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Design Dilemma
andy_fleet46

Looking for better layout ideas! Kitchen, family and mudroom

8 years ago
Hi! We have been in our house for 3 years kicking around options to give us a second living space, bigger kitchen and mudroom. We have 2 little ones and a large dog. Currently our front living room is overwhelmed by toys, the den off kitchen is too tight with the dog and piano, and we enter through the back door to the kitchen which becomes a dumping ground for bags and car seats etc!
We have had an architect draw some plans with a family room extending off kitchen and making a peninsula w stools to connect the rooms. We are leaning towards that idea but the mudroom/kitchen options are less clear. Curious if anyone see any creative options in our floor plan! Thanks!
Featured Answer
  • 8 years ago

    I'm assuming the floor plan you are showing us is the current plan and not the proposed new plan.

    I think it would be very easy to build an awesome mudroom off the kitchen on the existing deck.

    Also, what if you move the dining room into the small den off the kitchen and open the walls between the current dining room and hallway? that would make a huge family room big enough for kids, dogs and a piano.

    Comments (16)

    • 8 years ago

      ^^ I was going to suggest the same thing!

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    • 8 years ago
      Thanks for the comments! We have thought about that although moving the dining room to den would not really provide more kitchen space and then I'm not sure how workable the living room shape would be? It would be a L shape unless you just take down all the walls and make the front room totally open to the back of house? Then wouldn't the door to bathroom be somewhat awkward off the living room?
    • 8 years ago
      last modified: 8 years ago

      You could move the hall walls to be in line with the living room/foyer wall to hide the bathroom. that hallway just looks like a waste of precious space.

      The mudroom design can incorporate kitchen storage - like a pantry or a microwave area.

    • 8 years ago
      That's a good idea-the hallway is a total deadzone. Currently have a kids play kitchen there but hopefully that's temporary!
      I wonder if tearing all those walls and doing a small mudroom addition would be significantly less expensive than the family room addition option? I guess the benefit of the latter would be that we'd have 2 separate spaces but maybe that's a luxury we don't need.
    • 8 years ago

      This whole layout is wasting space and lacking access. So many ways to go with the current footprint. You would probably need to move out to reconfigure it.

    • 8 years ago
      Agreed it is more layout than pure sq footage that is the issue...
    • 8 years ago
      I think you could rework the square footage you have without adding on. I'd make a mudroom of the family room but make it smaller so the wall of it lines up with the current deck. Expand the deck and make the window in the family room a door. Remove the door in the kitchen and expand the kitchen. I don't know where your bearing walls are - but there seems to be walls that could be removed and/or moved depending on how open or closed you like it. The hallway wall seems really unneeded. :)
    • 8 years ago

      I would work with the existing footprint. Consider moving the half bath to the back of the house and moving the kitchen forward. This will minimize the dead space that is currently the hall and also put the kitchen closer to the dining room. I would build a mudroom outside the bath with pocket door leading to the bathroom. Ex.

      Pasadena Showcase House · More Info

    • 8 years ago
      Thanks for all the insights! It seems like a whole first floor reno is needed or we could add on to minimize the disruption to some extent!
    • 8 years ago

      Here's an option for just adding a mudroom (assuming you want to work within the existing deck):

    • 8 years ago

      Thanks ER612 and others for all the thoughts. I took a shot at trying to better utilize the dead space... I started by pushing the bath forward a few feet into the current basement stairwell (those stairs are horrible anyway so it would not be a huge loss to have to rebuild them separately - and i heard that if you're moving a bath it is best to keep within 4 ft of the major downpipe which this plan would do vs moving it to the back of the house). This may allow us to shift kitchen/DR to middle of house and have space for a new family room across the back. Our main level is up about 8 feet from ground so i'm thinking we could put a ground floor mudroom then we could fully utilize the existing space as family room without ceding any to cubbies/dog/etc... plus for new england winters it would be less shoveling of the outdoor stairs.

      Would anyone have any insight into if the cost of moving bathroom and kitchen and adding on the small mudroom would be signifnicantly less than just adding on the new family room out the back? i guess we would save on foundation costs but would still be a major project.

    • 8 years ago

    • 8 years ago

      Reconfiguring is generally more expensive than adding on.

    • 8 years ago

      Does your kitchen or rest of the space need updating?

    • 8 years ago
      The kitchen is probably 10-15 years old-cherry cabinets and granite-so while id love to redo it-the frugal thing would be to try to salvage some elements if possible.
      I guess that is an advantage of the addition of the great room vs the reconfiguration as we may be able to leave the kitchen partially intact and can always update it later on.
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