This drawing is not to scale. The bathroom is only 5 feet wide at the tub, but the measurements are accurate.

Hi, AR Kiki. Is this your only dining area? If not, how much do you use this one and how many of you are there?

What's on the other side of the top wall? There are no windows in that wall, but it's not an exterior wall, is it. That would make your natural light only from the right?

Are you on a basement or crawl space, or slab?

How about reduce tub to compact shower stall and place entry to the bath from game room and place laundry in that area......mark out an alcove in corner of game room in other words for closeted laundry and a more compact bath. With windows on right side of kitchen looks like the area to design a better kitchen.Secondly-how integral is this eating zone-are there other eating spots in the home? In other words....what do you envision..what do you like/dislike currently....it is a big interruption in your kitchen space to have entry to bath and laundry in the middle of things.....but those "things" are good things..need to relocate/or change the approach, I think. Funny you don't describe a strong feeling about it..do you think leave as is but put a corridor kitchen where pathways are delineated and getting to bath or laundry is out of the working kitchen area kitchen somehow? maybe open up wall to game area and spread kitchen that way....just would like to hear your perceptions of the space currently.It's you and your day to day life/satisfaction with all this that matters.

I think a lot of the questions being asked could be answered if we have a layout of the entire first floor (or whatever floor the kitchen is on). It doesn't have to be a measured layout, just a sketch of how all the rooms fit together and the flow among/through them.

In addition, if you could tell us a bit more about you and your family and your goals for your kitchen, it would also help. Please check out the "Read Me" thread for more information (see link below). Scroll down to the "Layout Help" topic.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: New To Kitchens? Posting Pics? Read Me!

Do you have a separate DR? Or, is this the only table seating in your house?

This is what I came up with based on your narrative + documented dimensions (without the 2' pantry next to the fireplace). It's not exactly the same shape... You did say your drawing was not to-scale. This one is.

Note: The dotted lines/red text are dimensions I'm guessing at based on the other dimensions...are they correct?

How wide is the "WH" room? I had nothing to go on to figure it out.

Click on the picture to see it bigger.

About the PR size. Ours is 4'6" x 4'6" and it fits a sink and toilet just fine. Would you be willing to go down to a similar size - say, 4'6" x 5' (to keep part of the existing wall)? Here's a pic of our "before" PR. It has a 24" door.

Here's what it looked like after we installed the new cab, toilet, & mirror but before paint - unfortunately, it's not a full pic like the "before" pic or I would have just posted this one!

Yes, the counter was messed up - one of the many screw ups our granite installer made both here and in the kitchen.

[Edited to correct typo.]

This post was edited by buehl on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 5:26

Something to get discussion going...

Nice lay out buehl.

Thank you all for your ideas. I quickly realized that I needed a better representation of what I already have - so I quickly came up with this. I hope this is better. The WH closet is 2' across.

Dining Area- This is the only dining area in the house and we use it often On the new drawing posted here, you can see that the old kitchen had a 36" top on the peninsula and we also seat people there at times. We are empty nesters now, so not every day, but we also entertain quite often, and use both the table and peninsula for service areas, too.

Game Room - I tried to show on the left of the drawing the cabinets and sink in the game area. I would love to access the 1/2 bath through the game room, I just think it's not really feasible for us since it involves removing the wet area in that room as well.

Laundry Room - I used to love the laundry room. I had 24 x 15 deep x 48 tall laundry cabinets that held 6 sorting baskets in 3 different sizes. On top of that was an identical set of cabinets that we used as a food pantry. Next to them was a one foot open shelf unit that held laundry soaps, etc. for easy use. An additional wall cabinet next to the window held cleaning supplies, bug spray, etc. Also in front of the washer I had a 18" double stack drawer unit that we used to store tools, etc. It was crowded in there, but it was extremely functional, served a lot of purposes, and always looked neat and clean. When I bought the new front loading washer and dryer in April of this year, it all went to pot. The doors collide. These are thinner so things fall between them. They stick out further from the wall. They're deeper and I'm short. I can't really reach the back to get things out. I'd like to raise them a couple of feet off the floor. I did not buy the pedestals.

buehl - I think your 1/2 bath looks exactly like something we could do and that pantry is fantastic. I had not thought about not using all the walls in the kitchen for cabinets. We have ssoooo much stuff that we'd really like to keep. We do not need the bathing facilities in the kitchen area, but want to keep the 1/2 bath there. It keeps guests in the game room in the front part of the house, which I really like.

