This is what our designer came up with but just curious from a different perspective if flipping things around would be better, I worry that the fridge is so far away!

I don’t find those layouts easy to understand. I rarely think opening a kitchen to a LR is a good idea .I like open to the DR if that is possible. As for help with the plan a to scale drawing of the floor plan as it is now and how the space relates to the rest of the house too. Then you will get some good ideas about layout. Post as much detail like doorways windows are you willing to move plumbing all of that.Is this an actula kitchen designer or a cabinet salesperson doing this plan.

Here is the layout of our first floor, very traditional and boxy and lots of wasted space! Currently the powder room is in between the kitchen and family room, that has to go! So we are going to create a space in the garage for a drop zone and new powder room.

I seldom understand the reasoning behind less storage in the kitchen. I also don’t like walking into a house and looking directly into the kitchen, probably because we both cook so there’s always something going on the counters and into the sink. The noise from pots and pans meeting spoons, dishes clanking onto the countertop, and the various appliances running with fans, compressors, and swishing is distracting if I want to have a quiet after dinner cup of coffee and watch tv. If any friends or family wear hearing aids, this background noise interferes with good conversation. All ovens now have an internal fan that runs while the oven is on and for a period of time afterwards to cool it down. In our last house DH HATED it. It disturbed our dinner and continued into the coffee time. Just because the Property Brother tear out every wall they meet doesn’t mean you must follow.

This is what I’m dealing with in between the kitchen. And family room..the powder room, horrible idea!

The doorway to the left is the entrance to the dining room

I totally get it, I like the quiet too but...I also like to see what my baby is doing in the other room...and hate that our awkward powder room is smack dab in the middle

A 200K+ project like this needs a better designer. Or just leave well enough alone. You don’t rearrange the rooms in the house unless you also envision them as bundles of cash that get rearranged from the bank and burned. You’re adding no value to the house. But you are adding a considerable outflow of cash to your budget.

What do you mean by making traditonal work if you like modern I am confused and when I say a floor plan it needs to be 2 D those pictures do nothing to speak to the actual space.I think you have already decided and just maybe want confirmation in which case have at it.

Hi Jessica,

LOVE your doggie! Mine would have had her snooter in that big, delicious garbage can in seconds.

Can you please show the floor plan of the entire area? Living room and dining room included?

This is all I have at the moment! The second photo is just the first pass of a layout showing the kitchen open to the living room, currently there is a long skinny powder room in between the two spaces.

Floorplan

@Patirica, I think she means modern lifestyle, not design, other than the fact she wants the kitchen open to the living room to watch the baby.

@Jessica, we really need a floor plan with dimensions, length and width, window and door placement within walls, etc. Also, a JPG rather than a PDF would be nice as it is very hard to expand a PDF to be able to read it.

I don't care much for your KD's plan, the linear breakfast nook and counter into the french doors is not great. Moving the powder room into the garage could work though.

Jessica,

I apologize on how personal my next question is.

Are you planning on expanding your family?

In 5 years the baby will be an entirely different person with different needs, I'm a bit concerned you're thinking of the here and now regarding an infant.

I definitely would not remove the one and only toilet on this level, but agree, the placement may not be the best.

Do you envision having an island/peninsula with seating, with kids doing homework, etc?

Are you interested in some type of mud room? It looks like you enter your house via the garage right into your kitchen with hands full, and then really not have any designated place to drop everything.

following

Janie,

Yep we’re hoping for more kiddos for sure! We love to entertain but with the current layout it makes it really difficult, our spaces are tight and separated. So in the kitchen we have to shuffle around the island and it’s hard to overall have a good size group over. Our house is over 2800 sq ft and is a good size generally, but just too much separation, we have lives here 7 years...and the baby is a new thing but before her I wanted this change.

Yes, you hit the nail on the head..walking straight into the kitchen from the garage ( which currently I have stairs with a small landing leading up to) is too much...with or without baby!a drop zone is a must and the bathroom move is a must, creating a new entry with both using garage space is the only thing that makes sense to me.

It’s far as kitchen layout goes, I’m open to what makes the most sense. We need a casual dining space for sure as we don’t have that currently other than a chair on one side of the island, which isn’t family friendly.

"...I also like to see what my baby is doing in the other room..."

Something to think about -- a Playroom is best located where it's visible from and near the primary public rooms and nearby. I bring this up b/c it looks like your plans to have the Playroom on the far side of the house from the Kitchen may not make it easily viewed from the Kitchen, even without walls. The Living Room is in the way, including the furniture, etc.

In addition, if you're only taking down the Family Room wall but not the Den/Playroom wall, how will you see your child(ren)?

When our kids were little, we converted our formal Dining Room into a Playroom -- it was right off the Kitchen and next to the Living Room -- a perfect location! The walls made it easy for us to block off the Kitchen and Living Room where there was a need. It was rarely blocked, but there were times when we needed to keep the kids out from underfoot for short periods of time.

Now, if you're only talking about seeing your children from the Living Room, that's different.

I get the Powder Room issue, but I'm not sure taking down all the walls is best -- maybe leave the wall up that's next to the Living Room?

However, this is your home, so if you want it open to the Living Room, that's your choice. Just be aware of the drawbacks that others have described. Knowing the pros & cons will help you make an informed decision and you won't later look back and ask why no on warned you! You are prepared!

