I think it looks great too - big windows!
can you have the lower cabs redone as drawers?
have the blind corner open into laundry room?

I think having the prep sink closer to window allows a good amount of prep space on the end counter.

have you thought about making that 'end' area an overhang space? you could tuck a stool under it to sit on while chopping if you want. You might even have a section hinged on the peninsula end to pull up at times if needed.

check the spacing for your fridge - in case you do have to replace it. Make sure to allow width for new one.

dw between sink/range - mine is like that and it doesn't bother me. of course, I seldom use the dw. If yours is running tho you could just prep on the peninsula.

you are blessed to have that extra storage in laundry and so close to the kitchen!

Here's a thought. If you could put the fridge where the broom closet is (either with a shrunken broom closet, or putting brooms in laundry area), then you would have more space in the kitchen. If wanted, you could do a corner sink in about the spot you have the sink drawn now. This would give you a little more counter between the sink and stove, and you might be able to keep your baking supplies in this area. The dishes could go in uppers were the fridge was. The d.w. could go to the left of the sink on the short L, or to the right. Either way, you'd want to have a narrow cab between the sink and d.w. to leave room to stand.

I will say I once had a sink up against an L (but it was a right hand L, and I'm a righty) and I felt crowded trying to use it. I like wide open spaces, though! ; )

I do like how you've delineated the spaces in this plan, separating the laundry from the kitchen more. : ) I agree that all of that pantry space would be awesome!

It’s fun to read all the ideas. I’ll try to answer all questions/comments:

@Jillius:

Window over range:
Sorry, I forgot to mention it. That is actually a backsplash made up of glass blocks, original to the house, currently covered by backsplash. I bought a new slide-in range just so they would be able to show and can’t wait until DH reveals them. I can't believe someone covered them up.

Peninsula Placement:
With the peninsula placed where I show it, we have 15’ 4” from edge of peninsula to yellow wall by entry. Centering the peninsula between the windows would lose just over 3 feet on the sitting/dining side and shrink that space too small for how I intend to use it.

How I have it gives us room for a loveseat and chair and my dining room table. The table won’t be centered in the room; it will either be next to the yellow wall by entry. And also allows me to put my new paints/easels next to the big dining room window. (I am going to learn to paint! Yay!!!) For our daily use, this will be fine as we rarely eat at a table. We plan on hanging the TV on the wall between the two windows.

When we have one or two couples for dinner, we can then temporarily move my easel and scoot the table out without having to move any of the other furniture. This placement would narrow walkways too much for every day but should be fine occasionally.

The real problem with making that space any smaller will be at bigger dinners/holiday meals with greater family where we would slide the loveseat and chair into the living room for extra seating there so we can center and expand the dining room table. Shrinking the space back to 12 feet means we can only seat 8 people at the dining room table. The extra 3 feet allows me to seat 10 and maybe squeeze 12 (tight squeeze but do-able depending on which family members we seat at the main table - some are quite large people, some slender). We then place card tables in the entry area for overflow table seating. I really want that bit of extra space to seat more at the main table and actually use all my extension leaves for the first time in this house.

Visually, I can see where you’re going with that but that would really limit the ability to multi-use the room.

And, yes, we have lovely views. The window over the sink looks out to our garden and our neighbor’s garden, then up the hill toward some other nice homes and lots of trees, and brings in nice morning light. The other two large windows on the “east” wall actually face south and bring in great light plus heat when the sun is shining in the winter and look down the hill over the town and the bay. I love the light and the views. Love.

I know you said you weren't making any structural changes, but I would think about taking out the wall between the kitchen and the laundry. You could extend the kitchen into that space, move the laundry down along the wall to the hallway.
Also, how do you plan to get into the bottom cabinet next to the sink? If you centered the sink under the window, maybe you could put a door on the front of that cabinet.
I don't understand whats going on with the upper cabinets over the stove in front of the window either.

@ Jillius, Part 2:

You have such brilliant ideas. Due to the shrinking this would do to the sitting/dining space, as discussed in my previous response, I just don’t see this working for us.

I’m reluctant to tear out the glass block backsplash. I LOVE glass blocks and they are so period appropriate to our MCM house and an original feature. Also, centering the range probably won't work anyway (see below for more explanation).

Extending fridge “south”: I see how this would benefit the sink corner. However, this would block the doorway to the laundry room. That’s probably my most used path in the house. I don’t see how I can access laundry/pantry conveniently without that door. I could go around but I love that we have a “circle” there and have two pathways to other parts of the house (through dining area or through laundry).

And the door can’t be moved down because the closets are major structural supports. The beams for both L’s of the house meet above the closets and carries most of the weight of the house. Any change to these means major support beams would need to be done, beyond our DIY skills, and is just not an option.

Oh, the broom closet door opens on the laundry side. The coat closet opens on the hall side. The dining area is just a wall.

Moving the door down would also make the already tight space in the dining/sitting area too broken up to have the extra comfortable seating along the wall.

Moving main sink/DW to under the other window: This is problematic for a couple of reasons. Directly under that window is the garage door. While there is some space between the garage door opener/track to place the one prep sink on the peninsula, that prep sink would be farther back from the wall and garage door opening. DH doesn’t see a good way to place plumbing directly on that window wall without interfering with the clearances needed for the garage door. The only way to move the clean-up sink/DW there would be to put them on a peninsula a few feet back from that wall. And that would add extra steps to put dishes away.

Also, that window is only 31” from the floor. I don’t mind just having a narrow peninsula backing up to it. We have a sloped driveway so the street below is about 20 feet below the window. A peninsula wouldn’t show too-too much from those looking up at the house. But an entire wall of cabinets under it would show too much to look good and require shortening that window. Which would mean we would need to shorten the dining room window as well or that wall would look really wonky from outside. I’m really reluctant to minimize those windows, especially the dining room ones, as this would mean that I would lose the ability to see my views when sitting down in those rooms.

I should probably explain further why the windows are so important to me. Our prior home was a beautiful Craftsman built in 1908 with all the original woodworking. The windows all faced north. That lack of direct light and the dark wood were issues for me that I didn’t even realize until we moved into this house. We live on the Washington state coast so much of the year we have gray skies and drizzle, if not pounding rain. And for years I suffered from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I was on anti-depressants and had to sit in front of a UV-light as much as possible. Even with those treatments, I would become almost debilitated during Jan-April. I have not been on anti-depressants or needed the UV light since living in this house. All the windows made a huge difference for me! So I really love my windows and am really not willing to lose a square inch of them.

