Will be interesting to see how this works out. Do you have a family room too? Or is this your only seating?

BTW, we just got a new leather sectional that is close to the same colour 'anthracite'.

Not quite what I was expecting when you said 'grape vine'- was thinking something like the wreaths are made of! LOL!

I can personally attest to how wonderfully this works. And my DH can tell you 1st hand how comfy the sectional is for after meal snoozes. The juxtaposition of the seating area to the kitchen is just perfect...not too close and yet it is great because as cat_mom says you can have conversations without being underfoot. Puuuurrrrrfect ! c

Now that is a beautiful coffee table! Congrats on a smart solution! A real cure for the "here's our LR which nobody ever uses" syndrome.

It'll work out well for us, we think. Of course, it would have been nice to have a full-sized family room off the kitchen (which we would have had, had we done an addition as we'd once hoped), but we had to work with the space we had.

We do have a family room downstairs that we plan to clear out and furnish (sometime after the bathrooms are finished), so we'll have a place for more people to hang and/or watch TV eventually.

BTW, the couch is black leather, just not a real black-black (and for some reason, that photo came out a bit grainy, which contributes to its lighter appearance).

Thanks for the trailrunner seal of approval Caroline!!!!

Oh that's nice. I love that painting above the couch and the lines in the table compliment it nicely.

fresh.....:)

Hey cat_mom long time no speak.

In case you don't remember I was the guy sitting net to you at the Wolf/Subzero showroom dinner.
If I remember correctly you have a bi-level or a split right? Your layout is pretty similar to mine. I am especially interested in the kitchen space from the window wall to the wall behind the cabinets on the opposite wall. How much space do you have in the isles around the island?

I love, love, love how you used the space, cat_mom, and think it will be just great for parties, or for you to sit and have a cup of coffee. I'm not surprised that the table was expensive-- must be hard to level a natural material like that and still have it look right.

Thanks for sharing your great solution, I'm sure your "thinking out of the box" will help others.

Hey Catmom, I LOVE what you did with the seating area off of the kitchen. It makes perfect, perfect sense. That grapevine coffee table is so unique and a nice rustic element to counterbalance your modern kitchen with the glass tiles. "Fresh" is the right word to describe it.

I also love the idea of having comfy seating very close in proximity to the kitchen for after-meal or prep-time lounging. I think there's nothing more luxurious than having that, similar to having a cushy bench in a master bath. I wish I could fit a comfy settee in my kitchen...but the family room is just off the kitchen and it has a comfy sectional. I'll work a settee or banquette in there someday...

Oh, and I wanted to request whether you can post another photo that shows the kitchen and living room all in one shot? I (and I'm sure others) would love to see the entire perspective.

Thanks jkmom51 and morton5--I know I'd read a thread a few months back about seating/couches in the kitchen (after we'd planned our flip-flop and were either awaiting our couch's delivery or had it, but no cocktail table)--figured a picture would be helpful to those contemplating the same sort of thing.

With our Christmas tree and menorah lit up this past week (equal-holiday observance household here! :-)), it's been really nice just sitting there in the evening, basking in the glow of our holiday lighting.

pbrisjar--the painting is actual a felt(ed wool) wall hanging. It was a birthday gift from my very dear DH this past spring. While we've only had it for less than a year, it's actually one of the artist's older pieces (her works are very different now, so we feel doubly lucky to have found and been able to get this one--I'd fallen in love with her stuff years ago).

BTW, the jewel-toned pillows are actually knitted pieces (by my mom!) that I sewed onto pillows I purchased in Crate and Barrel.

todds--Yes, we both remember you! Did you end up purchasing any Wolf and/or SZ appliances? If I recall, you were having your cabinets custom made? I might need to get a name/number from you....

Good memory re: our house; we are in a bi-level. Our kitchen measures roughly 13' X 13'. The aisle between the window wall and the island measures 42" counter to counter, and the aisle between the pantry wall and the island measures 36" counter to counter (island top to msg center top). We deliberately biased the spacing the way we did, in order to allow plenty of room to walk between the opened DW door and the island.

trailrunner--no fresher than you are...LOL

Hey red--must've posted at the same time!

Thanks for your kind words as well! We weren't going for rustic so much as a funky yet nature sort of look! We are heavily wooded in back, and in the summer I cover the deck with plants and flowers, so it just seemed like a good fit for us when we saw the SierrArts website--that, and the amount of wine we tend to consume! Grapevines, wine drinkers, a perfect match....!

We don't have any pictures of the entire space as yet (table base and glass top only arrived here last week), but we'll try to take one as soon as we can--not sure if the Christmas tree is sitting in the best spot to snap such a photo. If I forget, email me a reminder after the holidays are over and the tree is down.

Well we are looking to do the kitchen and our whole first floor remodel this summer. Just posted the other day the floor plan layouts. I do have the name of a custom cabinet guy but I have not dealt with him yet. So I can't recommend or not. Good memory yourself. You got an extra 1.5' on me. I was wondering how you fit the cabinets and Island. Damn :).

Cool idea on the LR. We are redoing this whole floor at once so trying to figure this out ourselves.

Our island is ~30" across (island granite is 33" across). The sink wall cabs are standard 24" depth + granite overhang. Along the pantry wall, the pantries and the message center drawers are 18" deep (could've gotten by with 16" or even 15" deep if it had been necessary). Also, if the DW had not been located where it is, we could've done a narrower aisle on that side of the island had that been necessary as well.

Does that help at all?

I think you made a very intelligent decision, but then we are in the process of doing the same thing so I guess we're a little biased. Our new house is a townhouse in the city - long and narrow - and the kitchen was a horrible little room at the front with no room for anything.

We are turning the entire first floor into kitchen / dining / living / entertaining space. We have a den and an office upstairs where we spend a lot of time, hence the main floor living room, which was the nicest space in the house, really deserved to become the kitchen because that is where we and our guests like to congregate.

catmom that is a really cool way to use the space at the end of the kitchen.
I too toyed with the idea of a sitting area at the end of the island, but it
would throw my dining area into a very open area.
Yours seems to work perfectly!
vic

I really like that! Good job!

Catmom, it looks great! We were in a home on a remodeler's tour where the owners had chosen the same use of space as you. I remember commenting to DH that the space was well suited for how many of us live today. Did you end up with any sz/wolf products? We too did the showroom dinner thing.

Glad to see this space is working out for you. I was originally thinking of making our family room(open to kitchen) the eating area, but have lately been thinking of making the DR the only eating space(maybe it will get used) and keeping the family room as a seating area. Thinking it's much nicer to relax on a couch and talk to people in the kitchen rather than sitting at a table.

Our DR is now in the open space that had been the LR, but that will work out fine for us. Besides gaining enough floor/wall space for furniture, we gained the seating area "in" the kitchen, and a bonus--we moved the (eventual) DR table and chairs away from the opened up part of the kitchen.

The one thing I didn't love about opening up that wall between the kitchen and the DR (first photo above) during the reno, was the fact that I'd end up in full view of everyone sitting at the table while I'm dishing up the food or whatever. I enjoy talking and visiting with our friends during last minute preparations, but for serving the meal, I've always liked having my kitchen to myself. With this new set-up, I'll have all that.

owls4me--we have a Wolf range. We'd gotten it prior to the showroom dinner, but it was neat seeing the different appliances being put through their paces (and the food and wine were pretty good, too!).