Current floor plan

Photos

Ignore the state of construction- just removed floors

One designers $100k plan that I didn’t love

Fridge and range and hood on that longer wall. Remove corner pantry . Create an L shape and pull sink over to new wall which is bathroom wet wall ... does that help? Place large island other way about where word “ kitchen “ is typed in. Take out sink and two height counter and all cabinetry on that existing sink wall to make way for island . Remove that stub wall where dishwasher is : all or most . I’d leave the square vestibule between bedroom dining room family room etc . You will have a range and hood . Looks like no sink on island ? Or maybe? Island will straddle kitchen and family room . Still small area up where dinette or breakfast is shown for smaller table . Because island can be larger you will find people there. I don’t get the confusion. Nice big lovely home it’s practically open anyway . Get the kitchen more condensed on the two walls and island is yours for personal imprint / tons of storage / and great destination spot. Good luck / Happiness in 2021 in your new spaces.

Consider removing the island and adding a peninsula perpendicular to the sink. Move the refrigerator to the other end of the sink wall. Exchange the positions of the ovens and the pantry. This won't be perfect, but will be much better for cooking.

Are you up for moving walls? Is that bedroom used as a bedroom, or as something else?

That bedroom is used for aging parents- it stays. Bathroom also stays- it’s the only guest bath on the whole floor. Minimal wall movement- it would have to make a huge difference for the added expense of moving wall next to sink/dw - totally open to changing /moving windows

If move corner pantry- still need a pantry- we like putting toaster/etc out of site. My biggest problem is my last kitchen was amazing with a 12x10 pantry but I can’t recreate that here

The angled walls are difficult to work with and seem dated. Ask your designer to come up with a way to fix the walls first so there are no angles, you can do that and get a brand new kitchen for way less than 100k!

A couple of simple changes (compared to extensive structural alterations) would be to make the peninsula all one level, take out the corner pantry, and put the clean-up zone on the wet wall. You can rinse items at the sink, then move to the island to finish. Adding a prep sink to the island would be ideal, but not necessary. Keep the sink on the peninsula and make that end of the kitchen a snack zone, with a MW drawer on the end of the island. That will keep grazers out of the work zones. DW and sink are still near the DR access, but prep path is a nice L--although a bit spread out.

If the expense would be worth it, cooktop and clean-up zone could be switched, although my favorite layout is clean-up to one side, where it's easier for helpers to load or unload the DW, or gather dishes to set the table, without entering the prep/cooking zones.

The angles really do make this feel cramped. I would get rid of the pantry, close off the wall where the sink is and basically ignore the angled area if possible. Is there some reason you can't do a version of the photo below?

Not only is it unbalanced, but doesn’t make sense from a functional perspective. Shouldn’t be too hard to move things/add half wall cost wise vs demolishing.

If you like the ideas below, a kitchen designer can play around based on dimensions, make necessary accommodations (perhaps no island and it would save money) and provide a quote. Hope it works out for you and being more functional, it may be worth it in the long term for your family and got resale.

- fill in half wall and combine stove, ovens and microwave for a better cooking configuration

- move sink and dishwasher under window and extend counter and add cupboards on both sides

- place a built in fridge where microwave was and across the corner, on left, add a coffee station and o opposite angle wall, add a nice door

The island should be narrower and longer if possible (could add a wine fridge, bar sink and recycle bin and if enough room, stools and add appropriately sized lighting.

Move sink under window should be #1 and removing the corner pantry #2. What is that bump out space to the left of the kitchen and breakfast areas? Why all the doors there? Make that the walk in pantry.

You've gotten some good suggestions. We had a circa 1993 kitchen that was full of angles and when we eliminated them it made the kitchen seem so much bigger.

I agree with moving the sink under the window. It would be nice if you could bring a new window down to the counter to bring in more natural light and even go wider if possible.

If you move the cooktop behind the bathroom, be sure to place the DW to the right of the sink so that it is not an obstacle between the cooktop and sink. You didn't mention it in your list above, but appropriate ventilation is a must in helping to keep a kitchen clean. Before leaving the cooktop under the window, I would check to make sure that it is not a code violation.

I would also consider widening the doorway into the kitchen by cutting back the angled wing walls which would make it easier to maneuver if someone were in a wheelchair or on a walker. In any case, I wouldn't put anything back on the current oven wall except art.

Whenever I see a kitchen with a corner pantry, it reminds me of this remodel which was one of my favorites.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4649209/kitchen-reveal#n=66

Here's another reveal with a similar layout. Notice the window down to the counter and the extra sink on the other side of the kitchen, as mama goose suggested leaving a sink there. It is always nice to have an extra water source if you entertain or have multiple workers in the kitchen.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2459739/2littlefishies-yellow-kitchen-reveal-long#n=157

Post tension slab is the elephant in the room as JuneKnow states......................

The other elephant in the room is whether it is prudent to sink a lot of money into renovating the kitchen if you bought at the top of the market and intend to sell in 7 years. Add in the global economic chaos unleashed by the pandemic, and the increased expense and delayed timelines for renovations also caused by the virus....

