I was thinking of a design something like this where we use open space from breakfast nook, open up kitchen by knocking down the wall at stove and moving the placement of fridge

do you have a healthy budget?

all flooring is going? all those cabs, everything gone?

please, do NOT put the stove in the island, especially at the end there! You want it to vent to an outside location, so keep that in mind.

show us a pic of the other wall where the fridge is. Can the wall be knocked down?

In fact, have you checked to see which of these walls are load bearing?

I would rather knock down the fridge wall, close off the doorway to dining area, have an L shape where the stove is (and keep it there) and put in a nice island where the new open space is. Remove the other peninsula.

something like this

or this layout. (ignore the kitchen design. just look at layout.

Thanks a lot! We have limited budget (wish had more!) That’s why cant replace hardwood floors. Going to stain them. But I don’t want to stain them too dark that space ends up looking smaller.

About the stove, I want it east facing (this is as per vastu shastra which is Indian science of house design) that’s why I was playing with the design. Also was thinking of having a hood on top for exhaust.

The fridge wall is the load bearing wall so have limitations on knocking it down.

The kind of kitchen I want it some mix of these kitchen photos :) what’s harm in dreaming! ;)

I have a stove on the island and I enjoy it quite a bit. I am glad it is not against the wall. My stove vents outside with a downdraft that vents it through the floor but if you are doing a complete renovation you might be able to get an exhaust over the island that vents through the ceiling to the outside.

So please don't listen to the scare stories people repeat from readng something on the internet or newspapers -- even if they come back and tell you they have lots of education blah blah. You can have a cooktop in the island and not kill yourself or your family.

Is the wall you want to knock down load bearing?

Another problem is that previous owner have put these fake hardwood patch right on the kitchen flooring so what should I add as flooring? Would it be better to add some titles (non slippery ones) because if I stain all other floors, new patch of floor at the kitchen won’t match the stained flooring. So a little confused about flooring. The place doesn’t have tall ceilings and is narrow so I want to make sure options which I pick will make the space look open and airy!

you have the stove at the end of the island.

Sorry, but this is a horrible layout for anyone that cooks.

how wide do you plan on this island to be?

How large of stove do you want? You need at least 12" on either side, (and even that is a small working space)

someone who cooks would be miserable trying to maneuver around this stove. (and, I don't think you have a landing zone off to the side like they show here)

perhaps my twocents didn't look at your drawing. That isn't a normal-placed stove in an island.

most stove islands are in the middle.

Thank you very much all for your comments! It’s giving me food for thought! I havnt asked about this design to anyone yet. In case you have any more suggestions please let me know on how can I keep the stove facing east. Attaching more designs I drew.

Let me also add, you don't want to tear up the floors? how do you plan on running electrical and gas line to the island for this placement?

The ceiling will also have to be ducted to allow for the new vent. More cost.

does the front of the stove have to face east?

you should get some estimates for what you are trying to achieve so the sticker shock won't be a surprise

BTW, the entire floor looks cheap. it's not real wood, right?

the last drawing is better if you can extend a larger peninsula. tryworking w/that idea.

The kitchen floor is fake wood but dinning and family room next to breakfast nook has real wood which we will stain. But any ideas on any flooring? Maybe tiles?

While cooking the persons face should face East

Yes, you could do a tile. or you could lace in matching hardwood and have it all stained and refinished at once. up to you.

If you do an island, you will have to run electrical to it.

Are you on a slab or raised foundation?

I added more pics to my last comment. if you extend the peninsula and put the stove / stove top in it, you'd face east and have plenty of room to work. see photos above.

Thanks a lot ! So in that case I wouldn’t get an island right?

To answer your question we are on top of a basement

Can’t buy new home :) have to adjust in what we have and definitely don’t have 150k budget

East side is marked in this drawing. Its opposite of current stove side

This is the current layout

I want to knock down wall between kitchen and dinning room

Also knockout half wall between family room and breakfast nook

Have a longish open kitchen

Reading all your comments is making me lean towards my below design which maybe cost effective and doable. We only have two cooks in the house. We are never there at the same time :)

Sorry I am not a designer so bear with not so perfect drawings

YOu do not need to be a designer but we need to scale drawings on graph paper If you google how to do a to scale floor plan on graph paper there is lots of help .

Ok let me do that

Thanks!

I noticed you shared MLS photos. Is this a new to you house? If so, I suggest living in it for a while before you make big changes. Knowing how you'll use the space and the flow will make your eventual changes better. There is nothing about the space that's currently unliveable, it's just kind of boring-looking.

