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tempe110

Excited!! Help with Kitchen appliance layout

tempe110
9 years ago

Hello! We are doing owner builder and will break ground soon. It will be large ICF mountain home, we are a young family with four children and many family members nearby and far away that will stay with us often.

I would LOVE some help in figuring out a few things for the kitchen layout to start with. (I've followed here for a couple years and love the advice you guys give!)

1. ISLAND: This is stinkin huge. Is this island really too large to get around day to day? Should I forgo the L-shape island and go with one long piece? Maybe even not that long? How long would you go?
2. APPLIANCES: I like the layout of the sink (looking into backyard), and the induction cooktop....but am wondering where the best location would be for the double oven and refrigerator (which is down at the bottom near the pantry right now). I'm possibly thinking the double oven might be best to the far left of the sink...next to the bench seat.
3. TRASH AT ISLAND? Since we are putting two dishwashers in to flank the sink, I'm thinking of putting the trash/recycle across from the sink in the island....does anyone have that set-up?
4. GENERAL INPUT? Any input on the kitchen layout before I get too far into sizing cabinets, etc?

This post was edited by tempe110 on Wed, Jul 9, 14 at 13:18

Comments (12)

  • juddgirl2
    9 years ago

    Your image is too small for me to make out clearly and the link doesn't work, so I can't comment on the layout, but congrats on starting your project!

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Is this a larger view?

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    And juddgirl thank you for the warm welcome! I would love any feedback!

  • kaylarus
    9 years ago

    i found that if i clicked on the first image you posted it took me to flicker where i could download your original image and see it full sized. it was easy. there's a dropdown menu from the arrow on the lower right and you can choose which size to download.
    i'm alot better at finding things on the web than i am at designing kitchens. i would put the fridge on the same wall as the sink with alot of counter space in between. i cook with alot of veggies. if i could take them out of the fridge and put them on the counter and then be right by the sink to wash and chop them my dinners would be faster. good luck with your layout.

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    kaylarus, thank you for your suggestions! I tried doing a triangle with the prep sink (in the island), the cooktop, and the fridge so I can turn around and wash veggies on the island, but I hadn't thought about putting the fridge near the main sink...I'll have to consider that.

  • sjhockeyfan325
    9 years ago

    I think since you have a prep sink in the island, you don't need to move the refrigerator -- better to keep your cleanup area separate from your prep area.

    Is there some purpose in an L-shaped island? It just looks a little awkward to me. Unless you entertain a lot, and want the part of the island across from the main sink for serving, I'd personally opt for a rectangular island.

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    sjhockeyfan thank you for your input! I'm thinking the island looks awkward too. We do entertain quite often, but I still want functionality and I don't want to cross a continent to make it to the dining table. Our kitchen is so large though that I want the island to be proportional atleast, so a long rectangle might be best. Just how long though? I think it's 10 ft right now.

  • Lars
    9 years ago

    I like the fridge where it is, and it is close to the prep sink. I personally do not like a fridge that has countertops on both sides of it - I think it should be at the end of the counter. I find it very awkward when there are counters on both sides. This is more obvious when you draw the door swings of the fridge into the plan. You should also draw the open oven doors onto the plan so that you can see how much space there is left when the doors are open. I had a kitchen in Venice (CA) that had oven and fridge doors overlapping, and that is very bad.

    For the fridge, consider the occasions where someone is browsing in front of the fridge. It is best if they are not in an area that you want to pass through that much, and so having the fridge at the end of a counter keeps that at a minimum. If you do not allow others in your kitchen, it doesn't matter where you put the fridge, however. I try to keep people out of my kitchen, but I do have my fridge next to a wall where the door is (similar to your plan), and I like it that way. People can easily slip in at get something from the fridge without disturbing me. The fridge should not be at the center of the kitchen.

    Lars

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    publickman thank you for your thoughts! I'm thinking I really like where the fridge is too.

    Now where to put the ovens. I don't think I'll put them next to the fridge. I'm thinking maybe at the opposite side, to the left of the sink and dishwasher with some countertop in between? Does it matter if the ovens are far away from the other appliances? Or is there a rule of thumb that they are best near the a certain appliance like the cooktop?

    I cook most meals and from scratch so I really do use all my appliances often. Everyone here is so helpful, I love hearing your thoughts!

  • kaylarus
    9 years ago

    don't worry about the fridge, like i said i have no experience in kitchen layout & design. i mostly want to point out to everyone that a full sized version of your layout was easy to get.

  • jennifer132
    9 years ago

    I think where you put the ovens depends a lot on how you cook. There are rules/guidelines for landing space. Do you go from cook top to oven? Do you mostly bake? Will you have a dedicated "baking center" with a lowered counter? Where is mw? Do you use mw when cooking, baking?

    I would lose the L and have a long rectangular island.

    What is to the left of the dw on the left? Is that just counter space? Are there uppers? Dish hutch? Windows?

  • tempe110
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    jennifer132 thank you for your response. I don't know if it's the best way to plan a kitchen, but I wanted to get the appliances squared away in the general area they go, and then design the cabinets after that. I do both kinds of cooking, cooktop to oven but I do plenty of baking as well.

    To the left of the main sink I plan on having uppers. The windows on that wall right now are over the sink and over the bench seat. There's 10 ft between the dishwasher and the bench seat. I like the idea of a shorter baking center, something like this:
    http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/33/33/3e3333e5be6f80176c5f83ed151ca9e8.jpg

    I'm planning on putting the microwave in the island near the prep sink, the sharp drawer.
    Here's the island as one long rectangle. In red (not to scale haha) is a possible place for the double oven, and I could put my lowered baking center to the left of it, and just normal uppers and lowers to the right of it.

    Thoughts? I really appreciate the input! (And part of me is wondering is I should switch places with the homework area, and have the double oven/baking center go where the homework nook is supposed to go, to be closer to the large pantry).