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Kitchen Renovation Layout Challenges

4 years ago

Hi! We are planning a major gut renovation of our 1960s era kitchen. The kitchen is currently U-shape, and relatively tight. We are removing two walls to open up the space and bring in more light. Our goals are an island with seating, maintain the current downdraft vent (aka no hood), and plenty of working counterspace. The dimensioned plan gives you an idea of what we're thinking. We plan to convert two existing closets into a beverage area with a small sink. We have also separated the fridge/freezer into two columns and placed them pretty far away - again challenge is maintaining a decent working triangle but having limited wall space nearby the working area - we sacrificed freezer convenience which we think is ok. What do you think overall?? Thanks!




Comments (12)

  • 4 years ago

    Not a Pro The island is too large for the area of may be inappropriate for the space. Have you spoken with a CKD? Money well spent when planning a kitchen. I can't understand the island seating right next to a table & chairs. Maybe @Buehl will way in They post a great article to read when posting about kitchens

  • 4 years ago

    I'm certain you can do better. It seems very odd to me to have wall ovens and extra fridge/freezer so far out of the way, and without any adjacent landing space. The island extending into the dining room also seems odd. You will get more help if you can post a plan of the existing kitchen (including the walls you say you want to remove). What are the two small rooms at the bottom of the plan you posted?

  • 4 years ago


    Existing shown below... I included the sink/dw current location for plumbing, the ref/fzr for the water line feeding the ice maker, and the double oven location. All appliances are electric.


    This drawing shows the plan with the two proposed walls to be removed. You can see that the current (above) floorplan creates a dark and small kitchen and entry from the garage. The intention with knocking out the walls is to open up the space to the back yard and the large sliding glass doors to the outside.



  • PRO
    4 years ago

    What about switching the kitchen and the dining room? I'm not sure that removing the walls you are suggesting is going to get you a kitchen with a nice flow. The designs seem very choppy and awkward- the wall ovens location is an immediate no for me...

    I think there is great potential here, you just need to think outside the box!

    Justin Strizzi thanked Debbi Washburn
  • 4 years ago

    We've considered the swap, and it could make a lot of sense (not sure how that impacts budget, I'd guess it's an expensive move?), however a couple things that turned us off after thinking about it...

    1. The (groceries) flow from the garage to the kitchen, and potentially having the entry from the garage up the stairs into a dining room seemed strange to us.

    2. To the right of the current dining room is a more formal seating area. We were attempting to keep the true kitchen function out of sight of this seating area.


    An alternative to the wall ovens in the 3D view is to have a single oven within the island, opposite the cooktop, or even below the cooktop. We were concerned with storage space with there are no upper cabinets in this layout. Then the freezer would shift to the left where the ovens are shown.

  • 4 years ago

    Can you relocate your powder room?

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    The location of the double ovens vs where the cooktop is would make me hate to use this kitchen. Just get a range. Do not do a oven below a cooktop - not unless you want to deal with an oven a couple inches off the floor, and the complexity of trying to fit a wall oven under a cooktop. Not. Worth. It. Get a range.

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Swapped the kitchen and dining, as Debbie suggested. I’m digging this… and it saves us having to remove the load bearing wall.


  • 4 years ago

    What is on the backside of the powder room vanity? Any chance you can shift the powder that direction. A powder room opening into a dining room is not a good idea. I have been in houses where adjacent to dining that open into a shared hallway and that is still not far enough away to minimize noises, odors, etc. Or, as an alternative, put a door between the powder and scullery wall closing the dining room off from powder and laundry rooms and garage.

  • 4 years ago

    No room either way re powder room - cannot move it. Good idea with doorway, will add that. Thanks!

  • PRO
    4 years ago

    You would have a massive kitchen with that plan. I think I would go back to a cook top and do wall ovens in the scullery kitchen. I would also change the sink on the island to a prep sink and move it off center - leave the main cleanup sink in the scullery kitchen. You could even tuck the ref in there as well to keep the kitchen a little more formal looking to go with the living room area.

    I think you could also consider moving the powder room as someone had said and really changing the front area. ( This is really crude )


    This way you can still keep some formality to the living room /dining room but have some room to entertain people in the kitchen

    Lots of options