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rjekce_gw

Meeting KD this weekend, want ideas before we go in!

rjekce
12 years ago

Hi Everyone - months and months ago we solicited feedback for the kitchen in a new house we are building. Home was supposed to be done on 12/15. Only good news I have is that the foundation was poured... last week. I was forewarned, but I never thought it would be this bad!

Anyhow, there is a silver lining: during the delay mortgage rates dropped a bunch, and as a result we decided to make some changes to the original plan to get some things we passed on the first time around. End result is that we are working with a dramatically different layout, and while we like it - we could use some of the genius that exists on this kitchen forum.

Below I've posted a wider angle view of the kitchen and adjacent rooms, and also a close up of a very rough draft of just the kitchen/pantry space. Some general notes on our thinking:

Space Design: We like open spaces and lots of natural light and based on ideas from this forum we concluded that we wanted the playroom within line of sight of the kitchen and dining room (two little ones and hopefully more down the road).

Kitchen Design: As you can see below, we are extremely light on wall cabinets and heavy on base drawers. That's another result of reading this forum; though we're taking a leap of faith in moving a lot of storage space to undercounter drawers, everyone seems to rave about that setup. We like to entertain and hope the family will grow to 6 or 7 in the years ahead, so we're planning two dishwashers and two refrigerators. The distance from the main fridge to the stove is long, but we will have a prep sink and island prep area in between and reading other posts it sounds like that mitigates some of the distance problem. Pantry is currently 18" deep open shelves on the bottom and 12" deep open shelves from 36" and up. (Right now we're planning a range with single oven, and we've considered tucking a second oven in the pantry next to the fridge for those times when we're hosting big gatherings...) The run between the playroom and foyer entrance will likely have drawers on the bottom for table cloths, linens, etc, and the uppers will be two cabinets surrounding a wine lattice. Or at least that's what we're currently thinking...

As far as feedback, we are open to any and all ideas. The framing cannot be changed at this point, but placement of appliances, choice of cabinets/drawer combinations, shape of island, and many other elements can be adjusted. We're meeting with the KD this weekend, and based on the construction schedule we will likely need to order cabinets in the next 4-5 days. (We're going with a custom cabinet maker in the area, so we aren't constrained by size increments...)

Here's the footprint around the kitchen:

Here's the kitchen/pantry only:

I'm sure I'll have some more details that I can add later, but if you have questions or comments fire away!

Comments (14)

  • bodhi
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thats one large pantry! Its probably larger than alot of kitches. It sounds like its not possible to adjust that wall, but I'd make a smaller pantry if I could. Love all the windows and roominess of the kitchen though!

    I'd also probably try and fit one larger fridge/freezer in the kitchen or perhaps a single column fridge in the kitchen and put a single column freezer in the pantry. Thats a personal preference though and you'll likely get varied opinions on that one.

    I've also seen people say the trash goes best with the prep area so it might be better to put it in the island and move the 2DB24 to where you have the trash? You'll want your trash next to where you unwrap meats for sure though. Not much worse than dripping blood on your floor as you walk over to the trash, IMHO.

  • beekeeperswife
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was going to suggest the trash situation should be rethought. Don't forget, you can have more than 1. We are doing one on each side of our island, so as the area near the bar and the prep area have a double, trash and recycling and on the other side near cleanup there will be a single. Although we can make it a double for no additional charge.

    Otherwise, looks good to me.

    And, I"m not sure if this matters to you. But, I realized that on those trash cabinets, it drives me crazy when it's door but there is a pull at the top center. I asked my cabinet maker if we could make it a bank of faux drawer fronts--sure, not additional charge. This way, to my eye, it makes sense to have a pull.

    [

    [(https://www.houzz.com/photos/formal-white-kitchen-with-blue-island-mullet-cabinet-traditional-kitchen-cleveland-phvw-vp~280081)

    [traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by other metros kitchen and bath Mullet Cabinet

  • rjekce
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bodhi and bee - great suggestion on the two trashes, I can see how having one in the prep area makes a lot of sense. likewise, bee, on the drawer design for the trash pull-out - I never would have thought of that but it does look so much nicer!

  • live_wire_oak
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm not a big fan of sinks in bumped out windows. It makes your sink and two DW's beyond awkwark appearing and also much less functional by the time you account for all of the angles. I'd much rather see the eating area there and the kitchen occupying the playroom, breakfast, or dining space. Two large locations to eat aren't really needed in real life, especially for a young family. Nor is a designated playroom ever really needed. A playroom is good for all of 2-3 years tops. You just designate one of your dining spaces as playroom space, and reclaim it as adult space as they move out of the toddler phase. Elementary school kids will play outside or in their own rooms, not in a playroom under their parent's eye----unless they want to be unmercifully teased by their friends.

  • joaniepoanie
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Two things struck me....the distance from fridge by eating area to sink, stove, seems like a lot--you'll get your exercise in! Also, assuming your great/living room is on the other side of the eating area, the dining room seems ill-placed in that corner. I know you can't change walls, but I would reverse the playroom and dining room...playroom mess is at least less visible in the corner, but you can still keep an eye on kids and guests aren't walking by the playroom to get to DR. Our formal living room was the playroom when kids were toddlers/preschoolers. We then inexpensively finished off the basement and that became their "playroom" from elementary through teen years when toy boxes and chalkboards gave way to guitars and drums. You could turn the playroom into an office/computer room in a few years....and you WILL want the computer where you can keep an eye on what they are doing!

