Could you post a floor plan for the whole area so we can see how people with pass through the space? Is that the only widow in the room? The plan shows counter seating on the right. Do you want this area left open to that adjacent room or can it be closed off and a doorway added? When you say nothing in the island does that include seating?

for one eating area, it feels too much"in" the kitchen.I'd rather open the pantry and closet wall and have the eating area be part of the larger space.You already have one pantry-if you need a little more,put it to the left of fridge,then you get the linking of spaces by taking out that lower right wall. Also,two hallways coming into kitchen at the bottom????

You don't need a walk in pantry, a cabinet pantry and a closet. It chops up the space too much. I wouldn't want to give up a walk in pantry, as it's the most useful pantry space. But that one occupies prime kitchen real estate, which it doesn't need to do. I also think the island is oriented the wrong way. This cut and paste doesn't take into account dimensions, but I think it's a better rethinking of the space outside the box.

You need a KD to design the kitchen and not an architect. Right now this is barely a one cook kitchen. Everything is happening in one little corner of the kitchen - prep, clean-up and cooking and walking into the pantry door if it's left open and tripping over the DW door if it's left open and...

IT looks like you have a peninsula as well. Is that necessary?
Where is the entrance for the closet?

At the very least put the DW on the other side of the sink and put a sliding door in the bottom pantry. However, in order to get the range off of the island you will have to do a significant replanning of the space.

You are right to question the floorplan of the kitchen. This isn't going to be a comfortable space, especially as your boys get bigger and want to be in the kitchen as well. You'll be tripping over each other.

I will second it, don't use an architect for your kitchen plan. I learned that the hard way.

@ herbflavor - I think some of the answers will be in the full drawings I posted. The closet is actually a coat closet for the front door.

@ greendesigns - I like yours better then the one I posted.

In all fairness, we did not give the architect too much to go on right off the bat. We were just trying to get the spaces going. About all we gave him is that we would like a large kitchen with an island with a sink facing the back yard. Now that he has come back with these we did not even know where to go with it. I just knew it wouldn't work for us.

Please keep the suggestions coming!!!

I like Greendesigns better, too. The giant pantry in the corner wasn't working for me, either.

Another fan of Green Designs' but I think I would prefer the prep sink at the other end of the island. Seems like better access for baking... quick rinse of your hands... etc.

Is the large opening to a living area? I am assuming that it is. I would have a problem with the long cabinet run being so exposed to that area. Everything on the counter is now out in the open to that room. How about moving the frig to the other wall and bending the counter or wall around the corner to help obscure the view?

If some version of the original is used, how about the coat closet opening from the hallway. Seems a little weird to go into the kitchen to hang someones coat. Also gives a little wall space for decor.

Alright a better link is listed below that shows the whole plan. I am sure these helps you guys/gals make better suggestions. Sorry I didn't post it up at first!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Is the only eating area of the house the one in the kitchen? Or will there also be a DR as part of the family room?

If the kitchen eating area is the only one - how much seating will it have to incorporate? Was the peninsula going to offer some casual seating?

We are thinking 6 people in the eating area and some at the penisula. We use 4 every night, but when we are hosting we might want a little more.

Random thoughts and critique-

-put the closet in the front entrance. Right now your closet is a bit of a bottle neck. If you have a few people trying to put on coats/shoes they are going to be on top of each other. Your front entrance is 8' wide and the left hand wall is 10' long. Closets are generally 18" wide and if you put it along the 10' wall you still have 6' of walk-through space. It gives you more closet space and a more comfortable area for guests to put on/take off shoes, coats etc. Add a bench for sitting and a mirror and you have a nice foyer. A suggestion is to also add some shoe-shelves and coat hooks in the garage by the door for the kids and their junk.

When going into the kitchen from the garage with kids and an armful of groceries you are going to walk into the kitchen area and smack into your kitchen table. You will have to skoot around it to get to the kitchen part of the space which in itself is a bit of a trek from the garage. When you have guests or even just the 4 of you, to get from the family room to the eating area you have to walk through the messy kitchen to get to the table. And if I'm reading these plans correctly, to get from upstairs to the kitchen you have to walk through the foyer and then through the eating area (around that table which is in front of the 2 entrances) before getting to the kitchen which is pretty much the first place (ok the second place) parents go to when they get up in the morning.

Not only that, but in the entire 18'x21' kitchen/eating area you only have one 4x4 window. NOW, I know that #1 on the list was sink under the window but I'm going to go outside the box and suggest that you reverse the kitchen and the eating area spaces.

If you reverse the spaces a number of things happen

-distance from upstairs and the garage to the kitchen is cut down and is much more useful for carrying in groceries. Turn one corner and walk 6' and plunk them on the island instead of walking 14'-18' and around that eating table.

