Kitchen Remodel Help

10 years ago

Hello All!

I posted this in the remodeling forum but several members suggested that I post it here for better advice.

This drawing is of the main level of a split-entry two story house. This is a simple, 1980's rectangular 25' by 40' design. Neither of the kitchen walls are load bearing. The engineered truss span the 25' across the house with no need for interior support. Just like the garage.

We don't live in this house yet. My brother bought this farm for the tillable acreage and I am buying the house from him.

I don't care for the little divided kitchen and dining area. Plus, our family room/TV room/great room/bar is going to be in the downstairs so I would like this upper level to be more open. We envision using it to entertain friends and family and would like multiple casual areas for people to sit, eat, drink and chat.

This is a working farm and all of the activity takes place on the opposite side of the house from the front entry, Because of this, the front entry will rarely be used for daily activity.

When friends and family come to visit this house they drive around behind the house, park and come in through either the rear garage door or that sliding door. This leaves no transitional entry to remove coats and boots, ect.

I have a solution to this major problem. Outside of that sliding glass door is a 12' by 14' concrete slab which is actually the roof of a wood room below. Atop this slab we will build a nice large four seasons porch/entry way/sunroom addition and replace the slider with some nice french doors.

This will be an inviting way for people to enter and exit the home as well as a great space for sitting and looking out at the creek and farm. I'll put a little wood stove in there to dry wet, cold boots and bodies and create a nice rustic ambiance. I expect this to become one of the most popular and useful rooms in the home.

North of this addition is where we will build a large deck, running all the way to the NW corner of the house with a stairway going down the north face of the house to the walkout basement door.

This post was edited by MNnative on Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 14:15

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Comments (8)

Cindy103d
10 years ago
Hello,
You will probably get better interaction if you have specific questions/concerns listed.
MNnative
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Cindy. I guess my specific question is, "how would you choose to design this if it was yours to remodel?"

I think I want to remove both walls but am struggling with how to best make use of the space. Island, peninsula, two peninsulas, ect.

Here is my latest layout. I may consider flipping the sink with the range and shuffling the island a few inches one way or another but I think it would achieve most of what I'm wanting.

This post was edited by MNnative on Fri, Feb 21, 14 at 0:10
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melissaki5
10 years ago
I have a very similar house except mine is flipped. When I enter my house from the front the living area is to the right and the bedrooms to the left. We do not have the slider in the dining room which I would have preferred, and instead have a regular door in the back left corner of the kitchen. I took down all the walls and have been really happy with my decision. Our layout is a bit different then yours though, it seems as though our dining room is where your kitchen is and vice versa.

Kitchen as viewed from dining room. The stove is located where your fridge is.

View from living room. To the right is a sort of island. We took our walls halfway down and put cabinets only on the kitchen side to save money. Eventually we are thinking of putting some type of stone to cover drywall.

Apologies for the poor quality cell phone images. It's the only ones I had in my photobucket account and I think the first two are from the day we got the granite installed.

For you I would start with working on a "L" shaped layout on the fridge wall and sink wall. I like the idea of the peninsula except for the fact that you have the sliding glass door and the stools could possible block the entrance a little, depending on which way the door slides open. If you wanted to do an island, in one of the kitchen displays at ikea they had a very similar layout to mine except the island was rounded instead of an "L" I think that would work well for you. I hope this helps a little bit. Hopefully one of the layout gurus will have some better ideas. I found this site a bit too late to have them work on mine.
NashvilleBuild42
10 years ago
I may try to explore building a L shaped kitchen where the living room was forgoing an island instead opting for a large farm table in a kitchen (seems fitting on a farm). Since you anticipate the four seasons room being used the most frequently, perhaps you could go with a smaller visiting area?
MNnative
Original Author
10 years ago
NashvilleBuild, that probably wouldn't be a terrible idea but I believe the cost of moving the entire kitchen to the opposite of the home would be prohibitive.

I almost like my latest sketch but I really don't want the cook top in an island. I do a lot of high heat searing, blackening, ect, and I would imagine that grease and cooking residue would end up making a mess of the house. I would much rather have a sink and dishwasher incorporated into the island.

Problem is, I can not envision any other place to put the range without either leaving it where it is now which would mean leaving that wall that I really want gone.
sjhockeyfan325
10 years ago
How about moving the fridge next to the door to the sunroom, move the range to the wall where the fridge is, and move the sink and d/w to the island?
lisa_a
10 years ago
Just to be clear, this is the area that you want to turn into an open kitchen/DR/FR area:

My initial feedback on your proposed plan is that you've placed your DR table right in the main traffic path in and out of your home. you also haven't allowed enough clearance between the corner of the table and the hallway wall (is that a closet?).

Are you willing/able to move the sliding door opening towards the bathroom wall?
MNnative
Original Author
10 years ago
sjhockeyfan,

I was just working on doing just that when you posted. It might work out well, I just have to figure out how to vent the range hood since the garage is on the other side of that wall. If am able to do that then I might be able to put a prep sink in the island which would be nice.

Lisa-a,

Correct, that is the portion of the home that I want to convert into an open floor plan, the first sketch shows the entire level.

That rectangle near the corner of the table is where the chimney comes up through the house so it isn't going anywhere. As it sits in the drawing, there is about two feet between the corner of the table and that box. Not ideal but not impassable either. We could certainly slide the table around a bit one way or another. In fact we may not even use that table, I just used it for example since I already own it, it can seat a lot of people when expanded, and it fits pretty well into that space.

I agree that having the dining table near the flow of traffic isn't ideal but with that wall and peninsula gone there is ample room to get around/through that area. The upside is that, in my family, when a visiting member enters the house they always head for the kitchen table. In this layout it isn't hard to find:)

I could possibly forgo the center island all together and put a big farm table there in the middle of the space. Then I'm not sure what I'd do in the dining area.