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Need Help With Designing Tiny Old Kitchen & Laundry

9 years ago

Hi All,

One day after moving into my grandparents home (which we now own) a tree fell on the house! It is a 1953 ranch in East Texas. The positive side to this is now the home will get 2016 electrical. It will also allow me to make some updates to the interior, including the kitchen. The bad news is that it has a TINY kitchen with an adjoining laundry and I have to use the existing footprint. Unfortunately, I need to have layout decided by Monday morning (thanks to my GC ugh) so that the electrician can wire.

I would like to somehow make it more functional and have more storage. I would love to move the fridge, but cant figure out how to accomplish that in this space. I had the old wall between the dining and kitchen removed and planned to put an open counter there instead, since the old kitchen only had counter on each side of the sink. At least that would allow some prep area. Basically, its a clean slate! I am open to any and all ideas. I can have an interior walls added, and MAY be able to remove certain ones, but I cannot expand exterior walls. I need help with cabinet size & placement...appliance layout...lighting...everything! I have attached a basic layout with dimensions. The ceilings are 8'. I had just bought a brand new 30" gas range, so I do need to use that. Thanks in advance!!!




Comments (14)

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Can you move exterior doors? Can you change windows?

    Would you be wiling to move the Kitchen? E.g., switch the DR & Kitchen? Move the Laundry Room to the "Pantry" and "LR Closet"?



  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This might be more than you want--a large kitchen with the dining table in the center. The fridge alcove has been eliminated, and the fridge moved to the left wall, beside a more convenient pantry. I recessed it into the wall to add a few inches to the aisle. There is a prep/cooking side, with a separate clean-up zone. Two small cabinets have been added for mudroom/storage, and the patio door swing is switched.

    The downside is that the larger window stays:

    ETA, you could also put a door where the smaller window is:


  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Or, if you cannot move all those walls or make such drastic changes, how about something like this? (The window would be a major change, so the 24" upper above the DW might not be possible...)

    .

    Zone Map:

  • 9 years ago

    Thank you so much buehl & mama goose for your thoughts and renderings! I am not opposed to changing the back door (have considered it) and we are replacing the windows so we can change those. I'm intrigued by flipping dining and kitchen...just not sure how it would feel looking into kitchen from living room with no counter or separation. I'll have to render it with camera views to imagine it. But it did also get me thinking...what do you think about putting kitchen where living room is? With a partial wall coming from front door about halfway the length of kitchen? And then LR in dining area and dining in kitchen?

  • 9 years ago

    then you'd have to walk from the kit thru the LR to get to the DR?

    would that work for you?

  • 9 years ago

    Well if you are willing to consider radical changes....Does the front door make sense in its current location? Would you be better off turning the laundry into more of a foyer mudroom? Which side has the best views?

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So, what walls can be changed? If all, I would take a step back and think about the entire space and what you want to do with it.

    But, you mentioned you have to make all changes - or at least have them planned - by Monday.

  • PRO
    9 years ago

    What is your lifestyle? Do you spend a lot of time in the kitchen?

    For me, I preferred a small kitchen that I could not (did not want to) see from the living room. I like my living room more quiet, tranquil, and relaxing than the kitchen.

    How much do you like/love open concept? While many like it, I regret removing the wall between my LR and DR.

  • 9 years ago

    do you need the"door to patio"?.... esp if you put a patio door in the back wall? I would cut a passage to right of dryer...so upon entry thru front door you have a cut to kitchen area...as well can pass straight thru from bedroom hall. Just get rid of "door to patio"...then build a long one wall kitchen along the right wall. I agree---- the open and long feel of the great room/dining with slider is something to keep that way. If washer dryer has to stay there, stack it...I'd put it in basement however. If you still need a small door to patio, get it out of the middle of that wall-place at one end or the other, so you can work with that wall better..

  • 9 years ago

    You know, your living room is on the small side. Do you really want most of your living space devoted to kitchen/dining? I would prefer more living vs. cooking, but you may feel differently.

    In any case, moving the patio door down closer to the pantry closet will give you more options.

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    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):

    Family Home in The Ramble · More Info

    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:

    Northside Chicago · More Info

    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:

    Traditional Kitchen · More Info

    Store cutting boards, cookies sheets, etc above the fridge like this:

    Shaker Cherry Kitchen · More Info

    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:

    Traditional Kitchen · More Info

    And this:

    Bluebell, PA traditional · More Info

    If you need room for the DR light switch, you can add the switch to the cab side like this (left side of photo):

    Crisp Architects · More Info

    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):

    Hollywood Bungalow · More Info

    HTH!

  • 9 years ago

    Lisa A very nice!

  • 9 years ago

    Here's another idea. I'm not too clear about your interior dimensions since some of your measurements include walls, some don't. This roughly what I come with.

    I moved stacked w/D to your current pantry, shortened the wall b/w the LR and your current laundry/entry and have pantry closets on that wall. Also moved the Patio door.

    As to kitchen, I'm not sure how much you have on the right side of the window/slider, so sink can be 27 or 30", void corner (24+3 fillers) and after the corner I have 36" drawers, range and 30" drawers. MWison the DR side next to the slider. The island on casters can be 42-48" wide and 24" deep.