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tobes36

wonky kitchen layout

tobes36
11 years ago

Hello,

I need help with my kitchen layout. As you can see, I have to walk thru my galley kitchen to get to my bedroom. This is not ideal. I'm thinking about shifting the kitchen into the nook so that I can create a hallway to the bedroom. I don't think I can put a sink at the bay window because the bottom of the window sill is about 33 inches. I'm thinking just a work surface either at 30 or 33 inches high or a bench. If the community would be so kind to offer feedback and perhaps some different ideas, that would be terrific. I'd also like to open the wall to the dining room a bit more. Let me know what you think.

Comments (24)

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    11 years ago

    How big a remodel are you willing to go? I mean if you were going to create a hallway to the bedroom, would you blow up the bath? Would you add to the footprint of the house?

  • likewhatyoudo
    11 years ago

    Where is the living room? Knowing the full layout of the home will help.

  • TxMarti
    11 years ago

    I'm not allowed to use the word wonky at my house any more. ;) The new word is interesting, and your layout is certainly interesting. lol

    You could put your sink in that bay if you replaced the windows. But I agree, knowing more about the layout of the house, where you want the hall to come from, and how far you are willing to go with construction would help. Just pushing the kitchen into the breakfast nook doesn't gain anything. You'll still be walking through the kitchen to get to your bedroom.

    Does the bay face the front yard? Is that the front door between the bay window and dining room? How do you get to the backyard?

  • smaloney
    11 years ago

    I have a similar galley/corridor kitchen, that is a pass through from the front rooms of the house to the back (which was an addition.) I can't offer any specific layout advice since I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with my own wonky kitchen. But the really smart people here will offer great advice, particulary if you can post a floor plan that shows where any entry doors are etc and more details about how you use your kitchen and what you're trying to accomplish (besides rerouting traffic - do you have multiple cooks, etc). And one final point: think about where your plumbing and gas lines are - can they be easily moved? Are any of the kitchen walls load-bearing? I'm on a slab and just moving our sink by a few feet would be way more money (and mess) than I want to contemplate, especially since we're in an overpriced urban area. I think I've figured out a way around it, but if you have constraints like this, it's better to recognize them from the outset. Good luck!

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Entire floor plan uploaded. I don't know if I'm willing to blow up the bathroom, but I'm open to ideas.

  • pricklypearcactus
    11 years ago

    Do you still need an eating space in the kitchen? It does not really maximize the space, but you could essentially "slide" your galley down to the nook and not having anything at the very end of the nook, just a lot of light coming in. You could relocate the kitchen doorway to where the ovens are now so that at least traffic to the bedroom isn't going through the cooking space (sliding the range down in the nook). You could also (or alternatively) put a second door on the bathroom to allow people to cut through the bathroom. You might also be able to move the dining room door directly adjacent to the furnace and have a mini butler's pantry or bar on the outside wall.

  • _sophiewheeler
    11 years ago

    Move the kitchen to the dining room, not the nook. Move the dining room to the front bedroom. Then extend the hallway so the breakfast area becomes a small bedroom and the current kitchen becomes the basis for a small master bathroom and closet addition that utilizes the current plumbing locations for that bath. The closets would line the hall and the current kitchen corridor is now the hallway to the master.

  • TxMarti
    11 years ago

    Is your house on slab, pier & beam, or basement? That will make a difference too.

    What do you do with the middle bedroom with doors on each end? Use it as a bedroom or something else? Do you still want to have 3 bedrooms when you are finished? And probably most important, what is your budget range for this?

  • bmorepanic
    11 years ago

  • rosie
    11 years ago

    Very creative, but all cost real money and do real damage to what is obviously very pleasant and charming layout. Maybe wait until you can do a smallish addition? Just looking at it two-dimensionally, moving the second bath back to create a short hall accessing both bedrooms, bath, laundry, AND kitchen is the most obvious way to go. The additional space needed for this substantial improvement would be pretty small, and since it would just house a small second bath, could probably be framed in fairly inexpensively.

    In the meantime, since this would not impact the entry and kitchen side, you could go ahead and open up your dining room and make any changes you might like to the framing of the kitchen/breakfast area while you had the workmen in. For instance, do you like the little dining area separately defined by those walls or would it be nice to have a sunny little sitting/dining area as part of the kitchen?

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Pier and beam construction. As to budget, in my mind I've probably budgeted a total gut job of the kitchen. I know that range can be $20K - $100K+, but probably somewhere in the middle.

    Rosie - where would you put a small addition?

  • bmorepanic
    11 years ago

    Moving the kitchen and leaving the bath and laundry alone is likely cheaper than moving the bath. If you also move the bath, you get the cost of the entire bath remodel(5k to 50k) as well as the cost of kitchen remodel.

    When you add on, you get both of those plus a couple of hundred dollars to maybe the high hundreds (when its very small or very difficult) for each square foot you add.

    I'm trying desperately to figure out what is charming about having a bedroom off the kitchen and one next to the dining room. Could the original poster answer that?

    Do you have the original plans? If you can, could you plot out where the posts are?