Jessica,

What is your hubby's opinion/thoughts on everything?

FWIW, Buehl is a master, I would seriously take to heart all her advice. She is a true pro.

We’re both realtors, we see a lot and he says whatever will make me happy lol. I appreciate the feedback Buehl! Maybe opening up the kitchen isn’t the fix, but I sure know that my biggest frustrations lie within location of the powder room, no drop zone and wasted space in the other rooms I would love to be able to use. We can’t have big groups over because our spaces are so confined when we have ample space just boxed up by walls!

You need to rearrange the rooms use. Have the breakfast room be the kid playroom for the next 18 months that the kid wants to be underfoot. The living room becomes the dining room, and you eat all your meals there. The dining room becomes the office. And the casual family space goes in what you’re calling the office, while the more adult space is in what you are calling the den.

Rearranging the use will help the function by a lot and quell the thought of ripping things to shreds, and costing yourself 300K. For a much worse layout.

You potentially could enlarge the opening between the kitchen and the adjacent to be dining room, but it is load bearing, with a second story above. So that would take some 8-15K just to do that and carry the load properly down through the basement and add a new support pier.

I'm not a pro and I don't really have a comment about opening up walls and moving bathrooms except that it sounds incredibly expensive.

If you proceed with your plan, I would prefer to move the stovetop to the wall and keep the peninsula (change it to a single level) an eating area.

Not a pro but isn’t it better to have the powder room in a small hallway than to have it in the kitchen area near the island? Just speaking from experience having lived with a bathroom door in the kitchen that it was far from ideal.

Greendesigns,

The “breakfast” area in the kitchen isn’t really one. It’s a tiny nook next to built in cabinets with a door that swings wide open into it, essentially useless other than letting light in. so there is no eating area in the kitchen other than the current island big enough for one stool.

Function with or without kids is still the problem with the other spaces, we aren’t using them so trying to max usage.

Not sure where y’all are from but this Reno I’ve been quoted by top contractors in our area for about $50k-$60k, our neighbors did a very similar for Reno for $40k. $300k I’d buy a new house!

The powder room entry is actually going to be off the mud room not in the kitchen. So a new entry will be created into the mud room. We were quick to fix that! So it will be in a much more private spot! :)

Hi Jessica,

2 questions.

Do you have any actual hallways in your house? Or is it just one boxy room entering another boxy room via a small doorway?

Is it your hope to have an actual range hood above your stove in lieu of the microwave?

No microwave over the range, ideally a down draft range or hood depending if we go wall or no wall

I realize this is scope-creep, but if you could change the window on the back wall, you could put the range there, with the fridge to the right, and put the sink and prep area on an island. At 13.5', you would have space for a 42" work aisle, and space to walk behind the island seating. But, with the breakfast area, you could skip the island seating, and have extra storage on the back.

If you make the DR a temporary playroom, you would have a view from the prep space on the island. This plan needs to be laid out on a grid, to make sure everything fits:

ETA, depending on how the PR plumbing runs in the wall adjoining the kitchen, you could also have some stud-bay storage on that wall, with no loss of floor space:

I would find out costs for the anticipated scope of your project. As I understand it you are essentially gutting kitchen and powder room and moving a wall (is it structural)?

I find your estimate for a project of the scope mindbogglingly low but costs vary in different regions. Bathrooms and kitchens are expensive because of plumbing and electrical as well as the cabinets, tiles etc. Flooring that would be required (or seem to be required once walls are opened) is expensive.

I think people's reactions are based on their experience of a remodel of this scope costing well in excess of $40,000. I just finished a remodel and a kitchen was close to that amount (granted it did include appliances :-))

Helen, we are blessed with an entire first floor of beautiful hardwoods so we will just need repair work done based on any wall moves :) were also in a crawl space which makes things easier for plumbing. The powder room isn’t going to be anything to write home about, just the necessities so not a bathroom overhaul.

I think I’ve talked myself into keeping the wall between the rooms for all the reasons mentioned about...just now trying to sort through the most efficient kitchen layout while finding the best option for our casual dining space.

Great ideas Mama Goose!!

Hi Jessica,

Is it possible to move your powder room under your staircase?

Then blow out your wall? Include columns if load bearing?

Or even create a pony wall looking into the living room?

I would keep the kitchen in the current location, put the dining area/room where you have the living room now, and make the office the living room. The current dining room can become the playroom and the den can be the office. I think this makes the most sense. Kitchen/dining/living will be open to each other (though if this were my house, I’d keep the kitchen closed and just have the dining and living areas open to each other), and the office can be closed.

Janie, that was the initial plan but there isn’t enough space under our stair case

Hi! If you were to move the opening to your mud room shown on the floor plan down into the kitchen eating area (so you can have cabinets between powder and mud room doors) a layout similar to ours may work in your home. The sink on the back wall looking out the window, range in island (the most amazing investment we ever made not looking at the wall. We have this amazing pop up Viking ventilator. Keeps the sight lines. Id be happy to share more info), and fridge on wall between two doors. Then on one side of island is eating area and on other is living room. Does that make sense? The only difference would be that your fridge would be on the wall where my ovens are, and the wall where my fridge is would open out to your living room.