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mandyscherer

Layout help please

farmdrmer
9 years ago

Our family (couple early thirties and few young kids) is building our forever home on several acres in country. I have had a terrible time getting a decent footprint to refine the kitchen layout, and your feedback is much appreciated. I apologize I don't have more precise measurements yet, I know that will be helpful for specifics. I've been lurking for ages, I know how much wisdom is on this board!

Living room is above kitchen and dining room is directly across to left. Mudroom, laundry and garage are to the right. Hall to powder room, office, master is below kitchen in this pic.

We both work from home, so literally every meal is prepared here. We do a lot of scratch cooking and canning. I try to buy in bulk when possible, and we grow and preserve some of our own food as well. My hope is to have an upright freezer in pantry or garage. I also have a lot of dishes to store.

I'm considering removing the double wall ovens and doing either double range oven or a speed oven as second oven. I'm short - only 5' and concerned about being able to comfortably use wall ovens. I'm also wondering if the refrigerator is too far away and should move to end of sink wall, then make current fridge location a baking center for mixer, food processor, etc?

We have 1-2 cooks at a time, and hopefully space for the kids to help as they get older. I welcome your feedback, the whole process is getting very overwhelming and I need a new perspective. Thank you so much!

This post was edited by farmdrmer on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 14:42

Comments (11)

  • Robin Morris
    9 years ago

    It seems that the stove and the sink are way too close. They should be at least 4 feet apart (kitchen triangle rule). My mother has her stove and sink placed like that, and it is very cramped if someone is at the stove and someone is at the sink (also you can't stand at the sink if she needs in the oven).
    If you put the stove where the dishwasher is and the sink where the stove is (and rearrange the windows) the layout would be better. And remember that it is fridge, sink, prep, then stove, so swapping the sink and fridge would make your whole work flow better (esp. without a prep sink)

    Also walking around that panty to get to the fridge seems weird and awkward... They should be swapped somehow or be the same depth at least. It is hard to tell without dimensions but the distance between your island and the fridge seems too big, not sure How big is the door to the mudroom?

    All the people who are the best with layouts on this forum are going to want to see the whole floor plan with measurements to really give you the best fixes...

    Robin

    Remember that you will be going fo

  • farmdrmer
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much robin! I agree the pantry seems awkward and aisle distance maybe too wide. We have been around and around with the architect to get a general layout. I think we are finally ok with this space, so we can move forward in planning the specifics. Was hoping if anyone had some major flaws to identify, we could do that while we can still change the footprint if needed. Otherwise I will post the specifics as soon as they are available.

    Thanks for pointing out stove and sink issue. I'm hoping removing double oven will allow the range to slide over and give enough space between the sink. I'd like to keep sink in current location if at all possible, it overlooks the backyard and with small kiddos that seems like something I will really use often. Maybe if I can get fridge on the sink wall that will help the workflow issue you mention?

    Thanks again so much, I appreciate your time!

  • tracie.erin
    9 years ago

    With the placement of the fridge and range, you will be prepping on the short side of the island. That seems a shame to me. I would suggest putting the fridge at the end of the top wall, the ovens were the fridge was, and maybe a prep sink on the island. Then you can center the cooktop on that right wall

  • GauchoGordo1993
    9 years ago

    Most time is spent in primary prep, then sink, followed by cooktop, and default location for primary prep is counter between sink and cooktop. So expanding primary prep as Robin suggests not only creates a better prep space and avoids interference, but also optimizes the layout for the view.

  • Robin Morris
    9 years ago

    Good thinking... That would help a lot!
    I don't have a quick way to draw it, but I think a good layout would be to put the fridge at the end of the sink run, move the wall oven to the pantry wall and move the stove down as you suggested. Also IMO you should get rid of the walk in pantry and put in 24-30" deep pantry cabinets on that wall and then you can put in a big long island like in this picture:

    [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Solon Interior Designers & Decorators House of L Interior Design
    or

    [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Wooster General Contractors Weaver Custom Homes
    You could put a prep sink on the island and it would provide a ton of storage (if you do put in a prep sink, you can put the fridge where you have the pantry, which improves the view from the sink)
    Then you essentially have a standard u-shape kitchen with an island. There are 100s of pictures of this kind of layout on houzz and other sites

    Also, you really should consider posting your whole floorplan... there are so many brilliant people on this site that may catch things your or your architect missed. Such amazing free advice.

    This post was edited by robinlmorris on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 16:31

  • lavender_lass
    9 years ago

    Maybe something like this? Microwave could go under counter on island or over by (or above) the second oven. And I made the range a little wider for more oven space.

    I did move the wall over a bit into the dining room, to line up with beam (?) and gave more room for fridge. With added windows, this would be a bright and sunny space :)

    From Kitchen plans

    This post was edited by lavender_lass on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 16:38

  • debrak2008
    9 years ago

    Switch the sink and DW. As said most of your time IS NOT spent at the sink.

  • farmdrmer
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Wow! You guys are incredible! Thank you so much! I never would have thought of the change lavender lass mentions switching range and sink, but that does solve some natural light issues we are having. Putting in the prep sink I was initially against, but I can see how it will greatly improve workflow in this scenario. Thanks robin for the pics and pantry suggestion. I'm struggling with that, I know I'll use a huge pantry, but not really sure this one maximizes the amount of space it takes up. We have one more round of changes with architect before my full plans are ready to post, but I will definitely do so. Thanks again everyone!

  • lisa_a
    9 years ago

    Nice lay-out, LL.

    Here's my idea:

    I was a bit unsure about the kitchen size since width is usually written first, then length. That would mean that the kitchen measures 17' side to side but the space looks longer (top to bottom) than 14'2". Is that just from the top wall to the wall next to the wall oven? That was my assumption, hopefully, I guessed correctly.

    I moved the fridge to the top wall as tracie.erin suggested and LL drew.

    I moved the range to the top wall and added windows to the right wall as LL drew.

    I added a prep sink to the island and kept the double ovens where your plan has them. This puts all your cooking and baking prep together. The corner sink will allow cooks to use it from either the short or long side of the island. Prep can also happen on either side of the range or on the long counter to the left of the ovens (this could be your baking zone).

    I moved the pantry to the mudroom entry end and moved the clean-up sink and DW to the bottom wall next to it. If you assign table setting and clean-up duties to your kids, you'll appreciate having the clean-up sink away from your bake/cook zone. Here are inspiration pics for sinks against walls and not under windows:

    [Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_709) by Chicago Kitchen & Bath Designers Rebekah Zaveloff : KitchenLab

    [Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Middletown Design-Build Firms Aquidneck Properties

    [Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Boston Kitchen & Bath Designers Venegas and Company

    With the deep walk-in pantry removed, I was able to widen the island. You didn't say if you wanted seating but I added 2 seats at the end, just in case. Someone can sit and visit with the cook without getting in the way of meal prep.

  • lavender_lass
    9 years ago

    Lisa- I like the plate racks! I just saved that first picture...so pretty :)

    Is there any chance we could put the big pantry in the mudroom and have a smaller pantry (about half what Lisa is showing) in the kitchen? That would give more space for the clean up area...and still fit a walk-in pantry into the space!

  • GauchoGordo1993
    9 years ago

    Where's the dining room and primary hangout room? For most folks, access and traffic flows to/fro these are important considerations.