So weird... my photo was there on preview, now is gone. Let me try again.

Here is the actual house plan, showing the kitchen as it relates to the breakfast room and family room. Thought it might help...

Can you post something with measurements? I'm having trouble reconciling your 3-d schematic with the actual house plan posted. For eg - on your house plan there is a long run of cabinets along the left wall but I don't see that on the 3-d rendering. Thanks. I'm assuming the 3-d is your latest plan - it's different than the actual house plan.

The fridge is in a different place between the two images that you posted, correct? Is the final choice in the first picture? Did anyone on the other forum say why they thought you should move the fridge?

Anyone? I wish I had posted here earlier in the day. I just thought new construction kitchens should be posted in the building forum. Wish I had known to post here sooner...

Oh, yay - thanks for replying! The CAD rendering is the latest plan. I didn't like the idea of the fridge being behind the island, being so large. Also, changed the L-shaped island to a double-depth rectangular island since the L-shape looked a little awkward to me. (Our house plan is very traditional, and we are pretty traditional in our furnishings, etc.) On the bldg forum everyone pretty much said I needed more counter/work space and that desks were no longer in style and simply gathered clutter. Thus, they suggested scrapping the desk and moving the large fridge over to where the desk is shown. Hope that helps some! Thanks again for taking the time to help me! :)

blfenton, yes, you're correct. The long run of cabinets is where the fridge is shown on the latest computer drawing of the kitchen layout. Didn't mean to make it difficult to understand, showing both plans. People on bldg forum asked to see the actual plan, also, to help them understand where everything is in relation to the kitchen. I'm open to any and all suggestions! :)

What are your dimensions on the 3d space you posted?

Autumn4, all I know is that the kitchen is 14' x 15', per our house plans. Does that help?

Will you really use the desk? I'd move the fridge there in a heartbeat! We have a jenn-air built in 48" fridge/freezer and we love it. I'd never give it up, either!

skatiero, although I really wanted the desk, I do like the idea of the fridge being over there. I just talked to my husband (who really loved the desk!) about moving the fridge there, and I think he's game for that! It would free up so much of my counter space! :)

I am having difficulty reconciling the kitchen drawing and the house plan. The layout with the house plan is better than the kitchen layout. The islands are different. I agree about keeping the frig/freezer combo. The desk may not be i. Style, but if it works for you incorporate it.

Any further information you can provide will be beneficial. Thef orums each have their specialty areas. The building forum typically does not get into layout details of the bathroom or kitchen. Both of these forums are excellent and there are well-informed people on both.

motherof3sons, I know the orientation of each photo above is different, but basically the only changes we've made from the house plan is making the island a full rectangular island rather than the L-shaped one, and then swapping the locations of the fridge and wall ovens. One thing that might help envision it better is that the kitchen layout photo is positioned as if you were looking at it from the breakfast room. In other words, you'd have to turn the house plan upside down to see the kitchen at this same angle. (Clear as mud?? ;) Each picture just shows a different view of the kitchen... Sorry it's not easy to follow -- these are just the only things I have to post! Yes, I love the forums here. Many helpful people have gotten me through a kitchen renovation, a pool build, and now this new house build. I love Gardenweb! :)

Any more suggestions? Would love any ideas from you guys before I head to my meeting with the cabinet builder. Thanks so much!

I can only say what I'd like best...

I'd put the fridge where the desk is (I had to do this in our kitchen, and put the desk elsewhere... no regrets), then put the main sink, dishwasher, and dish storage on the wall where the fridge is in the 3D plan. I'd put a prep sink in the island, leaving yourself a nice expansive prep area, facing out toward family room. Food in the prep sink and dirty dishes in the clean up sink. I have that now, and wouldn't ever want to go back!

I would also change the corner cabinet from a diagonal front to a 90-degree front for 2 advantages: A cleaner, more updated look with better accessibility to the storage.

I'm having a hard time reconciling those two layouts that you've posted. They just don't look like they are the same dimensions. Specifically that run in the first layout with the fridge just looks shorter than the same run in the second showing the double ovens swaped with the fridge. Maybe it's just an illusion . . . I think you'd be wise to get specific dimensions of your space showing the length of each run, island dimensions and proposed aisle widths. Much easier to give you advise with that kind of information.