In fact, during the early morning hours, I usually take my laptop out to the enclosed side porch off the laundry room, turn on the electric space heater for heat, and sit there until the sun moves a bit higher in the sky. That’s because the side porch gets the most delicious, direct morning light. I really crave the light. I know, I should probably live in Arizona, lol.

Back to your ideas!

Archways: They are lovely but would narrow the room a bit too much. The dining/sitting space is only 12-feet wide. An archway would cut into that and eliminate where we would place some of that seating. We are working with a space almost too small for what we’re trying to do with it as it is. Let’s just say, it will be cozy, lol.

Also, the home’s MCM architecture is very streamlined. The only moldings in the entire house are in the laundry room and I suspect the previous owners added them. Archways, especially with moldings, just don’t fit the style of the house.

Gosh, you do come up with beautiful ideas. I just wish your ideas fit our space better. I’m sorry you put so much time into ideas I can’t use. And I’m sorry my responses are so lengthy. There’s a reason my husband has nicknamed me Wordy, LOL.

@sena01: I was thinking we might put an overhang on a hinge that can be raised if needed or if we decided to make some changes to how we use that space. The option of an overhang would give us more flexibility in how we use the room but if it’s on a hinge, it wouldn’t be in the way all the time and use up space we could use for other purposes. I wasn’t planning on a permanent overhang as that would use up space I would prefer to have for loveseat/chair-type seating. In order to not have the prep sink water splash someone sitting in the loveseat, we were planning on putting up a small frosted glass backsplash just behind the sink.

Since we rarely sit at a table now to eat when it’s just the two of us, going over to the dining room table on the other side of the room should be fine for us. But I recognize there might be occasions when that extra overhang and seating around the peninsula would be handy. Oi, decisions, decisions.

Question: If we did move DW/clean-up sink to the peninsula, wouldn’t this cause more congestion with the cook? Especially when the clean-up person would be putting dishes away since the clean-up would cross paths with cook. If clean-up remains in current space, the DW could be loaded/unloaded and cook still has ample space with the 54” aisle to work in the cook/prep area, access fridge, leave kitchen space without being in the way of clean-up. And most items clean-up person needs to put away would be in the cupboards to left of sink (on wall between fridge and window). So no steps and not in way of cook.

The opening of the fridge does impede on the clean-up person’s space but this is only a few moments a day and hasn’t been a huge issue in the 4 years we’ve been here. A very minor, occasional annoyance but a very minimal one. And when we replace the side-by-side with a single-door fridge-on-top, with hinges on left, the door swing won’t bother someone at the main sink at all.

Is my thinking about this issue whacky? Am I missing something?

Just a note, though I know it won't change the other problems with the idea, but if you have a u-shaped kitchen, your dining room table could extend all the way into the kitchen during big gatherings. You could probably seat 12-15 easy.

@desertsteph:

At one time, we were going to tear out all the cabinets and replace them. Then I realized that they are a quality, all wood, custom construction that I just can’t justify spending the money on replacing. If we did that, I would put in all drawers on the bottom. Since we’re not replacing, I’m adding after-market pull-outs to the cabinets without them. A few of the lower bottom shelves already have custom pull-outs original to the cabinetry but not the upper bottom shelves. (Does that make sense?)

I will put mostly drawers in the new peninsula.

I was thinking of peninsula prep sink being as close to the window as we can put it makes sense. I’m glad you mentioned that as I was unsure. Actual placement depends, as mentioned previously, on the garage door openers/rails and where best my husband can thread the plumbing through them.

This would also allow us more space there for putting out appetizers or placing serving dishes when we move the table out to the center of the room for larger dinner parties so we could reach over there for dishes to pass around the table.

Our current fridge is 34”. Unfortunately, we can’t go wider unless the fridge is intruding on the door to laundry. Or we shorten that L-part of the counter and I’m reluctant to do that due to needing that space for someone standing at the sink. I’ve checked specs and many of the top fridge/bottom freezer styles, both single door and french doors, are in the 33-34” range so I think that will be fine and will have to do.

I love the idea of putting an overhang on the end of the peninsula on a hinge that can be lifted as needed. This would mean I could sit on a stool while prepping and look out at the view and watch a bit of TV (which we plan to mount on the wall space between the two large windows on the long wall). This wouldn’t work when there are two+ working in the kitchen but most of the time, it’s usually just me so that would work great when I’m cooking solo. Awesome! Thanks for that idea.

The DW between sink and range is a headache right now because that’s our only sink. If two of us are working in the kitchen together, it means one can’t load/unload DW while someone is cooking without fighting for space and it drives us crazy. That space is also the prime prep real estate right now. The peninsula sink and prep space should eliminate that congestion. And the 54” aisle should allow for cook to walk around that area just fine even if DW door is open.

We currently have an old chest of drawers sitting in the kitchen where we are planning on putting the peninsula and do pretend cooking with the two of us using the space to ensure that there is adequate space without feeling crowded and it seems to be fine for us. 54” is a bit wider than recommended but we like that extra space and think an extra step between prep area/sink to range is worth the extra roominess.

@desertsteph:

Forgot to answer this. The pantry storage on the wall in laundry is original to the house and all built-in. If we put an opening to laundry there, we would have to tear those out. At one time we were planning on doing that but it really made my heart hurt. They are such nice quality construction and still look and work as if brand new even though they are 66 years old. I would like to keep them as is which, of course, means no changing the doorway to the blind corner area.

This post was edited by funkycamper on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 13:50

@kalapointer:

My first kitchen plans, soundly thrashed by most GWebbers, were based around removing the wall between kitchen and laundry. It really made for a long, narrow space that was hard to make into an efficient work area. And even when I was planning that, it made me sad to lose the original built-in pantry wall. It’s also a load-bearing wall. Putting in a beam on that short wall would be relatively easy to do but the loss of the original pantry wall makes me sad. I love retaining as much of the original structure as possible as long as it is in good condition and worth keeping and I think this pantry wall qualifies.

