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catherine1960ranch

Kitchen/dining/living/laundry flow struggles

3 years ago


We want to move our kitchen to the back of the house, and I'm trying to restructure our kitchen/dining/living room flow.


My main question: I'm struggling with the very center of the flow — in the mockup, it's the section around the proposed laundry, between the dining room and the first bathroom wall. Maybe what I have works? But it seems to block the flow to the kitchen a bit? Do you see another option entirely, or tweaks you'd make?


I initially considered putting the laundry in the kitchen, but ultimately that felt like too much going on in there — and it's a tradeoff with having the breakfast nook, more cabinetry, or a bar/coffee area...


Here are the relevant ways that the mockup already differs from the existing layout:

- Moves the kitchen to the back room.

- Creates a dining room at the front of the house where the kitchen used to be.

- Creates a laundry closet inside the house (and out of the garage!).

- Removes a wall between the proposed living room and dining room (i.e., the current kitchen). In its place, at minimum we'd do a post or two for structure, but we'd actually like some more visual separation around the dining room... perhaps half-up bookshelves, arches, a partial slat wall, or even mostly-glass walls with french doors...

- Moves the garage door from the new/proposed dining room wall to the new/proposed kitchen.


I hope I provided enough measurements for the problem area, but please let me know if you need any more! Thank you for any and all thoughts!

Comments (3)

  • PRO
    3 years ago

    I am obviously missing something. The drawing shows the kitchen at the side of the house not the front and how will you handle the bedrooms if you move the kitchen to there? Please post the plan as it is now post here in a comment just like before DO NOT start another post.

  • 3 years ago

    Sorry I guess I didnt explain very well. I‘ll try to get a mockup of the existing layout posted tomorrow! For now I’ll try to clarify: The kitchen is currently in the front of the house — the current sink is where the mockup says ”desk”.


    Where I’m proposing to move the kitchen, is what’s shown in the mockup — I’m calling it the ”back” because its by the back door. The bedrooms aren’t intended to move.


    Again I’ll get a mockup of the existing layout up tomorrow. thank you

  • 3 years ago

    Have you considered having the garage open into the foyer area/dining room rather than into the kitchen? The area to the right of the front door could be a closet /mini mudroom. Alternatively, if you create a desk area as shown, consider a desk surface/set up that allows that area to also function as a buffer/server when using the dining room. Is there room for a window over the desk to let more light into the dining area?


    The proposed half wall between the living room and dining table seems to block the foyer/walkway flow a bit and make the dining room too narrow. There doesn’t appear to be enough space to separate the dining room as you suggest.


    If the garage opens into the foyer/dining room, you can eliminate the door from the garage into the kitchen. This allows you to utilize the whole back wall. The bar area would be better situated nearer to the dining/living rooms where you are showing the refrigerator/pantry or where the laundry/shelving is shown (if you can relocate the laundry). Is there room for a stackable washer/dryer in the primary bedroom/bath?


    You can eliminate the french doors in the kitchen opening to get rid of the door swing. Or consider french pocket doors if there’s room in the walls for the door hanging hardware.