That said, if you can move plumbing to an outside wall as you said, @biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley) has a decent plan.

What about something like this?

Even if you live in a temperate climate, you aren’t moving plumbing by running the pipes outside the wall instead of inside the slab. That won’t pass inspection. Or your neighbors or buyers scrutiny. It’s as hillbilly as raising the floor to run pipes on top of the slab.

Either build an addition, or buy a different house. Or learn to live with what it is now.

Oops! You don't need an oven stack if I gave you a range. Please pretend that I suggested tall storage with a MW built in, or a coffee & snack center/dish storage that consists of an upper with shelf for the MW, and lower with counter.

OP says "I can move it [plumbing] to an outside wall and tie into the bathroom plumbing" - if that is true, there's a lot that can be done to improve the layout. If that is not true, then yes, this is a very problematic kitchen!

You cannot tie into that bathroom plumbing shown on the floor plan without going into the slab to increase the drain size to handle the DFU’s. Which means all the radar scanning and hand excavating, plus tunneling under that means major money. So no, the plumbing can’t move at all.

I understand the post tension slab constraint but why can't a plumber add a kitchen sink with a san tee fitting onto the existing bathroom sink drain/vent inside the wall? Shouldn't it be a 3" or 4" drain under the slab for the toilet to drain into?

Because pipes are rated by the amount of water that they can handle, and the branch drain would need to be enlarged back to the main.

Wow!! Thank you everyone for the amazing suggestions! Some we had thought of some we hadn’t - I’m just so close to the project sometimes I need fresh eyes!

Celadon- you raise some interesting points about plumbing- I am not a contractor and have only been going off of what I’ve been told about plumbing and venting. However, while I do live in temperate Texas- my city has particularly stringent building codes and enforcement- I would never do anything without proper permitting!!! If moving plumbing isn’t possible it certainly limits me even more!!! Lol on the hillbilly plumbing comment.

Juneknow- my husband couldn’t agree with you more!! Move!! He might never forgive me for making him move from our dream house we spent 2 years building- the 3 kids and I were miserable and missed our friends and family- I’d rather have the ugly house for now!

Also Wilson and maureen- Thank you for suggesting widening the opening on the angle!! Game changer!! My husband was so proud of himself for adding the arch- we never considered widening the doorway!!! I think that will make a huge difference- and those cabinets down to the counter to hide things are amazing!!!! love love love the thinner island.

I also like the ideas of actually extending the existing sink wall- sometimes closing things off makes function better- especially in these days of everything being “open” Sometimes it’s to open if you know what I mean!

One of my biggest pet peeves with these builders is just not making a space function!!! My master bath is a case in point. We are actually tiling tomorrow- it’s horrible.... builder wanted to sell a “his “ and “hers” vanity but the layout was improved 1000% by putting the tub and shower on same wall and making a long 120” double vanity and move entry door 12”. Seems so simple.

Regarding the doors off to the left- it connects the laundry- garage entrance- back staircase- and side yard door- definitely can’t block it- but an addition there could certainly be possible!

These ideas are great! My GC and inspector are coming to check master bath progress next week so will be great to have several of these ideas to bounce off them!!!

Ideas

No plumbing moves 🤷🏻‍♀️

Maybe plumbing codes are different here in Canada. I'll describe what we have. My bathroom sink has a 2" drain pipe coming up from the floor and a 1 1/2" or 2" vent. The 2" sink drain is required to wet vent the bathtub/shower drain. I can put a double vanity (2 sinks) on this 2" sink drain if they are separately vented.

I would check under the bathroom sink or cut through the back of the vanity/wall to check how the drains are run. If it's possible to add a second sink, I would put a prep sink in your last sketch where you squared off the pantry.

re: sink remaining where it is now. Can it be rotated? the last pic w island and existing wall w sink could possibly be instead ONE larger island with sink rotation / faces french door. Facing french door would be better than a sink like that facing family room.

Jumping in on the fun... (range rather than ovens; don't know if that's a deal breaker. Prep sink under window. Bigger pantry. Very rough. I'm sure my aisles and other dimensions are off.)

Darla, your last kitchen was beautiful and this one will be too! If you verify that you can add another sink to the exterior wall, another option would be to gang the refrigerator and pantries on the short end of the 'L', thus allowing you the space to adjust the placement of the range and flank it with windows. I'd put a prep sink under the window to the left of the range similar to the last photo below. This would give you good flow from refrigerator to prep sink to range. A MW drawer could be placed on the island.

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If plumbing can't be moved--even to the wet wall--then maybe it could be adjusted to move the sink far enough to the right to add a peninsula without seating. You'd have a clear prep counter, with clean-up on the other side of the sink. cooktop, pantry, and oven could stay as they are, although why the builder put the cooktop is in front of the only window is a mystery to me.

If the bathroom plumbing can support a small sink, maybe the area between the pantry and oven could be turned into a coffee/snacks center.