The current blind corner by sink works OK for us. We have enough other storage that we only put things in the blind corner that we rarely use. Mainly the turkey roaster, bundt cake pan, and a layered cake pan (where each tier is smaller). There is an opening in the cabinet under the sink so we can also access that blind corner from the sink cabinet and then we can actually see what’s on those shelves instead of just blindly reaching. It just means moving the garbage can under the sink to gain that access. Since I use those items so rarely, I wash them before use. I would do that even if the garbage can wasn’t close by. We’ve never had any bugs or critters so it’s really not that gross of an issue.

The window above the stove is actually a glass block backsplash. I probably should have just left it out of the planner as I know it makes it look confusing.

@ Jillius re U vs. Peninsula and dining space issue:

I have thought about that and have struggled with this. I just think the every day lack of decent prep space trumps the dining space. I had originally considered a peninsula on caster wheels that could be wheeled into the laundry area after most meal prep is done during large family gatherings which would allow for more space for the table to be fully extended.

But then I wouldn't have the extra prep sink which would still mean sink congestion. And, to be honest, that's by far the most irritating issue with my current kitchen. The only time my DH and I really grumble is when one of us is cooking and the other wants to load/unload DW. Or has a sink full of dishes when the other wants to wash vegetables. It's very irritating. So the peninsula sink seems like it would really resolve the major kitchen problem we have. In fact, the sink on the peninsula is more important to me than the extra prep space it will be bring (although that will be nice, too).

The fridge clearance behind the sink is a very small annoyance and hardly worth mentioning in comparison.

The opening between dining and entry is 5 feet and the entry can hold two card tables pushed together giving us seating for six more people. That gives us more than enough sitting for the 2-3x a year we need it. And all diners can still see each other from all seats except for the couple nearest the kitchen peninsula and the couple sitting at the card tables closest to the opening to the hall. Does that make sense? The corner blocks the views of just those few people but everybody else has open views and can converse. Although, yeah, some have their backs to each other.

In our family, we are actually the only ones that have table seating for everybody. When dining at the other homes, we all sit spread throughout the house with our dinner plates perched on our laps while the table is used to spread out the buffet. So I think this will work for us, although not perfect, and everybody is happy to have a place at an actual table.

@laughable

I have actually thought about putting the fridge there. However, the structural support for the roof on top of those closets would mean extra beaming. And the width is just barely 36" so it would just start meaning other structural changes, moving walls, etc., that we're not prepared to do and would like to avoid.

And it means open fridge doors blocks the doorway to laundry. I can't help but feel this would become irritating because we go through that door way a lot due to pantries being in there, doing laundry, quickest route to bathroom, letting dog in/out via side porch doors, etc.

I also hate to lose any space in that broom closet as it is the only place big enough for the vacuum and a few other bigger items (like Costco-sized packages of paper towels on the upper shelf). I would have to store the vacuum in the coat closet or one of the bedroom closets. The rest of the pantry shelves are only 11" deep so bigger items don't fit in them. But they great for canned goods, extra baking supplies, extra dishes/glassware, etc.

I really don't find the current sink placement a problem...except when we both need it at the same time so the prep sink should solve that problem. And I like having the blind corner hidden by the fridge as any items I hand wash are put on a drying mat in that corner counter area. This way you don't see them when looking straight into the kitchen. Countertop clutter drives me batty so that's a good thing.

Good grief, I'm long-winded!

I just want to think everybody who has posted. I know I'm doing a lot of "that won't work" responses. But that doesn't mean that I'm totally negating your ideas. I'm going to take some time to further ponder all your ideas. I really do appreciate them.

GWebbers are the best!

And thanks for your compliments regarding our windows and pantry space. I do love them, too.

Also thought I should mention that we have excavated down through two layers of flooring and have revealed the almost pristine, like new original linoleum floors. I love them. Yes, LOVE! This is another reason why removing the wall or changing some of the spaces is something I'm reluctant to tackle. Around the edges of the counters, pantries in laundry, and the perimeter of the room is a lovely inlaid red line. I don't want to obscure that. It's a lovely touch. I'll take photos when some of the mess is cleaned up to share with you. And once I'm done scrubbing off the rest of the floor. Lots of layers of glue and old yellowed wax. But what I've revealed so far is fantastic.

OK, I'll shut up now, lol.

Could you post pictures of the space? That would probably help a lot. Particularly if you could show how you are using the larger dining room space? That is hard for me to picture.

I like the idea of the u-shape that was mentioned. It seems to make the most out of the space, but I'm not clear on what is windows or not. You have some covered up. This gets you separate zones and plenty of space to walk around too. Plus you can extend dining towards the area if needed.

{{gwi:2135033}}

Jillius, the place is kinda torn up right now for pictures but I'll take some in the next couple of days. I need to do it when it's daylight because some of our lighting is currently disconnected and we're using clamp-on shop lights hung wherever. Too much glare for taking good photos.

I do have a potential floorplan here for you to look over. The two items marked "small sofas" are actually two IKEA islands from the Varde series but they are within inches of being the exact measurements of the small sofas we have to put there. A tad bigger than a loveseat but not as big as most sofas. If we feel this is too crowded, we can put one of the sofas elsewhere and have a couple cute occasional chairs that we could put in the room instead.

None of the available tables/chairs in the IKEA planner are the exact right size as our table but the ones I used are fairly close. When all the leaves are out, our table is just a few inches shorter and 4" wider.

There is 34" from the edge of the dining room window to the yellow wall separating from the entry so there is room for someone to sit there but not room to walk behind. We could easily move the table when entertaining one or two couples.

The small sofas are easy to move and we have a few places in the house where we could store them if we need the table to be centered in the room with all the extensions. In fact, our front room is fairly large...about 18x22...so if we have a big crowd we could even move furniture around in there and add them to that room for extra seating, in a pinch. We will probably replace the legs with small casters to make them even easier to move.

Hope this helps you visualize it better. I'll try to get pictures up in the next day or two.

And thanks again!

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lyfia, hopefully this will answer your confusion about my kitchen windows.

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I really can't see putting the range in front of that window. As the window actually starts about 31" from floor, the backside of all that will show through the window. As would the back of the hood which would also block some of my light and views. And this window is on the front of the house so it's not the view I'd like people to see when the come over.

