15 years ago

I had a closed kitchen and wanted to remove all the walls to make it open and modern, and extend it to dinning area. However after I hired an architect and structure engineer and a few thousand dollars after, they told me I still can't have those walls totally removed because they are load bearing! I wish they'd told me that before they signed contract with me :( So I paid them anyway, but felt very bitter because I still have to deal with the poles and ceiling beams in this small kitchen. Well, my unit is on the first floor, and there are 2 more stories above, so I'm OK to stay on the conservative side to be safe...

The contractors started working...And with the pole/beam size specifications finalized, I went to a modular kitchen place and the kitchen designer there came up with the attached design. I think she's done the best she can, but I'm very bothered with the wall opening that separates original kitchen and dinning area.

I guess I'll have to live with the 3 openings along kitchen island / breakfast bar, but I'd really like to see something creative for the 4th wall opening between two real windows.

Any suggestions and ideas please?

Much much appreciated!!
Cindy

So you'll see 4 openings around this small kitchen

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Comments (4)

Cindy
Original Author
15 years ago
Before demolition...
Cindy
Original Author
15 years ago
Kitchen floorplan. Upset at first, and now more upset with opening #4 (separating the long wall with sink, 2 windows, and fridge).

4 openings in total for this kitchen...Cant be more weird I guess.
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bepsf
15 years ago
First off: You shouldn't feel bitter about the architect and structural engineer not informing you that you couldn't remove your wall until after you hired them - They wouldn't necessarily know these things for certain without taking time to explore the buildings structure, and their time isn't free...
...however, to expect that you could tear out walls & plumbing in a first floor unit completely unaffected by the structure and plumbing of the units above simply wasn't reasonable.

Then proceeding with construction without a complete plan that you're satisfied with - including cabinetry, utilities and lighting - was also a bad choice.

Personally I'd put a stop to everything, get a designer that you like and trust to come up with a complete plan, and be prepared to rip out some of the work that was done in order to fulful a plan that's acceptable to you as well as meeting the overall structural requirements of the building.
Cindy
Original Author
15 years ago
Thx for the comments :) In a perfect world with no deadline and budget limit, yes I could have finalized everything until I'm happy with the design and even visualization/rendering of the design ideas. However my architect isn't good at interior design other than that he can assure it's safe and give me drawings pretty quickly, so I decided not to use him for more interior design work.

I think I'll change the L-shape raised breakfast bar to a standard raised breakfast bar to the living room side, and a decent size breakfast desk along opening#3 to the dinning area side, like one of the pictures shown below.

I can also close opening#4 but that'll be a waste of work - maybe I can be creative and have some glass rack installed and put some decoration there.

Kitchen/Island/Bar poles can be pretty, but my challenge is the small space...