Help with my kitchen remodel layout

11 years ago

The attached is my proposed new improved kitchen layout. Currently the space on the left contains a small round dining table and no cabinets. I have a formal dining room which is now open to the kitchen space after changing the location of the doorway and expanding it into an 8 foot wide arched opening.

I do not want to move the location of the sink, dishwasher, range or refrigerator. The LG french doored refrigerator is counter depth and only a few years old. It will stay. The current range is an old glass top electric which will be replaced by a 30Ã¢ÂÂ gas range, probably an NXR. The gas line is already installed and the vented hood (Kobe) is on order. The dishwasher and sink will be replaced but not relocated.

What I have done with the layout is to open up the space between the interior of the Ã¢ÂÂUÃ¢ÂÂ by adding the trash cabinet and the 36Ã¢ÂÂ corner cabinet where there is currently a standard blind corner cabinet.

I have added an overhang to the peninsula with enough room for 2 counter height stools. There are just 2 of us living in the house and we have the nearby formal dining room for entertaining and a large patio where we eat about 8 months out of the year.

Additionally I have added the row of 18Ã¢ÂÂ deep cabinets along the side wall. These need to be shallow in order to stay out of the sliding glass door opening noted on the drawing.

My biggest problem with the layout is the short (37Ã¢ÂÂ) blind corner cabinet. As it is currently laid out, it will only have a 12 in wide access door. I donÃ¢ÂÂt mind stuffing it full of seldom used items but it will not be very accessible or elegant. I really want the pull out spice rack which is why I had to shorten the blind corner cabinet. Does anyone every just seal the corner off and not use that space. Am I missing any other ideas?

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Comments (4)

tracie.erin
11 years ago
Yes, a lot of people do seal off the corner. That's probably what I would do here. Then you can have a spice drawer instead of a spice cabinet. Imagine pulling out the drawer and seeing all your neatly labeled spices smiling up at you, instead of pulling out the pullout and crouching down so you can look at the spices. You can even do a four or five stack drawer set there so you have multiple shallow spice drawers.

I like the addition of the shallow base cabinets.

Make sure your seating overhang is at least 15" deep. Otherwise, your sitters will not be comfortable - they will have to bend over awkwardly to reach the counter when sitting there because their knees are hitting the cabinet and the counter doesn't come forward enough for them.

I don't think moving the DW involves much plumbing at all. It's tied in to the sink by flexible hoses and would be a piece of cake to move to the other side of the sink. Are you worried about the electrical outlet for it? I only mention this because it would be better for your layout to swap the DW and trash.
annkh_nd
11 years ago
Definitely close off the corner! With all the storage space you are adding to the left, you don't need space you can't easily access. That allows you to increase the width of the cabs on the peninsula. I recommend putting drawers there instead of doors.

If you are really feeling daring, close off both cabinets. Move the DW to the other side of the sink, and with the 12" remaining (after eliminating the 36" left corner), you can put in a narrow cabinet for cookie sheets and cutting boards. Next to the stove, you can put a stack of drawers, as tracie.erin suggested. You may lose some measured space, but I think you'd gain a lot more in easily usable, functional space.
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marcolo
11 years ago
Trash and DW are in the wrong locations, whether you want to move them or not. They should be swapped.
redkev
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks all of you for your comments to date. I am mostly left handed and the primary cook in the house. The way I use the kitchen and do the prep, the trash is in the correct location for me, but I will think about the swap and ask my wife for comments.

Currently the trash bin is under the sink but when I work in the existing kitchen, I usually place it on the floor in the location where the trash pull out is planned. I actually have never given much thought to this part of of kitchen planning, probably due to the fact that I spent the last 20 years living in Egypt and cooking in a small miserable kitchen. The idea of having all of this floor space to play with is almost overwhelming!