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prospect711

Please comment on draft kitchen layout

15 years ago

We are in the planning stage for a full kitchen remodel. House is 1973 brick ranch, 1200 sq ft. Existing kitchen has a peninsula. We have been talking with several kitchen designers. So far, everyone thinks we should go with an island. We would like to have a small breakfast bar with room for two seats(there are only two of us - no kids). It is an eat-in kitchen - there is no other dining room. Room is about 21'3" by 12'2".

A fairly detailed drawing of prospective layout is located at: http://69.195.92.74/Remodel/KitchenDrawingisland.htm. This is a working draft based on input from several KDS.

The dimension on the DW is wrong - it is 3" too short. There is an antique hutch that stays - it is a family heirloom. It doesn't fit anywhere else. We may keep the existing fridge but will definitely be replacing other appliances. We are going with a slide-in gas range.

Please let me know what you think!

Comments (9)

  • 15 years ago

    It might help if I put in the link.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Island Layout

  • 15 years ago

    I don't feel like your cooktop has enough workspace to the sides, especially that 9 inch side. If you are willing to move plumbing, you should be able to get the stove into a longer counter run on the L somewhere else. Also, how are you venting? Is there a particular wall that the range would need to be on to make that easier?

  • 15 years ago

    You'll get more comments with the pictures inside the thread.

    Here is a link that might be useful: How to post pictures

  • 15 years ago

    Here's the photo:

  • 15 years ago

    Can the range go on that left wall, and the fridge near the door/table? I agree that's not much landing space for the range, and the range eats up half the island, leaving little workspace.

  • 15 years ago

    I assume the thicker walls indicate exterior walls. That door swing at the top of the photo is a problem--intrudes into the whole design. Is that a sliding door right next to it or a window? If a door, could the two doorways be consolidated? Otherwise, could the atrium door be changed into a different door that does not intrude?

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks for the comments! I'm sure the layout will change a few more times. The door at the top is a swinging French door that goes to the patio outside. We will be replacing that door with something. I am reluctant to go to a sliding door because I have three dogs that go in and out through that door. Next to it is a window. The table is positioned under the other window. The open doorway at the upper left goes into a hallway. There is a small pantry in that hallway. The open doorway at the bottom goes to the living room.

    Next to the living room door is the antique heirloom cherry hutch. It can't go anywhere else because it doesn't fit. So I think the fridge pretty much has to stay where it is next to the hallway. Range is currently located right next to the fridge on that left wall which is not good. I don't think there is enough room on that wall to have landing zones for stove and fringe. We are definitely going to put a vent hood on the new range.

    We are thinking that the breakfast bar may not make sense for our little eat-in kitchen. On the other hand, my dad has a breakfast bar in his (much larger) kitchen and we use it a lot every time we visit.

    We have also considered a peninsula layout but it seems that there is a lot of space taken up in corners. Looks like we get more usable space with the island (just my opinion).

  • 15 years ago

    Re: the door to the patio. We have the same door that you currently have, and the in-swing takes up needed room. With our kitchen renovation, we are changing that out to an "outswing" patio door (basically, the same "french door" look, but with one fixed side, and the other swinging out.) That might be an option for you.

    We had originally planned for a sliding door, but I've always been a little nervous about sliders because they're easier to break into. The final decision was made when we realized that, when replacing patio doors with a slider, you lose some width in the opening (equivalent to the frame where the handle of the slider would be.)

    We also considered a peninsula, but felt that it "chopped" the room too much for our needs, so we stuck with the island layout.

    I also agree that the range takes up a lot of room on that island. We have similar dimensions in our kitchen (different doorways, and wider, so we have an additional cabinet wall where your patio door is) and are also limited to a smaller island. I think you'll enjoy your island much more if it's an open expanse of work space rather than a cooktop with small runs of counter around it. (Plus, getting it off the island means that you can avoid venting from the ceiling, which is (to my understanding) often a pricey endeavor.

  • 15 years ago

    Could the range go on the same wall as the sink? I think that could give you a more logical work flow, better prep space, and also, of course, it would make it easier and cheaper to vent the range.

    Speaking of the sink, a lot of people here have commented in various threads that unless you wash all your dishes by hand, a single-bowl sink is a lot more useful than a double-bowl sink. I agree, having lived with both. If you went with, say, a 25" or 27" single-bowl sink (which is LARGE--it's a lot of sink space to have; compare it to the dinky 14"-15" bowls you'd get on a 33" double-bowl)... anyway, with a 25" or 27" single-bowl, you would have a lot more room on that sink wall to put your range. And that would create a very logical work flow: food comes out of fridge, goes to sink if it needs to be washed (and to counter between sink and range if it doesn't), then on to the range to be cooked.

    If you have guests and want to talk with them while you cook, then food would be prepped on the island--for most people the prepping part takes longer than the actual cooking part, in the sense that you don't just stand there facing the range for half an hour. A lot of cooking time is just "leaving the food on the stove" time--you don't have to stand there watching pasta boil, for example--so it can be more sociable to have your prep space facing or beside guests than to have your range facing or beside them.

    So this layout would give you a lot more prep space on the island, as well as a more logical workflow. If this idea intrigues you, you would probably want to put the DW on the fridge wall (or if you have a basement so the plumbing is easy, maybe even in the island). Putting it on the fridge wall would mean moving that trash drawer and the cabinet beside it, but the trash drawer would be more useful if it were closer to the sink and/or range anyway. (Basically, trash is more useful the closer it is to where you prep or where you clean up.) And the cabinet beside it could go into the island.