Below the kitchen and dining rooms is the double garage. The doors for the garage are on that wall where you've placed the stove. I would love to have my prep sink there and when DH squeezes out the time, he will do some measure to see if there is clearance between the ceiling of the garage and the garage door openers/track to put a sink there or on the peninsula. We may be quite limited on where plumbing can go but won't know for sure until he measures. He doesn't believe he'll be able to do this until later in the month (working lots of overtime right now).

I'm sure hoping it works as it would solve our major pet peeve of fighting for the sink.

Question for everyone: If a sink can be placed where lyfia has the stove, would that be too far from the fridge for a prep sink? They would be about 9 feet apart.

And here's a drawing of looking at the windows towards the kitchen from the dining area. Again, the "window" running under the cabinets along the backsplash are actually glass blocks.

Ignore the colors and cabinet styles. The only thing that looks kinda like what I actually have is the range. I'm only using the IKEA planner for layout purposes.

{{gwi:2135036}}

Thanks for the suggestions!

You have a good handle in what is and isn't functional in this kitchen. The right half is functional, the left half has issues because the fridge is crowding the sink and the dishwasher is on the less convenient side of the sink.

Those aren't nothing, but everybody has to compromise in their kitchens.

For me, the larger issue here is actually aesthetic. Nothing lines up with anything or fits in the space it is in.

The fridge is blocking a window. The peninsula is taller than another window, and its placement on the window is quite random -- it isn't centered on or lined up with anything. The lines of the uppers and hood are fighting with the horizontals of the glass backsplash. The uppers do not line up with the ceiling, the top of the sink window, or the left side of the backsplash. And one of the uppers doesn't even line up with the other two. There is no clear place to focus your eye, and no repeated lines or shapes to create some order. It just looks a bit frenetic.

Immediately, a clear improvement would be a single horizontal line of short upper cabinets above the glass backsplash instead of the multi-height uppers you have. (Possibly with the top level of the new uppers lined up with the top of the sink window.)

A single-line horizontal cabinet like the one this guy is installing:

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In essence, it would be a line that points to the big sink window, making that window the clear focal point, like the blue area on the American flag being pointed at by all the stripes.

And that horizontal cabinet shape would echo the shape of the backsplash. Repetition of elements makes things look like they are deliberate and belong.

That sink window also needs to have room to breathe on the left. What I would like to do is recess the fridge into the wall behind it totally. So the fridge door is essentially flush with the wall in the kitchen. Then I would remove all other cabinets in the fridge wall, and just have the sink wall cabinets die directly into the fridge wall without turning the corner.

Now there is lots of breathing room next to the sink window and the sink. Everything on the north and left wall fits easily in its space, which makes placement look deliberate and designed.

I am aware this pushes the fridge recess in front of the laundry window, it doesn't fix how the peninsula placement looks random, and the dishwasher is still on the wrong side. But your sink is no longer so crowded by the fridge, and the kitchen would look a lot better.

I am sure there is an overall better plan than what I just said, but the concepts themselves are things you should be considering. Line things up with other things. Repeat shapes. Make sure everything fits easily.

I will try to come up with an overall better plan for you in a bit, but I have to get back to work! Pictures of the space in any state would help A LOT. Kitchen, laundry, dining, and everything.

Is the view from the laundry window also nice?

What about making the peninsula deeper, and putting the stove in the peninsula?

Then you could slide the sink over to the right a bit on the other wall, getting it out of the corner, and also get a longer run of prep space on the counter to the right of the sink.

Another potential option. Just have to decide on the trade offs you're willing to make. I put an island and thinking it could be a movable one so you could push against the wall if needed out of the way. With the stove on the left it would be nice to have another path into the kitchen to access the fridge where I put it.

I tried considering the views from your windows and since the glass block is cool, but doesn't offer any views it was the sacrificial lamb and you could keep some of it if you wanted over the DW. Here your prep space is between sink and stove in front of the view of the gardens. The island is another prep space and you can then have a view out the other window. Since it starts only 31" from the floor I wouldn't cover that with cabinets. You can also look out at the gardens while you are at the stove and the DW is not in the middle of your working space with the exception of getting things from the fridge, which should be a very short amount of time in the bigger scheme of things.

{{gwi:2135039}}

What is on the other side if the wall from the laundry machines? Is that an exterior wall?

I actually meant that the fridge could be tucked into the broom closet area and the door of the fridge could swing into the dining area (fridge handle being closest to kitchen). If needed, a header could go over the fridge. There should still be room above the fridge for an upper to hold gobs of paper towels and the like. The remaining part of the broom closet could be accessed as a tall skinny pullout. If the vac wouldn't fit, maybe it could go in the coat closet.

That said, lyfia's plan above has merit. Since the island is smaller in that plan (with no prep sink), a work-around for the sink issue could be to install 2 faucets on one good sized sink on the outside cab run.

I've had a hectic day. Took pictures but don't have time to post them. Will try to get them up tomorrow.

I'm also considering the new suggestions and will review previous suggestions. I realize I need to more carefully consider them and not do such knee-jerk "but that won't work" responses.

Thanks so much for the time you've all put into helping me out. I'll post photos as soon as possible and hope they'll help.

I really like the idea of putting two faucets on a double sink and then also being careful with the drain plumbing underneath the left side sink in the plan above would allow you to have trash pull out under the sink there to maximize space and allow access for cleanup and prep to it. I have this setup minus the two faucets and it works good for us even with a single faucet although there is some overlap with faucet use at times so adding two faucets would really help that. You could do one as a pull out spray faucet and the other a regular to have the best of two worlds too. You also have more counter space than me on the prep side. The DW side is the same as I have. You might have a couple of more inches. I do have a 36” sink cabinet, but I wish it was smaller as I only have 30” of prep space next to the sink. In my case a few inches would help. Guess I could have picked a smaller sink too and it would also help.

Photos!

Here is a picture with the fridge somewhat blocking the window. The wall between kitchen/dining is not totally down. You can see a bit of it to the right. I think the upper cabinets/window align better with some linear elements to tie them together than the IKEA rendering made it look. Or am I experiencing decor blindness?

The OTR microwave is going. I'd like an invisible hood, probably one of those slide-out ones with only the a couple inches extending from the cabinet.
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Here is another shot with fridge moved across the room showing how it would look without fridge there.
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It does look nicer. I am still considering some of the other suggestions for fridge placement.

