Tiny kitchen design
Please help, been trolling and reading and drawing for weeks!! Kitchen guy and gc just say what do you want.....so tiny 500 sf cottage, short wall 6 5, then back wall(current sink) is 7", long wall is 10'. gutting kitchen and bath because it's so destroyed. Daughter and sil moving in and my hubby and I may downsize here in a few years so I need to optimize counter space and storage. I've been lurking here for weeks and have gotten some great education and ideas. Problem is I'm also doing an adu in our basement and taking care of my mom with dementia so everytime I think I've got it down I feel there are options that would be better. So here are our 3 choices. 1. keep it as an L but I feel there's not enough counter/prep and when I lived here it was awful. 2. Make it a U to add counter space but then have to deal with 2 corners. Three, make a galley (this idea came to us to make the window at the end . I figured 3 would give me the best of all worlds but I keep waffling. I know 36" isn't a lot of walkway but have seen some really efficient kitchens in here. I can't send a picture of a u plan because everytime I try to figure out corners I end up crying.....also any other suggestions really appreciated!! I really need people to bounce these ideas around!!
Comments (6)
last month
last monthlast modified: last monthI find the first option with no counter under the window very appealing. It’s difficult to clean a window when you have to reach over a counter. And as you mentioned, the corner cabinets are difficult to access. I like the way open shelving has been used in this galley kitchen. It gives a more spacious feel, and everything is so easy to access.
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Comments (14)Bummer about the tree but perhaps it's a good thing in the long run. I'm a silver lining kinda gal. =) I'm not a huge fan of seeing so much of the kitchen from the front door. I'd rather see the dining room so I came up with this proposal for you: I moved the patio door closer to the front of the house. Is this where you come in from the car, carrying groceries to the kitchen? If so, I figured you'd want to keep it. But if you can eliminate it, using the front or slider you're proposing to install, let us know. Given your small kitchen, I think you should get front load, stacking washer and dryer and have them face into the kitchen. They would fit with a little room to spare against the closet wall. Machines are 27" wide and need an inch of clearance between machine and wall. I removed the door and bit of wall between kitchen and pantry closet, opting for either open pantry shelving or shallow cabs. One less door in the area is a good thing, IMO. Open shelving can be industrial or attractive like this (left side): If you opt for open shelving but don't want to see what's on the shelves, you can partition the space with drapes like this: You could even add a rod and drapes between machine side and pantry area. You'll want to keep the drapes open when you're doing laundry, especially when you're using the dryer to help dissipate any heat build-up. Adding a vent fan above the W/D would also help with that. I added a window where the door was to bring more light into the kitchen. You'll need to do some siding repair to the exterior. Hopefully that's doable. A good contractor should be able to remove siding, move the door and weave the siding back together so that the change isn't noticeable. Moving the door down gives a nice long stretch of wall for a 36" w, CD (counter depth) fridge, 30" range and plenty of storage. I added a MW drawer in this run but you could also do a MW on a shelf below the counter like this: Store cutting boards, cookies sheets, etc above the fridge like this: I eliminated the short wall where the fridge currently is to allow room for a long peninsula with enough room for sink, DW and drawer storage. I recommend a single bowl sink with an offset drain so that you have room below the sink for pull-out trash. Here's my trash pull-out under my sink (love it!): There is NO peninsula seating. You just don't have enough room for back to back seating (60" aisle recommended). Instead I added shallow storage to the backside, perfect depth for cans and many boxed food items. It also gives you a little deeper peninsula/splash zone behind the sink. To make the best use of the DR area, I created a banquette with additional storage at each end of the bench and under the bench like this: And this: If you need room for the DR light switch, you can add the switch to the cab side like this (left side of photo): Oops, one thing I meant to add but forgot to draw in was a drop zone for keys, mail, etc in the stud space in the LR wall by the patio door, something like this (but shallower): HTH!...See MorePlease improve my tiny kitchen design!
Comments (11)blondelle, That's a neat idea. We hate how dark and claustrophobic the bar area feels, so we had assumed that an open, L-shaped kitchenette design would feel more inviting and spacious for guests. But maybe we should be considering a U, and/or a small range. My mom wouldn't use a stove when she visits (her stove and oven days are over!), but my sister's family would use a stove. Also, I feel like the glass cabinets make the space feel less claustrophobic, given the low ceiling and how small it is. But you're right that we'd be able to store more stuff in normal cabinets. We won't need a lot of stuff in the kitchenette (mainly dishes/glasses), but our main-level kitchen is fairly small, so we'll also be using any extra storage space for things like our holiday platters/china. jmm1837, That's a great thought, but I believe we'd get use out of the full-size fridge. Our main-level fridge is often quite full, so we'd love to store extra drinks in a full-size fridge downstairs, which would be great for entertaining. And my sister's whole family is always on a special diet, due to the kids' food allergies, so they definitely would love to have a full-size fridge for their own use when they come to stay with us. (They just spent a week with us, and it was a nightmare juggling all their groceries, and our own, in our jam-packed main-level fridge.)...See MoreRelated Professionals
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Thank you! Yes I do understand the gc needs me to do it but I guess I was hoping the cab guy would of been more helpful....any who here is amateur drawing if whole place....can't change anything really except to move the sink to short wall to make a u or galley. We did consider changing the window to a door and making the run 13' instead of 10, then putting a future peninsula in. but considering the cost, not really liking the flow through the kitchen and realizing that even the 4" the fridge would stick out at the other end if the run rifht by the door, wouldnt work. Heres a pix of the whole place and an alternate galley i keep thinking about. Id really a love a long run of counter in the u but really only 36" would be usable. Or maybe I should leave as is and try to add a 24" shallow pantry on small wall as in original layout. Am I thinking correctly a galley would offer more usable space and not feel as cramped? I'd live to sleep b4 4 am tonight. I've got to get a final plan by tues.....long story..... thank you so much!
PRO28 days agoWhile the galley set up seems like it would be best, your math is slightly off. Your countertops are about 25 1/2" deep so the walk space would not be 36" - it would be more like 33. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have.
What if you extended a section at the end?
- 27 days ago
Debbi, thank you so much!! I did ask about something like this but We've been told it's too much to move the plumbing to the outside wall and the only place to put any kind of table is where that great island is. Kids still want to plow ahead with galley idea, I'm so overwhelmed with every else right now think that's the way we'll go....really hope it's not a bad decision!!
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