Help with kitchen design

[atarianna]

We officially broke ground on our build and I am having trouble planning my kitchen layout.



The diagonal opening is from the mud room/hallways/laundry room area and it has to be diagonal based on the design of the rest of the home.

Here are what I am currently planning for each of the areas but am open to suggestions because I worry about general lack of upper cabinets and little counter area aside from the island.

Beverage Area:

Stove Area:

Island (different views):

Edited to add 3D renderings

[sacattack]

So, I wouldn't do glass cabinets, I had them at my last house and ended up frosting them because I just don't display stuff. The other thing I would add is a second dishwasher, its on my wish list for when we do! Also would you ever consider doing a cabinet over your stove vs. a hood? You could get more storage there.
Finally, are the cabinets all the way to the ceiling, if not, perhaps that's an option for more storage.

I think you will have plenty of prep space - your island looks huge (another wish list item)!

[laterz]

Will there be a microwave?

[atarianna]

Oct 3, 2018 14:33:51 GMT -5 laterz said:

Will there be a microwave?

Microwave will be in the hidden pantry unless we decide to put it in the island. We don’t use it terribly often so I was thinking out of sight would be best for our needs.

[atarianna]

Oct 3, 2018 14:08:20 GMT -5 sacattack said:

So, I wouldn't do glass cabinets, I had them at my last house and ended up frosting them because I just don't display stuff. The other thing I would add is a second dishwasher, its on my wish list for when we do! Also would you ever consider doing a cabinet over your stove vs. a hood? You could get more storage there.
Finally, are the cabinets all the way to the ceiling, if not, perhaps that's an option for more storage.

I think you will have plenty of prep space - your island looks huge (another wish list item)!

the cabinets are not all the way to the ceiling because the ceilings are high, either 9 or 10 ft I can’t remember which for that specific room. I could do a cabinet over the cooktop but I really like the function of a range hood so I need to think on that.

The glass doors I am unsure of, but had planned on wine martini glasses etc in those with in cabinet lighting.

[laterz]

Oct 3, 2018 14:48:01 GMT -5 atarianna said:

Oct 3, 2018 14:33:51 GMT -5 laterz said:

Will there be a microwave?

Microwave will be in the hidden pantry unless we decide to put it in the island. We don’t use it terribly often so I was thinking out of sight would be best for our needs.

Makes sense - wasn't sure if it would be using any of the counter space.  

Have you thought about what stuff would go where using this layout?  ie, dishes in the drawers next to the dishwasher.  That might help you figure out if you'll be short cabinet space (or if anything wouldn't be in a functional place.)

From the pictures it looks like you'll have plenty - but I would think about what would have to live in the beverage area cabinets - because if you're cooking or at the sink - it wouldn't be within easy reach.

I'm a +1 on keeping the range hood.  I wish I had done that.

[aprilsails]

You have such a nice kitchen layout and so much space to work with! I am definitely jealous as I am about to walk into meetings with our kitchen designer next week and this much space would be amazing.

I do have a couple of comments though. They are based on my preferences and may not match how your family cooks.

- I prefer having the fridge at an exterior edge of the kitchen. We often go in to the fridge to get drinks, snacks and other things that don’t require prep I prefer that people can grab something fast at the edge instead of walking all through the middle (with 4’ of space you have a lot more to work with though.
-I really would want more continuous countertop towards the centre of the room. The beverage station feels too far away to me.

So, with that in mind I would mirror the beverage station, bring the fridge to the outside edge and the workspace closer to centre.

Alternately, I don’t feel you need so much countertop at the beverage station, but would want more by the oven. I might move the pantry where the fridge is, slide down the wall ovens, and get more countertop to the right of the stovetop.

That is just me thinking out loud. Some of these ideas likely wouldn’t work.

[atarianna]

laterz, I’ve only somewhat thought about where things would go. Like the drawers next to the dishwasher would be utensils on top, and plates/bowls and serving dishes in the other two. Drawers beneath the stove top would be spices on top, then pots and pans. The drawers and cabinet on the end of the island facing the eating area would be kids plates and bowls for easy access.

Right now we don’t have a lot of upper cabinets and what we do have area taken up completely by drinkware and plates/bowls and serving dishes. I think having the beverage station and the deep drawers will house 95% of that stuff.

[atarianna]

aprilsails, I appreciate your input. Unfortunately the pantry panel is literally just a cabinet door that leads to a hidden, walk-in pantry. It wouldn’t be something that would be moveable since it extends beyond/behind the cabinets.

I like your idea of mirroring the beverage station but am concerned about having the fridge too far away. My working triangle is already kind of wonky so I was trying to keep the fridge close.

Another option we had discussed was moving the double ovens from the stovetop side to the beverage station side which would eat up about half the beverage station but add some additional work space to the stove top area.

[aprilsails]

@atarisnna I have never seen a pantry hidden in that way before. That is cool it definitely a fixed object.

Honestly, you have 5.5 feet of workspace to the left of your sink. That’s a lot if you don’t keep a drying rack for dishes up all the time (as we tend to do). We do all of our prep work along a 4’ stretch in our current house.

We are going to be going through the same process as I said. Our big sacrifice to the god of having a big island was wall ovens. Instead we will be putting in a 36” range, which has a phenomenally large oven as well. DH wanted the double wall ovens but I honestly don’t bake, and we never host big family events (and probably won’t for another 10 years+). That choice makes sense for us, although it’s certainly not less expensive.

