kitchen reno - welcome advice for spatial planning

last month

Hi! We bought a 1918 home with a darling butlers pantry. Ive looked at the floorplan until my eyes are crossed and have determined we cant keep the butlers pantry - need toget rid of it to open the room up if I want space to have my kids in there with me. I'll attach my latest mock up and the current layout below.

Stove wall (North to south approx. 150 in): 36 in paneled fridge, ~20 in lower cab base (drawers), 36 in stove, ~20 in lower cab base (drawers) [in bold is all under stove alcove], ~36 in appliance garage (and lowers just drawers?) think about where things would go. Beside microwave in appliance garage can slide baking trays. Drawers next to stove: one for leftover/Tupperware; one for pots, one for pans (one bottom drawer with slide out for pot lids). Top drawer on one side will have things like measuring cups ( have a slide out here and have big utensils on top of measuring spoons and can opener etc) and spoons and other side will have alum foil and ziplock bags in upper.

Sink Wall (approx. 150 in): 24 in paneled d/w (bosch 800), 30 in apron sink centered under window (with push button for garbage disposal and separate faucet for reverse osmosis), 15 in double trash, ~80 in left after that that: divide with drawers (with drawers closest to sink/dw holing silver, bowls, plates) . hutch top as upper can either hold coffee beans and mugs or glasses in general. Can reuse some glass uppers from butlers pantry

Upper sink wall may look like this north to south: 20 in glass upper from butlers pantry above the dishwasher, window above sink, 20 in glass upper from butlers pantry, then open space for a hutch/furniture piece top that can hold mugs and things for coffee station. Will have rarely used appliances (waffle maker, rice) in a bottom drawer that can be brought up to countertop on sink wall for seldom use.

Featured Answer

chispa

last month

OP is also looking to re-arrange the upstairs bedrooms to get a master suite and laundry. One of my suggestions was to look at options that get rid of the service staircases, which would also give more space in the kitchen. The house isn't that big/wide that it needs multiple staircases.

The whole project needs to be considered together and not as individual components. This is the time to look at all options that would make the house "perfect" for the way we live today.

I would get an Interior Designer and/or architect to come up with several concepts/options. Use those concepts to get base pricing from your contractor, so you can make the best decision.

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Comments (8)

Sheena Tatem
Original Author
last month
Great advice! I agree to look at the house as a whole. We actually love the flow of the downstairs and dont want to change it, though - just need more space in the kitchen that we will need to get from the butlers pantry. The second staircase I agree isnt necessary but is one of the reasons I bought the house, I love it
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
last month
Adding dimensions to the drawing plus some photos of the existing space would help us help you. I understand you like the double stair but moving the entrance to it to the dining seems possibly awkward and puts it adjacent to the Main stair?
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Sheena Tatem thanked HALLETT & Co.
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
last month
The space looks too narrow for an island
Sheena Tatem thanked HALLETT & Co.
PRO
Minardi
last month
last modified: last month
You are wanting to substantially alter the structure of a balloon framed home. You need an architect who understands that type of building, and who has sympathy for them. And you also need to look at owning it lightly, as a custodian, with a restorationist mindset, rather than as a wrecking ball modernist tearing it apart. There's plenty of nothing special 90's open concept for that.
Sheena Tatem thanked Minardi
Julie S
last month
The prospective kitchen plan will be murder to cook in - you have the stove and sink on far opposite walls with a large barrier between them. Consider the logistics of getting to the sink every time you crack an egg into a pan and have to go rinse your fingertips, and that's just the beginning.

A 13' wide kitchen can sometimes support a narrow, no-seats island/worktable in the middle if the traffic walkways are sufficiently to the edges. A better, bigger, more labeled floorplan of the prospective kitchen would be helpful here, but my initial thought is to get your sink and stove both in an L at the lower left of the space, leave fridge where you have it, and turn the current sink wall into a 12 or 15" deep pantry/storage/drop zone wall.
Sheena Tatem thanked Julie S
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
last month
Start by removing the idea of an island from your head. Once that mental block to a decent kitchen design is gone, you can start working on a very functional broken-U design.

To anybody who wants to remove the secondary stair, it looks like the basement steps are stacked under it.
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dan1888
last month
The separation from the central hall/foyer and dual stairs is limiting. You need more square footage. there are two ways. Each extensive. One is to relocate the powder room into the new design and move the basement stair into that space. The middle stairs to both floors are removed. The entrance to the dining room is moved towards the old stars area. This gives a wall for an 'L' configured kitchen with island.

The other option is to expand the kitchen out into the outside space along the sink wall. This involves roof integration. Exterior views are necessary to consider how far to expand.