Kitchen/dining/living/laundry flow struggles

7 months ago

We want to move our kitchen to the back of the house, and I'm trying to restructure our kitchen/dining/living room flow.

My main question: I'm struggling with the very center of the flow — in the mockup, it's the section around the proposed laundry, between the dining room and the first bathroom wall. Maybe what I have works? But it seems to block the flow to the kitchen a bit? Do you see another option entirely, or tweaks you'd make?

I initially considered putting the laundry in the kitchen, but ultimately that felt like too much going on in there — and it's a tradeoff with having the breakfast nook, more cabinetry, or a bar/coffee area...

Here are the relevant ways that the mockup already differs from the existing layout:

- Moves the kitchen to the back room.

- Creates a dining room at the front of the house where the kitchen used to be.

- Creates a laundry closet inside the house (and out of the garage!).

- Removes a wall between the proposed living room and dining room (i.e., the current kitchen). In its place, at minimum we'd do a post or two for structure, but we'd actually like some more visual separation around the dining room... perhaps half-up bookshelves, arches, a partial slat wall, or even mostly-glass walls with french doors...

- Moves the garage door from the new/proposed dining room wall to the new/proposed kitchen.

I hope I provided enough measurements for the problem area, but please let me know if you need any more! Thank you for any and all thoughts!

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Comments (3)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
7 months ago
I am obviously missing something. The drawing shows the kitchen at the side of the house not the front and how will you handle the bedrooms if you move the kitchen to there? Please post the plan as it is now post here in a comment just like before DO NOT start another post.
C M
Original Author
7 months ago
Sorry I guess I didnt explain very well. I‘ll try to get a mockup of the existing layout posted tomorrow! For now I’ll try to clarify: The kitchen is currently in the front of the house — the current sink is where the mockup says ”desk”.

Where I’m proposing to move the kitchen, is what’s shown in the mockup — I’m calling it the ”back” because its by the back door. The bedrooms aren’t intended to move.

Again I’ll get a mockup of the existing layout up tomorrow. thank you
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The key to making spaces flow is to have similar styles and connection with the colors in each space. Your kitchen cabinets are beautiful. The rug in the dining area is beautiful. The sofa and flooring all work together. The table has a country feel to it that doesn't seem to fit with the other two rooms. The art in the hallway is also very country craft, while nothing else seems to have a country flair. The blue gray in the living room is thowing things off. The walls are too yellow and the color of the valance in the kitchen has nothing to do with any other color in the space.The crown molding in the living room is out of place with the rest of the space. I would remove the crown molding and the kitchen valance, paint the walls a light gray green and replace the silver blue grays with green grays in the living room. I would either replace the entire dining set with something more contemporary or paint the white base a dark green gray and get 4 upholstered chairs for around the table. Ditch the entertainment center. It is too dark and massive. A simple tv stand would be better. Now choose a color that you love. Bring that color into the kitchen, dining area and living room with a few pieces. A platter and fruitbowl in the kitchen, some flowers for the center of the table, art, a coffee table book, a vase in the livingroom Add a few throw pillows or a throw. Just enough that the color draws your eye from room to room. When you get new a new coffee table, end tables or ceiling fan, get the same wood as your kitchen cabinets.
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The toilet is strange (being wholly exposed from the side view) in it's original configuration, now it is the same but seen in the mirror, so if you can't rework it I would just add a pony wall to hide it. That is an assumption based on you won't be buying a $2400 toilet to be used as an art piece. The new beams is just be cognizant of the sizes, as you don't want to go deeper than an 11 7/8" or probably would not want to widen the Dining wall if you need a (2+) plies. As far as "at least," I'm not a big fan of enclosing the view and constricting the arrival point of the entry caused by the shifted Powder Room. Nor of the W/D being viewed directly across the house (pocket doors are usually left open most of the time because they are a hassle). Also, I'm not sure how big a Dining table you need, but you have 12'x9', and have created a circulation of 3' between the table (closer to 5'-6' actual clear) to get out the new swing door. Having that separate swing door and it's circulation reduces your Kitchen counter/cab space (as opposed to using a slider, which matches the Living slider, behind the table within the 12' room length). And your island probably doesn't need a prep sink, as it is a small kitchen and the main sink is right there. None of these are make it or break it things, the layout you show will do if you're fine with it.
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"beam is "hidden" above everything, above the ceiling" You should verify this with the architect. It is drawn as a soffit (called "hidden" lines in CAD speak) the width of a beam. If so, the soffit would delineate a space below it and IMO breaks up the whole concept. In the case of a soffit, I would slide the ref over to put the "kiosk" in line with this soffit, put a coffee station/buffet on the back side for the Dining, adjust the pantry with wing walls, and reduce the island size. Otherwise, if the orientation of the roof allows a flush beam up in the attic, it would be shown in a different drawing convention with a single line down the middle of the beam only (called "center" line in CAD speak). If this is the case of a flush beam, then it would not even need to be shown on this particular drawing at all. Construction documents yes, but not a furniture-level sketch for you to review. I peeked at your older thread regarding the whole house remodel. I am not 100% sure of your roof layout, but it appears you will also need a beam that cuts right through your Living Room where the existing back wall of the house is located. If so, same situation as the Kitchen beam - is it flush or soffit?
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Design Fan
7 months ago
Have you considered having the garage open into the foyer area/dining room rather than into the kitchen? The area to the right of the front door could be a closet /mini mudroom. Alternatively, if you create a desk area as shown, consider a desk surface/set up that allows that area to also function as a buffer/server when using the dining room. Is there room for a window over the desk to let more light into the dining area?

The proposed half wall between the living room and dining table seems to block the foyer/walkway flow a bit and make the dining room too narrow. There doesn’t appear to be enough space to separate the dining room as you suggest.

If the garage opens into the foyer/dining room, you can eliminate the door from the garage into the kitchen. This allows you to utilize the whole back wall. The bar area would be better situated nearer to the dining/living rooms where you are showing the refrigerator/pantry or where the laundry/shelving is shown (if you can relocate the laundry). Is there room for a stackable washer/dryer in the primary bedroom/bath?

You can eliminate the french doors in the kitchen opening to get rid of the door swing. Or consider french pocket doors if there’s room in the walls for the door hanging hardware.

Kitchen/dining/living/laundry flow struggles

Comments (3)

Patricia Colwell Consulting

C M
Original Author

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Kitchen/dining/living/laundry flow struggles

Comments (3)

Patricia Colwell Consulting

C MOriginal Author

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Design Fan

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C M
Original Author