If we squeeze the sink and dishwasher onto the fridge wall, things look a little squished over there, but I have an acre of countertop available on the other leg of the U for prep. Also, that keeps the dishwasher closest to the wall that will have the most linear feet of upper cabinets (and, presumably, dish/glass storage).

If we put the sink on the south wall, I'm able to look out the window (through the mudroom) into the yard. Plus, it makes things feel more balanced. On the downside, I would have to pivot/reach for uppers storage to put away dishes (or, heaven forbid, walk the 5 feet to the other leg of cabinets).

Your input would be most welcomed!

Claudia

The 1st arrangement has some advantages. You would have (slightly) more room between the sink and the corner, and more room between the corner and the range. This would probably be nice to work in.

I am having the same dilemma as the group - when I look at the plans, I prefer the feel of the 2nd (with the sink in front of the window). But, I also love to spread out when I prep meals, which would lend itself to the first plan.

Hmmm.....

(open shelves above the sink - or glass-front cabinets to make it more spacious above the sink)

Layout #3, Corner sink:

Layout #4, Corner sink plus close up the doorway to the Mudroom by 6":

To me, this last layout gives you the best of both worlds:

More later...

All that said, I like the sink near the window and the corner option is a good idea to consider.

Or you can use a regular base cabinet placed at an angle, as in this kitchen, but it loses some space:

I believe that's a 24" sink base, although it's not a great photo.

Here are the advantages I have experienced:
- leaves uninterrupted expanse of countertop
- allows tons of room under the sink for disposal, plumbing, storage, etc.
- uses what otherwise would be a dead space
- allows room behind the sink for single handle faucet (some faucets have handles that need a lot of room as they move from on to off).

There are a couple of disadvantages, but everything in a kitchen design always has its pros and cons:
- only 1 person can stand in front of the sink at a time, which some people think is the biggest issue. For me, it rarely comes up that two people need actually to stand there for any length time, and if someone needs to use the faucet while I am working at the sink, OK, I stand aside for 30 seconds, no biggie.
- if your sink is heavy because it is made out of fireclay or enameled cast iron, it will be a difficult and more expensive install, because of the extra support needed for a heavy sink in a corner. However, if you have a stainless sink (like I have), or a Silgranit sink (many on this forum adore those), the weight is not an issue.

For anyone contemplating a corner sink, the one design requirement is that a dishwasher not be exactly next to the sink, but should have a cabinet between the corner sink and the DW. If you have a DW directly next to the corner sink, you will be "trapped" when the DW door is open. I have my pull-out trash cabinet next to the sink, and then the dishwasher, which is a perfect location for both. You'll see that Buehl's plans above address this.

- How much wall space does a corner sink cabinet take up?

- In a previous apartment, we had a corner sink and it seemed to be set further back than the average sink, which meant we had backaches from leaning forward while doing dishes. Is that a complaint with corner sinks in general, or was that just our crummy apartment?

With a 42" cabinet a 30" sink might have to be set back further then say a 27" sink. So you would have to figure that out.

In your plans having 2 blind or lazy-susan cupboards is an inefficient use of space in such a small kitchen and I know this from experience. Putting a corner sink frees up some of the side space for more usable counter length and more useful drawer space.

I do like Buehls plan #4 and then her plan #1. The problem with #1 is the 2 banks of 12" drawers but with plan #4 you have 48" bank of drawers that you could break up in a variety of ways (a 30" plus an 18" which are very useful sizes).

You sure have lots of great options.

I showed a 42" corner sink base - that means it takes up 42" on each wall. There are also 36" corner sink bases out there - I have one for my prep sink. However, they don't fit very large sinks. My prep sink is 15-3/4" square interior/17-3/4" square exterior...too small for a main or only sink, IMHO.

Note that if you try to fit too big a sink in a corner sink base that the sink will have to be set back farther to fit - unless you can do some on-the-spot modifications (and shoring up) of the cabinet...I'm not a DIYer, so I don't know how much can be done.

As to using a normal sink base turned 45 degrees (like in WritersBlock's second picture):

We are planning on using IKEA/Scherr's for the cabinets, but we had already assumed that Scherr's would need to make some custom cabs for us, so un-IKEA dimensions shouldn't be a problem.

I'm liking #4, but shortening the mudroom door isn't possible (since it's an old house with already narrow doorways and a load-bearing wall on the opposite side). So, #3 is a good alternative - I don't think having the d/w and range open into each other would really be an issue.