You do have 48” all the way around your island which is a huge amount for circulation. I think you will be fine however you lay things out. If two of you cook together a lot, I might be tempted to tape out 48” and stand back to back and to pretend to wash dishes and stir a pot in the same space. You’ll each have 2’ which should be enough. We are going to be limited to about 42” which means we have to make sure no work stations line up.

[lacey]

If you don't have something specific you want to put in the lower cabinets I would consider switching some of them to drawers. We put in almost all drawers when we renovated the kitchen. We have a cabinet for the kitchen aid (18" or 21" I think) and a 36" double cabinet where we put small appliances. Pots and pans, Tupperware type storage bowls and lids, aluminum foil/clingwrap type stuff, pyrex, Corningware, and plenty of random odds and ends all go into drawers and it's much easier to get things/see what is there than it would in cabinets.

[Scarletbegonias]

I would do pull out drawers in the island instead of cabinets. It is a much better use of space and we use ours for pots and pans and our baking pans.

ETA: I just realized I was looking at the great room side of the island. My comment might apply to a few cabinets on the walls instead.

[TBM]

Do you really have space for a small drawer under the cooktop? Our cooktop actually takes up several inches below the surface, then we have two drawers for our pots and pans below that.

If you do have a drawer there, it might be too warm for spices...they should be stored away from heat sources.

Do you have a place for trash/recycling? We have a pullout in our island for ours, and it was one of the best decisions we made. We also opted for drawers anywhere we could and pullouts in the couple of lower cabinets we have.

Are the upper cabinets in the beverage area different heights? That would make me crazy. It doesn't look intentional if there is only a slight difference (more like someone ordered the wrong size), and doesn't really add anything style-wise if the difference is more pronounced.

[candreco]

Another option instead of replacing lower cabinets with drawers is to keep the cabinets but install adjustable pull out shelves. Our contractor talked me into them and I love them. I really like being able to have each cabinet's drawers at different heights to accommodate pots/pans/small appliances- much more flexible than regular drawers.

[atarianna]

Oct 7, 2018 6:17:13 GMT -5 TBM said:

Are the upper cabinets in the beverage area different heights? That would make me crazy. It doesn't look intentional if there is only a slight difference (more like someone ordered the wrong size), and doesn't really add anything style-wise if the difference is more pronounced.

I had a vision for the beverage area, I wanted it to look similar to the built in hutch my great grandmother had in her PNW craftsman house but when I got the 3D rendering back, I realized how right you were. It is lacking and I am not sure what to do.

This is a look similar to what I wanted but I don’t want that much glass....

[mrsukyankee]

Yeah, I'd want them all to be at the same level and depth.

[mrsukyankee]

What about something like this:

[Deleted]

I'm a big fan of symatry, so if you are going to keep the beverage station as is (which is do like, btw) I would add cabinet to the left to mirror the refrigerator area.

Like others have said, I personally wouldn't do the glass cabinet, unless of course you are sure that you have enough cabinet space otherwise. Or maybe I just don't have enough pretty stuff to display LOL My Mom has a beverage area and does have a lot of pretty stemware displayed and it does look nice. If you stick with the glass doors, I'd definitely recommend glass shelves as well.

Also, that space above the pantry bothers me. I'm not sure what the final plan is with that, but I would definitely have it drywalled in.

Is adding an dishwasher drawer in addition to your dishwasher an option? I do host quite a bit of functions and for me personally that would be a huge benefit to have.

Otherwise, I really love it and am jealous that you have enough space for an island that size!

ETA: One other suggestion. I wouldn't keep the microwave in the pantry, instead I think that I would put it in the island where you have the wine rack and move the wine rack to the beverage center in the upper middle cabinet and replace those doors in the center. I think that with the glass cabinets would really pull in the look and make it more obvious that it is a beverage center. 

[atarianna]

@sameoldstory, thank you for your input!

Yes that space above the pantry looks odd, the designer did studs between the oven and pantry and again on the right side. In our final look these will look just like cabinets with no stud separation. Similar to this:



Originally we had planned a double oven and doing microwave in the pantry, but we actually have purchased our appliances and are doing a single oven with a convection microwave above it. We do have a basement bar, so the wine rack isn’t necessary here but I agree with your thoughts on moving it to the center of the beverage area and maybe using the space where the wine rack is in a different way.

[dr.girlfriend]

I agree with having a place for trash pull-out -- preferably right next to the sink where you would be doing your washing/chopping -- it's great to be able to open the pull-out and just sweep everything off the counter into the trash. I also agree with having drawers wherever possible. I have one cabinet door with the drawers inside, and it's such a pain to open the door all the way out so you can slide out the inner drawer. I would only do one or two cabinets for oversized appliances, or even consider storing those in the pantry.

Do you have plugs planned in the island? I don't see any.

[hbomdiggity]

We have 10’ ceilings and our cabinets go to the ceiling. It’s an extra row of like 6” cabs that are perfect for storing stuff I don’t use often (but I also don’t have a walk in pantry). Otherwise it is just a flat spot to collect dust.

I’m not sure how I feel about the pantry door. I mean it looks cool and all but that pic is triggering my claustrophobia.