Need help with kitchen layout, please!

5 years ago

Hi! Please help with our kitchen layout.

The stairs from the basement are between the family room and kitchen (why?!?!) They are completely closed off from each other. We had hoped to move the stairs but that isn't a great allocation of budget. Instead we will put in a rail on the family room side and a pony wall on the kitchen side.

We need to have a casual eating space in the kitchen. The window next to the bay is about 4 inches below countertop height and we are trying to avoid replacing the window.

I want to keep enough formal space to have a dining and seating area, but we don't need as much as we currently have. In the plans, we have taken part of the dining room for storage (the house basically doesn't have any) and laundry room (it's currently in the basement). We are open to a different allocation of space.

I attached the 2 options the architect and I came up with (her plans and my very rough 3Ds) -

Option 1 - Keep the sink where it is, range over the stairs

Pros- good cleanup, dish storage area

Questions about - range over the stairs

Opiton 2 - Move sink over stairs, range under window (close up window?)

Pros- no vent hood between rooms

Questions about - range in front of window, dish storage

Which do you prefer? Suggestions? Changes?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Kate

Featured Answer

mama goose_gw zn6OH

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

I'm not a fan of either choice, but in the second one I'd get rid of the peninsula and move the range to the right of the window. Prep could be started to the left of the sink, then moved to the counter under the window. I'd switch the DW to right of the sink, and store dishes in drawers across the aisle. Making the counters on each wall extra deep would give you a wide galley and allow you to have a standard-depth fridge for extra storage.

ETA, where are the bedrooms?

Discussions--Extra deep counters

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New to Kitchens? Read me first.

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Comments (6)

anj_p
5 years ago
Is your front door into the "other" room? And there's a solid wall between "other" and "living"?
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k8cd
Original Author
5 years ago
mama goose_gw zn6OH I agree; I don't really like either option. I do love the idea of deeper countertops - that definitely helps with the "too narrow for an island, but a bit wide for a galley/wasted space" issue! Thank you!
k8cd
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

anj_p and mama goose_gw zn6OH

Here are the blueprints, so you can see the rest of the space. (The kitchen bay was a change and is faintly visible in red. Wouldn't it have been great if the change had been to square off the house instead?) The wall between "other" and "living" is solid and load bearing.

We will use the stairs up from the basement/garage. It is a terrible design - currently we all have to shuffle into the kitchen and then close the door to the basement to access the rest of the house. Why is the main thoroughfare of the house only 3' wide with 2 doors opening into it? (And how did we not notice until we had already bought it?) The house was designed by the original owner's twin brother - I can only assume they didn't get along.
JP L
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I'll just add this - as someone with a "view house" and a complete wall of windows in my kitchen, I explored the option of placing a range in front of a window pretty extensively. Pros will chime in with their perspectives, but what I found was that it *can* be done technically, but it will be costly to do correctly and to code in most cases (I almost had a heart attack when I received the quote for the new window, not to mention the in-ceiling ventilation option - and I'm not exactly a penny pincher). In the end, it felt like a bit of a waste - when I'm working at the stove, I'm generally looking at the stove vs. above the stove, so I'm not sure it would've added value. In short, unless you have an insanely good reason for doing it, and pretty deep pockets, I'd aim for a design that avoids placing the range in front of the window. @mama goose_gw zn6OH 's layout is a huge improvement!
k8cd thanked JP L
k8cd
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for saving me time, JP L! I hadn't researched it too much but was concerned about cleaning (my architect was very excited about the idea though). I assume the original 1960 window wouldn't be up to the task. If my pockets were deep, I would square off the house and add on. Or better yet, sell this house and buy one with a better kitchen (living, bathroom, bedroom) space to begin with. Oh well.