Kitchen design dilemma
Joanne cranny
last year
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Jonathan
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Kitchen design dilemma - work triangle
Comments (27)@mama goose_gw zn6OH Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. I was definitely considering the dishwasher swap, with dishes in drawers instead of upper cabinets. There's two reasons I'm hesitant. 1) I have never been a big fan of dishes in drawers. Getting dishes is a frequent activity, so having to bend down each time seems like it could get painful on the back. I could be totally wrong on this. 2) Our typical routine for weeknight dinner involves brining clean plates to the stove for loading and then taking to the island to eat. Setting the table for more "formal" dinners usually involves using the "good" dishes, which are stored elsewhere anyways. (The plan doesn't show it, but there are uppers on either side of stove and dishes are planned to be on the left.) Trash drawers are going to go under both main and prep sink. There is definitely room to make the island wider than the standard 4 feet and hence move it a little closer to stove. My concern there is that it would require a seam in the counter material (quartzite). Maybe a skilled installer could make that almost disappear. I'm just wondering how much that would bother me. I should have provided more context on the bank of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. The design is below. The middle section is indented with a counter ledge and has the microwave and coffee/breakfast stations behind the appliance garages. This is why the fridge can move to one of the two ends, but not the middle. If I'm adding the island prep sink, then I'm actually happy with the fridge at the end because it means I can just pivot to pull things from fridge and put on island. I had originally wanted to keep the island completely appliance free, but now realize the prep sink there is a must given the rest of the configuration....See MoreKitchen Design Dilemma - Creative Advice??
Comments (7)I live in a 1930s house and love houses of that vintage. My house has its original galley kitchen in which everyone needs to walk through to get from the main section of the house to the family room (which was converted from the original sunroom). It doesn't work for me. There is an aisle of 6 ft. which is one step too wide to work comfortably and I don't like having a gaggle of kids back and forth in my way while I'm working on dinner. I appreciate that your architect is trying to stay on budget, preserve the concept of rooms, and replicate original details to make the house work for today. Since you love the openness of the current family room, I actually think you will appreciate having the kitchen in that part of the house. My sister who has a much more modern aesthetic than I do, has a setup like that, and I can see why it works well - in fact, I'm working on a remodel in which I will blow out the wall between my kitchen and family room. Just get a deep single bowl sink to keep your dishes out of sight in addition to the other kitchen suggestions mentioned here. Another suggestion would be to incorporate the bar and coat closet to be your mudroom area. Think about increasing the opening between the foyer and dining room to 5 ft, so that if you are hosting a larger party you can use that space for an dining table extension. I've had 10 kitchens in my adult life (and cooked quite a bit in my mom's and two sisters'). Some had walk in pantries and others did not and I prefer the ones with the pantries. Even if you don't use it as a pantry, you will appreciate the extra storage in a 1930s house....See MoreHelp needed with Kitchen design dilemma
Comments (11)I'm sorry, but I have to disagree regarding base cabinet storage (island or anywhere else) vs upper cabinet storage. First -- this is assuming the base cabinets are drawer bases or, at the very least, with roll out tray shelves (ROTS). [The builder-grade base cabinets with stationary shelves (and, sometimes, half shelves!), are very, very poor for storage.] Drawer bases are twice as deep as uppers (24"D base vs 12"D uppers) Drawer bases are approx 30" tall (not counting toe-kick space & counters). Uppers range from 30" to 42", but most are 30" or 36". Drawer bases...everyone can reach the entire height & depth of drawers within the drawer base Uppers...Most people cannot reach more than half-way up the uppers, and in most of those cases, only the very front of most shelves ROTS vs drawers -- drawers are more functional than ROTS, but if you cannot get drawers, at least get ROTS. Most here, including me, recommend all drawer bases with very few exceptions. One exception is the trash pullout, although it could be argued it is similar to a drawer since the base/hanging piece is attached to the door and pulls out with one motion. Here's a thread where drawers vs ROTS are discussed: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2502678/drawers-over-pull-outs-in-cabinets All that said, I prefer a combination of both drawer bases & upper cabinets. Some things, in my opinion, work better in uppers -- we're a tall family and we found that dish & glass storage does work better in uppers as opposed to drawers. However, if I had to choose one or the other, I'd choose drawers. For a short family, it's possible dish & glass storage may work better in drawers....See MoreKitchen Design Dilemma - Bench
Comments (11)The drawing above is the entire kitchen. Table has to go on that left side - due to space constraints we will have to have bench seating under the window :-). Still in the design phase for rest of kitchen but basically the area in front of the sliding door is where the table will go no matter what. The initial design feels heavy on the right side of the room with the island and appliances and cabinets. Wanting to add shallow shelving or something visual to ground the table and window area on the left....See MoreJoanne cranny
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