  • TxMarti
    11 years ago

    I think bmorepanic's 2nd plan is great. The only change I would make to that is to move the bathroom door to the hallway between the two bedrooms. Then the bedroom up front could be the split master, unless there is some reason you don't want a private bathroom. You could open the kitchen to the dining room if you desire too.

  • rosie
    11 years ago

    Tobes, essentially shift the second bath straight back into the corner formed by the master bedroom and back wall of the house.

    Bmore, charm's in the mind of the beholder.

    As for cost, we had a well recommended landscaper come give us a price for clearing so we could build--$50K. We paid someone else $6K to do a larger area but not have someone climb all the remaining trees to pretty them up. We didn't obtain any wildly inappropriate (for our income) bids for the house because the guy who built it (not in the phone book, recommended by everybody in the know) charged a flat 15% on top of materials costs. Erased his risk and incentive to cut corners, not that he would have.

    Tobes, I imagine utilities are already on site? Already cleared and graded? The house already has two (loadbearing) walls in the corner where you would set a 50 square foot addition? Depending on where you live and how many thousands you'd want to spend on finishes, the most painful part of the whole thing might be getting the permit.

  • rosie
    11 years ago

    BTW, I made a mistake in thinking the main entry was between the kitchen and dining room. Since that hall could be incorporated into another room without depriving the house of its entry, I have to backtrack and say there's a lot to like about potentially both Bmore's suggested layouts (particularly the first one to me). Sorry.

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Rosie, right now the main entry is in the living room. At one time the main entry was between the kitchen and the dining room. Bmore's #2 is nice, but I think moving the kitchen to another room is probably out of the budget. With the feedback I've been working on a new sketch - i'll try to upload tonight.

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    How about this? I shifted the range over slightly, but essentially the same place so I don't think I have to move the exhaust pipe. The range will probably be a microwave hood combo b/c I have a small kitchen. I preserved the counter space to about 9.5 linear feet + the countertop at the bay window. Do you think it should be a bench or a work surface. I can close the door to the DW, but I'm leaning to keep it open to have sunlight come into the hallway.

    I also don't think I need to move major plumbing because the sink and the DW are close to where they are now. I can probably just run a water line to the refridgerator. The placement of the refrigerator isn't that ideal for looks, but for convenience, I think it works since it is close to the entry door. I also moved the Washer and Dryer from the laundry room (The W/D doesn't really fit and blockes the window). I'd like to move the toilet in the bathroom b/c is isn't to code (only 24 inched wide) and then move the WH to where the toilet was. I think I'm willing to spend the money to move the WH.

    Let me know what you think?

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi bmorepanic, no i dont have the orignal plans and i dont know where the posts are. There is an electrical sub Panel on the three foot wall section of the bathroom so i dont really want to move that.

  • debrak_2008
    11 years ago

    bump

  • beasty
    11 years ago

    Maybe this is a stupid question, but why not just switch bedrooms?

  • lascatx
    11 years ago

    I think you are trading one wonky layout for another, to be honest. You have built a rang into a corner with no space on one side and not a lot on the other, your best prep space is across the way where dirty dishes are also likely to get stacked, the bay is awkward now (including teh gao bewteen the frisge and bay), a doorway separates the kitchen and the now only eating area and the washer and dryer are out in the hall -- none of these are good in my book.

    You still have a lot of things to move with your plan, and I wouldn't be surprised if it would cost you as much as bmore's plans. With bmore's I think you would increase the value of your home. With your plan, I think the best you could hope for would be to stay even with where you are. If I were a buyer, I'd be less likely to buy your new plan that the house with the current layout at the same price.

    If you are on pier and beam, it is much easier to move things than it would be for me on slab. On top of that, look again at bmore's first option. It takes advantage of water supply and drains near their current locations. I think you'd be moving less than in your plan. I'm not crazy about the doorway bewteen the kitchen and DR, but you could put a couple of chairs or stools at the baking height counter or the island and not be carrying food across the doorway for every meal.

    A hybrid scenario -- keep the WD in that room but put them against the wall on the right. If you stack them, you still have room for a small laundry sink, hanging and folding spaces -- or a desk as you drew -- something. Move the doorway on the bath to the hall between the two bedrooms as suggested and then modify the kitchen as bmore's first option shows. Even less moving, but keeps the improved function of the space.

  • rosie
    11 years ago

    Tobes, I agree it's looking very promising with some tweaking to make it just right; however, I suspect you'll also be newly excited about further possibilities that turn up once you have a pro evaluate the situation. And maybe a couple of ideas will suddenly seem far less desirable.

    As for trying to design around current appliances on the assumption it'd be worth it in saved costs, when you have work crews on site the cost of many extremely worthwhile changes may be very small as part of the whole.

    In any case, IMO a really good layout is the easily the most important element of a kitchen that will be used and the investment most likely to always please, no matter how long you live with it.

  • tobes36
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm liking bmorepanic's layout number 2 more and more. Is it weird to have to walk through the kitchen to get to the other bedrooms from the living room and master bedroom?

  • SaraKat
    11 years ago

    Maybe a range instead of wall ovens would help? Sorry if someone already said this.