3-season porch is already built. We always enter through the garage, so that's where we'd like to add the mud room if possible. Contractor is coming next weekend to look for the first time so maybe he'll have some thoughts. I think our garage is deep enough to add a little mud room and re-do the stairs from the garage into the house.

Here is the second design, without the peninsula. Thanks!

cyc2001's Ideas · More Info

I like the second design without the peninsula better; however, I would give myself a full base corner cabinet rather than have that one cut on the diagonal. What furniture are you planning on putting in the area in front of the French doors? You should post the family room dimensions and what does a mud room mean to you? Is it just a space where people can take off shoes or is there more to it? A lot of people have their washer dryer ( broom closets... dog washing stations...) in the mudroom are you trying to expand your laundry room that way? Perhaps making more of a corridor in front of the current laundry bath area.

Thanks, practigal! Our table and chairs goes in front of the slider to the porch. I want to get a new table/chair set...maybe oval or round instead of the rectangle I have now. For the mudroom, I want a place for coats, boots and backpacks to land (instead of on the love seat in the family room which is by the garage door entrance). I really like your idea about expanding the laundry room with a corridor; that could work. I think there's enough space in the garage to do it. I'll post the family room dimensions in a bit.

Here are some pics...

Kitchen (we're removing the beams)

cyc2001's Ideas · More Info

cyc2001's Ideas · More Info

Looking from kitchen into FR:

cyc2001's Ideas · More Info

Family room dimensions: 13.4 feet by 21 feet

I'm no expert but it seems you're losing valuable vertical space in the shallow pantry area if you have bev. fridge and cabs there. I'd consider keeping the shallow pantry.

I'm not clear about the distance b/w the doors of the pantry to the exterior wall, but if you can move the sink to the peninsula you can have a nice prep space in front of the window and probably get wider cabinets than shown in the layouts you posted.

Something like this maybe?

Are the beams solely decorative? Just removing them patching and repainting is going to cost a fair bit.

On the distance between the peninsula and the cabinets I would check that distance again because it is really important not to have a bottleneck. If the fridge gets moved over to that area-which would make sense if you move the sink to the peninsula you have to be careful about how deep the fridge is and how much space it really needs behind it.

It looks like you could easily create a small corridor with normal mud room bench, shoe and hanging area, with some open shelving for landing smaller items there (and a corridor would probably be preferable for the person using the bathroom anyway, it would feel more private).

On the bi-fold pantry doors, does the interior pantry go all the way up to the ceiling? I had a situation where the top of the doors were 18" lower than the interior ceiling which went all the way to the normal ceiling height and every time I used the top shelf I cracked my head on the door frame. I ended up removing the entire structure so that it was just open and then putting normal cabinets which worked much better.

To maximize your prep area you would do as Sena has drawn and put the sink on the peninsula the prep area would be under the window and the stove would be on the far wall. But I would read about that sink on the peninsula a lot of people hated it because they felt it splashed too much but I thought it was a great idea, particularly if you could have something similar to the galley sink (I say "similar" because it is just needlessly pricey for a large sink with over the sink cutting boards and racks).

I am not sure I like Sena's idea about the table being crammed against the peninsula. I'm not sure what purpose that serves it seems like you have enough space there for a table and chairs.

sena01 and practigal, thank you both so much for your comments!

sena01 - I think the prep sink in the peninsula is an interesting idea. I think the beverage fridge could go in that corner on the peninsula. If we leave the pantry shallow (as-is), there is adequate space in the aisle, but if we bump it out to 24", it becomes too narrow and we'd need to make the peninsula shorter.

practigal, the shallow pantry does go all the way to the ceiling today. I use the top shelf for liquor bottles but have to tuck them under the molding to get them up there. I can't envision how I'd hit my head on the door frame though, it's way up high? When you removed your pantry and put normal cabinets, how deep were they, and did they have pull-outs? I'd love to see a picture if you wouldn't mind sharing one. I'm having trouble envisioning where the corridor for the mudroom would go...could you please describe in a little more detail?

ETA: the beams are decorative and run through the family room and kitchen, are incorporated into the cabinet headers, molding, and the top of the fireplace! The beams are low and make the space feel closed in. I'm 5'3 and can touch them on my tip-toes. I don't have the estimate yet for removing them, but I agree it will cost a pretty penny to take them out!

I really appreciate your help!!

Where you see two cabinet sides there were two 6" walls before it made no sense…

I am not sure I like Sena's idea about the table being crammed against the peninsula. I'm not sure what purpose that serves it seems like you have enough space there for a table and chairs.

The layouts show the width of the nook as 109". I was thinking 12" pantry cabs on each side, so 109-24=85". 85-42" table=43" aisle.

Hi, just adding a quick comment about your pantry. We just got new custom cabinets installed including a 20" deep pantry. We have soft close pullouts on the bottom half (top ones are at about 5ft). Love the pullouts! I wasn't sure we needed them with a shallower pantry but they make it so much easier and nicer. A definite in my book. Good luck with your reno!