getting rid of a kitchen island?

[bhnumbers]

Has anyone done this or seen it done? Is this dumb? Our kitchen is a fairly compact galley style kitchen put in by the previous owner. It's a great kitchen to cook in because everything is an arms length away, but literally one more person in the kitchen is too much. If I'm using the stove and someone wants to unload the dishwasher or use the sink, it's a giant PITA. And our kids are still pretty young, so I can't imagine me plus DH and two semi-grown men trying to all use the kitchen at the same time when they get to be teenagers.

Our interior designer and I were spitballing ideas and she suggested getting rid of the island and just working with cabinets on either side of that space. See rough mockup below. We are fine with sacrificing our "formal" living room with the fireplace because we literally never use it. Right now, you open the front door directly into the living room which is something that neither DH or I love. It's not the end of the world, but it would be nice to have an entryway.

I'd love any feedback on this. This feels like maybe the 20th times I've asked for advice on this kitchen and we keep changing our minds about what we want (at some point DH and I have to make up our minds), but each time, you guys have great advice. 



Here is how things are now:

[tacokick]

I’d get rid of it! My parents opted for more cabinet since no one would eat at the island it it left them with a better space to get around in. I think islands are just so popular people put them in even when it means less walking space.

[dove]

I recently renovated and got rid of my island. Looks like my previous set up was very similar to yours, stairs down and all!
I absolutely love love love my new kitchen. So much more counter space and more than 1 person can be in there.

[deadwing]

Where is the fridge in the new layout? Otherwise the new layout looks functional and like it uses the space well. I'm not the one who will be cooking in it, though.

[bhnumbers]

Mar 16, 2021 17:26:25 GMT -5 deadwing said:

Where is the fridge in the new layout? Otherwise the new layout looks functional and like it uses the space well. I'm not the one who will be cooking in it, though.

It’s over by the wall oven and microwave

[aprilsails]

I drew two sketches that show an alternate layout that may or may not resonate with you. DH and I came up with this together so we both have scribbles on here:


First off we would move the fridge with cabinets to the stairwell wall. Then extend the cabinets across the opening a bit and put in the sink and dishwasher. That would give you a nice open space for washing dishes.

[aprilsails]

Next I would move the dining room to your living room space. Remove the fireplace and put in millwork cabinetry instead. With future teenagers in the house I would prefer to have a closed office or den type space so they can watch the or play video games without disrupting everyone else. You could remove the doorway and install a closet in the den space, or just do a bench and hooks along the extended wall.

[aprilsails]

Finally, we only have one seating and dining area and it is directly adjacent to the kitchen. We find this saves us having to have two spaces for seating in the house. This layout would best suit my family and tastes, and does not require relocating load bearing walls or any exterior windows.

[hbomdiggity]

I don’t have an issue with removing the island in your case, but I was struggling with what it did to the front room and that part of the layout.

I actually really like aprilsails concept.

[bhnumbers]

aprilsails , wow, thank you for putting so much thought into helping with this!!

it's funny because our interior designer's initial suggestion is like your first drawing and we spent a lot of time talking about it, but neither DH or I like the idea of making the entry in to the family room smaller or having the sink overlooking that area. we have built-ins right by there (see photo) and I just think it would look so awkward, especially because the door to the basement is right there, too.

excuse the clutter 


And over the years, we spent a lot of time talking about moving the dining room to the existing living room space, but DH is weirdly set against it. I've suggested it more times than I can count over the almost 5 years since we bought the house and he's always against it and it's not my hill to die on, so I've let it go, lol.

also, I have a dedicated office off of the back of the family room, DH has a dedicated office upstairs and the kids have the run of the whole basement as their hang out spot, so keeping the formal dining room as is actually works.

our architect confirmed that the wall between the current living room and kitchen is not load bearing, so that's good, but to hbomdiggity 's point, the front area of my mockup drawing is awkward ugh, why didn't we do this when we did our addition?!

[aprilsails]

I just saw your reply so my first response here is obviously no good. Thought it might be interesting though:

[aprilsails]

Here is my revision, taking into account not relocating the dining room:


I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t love the layout that was proposed. It seems too disjointed. Maybe this will help with some other ideas?

[aprilsails]

Mar 17, 2021 8:47:07 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

I just saw your reply so my first response here is obviously no good. Thought it might be interesting though:

quoting myself here, you could extend a bit and put the sink in the extension facing the new “dining room” and leave off the cabinet extension towards great room. It would create more of a pinch point at that location, but it’s not somewhere where people would commonly stand.

[aprilsails]

How obvious is it that my favourite activity in high school was playing with my Dad’s architectural drafting programs? I do electrical building engineering and spend all day going crazy looking at floor plan layouts when I’m doing residential work.

[origami]

Mar 17, 2021 9:02:21 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Mar 17, 2021 8:47:07 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

I just saw your reply so my first response here is obviously no good. Thought it might be interesting though:

quoting myself here, you could extend a bit and put the sink in the extension facing the new “dining room” and leave off the cabinet extension towards great room. It would create more of a pinch point at that location, but it’s not somewhere where people would commonly stand.

Could the kitchen be U-shaped like you show it here, but where the U is the same length as the wall fridge area? Then the barstool counter could be the other side from where it’s shown here (where the interior designer shows the kitchen table)

[orval]

I like all of aprilsails ideas! I feel like in your drawings a lot of space is wasted. For example, are those stools at the end of the counter where it extends out. What is in all of the that other space in that whole area? Same thing where the kitchen table is -- empty space.
I like the idea of a pantry in the corner and dining area in the front of the house. Also, extending the foyer like april did.