We can inset a fridge a few inches into the wall. Not sure how far until we do some demo there. Summit and Blomberg make Liebherr-style fridges at a price point I'm comfortable with. The Summit one I'm looking at is bottom freezer/single door and 23.5" deep. If we could inset it a couple of inches, it would be back 2-3" from front of counter so it would open up that space a bit. And we could put the hinges on the left so there would be no door opening into the space of someone standing at the sink as it would swing the other direction.

Below is a poor mock-up of about how far out the Summit fridge would be. Depending on how far we can inset it, it might be a tad farther back from the front of the counter.

I also really like how the footprint of the Summit or Blomberg would fit inside the red edging of the original linoleum we exposed. Also imagine that the side of the fridge would be covered with some kind of cover panel or thin wall so I think it would visually recede a bit more? Thoughts?
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We are in love with the original linoleum we've exposed and meticulous scrubbed numerous layers of old, yellowed wax and glue off of. Especially that red border. That is one of the issues making me hesitant to change the current cabinet footprint. I know! I'm placing limitations that may prevent creating a more functional space.

More pictures to follow.

This post was edited by funkycamper on Fri, Jan 9, 15 at 13:54

Here's the dining area from a few different angles.

Lucy has laid claim to the sofa, lol. We took off the plaster that the PO's put over the original wood walls. We're going to try to refinish it. If that doesn't work, I'm going to visit a couple places I've found that sell architectural woods and may have similar paneling (from what I can tell in photos on their website). We love the wood. That wall and the window wall will be wood. We are keeping the plaster just on that back wall as shown because this kind of plaster work is almost impossible to get done anymore. Research I've done leads me to believe that the only places that do it are the super high-end finishers or unless you find some really old guy who did it "back in the day". Friends with a thriving plaster business tell us that they don't even have the equipment to do this kind of work anymore nor the training to do it. So we thought we should save one wall of it for posterity. And it makes for an accent wall.
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More Lucy. That horrid chandy will be replaced!
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Dining room from entry, showing the view.
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More of the view. Sorry for the reflections.
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Here's some of the wood in the hallway that was not plastered over so you can see the look we want for the dining/kitchen walls. We pulled up that carpet and found that great, original linoleum in pristine condition. It doesn't really show in the photo but it has a black inset near the border, similar to the red one in the kitchen. Love it. We just need to add back some molding on the edges. And that buffet is usually elsewhere and is just there now to be out of the way of all the work we're doing. So the hallway is usually uncluttered and is a spacious 53" wide..

Anyway, that is the wood look we want to recreate that was covered up. What were they thinking? They tried to make a MCM house into a traditional home and it just doesn't work, imho.
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Laundry room. Pantry wall to right. Original upper cabinets on left. The wood cabinet is usually where the red trashcan is.
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This is a cabinet from the original kitchen. Currently in the basement. It's in nice condition and we'll be putting it under the laundry room window. I'd like to have custom cabinets built from the left of this cabinet to the wall in the style of the pantry cabinets instead of using that wood cabinet. More storage and I think it would look more congruent and really make this charming little knotty pine cabinet stand out better. If the kitchen still had the original cabinets, I probably wouldn't be changing anything except updating appliances, if needed.
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And a couple views from kitchen sink window. Laundry room views are the same, just from a few feet over. We often have deer, unless Lucy is out. And tons of birds.
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Kind of an interesting situation with that white house. it was built in 1939 and the first one on this hill. Their children (now in their 70's) don't live in the area but have kept the home for occasional use. So there are people in the house a few days a month and the rest of the time it's vacant. We're welcome to use the yard as our own and they have a gardening service so the yard is maintained.

We're shielded from the road that runs behind our house by a 12-foot embankment with a tall hedge at the top, and there aren't a lot of homes up that road so there is little traffic or road noise anyway. No through streets so just residents and visitors. We have no houses on the other side of our house and our street is a dead-end so it's very peaceful here.

We used to live on a very busy street just off a major road. The only views were cars and other houses, which were way too close as the lots were platted very narrow. So we're really enjoying living here with the quiet, the extra elbow room, and the views.

Last comments and then I gotta go get some work done.

I'm still mulling all the ideas you've given me and will try to comment on them tonight or over the weekend.

I should have mentioned this in my photos of current kitchen. We are planning on taking out the middle of the cabinet doors on all uppers to replace with glass and putting lighting inside the cabinet to the left of the range to display some of my colorful serving pieces, vintage from childhood Smiley Pig cookie jar, and one of my favorite childhood toys Piggy Cook. Just a touch of color and whimsy. The other doors would have glass but no lighting. We are also planning on painting the cabinets but haven't figured out a color yet. Something that will coordinate with the linoleum. Before we excavated it, we were planning on turquoise or light blue but the floor is pale yellow background with greens and reds so we obviously need a different color story.

Thanks again and hope the photos help.

I think it's so cool you found so much "buried treasure" in your house. Especially the glass block backsplash - would love to see that when it's revealed.

You are right also, the sink does look centered in your pictures - the Ikea diagram was a little deceptive.

If you move the fridge to the opposite side, where would you put your second sink/prep area? Would the fridge there block light from the window on that side?

I'm relatively new to GW and still learning a lot myself, but I think you've got wonderful space to work with.

What kind of window covering -if any- are you planning for the kitchen?

I don't know if they would be appropriate for your house, but if you were to use top down-bottom up shades, that would allow you to have something taller against or close to that front window, if you were to keep the shades just couple of inches 'up' from the bottom of the window.

You have a great space to work with! And that view is killer! Are you in the East Bay?

I appreciate the suggestions and comments. I hope I’ve responded to everybody below and not forgotten anyone. I have taken a lot of things you’ve all suggested and worked out a new plan. I’ll work on getting the new plan uploaded later tonight. I hope you’ll all watch for it and critique it for me. Thanks in advance!

@laughable - Oh, the fridge facing the dining area. I see. I do kinda hate to break up that wall though. Although I spoke with DH about using that closet space for a narrow fridge, more a Liebherr-style. You definitely got me thinking about how to utilize it and I have a new idea to share so you’re suggestion got me thinking.

And double-faucets on one sink. I’ve seen that but never thought to consider it for my own kitchen. Big thanks for that idea!

