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tikilyn

What is a good size kitchen?

tikilyn
12 years ago

My husband and I are going to build a home. The plans we have picked out has a kitchen of 12' x 14'. Looking at the plans the kitchen seems small. My husband on the other hand say it looks like a good size.

Our current kitchen is really small. I have four base cabinets (three regular cabinets and one sink cabinet) and we have four upper cabinets and two small cabinets over the kitchen sink above the window (those we put in for looks only).

Comments (19)

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago

    It is relative to the square footage of the house, the size of the family and the likely number of "cooks", the location of the house, whether or not it has an eat-in area, the design of the kitchen itself and other factors. You will get better feedback if you can show a floorplan of the whole house and list some of these details.

  • tikilyn
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    We're a family of 4 and not planning to add on! LOL

    I'm the cook in the family but my husband likes to join me in the kitchen, following me around cleaning up any messes I've made! LOL He just can't wait til I'm done. So we need room to move around. There is also a kitchen nook and a formal dining room. Hths

    I don't want an overly large kitchen but I don't want I got right not either!

  • User
    12 years ago

    I might tweak that floor plan a bit, but I think you've got room to work with there. It will definitely feel bigger than what you are coming from. But, if you want it bigger, now's the time to change the plan!

    Since you know that your hubby likes to clean up as you cook, I would definitely put in two sinks.

  • danvirsse
    12 years ago

    I think the size is fine. My kitchen is 14' x 15' with the pantry and eat-in area in it! Both my husband and I work together on many of our meals, so the trick is to divide the area into zones. Our range is on one wall with the sink and dishwasher on the opposite wall. The island in the middle is the "prep zone" for both of us. This arrangement isn't for everybody, but it works for us.

  • chrisk327
    12 years ago

    I dunno, we went from 7x12 kitchen, to our new house whcih we remodeled into a 12x14 kitchen that is open to the dining room. We're not done with the renovation, so, we haven't cooked in it, but we think its a good size, lots of cabinets plenty of floor space, but we have a peninsila not an island. Our nfinished house is around 1900 sqft.

    I don't know the finished sqft of your plan, but it sure looks like a nice space for that.

    I'm not crazy about your bathroom plan with the secondary bedrooms, and the sitting outcove, it seems like a waste of space, but everyone has different uses.

  • colorfast
    12 years ago

    Take painter's blue tape and tape out your floor plan according to your measurements. Since you aren't in your new house yet, tape it out in your empty garage or other flat area. Remember you will have doors opening different places.

  • tracie.erin
    12 years ago

    I think the kitchen is a good size but the layout needs some tweaking. Right now you have a barrier island (blocks fridge-sink-stove path). People remodel in order to get rid of these. At minimum, you need a prep sink on that island.

  • davidro1
    12 years ago

    A good size kitchen is one that helps you live well in the kitchen.
    In the kitchen things have to be done. Actions, labor, performance.

    In adjacent rooms you can let people "live" as they wish.
    A good size kitchen is one that helps them live in the adjacent rooms, as you would like.
    Some people want distance, to take the rough edges off the sounds. Others don't care.
    Oh give me a home where I hear the gurgling drain and the sound of the fowl being hacked apart.
    A good size kitchen is one that helps contain smells too.


    --

    The island and sink are not good.

    --


    Too many cooks spoil the triangle.
    A superfluity of culinary assistance is apt to exercise a detrimental effect upon collaborative coordination.

    The same can be said about islands in the way.

    Hth

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago

    Is this a conceptual plan at this point? I think in general 12 x 14 is adequate for a kitchen but it may be a bit small in a 3000 sq ft house, however it looks like the 12x14 doesn't include the counters if you compare it to the dining room.

    In general though I think the space apportioning for the house in general is a bit off. I know you didn't ask that. But the master bath appears to be as large, if not larger than the secondary bedrooms, and there are some large circulation spaces (outside the guest bedroom, outside the MBR) that don't make much sense--it doesn't seem like a very cohesive plan overall. Sorry, but I think there are more issues than the kitchen size at hand.

  • rosie
    12 years ago

    Mocking it up was a great idea, and, of course, you found there's lots of work space in that kitchen for 2 people who don't cook multi-course meals all day just for the love of it. That kitchen's about the size of mine, and it works very well.

    Planning for your own work zones is important. If it were mine, I'd mock up moving everything everywhere just to see how I liked it. I'd play around with moving the cleanup area to the other side of the kitchen from where people sit and chat, for instance with a second L counter on the other side. In the current configuration, though, I'd probably mainly move the fridge down to the stove end--creating a very good, efficient main cooking/prep triangle across that end and leaving the rest of that back counter and other end of the island for 1 or 2 other cooks.