Treat yourself to a new light fixture or a rug for the breakfast area. If you are handy, I'd paint the family room walls and paint the brass fireplace pieces with black fire-safe paint. Live with the space for a while before you make big changes.

Agreed that if you're new to the house, then wait at least 6 months to do anything.

Yeah! Thanks! We are in no rush. Slowly will make changes. Pictures I put up front website to have an idea of space without furniture

From not front. Typo

Thank you for your suggestions! Appreciate it

I want to knock down wall between kitchen and dinning room

Also knockout half wall between family room and breakfast nook

you can't just 'knock' down walls. one of those, is load bearing, meaning it's supporting your upstairs or roof. removing a load bearing wall requires a structural engineer to determine the weight load and size of beam that will need to replace the wall you just took out. (and possibly require new footings to go down into the basement if doing support posts) this, total, can be 10-20K

When you take out a wall, you won't have flooring in that spot. You will have to redo all of that flooring, you can't 'piece in' matching parts. figure $5-$10 a sq foot for flooring.

New cabinets. that could be 5K-25K . just depends.

countertops. about 5-7K (less is you get formica/butcher block or find a deal on a cheap granite)

appliances? depends. $5-$25

Running new electrical, plumbing and or gas lines. 3-10K. again, depends what you have, what you want/need.

Lighting. a few K.

tile splash or some type ofbacksplash. 1-5K

new fixtures/hardware, other accessories. $500-5K again, design specific.

Now you have drywall finishing, baseboards, trim work, painting, etc. add a few more K

As you can see, numbers add up quickly.

Live in the home and save you money. Maybe hire a kitchen designer who is familiar w/directional placement of appliances and such.

Hire a kitchen designer to consult with you. Better drawings are a must.

Ok will do

It’s really pretty functional as. You have a continuous counter run from sink to stove which is great for prep, undermount sink for wiping counter, dishwasher is on other side of sink from stove, peninsula is extra prep and serve space.

I hear you on goal knocking down walls but not as much about how you want such changes to meet specific changes in how the kitchen functions, or dining functions, or storage.

I agree that if you haven’t lived there yet, it would be important to assess what kitchen stuff you have, how you use countertops, do you want other appliances or activity stations or storage or how cabinets function. . You need a lot of brainstorming and making lists of what parts are good , what’s not. A kitchen designer needs info on what you need and want.

Your inspiration kitchens are pretty but mostly white, bright and don’t show details of function so it’s not clear how to translate your current situation to a new look plus good functionality on what might be a small budget. But with more analysis of how you cook, serve, dine, cleanup, store things, then it would be easier to see what are priorities & where the budget goes.

Thank you! The aim is to have open kitchen with island where there is space around it. Food will help kept on the countertop in the middle so everyone can serve themselves

That’s a good start on “ wish list” or goals , if could be achieved.

Once people get food, where will they go? Where will seated dining table be? How many people?

For example, there is the breakfast nook / bay window area which itself doesn’t support extending the actual kitchen ( cabinets, appliances) in that direction.

If dining room is on other side of kitchen , would you take down wall and move kitchen further into dining room using walls, or is there window? That’s if that wall can even be changed.

Or, if that’s still to be dining area, will people serve over where you drew stools, and walk through kitchen to dining room?

So, keep working on how you might live in the spaces, or of course you coukd meet with a kitchen designer earlier in the process, so the designer could help you.

I agree with others here…..for your ideas I’d say you’ll need at least $150 k+, unfortunately. We renovated our kitchen last year; we kept everything pretty much in the old location (sink, fridge, range etc), added no new plumbing, kept some appliances that were already new-ish. We did add all new undercab rope lighting, as well as in our upper glass-front cabs, and plug strips under the cabs, as well. Our electrician’s charges alone came to just over $11 K. (Hubby himself installed 2 new pendants and replaced all the old can lights.) We are NOT in one of the country’s big, expensive cities, either! I think altogether we spent around $125 K…..many kitchens cost more than double that. (And I’m sure there are items I haven’t added to this number, so it’s probably more than that.) Good luck!

Hi there, we had a very similar design and took out walls as well and added a large quite a large island which was an offset for lost cupboards on the wall. The advice you are receiving from others is spot on, our renovation was $120k which was due to having to much of what others have indicated, expanded window over the sink, new flooring, addition HVAC for gas cooktop, new electrical, cabinets, ceiling work, painting etc. If you don’t have that to spend, I would rethink the project although there are some good examples in this thread. If you wanted a refresh and the cost down, you could reveneer the cupboard fronts. Good luck and keep us posted on what you do.

Wow ! Thanks for so many comments! Taking it in

Will surely share what we end up doing :) with all