@Jillius - I never thought about the aesthetics of that fridge being in the way of that window before. I’m so used to it being there and cutting off that view that it never occurred to me that it was an issue I should deal with. Thanks for pointing that out. I think get so used to things that I become blind to them so I appreciate the fresh eyes.

On the other side of the W/D wall is our main bathroom.

Wow, thanks for the new layout! You put a lot of good thought into that. When I worked on my first plans that included tearing down the wall between kitchen/laundry, the room was too wide for a galley layout. It never dawned on me to actually move things closer together for a more workable galley. Hmmmm…..I need to spend some time doing pretend cooking with this.

I LOVE your furniture grouping ideas for the dining/sitting side. It looks nice and I LOVE the multi-use options, I really do. I’m not inclined to get another dining room table. The table, chairs and buffet go together and were my grandparents, bought about 1953. (Buffet will sit in the entry.) My grandparents lived with us when I was small before they passed on so that was the dining set I grew up with and that my parents used until dad passed and mom moved into a senior housing apartment. Strong sentimental attachment. But I can make your ideas work with that table as well, right?

@mericson - I do think the stove on the peninsula makes for better work flow. I’m not real fond of island hoods though. And I understand downdrafts don’t work very well. I appreciate the idea though and will think about it.

@lyfia - I also see how your suggestion for moving the fridge improves work flow. I’m just so attached to revealing those glass blocks. DH is going to free them tomorrow, fingers crossed. If they don’t look as awesome as I think they will, I’ll give your idea closer consideration. I do have to admit that I’ve never seen a fridge I like the looks of, except those cute little SMEGs which have poor reviews. If I could afford it, I’d have a built-in and hide it. Most fridges that they try to pretty up just look like putting lipstick on a pig to me, lol.

@llucy - I’m glad someone shares my enthusiasm for the glass blocks! If I did choose to move the fridge there, the wall is set back enough where it shouldn’t block any light from that window nor the view.

@rina - re window coverings. The only reason why I’ve kept that shade over the sink is because, for now, we’ve got that little TV there and the light casts glare on it. Once we have hung a flat-screen on the wall between the two windows more in the dining/sitting area, we won’t have need for any window covering there. In fact, that’s the only window in my house with any kind of covering on it besides the bedrooms. So no plans for a window treatment. Yeah, I know fading will be an issue on some of my stuff. I’m cool with that. I’d rather deal with that than closing up the windows.

@pipdog - Thanks for the nice compliment about our space and views. East Bay? I don’t know even where that is. If I had to guess, San Francisco area? I live in a small, rural town that you’ve probably never heard of on the coast of Washington State. I’m guessing that where I live is nothing like East Bay, lol.

I’ve taken everybody’s suggestions regarding workflow and aesthetics and I think I may have created something pretty good that addresses all of them. It’s not perfect and there’s a few compromises but they are things that my DH and I believe would be easy to live with.

Note that the IKEA planner won’t let me put in a big sink with two faucets so the sinks look wonky. I’m thinking of a 36” Krause, 70/30 or 75/25. The big side will be to the left for clean-up and the smaller side to the right for prep. In the diagrams I reference getting a Kohler 45...then I priced it. Ouch!

Fridge will probably be a Summit or Blomberg which are less expensive tall, thin styles like the popular Liebherr. It will fit in broom closet facing the kitchen, door will swing toward pantry. Yes, there will be congestion there if someone wants to walk through that way while the fridge is open. People can’t wait or go around. The door doesn’t stay open that long, right?

I look forward to your feedback.

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View when first coming in from entry area.

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Using horizontal cabinets per Jillius's recommendation. If I go this route, I don't know if I'd do an "invisible" hood or if I'd do shorter horizontals with a hood like the room above on each side.

Note: IKEA doesn't have a horizontal narrow enough to fit on the left side of the window so imagine that it's not really jutting out into the window.

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Hi Funky,

Great to read about your progress! I'm liking your peninsula plan. What if you put the dishwasher and clean-up sink there, with the window sink for prep? If you have the dishwasher open next to the wall, it will not be in anyone's way. The drawers on the right of that sink could hold your dishes.

On the stove wall, you might then want to rearrange your recycled cabinets and stove so the open oven and dishwasher don't conflict. (You'd also need to find something to fill in the dishwasher space.) I looked for your plan in my IKEA stash, but didn't find it or I'd show you. But that was back in your wall-removal phase anyway.

When you box in your fridge, it might not seem like such a hulk - but the broom closet location has a lot of pluses.

Good to hear about your painting career and your sunshine.

If you go the horizontal upper cabinet route, I wouldn't put one of any size to the left of the window. And I'd make the one above the glass backsplash the same length as the backsplash.

I would start again with that view and raise the windows so you can get a sink on that view wall. That view is serious eye candy in addition to being worth a fortune. I would also add windows all the way across the view wall. Not big wide windows that require a fortune in engineering and wouldn't work with your exterior but a wall of lovely counter height windows. I really think you should reconsider this point as everything is just trying to work around the constraints imposed by the existing windows and nothing is really satisfying you. I would leave the stove on the short wall and while an island seldom makes sense, it would here. I would add a long island with seating facing out all the windows.

Like huango's windows...

Practigal, I have been thinking about that too. Funkycamper, you didn't want to lose any light by shortening the windows, but you would end up with more light than you have now if you shorten them and then add some.

You also wanted to make sure you can still see the view while sitting. I would be astonished if you could not. My bedroom window is counter height, and I can still see parts of our view while lying down in a low bed. When I'm sitting, I can see everything without issue. I would suggest taping paper or cardboard to the bottom of your window at counter height and seeing this for yourself.

Lastly, running plumbing to that wall and how it interferes with the garage tracks. Are you sure your husband is correct about this? Why wouldn't the plumbing be run through the joists? Garage door tracks are usually mounted to the ceiling surface and shouldn't interfere with running plumbing through joist bays at all. I am not even sure how plumbing could go inside tracks? Did you mean between them? Perhaps you could ask a licensed plumber to take a look and suggest alternative methods of getting plumbing where you want it. There is always a way.

Putting the right window wall back on the table would make such a difference to the functionality and beauty of the kitchen, and a wall of windows with that view would be so dramatic.

I am not good at all at designing - actually trying to learn from all of you by reading these forums.