-guests and the family walk straight from the family room into the eating area and the two areas can be more pleasant cohesive spaces. You already have a wide entrance planned between the 2 spaces and you can get a long table with leaves that could be more easily extended into the family room when necessary. The eating space is now constrained by walls. When going from the family room and straight into the eating area, the lights in the kitchen can be off or turned down and with a nice chandelier over the table the guests won't even notice the messy kitchen. They no longer have to walk through it.

-You currently have one 4x4 window in the whole area. If you move the kitchen down and the eating area up, the whole top wall can become windows or another set of french doors onto the patio. The light that you will gain into the space will be huge. Yes, you will lose the clean-up sink under the window but you will gain much more light into the space.

-Kitchen chores involve prep work, cooking and clean-up with the least amount of time spent on clean-up. If you move the island straight down into the current eating area and put in a prep sink then your prep work will give you the ability to look outside while you are doing it.

-By moving the kitchen you have more wall space and can design a well-thoughtout U-shaped kitchen with an island. I might consider just one entrance into the kitchen (between the two you now have drawn), put the pantry where the closet currently is drawn, bring the island down and then draw in the rest.

I've probably missed one salient point or am ignorant of how your family works to make this suggestion non-workable. But, I thought I would throw it out there for you to consider.

I like blfenton's suggestions above. A couple of unrelated-to-kitchen suggestions re. your plan:

1) There is almost no closet space on the main floor, except a tiny closet near the center of the plan and some lockers in the laundry room. I would move the laundry upstairs directly above where it is today, and change the downstairs space into a dedicated mud room and would bring the garage door directly into the mud room.

2) Change the door swing in the master walk-in at minimum. Or consider moving the walk-in door to the small hallway and shift the bathroom door down to the right side of hallway to you don't have to go through the bathroom to your closet.

I like your home plan overall, just needs more closets on the main floor and some work in the kitchen I think. Good luck and enjoy your new home.

@blfenton - Wow thanks for the comments. I will bring up the swap to the wife. The ironic thing is, I do the dishes most of the time (as she cooks). I think it has everything to do with her house she grew up in. I think with that change alone we will have a more functional well lit kitchen.

@taggie - Thanks for the comments. I think we are concerned with the washing machine leaking upstairs and damaging the ceiling on the 1st floor. I definitely want it upstairs as that is where all our clothes are going to be. At a minimum if we keep it downstairs we will install a laundry chute. BUT I am going to push to have it upstairs.

Keep us posted on your plans. Love to see your decisions.

Will do. Thanks for the help.

amtrucker

Right now I can't get a plan I really like to come together, and I don't have more time, but here are some ideas for you to play with.

Consider sacrificing upper cabs on the north wall if you keep the layout as you have it and running big windows along the entire wall. Light that will come in from a covered porch is much less than that from exterior windows, but also much better than none.

In the above layout, the cleanup sink is not by a window, which your wife wanted, but more of the time in a kitchen is spent prepping than either cooking or cleaning up. When she stands at the island to prep, she will have a nice view out the wall of windows.

I don't really like the fridge where I put it. It is too far from the prep area and from the landing spot for groceries by the garage door.

Hope someone else will add ideas for you.

The doors shown as hinged could also be sliders. Nice, since that is a covered porch, if there were two sliders retracting on both sides to leave a six foot opening.

If you move the laundry upstairs the problem of leakage is minimized by having a proper tile floor with tile baseboard (could even have a drain in it). As well the front load washers really don't use that much water to start with.

Bellsmom... Thank you for taking the time to draw out a design. I am trying to convince my wife to flip but she is holding out in hopes that the architect will come up with something. We submitted our suggestions (which mostly came from GW) to him and hope to be closer to a working kitchen on the next drawings. If not maybe that will be the deciding factor in convincing DW into flipping it. I like how much counter space you were able to get in there, and love the idea of light coming in from the back (I am nervous about the porch restricting the light).

cam349,

I didn't even think about the drain and that the front loaders don't hold much water. Good points!

The more I think about it the more I want it on the 2nd floor. Thanks for your input!

Check your local code for the drain. We wanted one in our upstairs bathroom due to a whirlpool tub. Our town said "no, thats what insurance is for" if it were to leak or over flow and cause damage. Either way put it upstairs that a number of tips to use to help avoid leaks.

Alright after taking advice from both the kitchen forum and the building a house forum we have came up with this solution.

My only concerns now are

The size of the pantry
Door swings in small rooms
Move the entry into the kitchen in the hallway toward the garage

Let me know what you think.