  • GreenDesigns
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree that the kitchen is awkwardly located and the whole traffic flow pattern doesn't work well. It needs a complete blank slate and try again approach. The bay window would be perfect for a banquette eating area and I wouldn't ever waste a window on a storage space like a pantry. You could have a pretty nice galley kitchen if you put it where the pantry space is now located and divided up the DR and play space into a pantry and dining area that was used as a play space until you could finish off the basement. A dedicated playroom is nothing but wasted space unless it can easily be repurposed to an office later. Yours is not really in the right location for that.

  • Kathy Rivera
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't even know how you'll use that second DW? The one next to the trash? I'm trying to visualize it open and you won't be able to stand in front of the sink. You'll be way off to the left. I have a corner sink in my current kitchen and the DW is right next to it - but there is a 3" filler so I can open it without moving from the front of my sink. I know this isn't a corner sink, but it still seems really difficult? Maybe you could put the second one in the island so 2 people could clean up at once? I don't know, I'm not one of the design gurus so maybe that's not the best idea...but seems a good job for a pre-teen in a few years? :)

  • rjekce
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Folks - appreciate the feedback. Couple notes:

    LiveWire, time will tell but I disagree on the playroom. We have an 18th month old and a 21 day old, and hope to have several more. That could mean we have toddlers for the next 5-6 years. Having a designated safe area within view of heavily used living areas seems pretty logical.

    Showplace - two things:
    1) How about a full height trash by the clean-up sink (window) and a 10" high wastebasket in a 12" drawer on the prep island? Someone on another forum posted this idea, and it seems to make sense since a prep wastebasket would be for trimmings and other organic stuff that needs to go out frequently...
    2) I think I get what you're talking about with the pantry idea, but do you happen to have a link you might point me to?

    Joanie: good points. We actually have a bonus room upstairs that will serve as the playroom when the kids get a bit older. At some point the playroom on the first floor will become an office. Til then we expect that most of the people we'll have over for dinner will also have kids of similar ages to ours, so our hope is that we can let the kids do their thing in the playroom or mingle in and out of the dining room/playroom while the parents enjoy dinner and some wine... Think that's realistic?

    KathyNY - to the right of the diagonal DW is our trash in this design. Perhaps we swap the placement of those two so it goes DW, sink, trash, DW. That would create a little more standing room b/t sink and DW....???

    Sounds like we have some thinking/work to do, so I welcome additional comments!

  • boxerpups
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love your large pantry. This would be a dream for me.
    I do not have specific ideas but I do have some visual
    ideas that you might like...Have you thought about
    a potfiler? I ask because you have the space to do the
    plumbing from your pantry.
    And how about a hood? You have the space to do this too.
    Here are some pics of Storage, details, clever creative extras.


    HOw about a coffee nook in your pantry?? I would love this.

    Pantries


  • rjekce
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, boxerpups! I love the shelving inside the hood and the chalkboards on the pantry door!

  • _sophiewheeler
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ShowplaceInsider, you are over the line in violating this forum's Terms of Use which forbids advertising. I suggest you stop the self promotion. You can participate and offer information and solutions to problems without hawking your wares so blatantly.

    Now back to the newsroom.

    I agree that the kitchen is awkwardly placed and that the bay would be much better served as a breakfast area than kitchen area. Also, take a look at your kids now and when you started planning this reno. Do you see how much they've grown? They grow fast, and a dedicated playroom that is so prominently in the center of the home isn't the best use of that space, even if you are planning more kids. Playrooms definately belong within the line of sight to the kitchen or living area, but they should also be able to be closed off completely with doors and made into an office later. That pushes them to the perimeter, as no one wants to use an office that is so open and exposed to the rest of the house. As long as you have one set of french doors to the room, and it's a high use room, it will be fine. I'd suggest swapping the DR with the playroom, as using a central location for family meals makes a lot more sense.

    The whole thing needs tweaking though, because you really do not need that many spots for eating, and windows to storage areas are not the best idea for both the items stored and the use of the window to let light into the interior.

  • aloha2009
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Don't know what you have planned for venting your cooktop/range but what if you swapped out your range to where your frig counter is now (right justify) and then put the frig adjacent to the back of the freezer that's in the pantry.

    You would be able to vent directly outside (assuming you have a 2 story). You'd still have counters on the left and right of the range, just a little different on the right side.

    Sounds like you'll need the play room for several years to come. I would plan though for the obsolesence of the room now so you can easily convert to something else down the line (wether you stay or sell).

  • chris11895
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My attention immediately went to the two fridges. I've had that setup and I found things went bad when stored in the pantry, mainly because I wasn't looking at it every day (out of sight out of mind!). I would upsize the fridge to give you the actual space you need in one location and/or consider doing a fridge and fridge drawers (for produce) in the island and a beverage center somewhere.
    Other than that, I have to say I agree with swapping the playroom and dining room for all of the above reasons.

  • davidro1
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I would design a kitchen into the corner where the pantry is.
    i would move the wall.