I have couple of questions:
1.I understand OP doesn't want to loose the window by 'blocking' it with cabs. But every window presents different line at the bottom. Glass block is at the counter height; the window on left of it is few inches shorter and the large (front?-good view) window is lower than either of the 2. Wouldn't it be better to have at least 2 true windows (not the glass block) be same height from the floor? Then cabs would fit under that large window, and only 1 would have to be replaced.

Or have all 3 at the counter level - that would mean 2 windows have to be replaced - more $ involved. But the large window would be only few inches shorter than it is now.

2. Is there enough room to center the range in the middle of glass block? It seems to me 'off' by being more to the right end of it (am I obsessing about centering things???)
I also agree that horizontal cabinets over the glass block would look very nice, or even the open shelves.
They (cabinets or shelves) could be on either side of the hood.

@tbb123: Hey there! I only have a painting career if someone will buy stick figures, LOL! Nice to see you here. I’ve missed seeing your creative layouts at the old, much missed IF site. It never dawned on me to put the peninsula in the plan with the fridge in the broom closet. That would give me more counter space than I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not sure I’d know what to do with it all but it would be fun trying. I’ll play with that idea.

@Jillius: Yes to your suggestion for how to use the horizontals if I go that route. Will need to play more with hood options but that can wait until final layout, right?

I gotta say that I do like your new plan merging kitchen/laundry. However, we’ve become married to the idea of preserving the pantry wall and using the revealed linoleum. I love that floor almost as much as I like the glass blocks. Sorry you put so much effort into an idea I will have to nix. I really appreciate your efforts and kind donation of time.

DH and I spent quite a bit of time this morning poking around in the garage tracing existing plumbing lines to see how we can tie things in. We have a false ceiling in the garage that needs to come out so we can better see the clearances. We have steel beams running the direction the plumbing needs to go; the wooden joists run the other direction. If these were reversed, the plumbing issue would be easier. The garage ceiling is relatively high so plumbing could be run under the steal beams but above the garage door system. We need to do better measures of what height clearance we have and the distance lines would need to run to ensure there’s enough height for the lines to drop for proper drainage. The plumbing lines then go into the cement floor of the garage and run under the concrete driveway down to the city lines. This all makes the plumbing issue a tad more complicated to deal with.

And thanks for the cardboard idea for playing with window sizes.

@practigal: Interesting idea on the windows. I never thought of expanding them. The would be cool. I am uncomfortable with the cost of doing that as, in our area, our view is NOT worth a fortune as it’s known as “the Appalachia of Washington”. Our logging and commercial/sport-fishing industries tanked in the 80’s and we have never recovered. Even though the location and homes on our hill are considered some of the nicer ones in the area, most sell for only about $125-200k. And that’s if you can find a buyer because of the severe wage stagnation here. Buyers for homes over $100k become scarce. And housing prices have barely increased since the mid-80’s. We didn’t even really feel the effects of the 2008 crash because we were already in a long-term crash. However, we’re also not seeing the recovery other areas are seeing so it’s hard to justify that extra expense. Even though we plan on being here for a long time, probably our forever, we need to keep our own spending down as we are nearing our own retirement years and need to stretch our bucks.

I’m not sharing all that for a pity-party but, rather, so you understand why I’m trying to be very careful and frugal with the remodeling budget. Anyway, it’s a wonderful idea so I am not ruling it out and will play with the idea.

@rina: Good point on the bottoms of the windows being at different heights. Another one of those things I’m so used to that I haven’t thought much about it. Hmmmmm….I’ve always wanted the window over the sink to be counter height. Love that look. Convincing DH might take some schmoozing.

I think if we did we move the current sink or make it a small prep sink, it would be easy to center the range. Another visual issue that I didn’t notice until you pointed it out. Thanks for pointing that out, too. A smaller sink there would mean there is still enough prep space between prep sink and range. So...clean-up sink to peninsula then?

@Everyone: While DH is cutting out sections of the garage ceiling, I guess I’ll be playing with these new ideas. Thanks to all of you. You’re all awesome!

If the only issue to altering the pantry wall is not having the linoleum running where the wall is, I wonder if there could be a creative way to patch it there.

With wood floors, there is often a transition piece running between rooms, like this:

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You often see a strip of tile running like that too. Surely something could be fashioned for a linoleum floor. Transition pieces come in all materials and colors. Just pick something that doesn't stand out, and you'd be fine.

It's starting to look better. Just make sure that you have enough space to slide the fridge into its new space. The aisle needs to be wider than the depth of the fridge.

I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I'll throw it into the mix and it can be evaluated. What about running a lowered counter under the window that is below counter height. I was looking for an example on Houzz, and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. But, I did find this. It does have 2 faucets, but I'm not sure how practical a vessel sink is in a kitchen. It's interesting fodder, anyway. ; ) I also found some undercabinet windows that reminded me of your soon to be seen glass blocks, so, there's some free eye candy for you, too.

[{{gwi:2135066}}[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/oak-scullery-farmhouse-kitchen-london-phvw-vp~18821620)

[Farmhouse Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/farmhouse-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2114) by South West Kitchen Designers & Remodelers Artichoke

[{{gwi:2135067}}[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-oak-scullery-contemporary-kitchen-london-phvw-vp~18821707)

[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by South West Kitchen Designers & Remodelers Artichoke

[{{gwi:2135068}}[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/pacific-nw-mid-century-kitchen-remodel-midcentury-kitchen-seattle-phvw-vp~5480694)

[Midcentury Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/midcentury-modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2115) by Seattle Design-Build Firms Crescent Builds

@Jillius - Sometimes I need a whop on the side of the head. Yes, transitions. I bet I could even find some red linoleum that would match up with the red border. I'm still rather hesitant about losing the pantry wall but a cool transition makes that idea more palatable. Thanks!

@lyfia - The doorway is 36". The Liebherr-style fridges I'm looking at are both roughly 28" wide (and 6.5 feet tall). So there is plenty of room for door swing. Thanks for making me double-check that.

@laughable - Thanks for the eye candy. I actually think we can get away with having a peninsula butting up to that window, even though it's lower because there's no moldings around any of these windows but, rather, MCM-style quarter rounds so the wall just rounds into the window without anything to break the eye. The IKEA planner won't let me show things that way. Also, I remeasured and the windows are only 33" fro the floor, not 31" like I originally reported, so the difference between counter height and window is a tad less and may be less jarring to the eye?

