table direction 90 degrees so it is parallel to the windows and feels a bit more like it's own nook and not just a repetition of the island.
cpartist
last year
What does the current house look llke and what is the current layout.
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decoenthusiaste
last year
last modified: last year
I would prefer the TV on the pantry wall so it isn't the first thing guests see upon entering your home. You may decide you need window treatments on those tall windows and the TV being in between will prohibit that. Look into ceiling track hung drapes/sheers if necessary. If the oval is a coffee table, it is way oversized. Already there isn't much navigation room. Have you considered angling the island diagonally across that area and dropping a table off the end of it in the dining space? It makes for nice casual dining, a great spot for homework, and can serve as a buffet for cocktail parties. These aren't on the diagonal, but just for the connected table/island concept. I think you'd gain better circulation between the kitchen/dining/living areas too.

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m_munkacsy
last year
I have my kitchen table connected to my kitchen island really similarly to decoenthusiaste’s bottom picture. It is fine, and is still the best decision for me since I have a very small house that didn’t have room for both a kitchen and dining room. If I had the space like you, however, I would have a separate table for sure! I wish I could, but just not an option if we also want a living room. When the only dining table is connected to the island, it just doesn’t feel special and nice on those occasions like Thanksgiving. A bit of space between the table and kitchen truly does make a big difference. I think the layout you have is good, but agree with previous comment to turn the dining table 90 degrees.
Jennifer Hogan
last year
last modified: last year
I am often an advocate for DIY. In your case I would say that it would be wise to spend the money to get professional help with the design of the kitchen/living space of your home.

I see so many things that I would want to change. You have a massive entry area and massive amounts of open space in the living area in front of the entry and then everything else shoved toward the kitchen. The two sofas are not placed correctly and one is too close to the island.

There is wasted space with the walk in pantry that is giving no more storage than a reach in the same size would provide. Why cut the corner of the kitchen to give a wider entrance to the mudroom? The dining table and the island are close and 4 seats at an 8' island is tight.

I get that you are spending a lot of money on the renovation, but the money spent on an interior designer is going to help you make the most of the money you are spending and give you a much better end result.

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