I have thought of:

putting the 1/2 bath where the WH and toilet are now and making the current bathroom area a laundry room.

making the WH/toilet area a pantry and putting the washer/dryer in the 1/2 bath where the tub is now. The washer/dryer will stack so I could stack them and keep the sorting baskets beside them or maybe even use part of them underneath to raise the washer and dryer?

Making the entire area one larger space with maybe the toilet in the corner and the rest just designed as a laundry?
We could install a sink for hand washing?? It seems odd, but the guests are friends, they are people who know us, not acquaintances or business colleagues.

just leaving the walls as they are and stacking the washer and dryer and adding...

The rectangle on top the peninsula represents the overhang on the old countertop. The surface was 36" wide on top of 18" depth base cabinets.

The house in not on a slab.

How handy are you? Are you doing any of this DIY?

Is the basement below the Game Room and Kitchen finished? If so, what type of ceiling do you have in that area? Permanent/drywall? Removable panels? Other?

If the basement is not finished below the Game Room and/or Kitchen or the ceiling consists of removable panels, then moving plumbing around really isn't that difficult and is usually relatively inexpensive.

• Game Room

"...I would love to access the 1/2 bath through the game room, I just think it's not really feasible for us since it involves removing the wet area in that room as well. ..."

• Would you want doors in both places or just to the Game Room?

• Do you need water in the Game Room? If you can, are you willing to move the sink and modify the cabinet run in the Game Room?

Walls of cabinets, Pantry, Storage, etc.
"...I had not thought about not using all the walls in the kitchen for cabinets. We have ssoooo much stuff that we'd really like to keep...."

Looking at your current Kitchen layout - it is very cramped. I would definitely recommend opening it up. That's what the layout I posted does - opens your kitchen up and will make it look and feel much bigger. If you look closely...

• The "top" corner in your current layout is now much more accessible (no corner) and has far less wasted space.

• With that 2' pantry gone and the wall, you've gained over 24" of cabinet storage here (24" base + 21" upper).

• The island adds another 42" of 24" deep base cabinet space + 42" of either 12" or 15" deep cabinets.

• The pantry is much, much bigger than your old pantry and the contents are far more accessible.

• I think you will find that you have more storage space w/this layout than your existing!

Storage

"...I would like to have a framed shallow pantry..."

• The pantry I included is a framed shallow pantry.

• The pantry I showed will hold a lot! It's floor-to-ceiling shelved. If you need some deeper shelves, make the shelves on the ends 15" to 18" - whatever you need. The sliding doors I show are two 36" doors. If you need the deeper shelves, they could be 30" or 32" wide doors.

• There are also the 12" deep shelves on the back of the island. The island could be up to 3" deeper, leaving you with a 33" aisle behind the island. There are no cabinets, etc. on that side nor is there seating, so 33" would be fine. Most doorways are 32" wide, including the door. Just use 15" deep cabinets instead of 12" deep. That would give you an island that's 42" deep.

Laundry Room

• Perhaps all you need to do is re-arrange it and put in different cabinets etc. If you need a little bit more room, you could steal it from the 102" wide pantry. Maybe a couple of feet...

• A layout would need to be worked on to see if it would work.

• You could always use base cabs for storage and then add an inexpensive laminate counter for a folding surface.

"...I'd like to raise them a couple of feet off the floor. I did not buy the...