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kb565221

layout help in center hall colonial

kb565221
last year

Here is our current floor plan. I want to remodel the kitchen as it’s original from 1988 😬 but that snow balls into other issues. I hate the location of the power room and the hall is so narrow. Any ideas of where to move the powder room and ways to make more use out of kitchen? Thanks!!!

Comments (8)

  • emily9972
    last year

    Looks like you have a lot of unused space in the kitchen. I can't read the dimensions. Is is ~15'x20'? That seems like a very good sized kitchen. You will probably need to answer a lot of questions like, do you want an eat in kitchen? Are you willing/able to remove wall between DR or FR? How many people live with you? Why do you dislike the Bathroom location? I'll be interested to see how the experts advise! Your hallway from front door into kitchen does look narrow.

  • HU-918119203
    last year

    On the powder room, moving the location does not make sense. You generally don't want a powder room that opens directly into another room, and this house doesn't have a mudroom, another hallway, or an alcove to put it in. Unless you want to put on an addition for a powder room, I think it needs to stay roughly where it is. Your best bet IMO would be to take over the coat closet for the powder room, lay it out as a very narrow space with a toilet on one end and a sink on the other, and use a pocket door, maaaybe squeeze by with a regular door depending on dimensions. Then perhaps add a new coat closet of the same width at the living room entrance, if you use that enough to justify it.


    As for the kitchen, what do you want out of it? Do you like the location? Do you care if you can see right into the kitchen from your front door once the hallway is widened? Do you want the kitchen open to dining room, family room, both?


  • kb565221
    Original Author
    last year

    All good points. No other space for coat closet unless i put it on the long side of bathroom into the living room. I hate that you can see us at the kitchen table from front door. I need more counter space and an island. The cabinet desk area is such a waste of space and collects all the kids crap. Open to opening it up into dining room or family room. I do want a door from kitchen to deck. Makes.m no sense to have to walk all the way around when grilling etc. it’s souther facing so I’d like a single door in kitchen or get rid of slider and put single. There are 3 adults and 4 kids. Thanks!

  • aziline
    last year

    My home is a center hall(ish) colonial and my half bath is in the same spot. I like that it's tucked away from the other rooms. The one big difference between my home and yours is my kitchen and dining rooms are switched. I like that people walking in see the dining room table and then straight into the back yard.

    What don't you like about the half bath? Is it too close to the kitchen? Depending on what other changes you make it may be fine in the end. That'd save you some $$$.

    If you never use the hall closet you could take it out and enlarge the opening to the living room. That would open it up.

  • kb565221
    Original Author
    last year

    We have 4 kids and no mud room so we do use the coat closer for coats, backpack and sneakers. I thought about going into the dining room since we only use that on holidays then making the front living room the dining room. Y

    The spot where the table is has the baseboard which makes adding more cabinets annoying (I’m assuming)

    As far as the bathroom, i hate that’s it’s close it the kitchen. You have to stand in the bathroom to open the basement door (i took it down) I’d like a wider foyer, it makes it feel very tight.

    Thanks!

  • aziline
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Not having a mud room is a bummer. They should have always been in style.

    Baseboard heating in the dining room?

    Anything can be done with enough money. You can move the kitchen. Move the 1/2 bathroom wall to the left to make the entry wider. I'm guessing changing the stairs would be "you should move instead" money but that's just a guess.

    Me - I'd want to make the kitchen as big as possible and then live with the rest :)

  • knlundeen
    3 months ago

    Did you ever end up doing anything with your floorplan? I have a similar powder room in the center hall that I don't love because it seems like it is in the middle of the enteraining space so it isn't very private. Plus it's in the way of opening up my kitchen to be able ot have an island. I am considering converting our front room (was a dining room) to a space to house a mudroom and the bathroom could be in there as well. Not sure if you use that existing living room space to house a bathroom and maybe even change your walkway to kitchen to go through there, shrinking LR space to the same width as the dining room? Then could use existing bathroom space for some mudroom type cabinets with closed storage?

  • Buehl
    3 months ago
    last modified: 3 months ago

    @knlundeen

    You will get more (and more useful) help if you start your own thread rather than resurrecting an old thread. Most people do not return here once their project is done. Even if the OP returns, you will still get better help with YOUR info, including a full-measured layout & full-floor sketch.

    See the Read Me thread for more information.

    New to Kitchens? Read Me First!

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5972404/new-to-kitchens-read-me-first-2020-interim