    Although a second sink can be useful, it's not really needed if the 2 of you don't find yourself aggravated over having to share your current sink. We plumbed the island for a prep sink but I never missed it, and the sink's still sitting in the basement waiting for a need to develop (one less sink to wash). Our single-bowl main sink is 29" inside dimension, 9-1/2" deep, and works great for the two of us. Regardless, in that configuration I would definitely move the dishwasher to the other side of the sink on your floor plan to get it out of the path of the main cook.

    My kitchen works well for us when all we're doing is cooking for ourselves (not too big) and, much less often, for 20. My island's 39" x 54" and has a luxuriance of room to work--I only use it all at big parties, like Thanksgiving. Then DH and I commandeer the stove counter for stuffing and carving the turkey, making gravy, other cooking, etc. Salad prep, garnishes, and fridge-to-microwave are done over on the back counter. Exhausted helpers take to the couch in the "breakfast" area, where they can continue their culinary assistance verbally. My daughter and DIL and her mother are busy on the island putting together their Danish contributions to the meal, whipping up glazes, mashing potatoes, "staging" dishes, etc., and are just a step away when they decide I need their help, which is usually a lot. :)

    It works well, in a space your size.

    Have fun!

  • Capegirl05
    12 years ago

    I agree with some of the other posters...the kitchen seems small for the overall size of the house. Our house that we are building is 3,400 sq ft and on paper it didn't seem all that big but now that it is framed out, it is a large home. Just for reference, our kitchen is 20'X14'. We opted for a larger island that we could eat at instead of a "breakfast area"...our dining room is open to the kitchen and the great room and it works very well there. When I look at your plan, I see a kind of dead space where your kitchen ends and your breakfast area starts. Could you wrap your sink countertop around to give you more counter/storage space? Try to figure out how to use that dead space. have you had the plan drawn up by an architect? The planning stage is so critical. Being half-way thru the building stage, that is really proving to be true...HTH

  • artemis78
    12 years ago

    I actually don't think it's small given that the original dimension doesn't include the eat-in part of the kitchen---when I tell people my kitchen is 18' x 13', for instance, that includes the end that's our breakfast nook---my actual kitchen is only 11' x 13' if I count it separately (and I think it's often the case on GW that the dimensions include whatever eat-in area there is). So with the breakfast nook, yours is really 12' x 26' (or 312 sf)--- which is quite spacious. It is a very long and narrow space, though, so it might be worth playing with layouts to see if you like working with that kind of space---it has some limitations (but also some advantages).

  • desertsteph
    12 years ago

    i do think a new thread with a clearer outline / measurements of the kitchen might help you.

    I don't see a J and J bathroom on the kids end. I see a bathroom for each bedroom. including the guest room.

    how old are the kids? do they each need their own bathroom? (who will be cleaning these things? yikes)

    i'd have a main bath over there with a bedroom on either side of it. If you feel you need a separate bath for the guest room, you'd still end up with extra room on that end of the house cutting out 1 kids' bath. that could also be the main guest bath instead of PR by the kitchen (not a good place for a PR).

    the guest room bath could be at the beginning of the guest 'area' with a door into the bedroom and one into the hall to be used when general company is there. double use out of it.

    I also notice the huge emptiness of the mstr bath. that could be wise if planning for the possibility of wheelchair/walker in your future. Otherwise it's wasted space. A good sized spacious bathroom is good - this looks to be much more than that. what are the measurements for it?

    what is along the wall between fridge and double ovens?

    what is across from the pantry?

    ovens look like they will open just at the end of that counter - causing a lack of space.

  • christy203
    12 years ago

    I have seen huge kitchens not well laid out and kitchens half that size that function really well. I live in a 3500 sq ft house and my kitchen including breakfast room is 15x19. Its a good sized space, which we just redid. I built in a banquette for half the seating which saved a lot of space. The island is a big square instead of a rectangular so i think its more important how you lay out the space. It has to be relative to the size house it is. Good luck

  • houseful
    12 years ago

    Hi Tikilyn,

    I think it's a good size. In fact I like the sizes of all the rooms.

    OT, what does your login in name mean?

  • newbuild1957
    11 years ago

    Do you think this is a good size kitchen?

  • newbuild1957
    11 years ago

    Do you think this is a good size kitchen?

    {{!gwi}}

  • Shumail
    11 years ago

    A little off the topic, but I'm in the process of building a new home too and I just noticed that you have a 12' X 12' home theater... a square is generally not recommended due to acoustics problems. Mine is 14'9" X 20 and I'm having a hard time squeezing in 3 rows of 3 seats each.

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