New construction kitchen design help

8 years ago

Looking for advice regarding my next home. The original plan for the home is from a Houzz member ARG.

See attached.

The plan has a lot of space and I am looking to take advantage of that in the best way I can. The size is 18’ x 12’6”.

The overall design is entirely wide open. Suggestions of all types appreciated. Consider the plan as shown as a ‘blank slate’. :). The only real preference I have is for a large island. We will have a 36 inch range.

Thanks for the help!

Featured Answer

lisa_a

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Definitely move the main sink and DW to the window wall. It makes no sense to have everything crammed into one area when you have a large space to use.

Here's my tweak to your plan.

I moved the clean-up sink and DW to the window wall and added a prep sink to the island so that you have a nice work triangle between cook top, oven/MW and fridge.

Oh, yeah, I swapped out the range for a 36" cook top and wall oven/MW. You have the space to do that.

I also moved the fridge into a recess in the pantry. This will allow you to get a full size fridge but mask its bulk, plus there's no need for a pantry cab between fridge and wall (without that, you won't be able to open the fridge door wide enough to pull out fridge drawers). It would be similar to this:

Stonewall Farmhouse · More Info

The pantry door will be narrowish, closer to 24" wide than 30" in order to make the above work. I have a 24" wide pantry door. It's never been a problem for us. If you want yours to be wider, perhaps you can steal 3" from the hallway.

I did not add seating the entire length of the island because you don't have enough width to do that. Minimum recommended seating overhang is 15" for a 36" high counter so that would require at least a 40 1/2" wide island (25 1/2" standard depth cabs + counter overhang + 15" seating overhang). You also should aim for a 44" aisle behind seating so that there's enough room for people to walk behind people seated at the counter.

A 36" aisle is adequate without seating at the island.

On the work side, you should have at least 42" between counters. I spec'd 45" but 48" would be better if you intend to have more than one person working in the kitchen at a time.

If you want seating the entire length of the island, you need to increase your kitchen's width by at least 12".

25 1/2" depth of base cab + counter overhang

+ 45" aisle between perimeter and island

+ 40 1/2" island with 15" seating overhang

+ 44" seating aisle

--------

155 1/2" required width, which is approx 12" more than you have. Can you steal that much from the 4 seasons porch?

You should also aim for a 60" aisle between island and DR table so that people can walk between people seated in both locations.

I can't tell from the drawing: does the pass-thru counter extend into the kitchen? If so, you'll need to reduce the island depth to maintain a 36" aisle (which is already on the slim side). Here are examples of shallow cabs on the backsides of islands.

A Big Island · More Info

Clean & Classic Kitchen · More Info

Oops, almost forgot. You don't really have 12' 6" for the kitchen. That dimension includes the depth of the exterior wall. I estimated that at 6 1/2".

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Comments (6)

emilyam819
8 years ago
I’d put a cleanup sink under the windows so you make use of the miles of countertop over there.
Jeff Cater
Original Author
8 years ago
Yeah that's for sure. Im not really an island sink kind of a guy so we were already leaning that way Good eye.
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Jeff Cater
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you lisa for all the great advice.

I’m sure we could easily give up that pantry space for the fridge.

Id have to take a closer look later to see if there is a way to adjust the porch to accommodate some of your suggestions. Seems like borrowing some space could help. I do think thats an awkward area between the island and that pass thru wall. Should i leave the pass thru? is it worth having?

We don’t currently have a separate oven mw range top. Every holiday where we are doing a lot of cooking at once i wish we did though!

Appreciate your time very much.
mama goose_gw zn6OH
8 years ago
Excellent plan, lisa_a!
lisa_a
8 years ago
"Should i leave the pass thru? is it worth having?"

That is likely a question only you can answer in the end. What was the reason for adding the pass thru initially? To pass drinks and snacks to family and friends in the 4 season porch? As a place to set dirty glasses and dishes for a trip to the DW?

Do you have a grill? Where is it? Do you get to it via the 4 season porch? Do you picture yourself passing items to be grilled via the pass thru? Or is it more likely that you'll just walk around to the doors instead of using the pass thru?

If you think it would be nice to have a short cut between the kitchen, the 4 season porch and the backyard, would it be more convenient to replace the pass thru with a door?

Thinking through your reasoning for the pass thru will help you determine whether it's worth having.

Thanks, mama goose!