The other layout caveat is if the range is on the right wall, as in the layouts above, we'd have to build a soffit for the exhaust, since some plumbing already runs through that joist bay. Not a dealbreaker, but something we'll have to factor into our decisions. Since it's somewhat of a democracy, I'll need to run all of this by my partner.

(P.S. In terms of where one spends most of the kitchen time - does anyone know some stats? As in, is most kitchen time spent prepping? At the stove? In front of the sink? I'm sure it must vary for each cook, but I thought there might be some averages out there...)

• 70% of the time spent working in the kitchen is spent prepping; some studies put the # closer to 75% to 80%
• 20% is spent cleaning up
• 10% is spent cooking (standing in front of the range/cooktop stirring, adjusting heat, etc.)

The exact numbers, of course, vary from person to person. In my case, I think the prepping # is closer to 90%.

If 42", 6" less would be 36" - still wider than most room doors (most doorways are approx 33" wide w/32" wide doors).

Buehl, thanks for those numbers on kitchen time! That's interesting to keep in mind.

1. Losing some of the nice storage


2. Putting the DW in the middle of the Prep Zone (so only one person can work in that area at a time)


3. The DW is now a 90-degree twist instead of a 45-degre twist...a more significant twist to load the DW. Generally, you would want to minimize the twisting to go from sink to DW for usability (and less back pain!)

Disadvantage #2 above is also a disadvantage with Layout #3, btw - it's one of the reasons I prefer #4 over #3.

5" of trim on each side...that's substantial trim! (We have 3" on each side of our doors.)

Is that doorway an actual door w/frame or is it just an opening? If just an opening, do all such openings in your house have this trim? Our house only has trim around openings with doors, but it depends on the style of your home.

Would you consider changing the doorway/opening to an arched opening so trim wouldn't necessarily be needed/expected? That would allow you to enlarge the actual opening by 3 or 4 inches to 35" or 36" and allow you to utilize the other 6 or 7 inches for the DW. (The extra 10" comes from elimination of the 5" of trim on each side.)

The pictures can be found at the IkeaFans links I included in the first post of that thread.

I thought about installing an apron front sink in my corner location to avoid the stepback issue. Jayjayteacher and Mirandall did it. So it is possible, but it would be a tricky install, and need more room than I had. I am happy with my undermount sink in the corner with about a 5" setback.

Another thing you can do to lessen the chance of a backache is to install a pull-out faucet, not a pull-down faucet. A pull-down faucet (also known as a high arch faucet) is closer to the rear of the sink, requiring the user to reach farther to rinse something. A pull-out faucet has a longer reach into the sink, so that the user does not have reach as far while rinsing something.

Buehl - our house was built in 1911 and still has the original trim, which is pretty hefty. Currently (or, before demo) it was a real doorway with a door. In the new plan, we're keeping the transom and trim, but removing the actual door.

We had to give our final appliance/sink placement to the contractor yesterday. (Drum roll) We went with something very close to Buehl's #2 above. You all really brought me around to the utility of a corner sink in our situation, but I couldn't convince my partner. I even showed him this thread, but our bad apartment corner sink has scarred him for life, it seems.

Framing is underway now, and in case there's a few inches left over, I've bookmarked the clever IKEAfans broom closet.

I thought about installing an apron front sink in my corner location to avoid the stepback issue. Jayjayteacher and Mirandall did it. So it is possible, but it would be a tricky install, and need more room than I had. I am happy with my undermount sink in the corner with about a 5" setback.

Another thing you can do to lessen the chance of a backache is to install a pull-out faucet, not a pull-down faucet. A pull-down faucet (also known as a high arch faucet) is closer to the rear of the sink, requiring the user to reach farther to rinse something. A pull-out faucet has a longer reach into the sink, so that the user does not have reach as far while rinsing something.

I thought about installing an apron front sink in my corner location to avoid the stepback issue. Jayjayteacher and Mirandall did it. So it is possible, but it would be a tricky install, and need more room than I had. I am happy with my undermount sink in the corner with about a 5" setback.

Another thing you can do to lessen the chance of a backache is to install a pull-out faucet, not a pull-down faucet. A pull-down faucet (also known as a high arch faucet) is closer to the rear of the sink, requiring the user to reach farther to rinse something. A pull-out faucet has a longer reach into the sink, so that the user does not have reach as far while rinsing something.