Progress report:
Oh, my, part of the garage ceiling is down and my DH is exhausted. Instead of sheetrock or hardi-board or something like that, there was a stuff that looked almost like thick, painted cardboard to me which was then nailed to 1/2" plywood. And inside there is both roll insulation and blown in. I wish I could get him to keep a mask on when he's working with that. I feel like a nag reminding him. So I spent a couple of hours just scooping up the falling insulation while he cut out the plywood. So it's been hard, messy work. Fun, fun, fun!

But he got enough down to see what he has to work with and there's good clearances and he believes it won't be a problem running any plumbing, wherever I decide to put it. So that's the good news.

After dinner, he decided he was sick of the garage and decided to start taking down the rest of the wall between kitchen and dining. This house is built to survive a bomb. Seriously. First the plaster which is super hard. Hitting it as hard as you can with a hammer barely leaves a dent. Yes, bomb-proof I tell ya. Running through the plaster there are thousands of small wires so wire mesh must have been part of the install process. Under that is the 1/4" original wood walls. Under that is more 1/2" plywood.

There were plugs in that part of the wall and we don't really know what all wiring is on the same lines and such. So turning off the power to that turned off power to the phone/internet in another room and the hallway lighting and few other miscellaneous plugs in the hall and entry. And the bathroom light over the medicine cabinet. Not the ceiling one, thankfully. It took us awhile to find working plugs to plug extension cords into for the clip-on shop lighting we're using now to see at night. We only have two plugs in the kitchen and wanted to save those free to make coffee and toast and such. Yes, we are seriously going to add more plugs to the kitchen.

Thank goodness our breaker box has a lot of empty places.

DH was hoping to reveal the glass blocks today but there's not enough time and energy for that, too. We did start on before he decided to work on the wall but once most of the laminate backsplash was peeled off, we discovered that it was glued to more 1/2" plywood which runs all the way down the wall and up, behind both lower and upper cabinets. So the cabinets will have to be removed before we get to do that reveal.

Oh, the joys of remodeling, eh? At least it's good to see some progress made. Every little step makes me happy. So no time to work on the plans. I did take time to make DH a nice, home-made apple pie. Thought he deserved a little reward.

Oh, you should have seen the look on DH's face when I casually said "we might want to revisit tearing down the laundry room wall".after he finally called it a night, and was enjoying his pie. If looks could kill, LOL.

Probably the same look my husband had when my sister suggested we could take a family trip to Bath for the Jane Austen Festival and wear period costumes for a week.

It was smart to make the pie. Remind him why he keeps you around.

Ha! Jillius, yes, pie works wonders. There’s a Jane Austen festival in Bath? With period costumes? I better wait until this remodeling project is done before I bring THAT idea up, LOL.

I haven’t ruled out your open floorplan and using transitions for the flooring but I’ve become quite attached to maintaining that pantry wall. We’re heading to the Big City for a few days. While my husband attends work meetings, I’m going to visit some kitchen/appliance showrooms. We basically just have Home Depot here so I haven’t done much looking around in person. I hope to glean some ideas from the things I see. I also think I’ll benefit from a few busy days away from planning so I can ponder things a bit.

In the meantime, I did do some tweaking incorporating some of the different suggestions here. I forgot to change anything about the window heights and don’t want to take the time now to go back and make those edits. If I can convince DH to change the window over the sink, I would like it lowered so it’s bottom aligns with the glass blocks. I always like that look of windows starting at counter height. I know these are a bit out-of-fashion now but I’ve always liked greenhouse-style windows and if the price doesn’t scare me off, would like to do that. Less water splashing on the windows and more room for an indoor herb garden. I’d like that. Or I was thinking we could just do a window bump-out. Either way, I’d love that additional counter space behind the sink.

I’m going to wait to bring up any window changes with him until all the rest of the heavy work is farther along. I don’t think he can eat enough pie to appease him if I throw more stuff at him right now!

Onto the tweaked plan: I centered the range where I believe the center of the glass blocks are (based on taking measurements from outside). Thank you, rina, for pointing that out. And added back in the peninsula with DW by window, clean-up sink, and wide drawer base for everyday dish/cutlery storage. Thanks, tbb123, for that idea.

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I can’t express how excited I am about all this counter space. It will be about double the amount I’ve ever had in my entire life, since we moved out of my childhood home when I was 13 anyway, way before I cooked or cared about such things. Also excited about having room for secondary prep and dedicated baking space. I may bake more. DH deserves more pies and other goodies with the work he will have done to create this. Moving the fridge makes a huge difference in the both functionality and visual appeal, doesn’t it?

I also like practigal’s suggestions but haven’t had time to play with them yet. If I don’t get to it before we leave tonight, I’ll work something up when we get back home later this week.

I look forward to your critiques. Thanks, again, for your generosity.

OMG, did I see some gorgeous things in show rooms in the Big City not available locally. Well, at least not on display locally. Saw some fridges that will work, some even in my price range. Faucets that I would have to sell my first born for but, wow, gorgeous and feel so good in the hand. Sinks, beautiful sinks. Twas fun. Also found some places with scads of tiles for my wall behind the hood.

Oh, bought a hood. 36" wide, no name brand, made especially for Albert Lee...an appliance company in business since 1939...made by Zephyr. I love the style and it runs quiet except on highest setting. So I'll just have to avoid burning anything so I'll not need that level often, lol. And on sale for $150 off their regular low price until the end of the week. I didn't feel like I could pass it up. Comparable to prices of lower-end models at HD but I believe it's a better quality. Upside-down T-shape which should mimic the horizontal lines of the glass blocks? Well, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

The IKEA planner has been really wonky today or I'd share with you a few tweaks I thought of and work up laughable's idea. I'm wondering if last minute Akurum shoppers are clogging up the planner bandwidth?

Did any of you get a chance to review my last plan? Post directly above? Thanks in advance!

I just want to thank you all again for your very valuable and most appreciated help. I've started a new discussion with the tweaks I've done based on your input. I hope you'll pop at the new thread but, of course, will understand if you're tired of my plan, lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: 3rd pitch: layout review requested (photo heavy)