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mfhoop

Updated Layout...

mfhoop
14 years ago

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on our kitchen layout.

That thread is getting long and complicated, so I thought it might make sense to start from the top with our now-current plan and see if folks have any additional thoughts.

A few things to highlight:

- the mudroom has become important to us and is what is keeping us from doing what our original plan was (expanding the current kitchen into the to-be mudroom)

- the windows shown over the banquette are high and we don't want to fool with them (which made putting the sink on that wall not very appealing to start with)

- we are very drawn to the idea of putting the "weight" of the kitchen in our current dining room space which gives us more integration into the family room space; we're fortunate that we can convert the currently vacant formal living room into a dining room

- this is fairly similar to the last version we posted though we have made the mudroom bigger and moved the entrance to the dining room so we lose the corner and move the fridge a little closer to the breakfast area

Things we're still not settled on:

- microwave placement; DH likes undercounter microwave and I don't. hmm.

- coffee station; DH wants a plumbed in espresso maker - seems like that should be close to the sink but also close to the fridge; maybe it should just live on the island but I'm not fond of that...

- is the cleanup sink too far from the eating area? we've gone back and forth with the sink and the range. The advantage of current placement is that we can put a soffit in to vent the hood through the adjacent office to the exterior with better visual appeal and fewer turns but the disadvantage is that the run will now be longer.

- pantry space for daily food. In our current tiny kitchen, we have food in 4 different places and we can never find what we're looking for. We'd like to have 1-2 places for it in the new kitchen. I like pull-out pantries, but DH doesn't. Current idea is to put a small built-in pantry next to the eating area and maybe one pullout next to the fridge. Big items will probably go in the closet in the mudroom.

- Where do the small appliances live and get used? We use a crockpot, a rice cooker and a toaster oven on a regular basis (1-2+ per week).

That's all from the eye of the D.C. area blizzard (boy, I need to get back to work soon!)... Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Prior Thread

Comments (5)

  • cheri127
    14 years ago

    I would love to have this kitchen for my own; I hate corners and love the distinct zones. However, having had a deep island like that once, I wouldn't do it again; it was a PITA to clean. The only other consideration is whether there are glasses stored near the ice maker. If not, there's too many trips for my taste to get a glass, get ice then get drink. I'd put it in the dry bar next to the wine fridge.

    How many cups of espresso do you make a day? If it's only in the morning, the walk to the fridge to get milk isn't bad. If you're like my DH and it's all day, hmmmm. Don't think I'd like it in the island though.

  • desertsteph
    14 years ago

    I'd put the sink on the wall between the fridge and range. move the fridge to the end and put sink where you have the ovens. warming drawer between range and sink - closer to table. sink/dw also closer to table for setting and clean up.

    i'd put the wall oven, mw and coffee maker thing, pantry all on the far left wall. possibly a fridge drawer there also. I think the pantry looks weird on that wall by the table - i'd like that area kept open. good wall space for art or family calendar.

    a prep sink on the left (as facing the LO) where you have the warming drawer - for use w/coffee maker and baking area (left wall). and prepping.

    wouldn't ice maker be better used by the bar?

  • mfhoop
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    We've been playing with this some more and are in the middle of pretty serious discussions with a contractor now about some of the major structural work that this entails to see if the how the construction budget impacts our overall dreams.

    This is similar to the first one we posted on this thread. Biggest differences are:
    - we put the double ovens near the entry to the dining room. I know that some folks will think this is in a major walkway, but it's not. We don't eat in the formal dining room much and that's a good place to put the ovens a bit out of the way of the rest of the cooking zone.
    - We are trying to expand the length of the island by putting a diagonal door from the mudroom. Having a longer island gives us a drop zone behind the fridge.
    - This meant a new home for pantry - now most likely some sort of pullout contraption by the fridge.

    In response to some one previous question:
    - We don't want to put the ice machine near the beverage center because we want to be able to use it for daily use (convenient to the regular drinks) and we don't want to add a water line to our beverage area.

    Still struggling with how we keep this space light. By adding the mudroom, we will enclose what are currently 2 full length windows into our current breakfast area. We might consider keeping the door from the mudroom into the kitchen a glass door instead of solid. The other idea that we're wrestling with is whether we could add some sort of glass wall or window on the wall that is between the new main sink and our current office. It isn't at all clear from our picture, but in the current house configuration, if we can center the sink on that wall, it will back up to what used to be an exterior window that is now covered up as that space now looks into our office. Our office does have 3 exterior windows though. Our contractor has the idea that we should actually open up the old window and put back in some sort of glass block wall or something like that. Seems a little crazy to us (not to mention, we're going with much more of a traditional look than glass block seems to suggest). We would *really* appreciate any creative ideas here. Best one I have going now is putting in a high window/transom type thing over the sink that would at least let in some natural light.

    Thanks as always!

  • bmorepanic
    14 years ago

    You could do the same kind of peep glass into the new mudroom. If you used mullion windows like your originals, it would fit right in.

    If the roof line permits, maybe some solar tubes terminating in the kitchen?

  • mfhoop
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    bump!