Kitchen island as only dining? Ideas for small kitchen/living room?

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

Hi all; longtime lurker in these discussion forums but first time posting.

I'm designing the kitchen layout for our new home (900sqft, 3 bed, 2 bath, and 1 shared living room/kitchen area) and am looking for any comments, criticisms, or feedback on the current design plan I've come up with. It's going to be shared by myself and 2 other adult family members, but we may have kids in the future.

The shared kitchen/living room is 23'7" by 13'7". It is also where the front entrance to the house is.

I'm trying to come up with the best idea to maximize kitchen space (since we spend most of our time in the kitchen) without overly sacrificing the living room portion of the space. My current idea is an island with wrap around seating for up to 5 (3 on the 6' side, and 2 on each end) but this would be the only dining space in the house. Does anyone have suggestions for a better layout that would allow for a more "usable" dining space, with more comfortable seating? The island is fine for everyday eating, but on the rare occasions we have guests over it might be a bit strange, and I would prefer for my parents to have a more comfortable seating than bar stools if something else could fit. I thought about a dining table but wasn't didn't want to sacrifice too much counter space.

I've been looking into "kitchen nook" ideas (see photos below; they are just very rough illustrations of what I am picturing) where bench seating is incorporated along a peninsula to make the seating area a bit more comfortable for everyday use but am not sure if that would help or how it could be incorporated. In this limited space it seems like the choice has to come down to island, kitchen nook seating, or dining table, as theres not room for any more than one of them as far as I can figure out.

Thank you for any feedback and suggestions!

Here are some links to the layouts in higher resolution if it is helpful:

https://imgur.com/a/WcfwjRG

https://imgur.com/a/QiBJqsK

https://imgur.com/a/kA1FCew

Thank you!

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Comments (3)

Rachel
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
You typically want 28-30 inches for each seating space. As it currently stands, 6' for three people to sit next to each other at the long side of the island is way too tight. And then to cram another person on each end? It's just not feasible, or comfortable. I'd also start by ditching the desk in the corner of the room because it's taking up valuable space in the room. Then shift the pantry over to the corner, and relocate the fridge to where the pantry currently is.

From there, you could create a 7' peninsula starting at where the fridge currently is. Put the sink in front of the window to free up space on the peninsula. This would allow space in the center of the kitchen for a small table. Additionally, you may need to get a smaller couch and/or consider seating options in front of that large living room window.
PRO
beesneeds
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
What does your kitchen currently look like?
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Nancy in Mich
5 years ago
I don’t know if you ever finished your kitchen, but in case you did not, and in case others come across this thread, I thought I would tell what we did. We remodeled our kitchen using a 24 year-old high end kitchen from a kitchen charity reseller (Green Demolitions). It had a huge island that I could fit into our space if we did not have a kitchen table. I have lifelong knee problems and could hardly rise off a regular chair height, so moving to 24” kitchen stools sounded like a solution. We went with the island, with space for four to comfortably sit.

It turns out that my knees don’t much like sitting on stools, either. We are a family of two and take our meals in our recliners, anyhow. The issue became how to have people over and sit comfortably. Then I discovered convertible furniture of Italian design! They make coffee tables that rise up on scissor legs to dining height with tops that swivel 90 degrees and open like a book, doubling their size. There are other designs as well, all creating full size dining tables. We found a leather sofa at Macy’s that has a seat height of 20” and we keep our old dining chairs in the basement to bring out when people visit. Our family room is now easily and quickly converted to a dining room with banquette seating. Here is where I got our table. If you live near NYC there are local choices, too. https://expandfurniture.com