I definitely like the layout in your house plans better. I'd rather see your sink and DW move to the perimeter to the left of the DOs to get them off the island. Then place a prep sink in the island. That would turn your island into your primary prep space and your cleanup zone wouldn't be such a focal point.

As far as the desk goes, I agree they tend to be clutter zones. You may want to check out a2gemini's kitchen and "caves" (her term for her "desk" area). I think she has a great plan for making a "desk" area look attractive and function without having to put up with visual clutter that an open desk area invites.

I'm not a layout guru (still stewing over ideas for my own upcoming build) but had a second so I added the changes recommended above to your house plan drawing (I'm not so good with 3d). I didn't center the stove and not sure on placement of prep sink but just a quicky to give a visual. You will get great advice here. Here is the pic, I hope it is helpful:

Autumn4, thanks so much for doing that! I appreciate it -- wish I could do that!
Here's the latest design we came up with today at my appt with kitchen designer. Since my huge fridge would not fit in the desk area, this shows a smaller fridge. Hate to lose the fridge space, but I don't seem to have much choice. Not sure what I think about the little doors around the fridge... Anyway, would love to know what you all think about this plan.

And after reading all the responses, tell me more about the corner cabinet being dated? Really..? I didn't know this. So do others of you prefer flat fronts in the corner, than the slanted corner cabinet show above? Truly didn't know 90 degree fronts in a corner were more updated... Both the upper and lower corner cabinet in my plan contain lazy susans.

I weighed in on your original post, and I think you are doing the right thing by moving the fridge to the new location. I did something similar in my kitchen and one of the best decisions I made. (besides the file drawer) It really helps keep some of the traffic out of your way when cooking.

Not sure about the long cabinets next to it, but sure you can make it work. Are they big enough for those pull out pantry shelves?

As far as the corner cabinets, I don't think there is anything "dated" about it. I think the slanted doors are much more accessible. Personal pref I guess.

Its going to be great, I think you will be very happy with this last plan.

southernmum-I'm not sure they are dated but I think rather newer solutions have come about that are a little more user friendly? I have a corner cabinet now and I do not like it, wouldn't repeat it. I can't find anything in that thing unless it's at the very front. Can't reach the back and can't SEE the back (and I'm not short). So I think that is why 90 degree fronts have become more popular.

Ditto Autumn.4.

I had the angled cabinet before, we called it the dark pit. Now I have 90 degree cabinets top and bottom. I can see and access everything easily. My mom has the angled top corner cabinet and hates it even with a lazy susan. Things get shoved in the back and along the sides.

When talking with a KD who suggested the angled cabinet, I asked why? He said to store large platters. That was the only reason he could thing of that someone would want that instead of a 90 degree cabinet.

A couple of thoughts: I very much like moving the refrigerator to where the desk was. I'd swap the door location so that the fridge is at the end of the run by the cooktop. This will: give you landing space by the fridge, give you a longer run by the cooktop, put the fridge closer to the island for prep, and give you more space in the laundry room for either a bigger closet or a longer counter (for folding clothes) or some cubbies if that's also a mudroom. (In your current iteration, that space to the right of the door in the laundry room is unused.)

Also you can add seating to your island in an L shape, so that people seated can talk to each other. (Not sure about dimensions for the breakfast area tho; you'll need to draw in a table to scale and see if the seating at the right side of the island has room.) In my mockup I didn't extend the seating to the top left, as you might use that space for landing space for the ovens on the counter, and tray storage / pot holders etc. below.

Another thought: if you move the prep sink to the right you can have a trash pullout in the island. If it pulls open toward the DW, it will be handy for clean up and also accessible when prepping at the island.

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by chicagoans on Fri, Jan 4, 13 at 10:14

Me again. If you go to the attached thread and go down about halfway to blubird's picture she shows hers open and closed. This looks so much more useful than my corner black whole - I mean cabinet. ;) I am visual so I LOVE looking at pics. GardenWeb is like a candy store to me!

Here is a link that might be useful: blubird 90 degree upper

The only thing I'd change about chicagoans layout is to put the double oven next to the fridge and scoot the cleanup sink further down to get it out of the corner. I really like moving the doorway down to consolidate the wall space in the kitchen. It's much more useful and accessible to do that and also can let you lengthen the island a bit if you wanted to. That could let you do a cozy banquette in the breakfast area, or just do a much bigger island with better seating options and eliminate the breakfast table all together.

Maybe something like this.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I really appreciate it! I think I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I love this forum! :)