[bhnumbers]

Mar 17, 2021 8:49:54 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Here is my revision, taking into account not relocating the dining room:


I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t love the layout that was proposed. It seems too disjointed. Maybe this will help with some other ideas?

This is definitely growing on me...love the idea of a bigger pantry But we still have the issue of one dining space right next to another one that I don't love. Also, a complicating factor is that our front windows go down really low. It would be tough to build in a banquette since you'd be leaning back against windows--might just have to be chairs there if we went that route.

[bittybomb]

We just renovated and went back and forth on the island thing.  I was actually really opposed to an island, and I think my husband only wanted one because they're so in.  Ultimately, I won.  We have a fair amount of parties (in pre covid times, and hopefully again once covid is managed) with our large extended families, and everyone gathers in the kitchen.  I liked the idea of a big kitchen table (family of 5 anyway) that I could move up against a wall if I wanted more space.  We both love our kitchen and I'm so glad there is no island to have to work around.

[memenee]

I don’t love the layout that your designer proposed. The seating at the peninsula seems too hard to get to and too cramped in that corner.

I know your husband isn’t into moving the dining room to where the living room is but I would definitely do that! And I know you said you don’t use the fireplace but I’d leave it there if it becomes the DR - I love eating by a fireplace!

For your kitchen I would remove the island AND the proposed peninsula and just open the kitchen walls between the kitchen and your new DR.

And the old DR can just become a nice quiet tv-less sitting room. When we entertain the kids all go to the family room with the TV and adults hang in the LR, DR kitchen.

Good luck!

[froggy76]

I like aprilsails first idea a lot but with the sink facing the dining room (current living room) so you don't have to close off part of the opening to your family room. I don't understand your husband's issue with moving the dining room but he should get over it lol. The other ideas seem to create this bizarrely long skinny kitchen with a lot of wasted space, plus I think you'll feel like the kitchen is now so far away from the family room. I wouldn't remove the fireplace or build a new long wall by the front door. Your house seems to have lot of architectural charm and then plan your designer proposed seems to really kill that. The current dining room can become a nice sitting/reading/music room. I love having a "nicer" living area apart from the family room.

[froggy76]

Tried to mock this up- it's basically the layout from your designer but shifted a bit back into the current kitchen area and using the current living room as your dining room instead.

If you really didn't want to move the dining room to the current living room area, that could be a nice sitting area for people to hang out and chat with the cook, too. Then your dining room could stay where it is. I know you don't use the living room currently, but maybe you would use it more with a couple stools there so it feels more like an extension of the kitchen? It could even be flex space and you could put a pub table or something by the fireplace or front window for games and snacking, plus a couple comfy chairs. I get not wanting to have two dining spaces right next to each other, but this way it wouldn't be anything permanent and you could change the use of the space over time to suit your needs.

This layout probably isn't perfect for your needs, either but is just another idea! If you did something like this, could you add a new window on the side of the house over the sink?

[simpsongal]

How many feet wide is the kitchen? When I first saw the area, I figured a bigger island w/no cabinets on one side would work. But the pics shows how visually obstructive the island is, so maybe it is best to lose it. It's a tough floor plan....I can see why you don't want to flip rooms.

Agree w/others that your designer's drawing feels oddly disjointed. What if you did built in seating where the designer put a table? So it would feel a little more integrated. That seems like it would at least extend the kitchen further into a cohesive space. I'd probably lose the peninsula by the windows, I think it's too obstructive of the windows and the light. I don't love the idea of a peninsula by the den side b/c of the lower floor in the den - the peninsula just seems high and imposing, and again, visually obstructive.

[circa1978]

Mar 19, 2021 10:34:14 GMT -5 bhnumbers said:

Mar 17, 2021 8:49:54 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Here is my revision, taking into account not relocating the dining room:


I can’t quite put my finger on it but I don’t love the layout that was proposed. It seems too disjointed. Maybe this will help with some other ideas?

This is definitely growing on me...love the idea of a bigger pantry But we still have the issue of one dining space right next to another one that I don't love. Also, a complicating factor is that our front windows go down really low. It would be tough to build in a banquette since you'd be leaning back against windows--might just have to be chairs there if we went that route.

How many eating areas do you need? I'm counting three and you say you normally eat in the one near your family room. Why not leave it at that and build out a kitchen without a dining area? Though, FWIW, our kitchen breakfast room walks through to our dining room. Its common here and I love it at holidays because I can seat people in more or less the same area.

[bhnumbers]

circa1978, I'd like to move the casual eating area out of the family room and up to the kitchen area. Agree what we don't need 3 eating areas I'm coming around to having it near the dining room, but I don't know if DH will.

[bhnumbers]

You guys have been so helpful, THANK YOU!!

I had another meeting with our designer yesterday and we talked through basically every possible idea (including many of the ones you all proposed) and every use for each possibly space. Here is what we came up with.



In thinking more about how and how often we use the dining room, we realized that it's very nice to have when I host family get togethers for 10+ people, but that only happens 2, maybe 3 times a year (and not at all for the past year!). The rest of the time, it's a place for our Amazon boxes to accumulate before we take them to the recycle bin, lol.

Then it dawned on me that my dining room table, that I love (it was my grandma's), is a drop leaf table and could easily function as a console table or side board type piece. So we decided that most of the time, that space can be a little sitting room, with the table folded off to the side. Then have 4 chairs with a small coffee table in the middle--two of the chairs can be dining chairs (armed ones for the end of the table) and the other chairs can just be moved to the basement when we want to set it up as a dining room. The other dining chairs can be used in other places in the house when not in the dining room. We need new dining chairs so we can keep that use in mind when choosing them.

So that makes it less weird (to us) to have a casual dining space right across the hall from the dining room (that will no longer only be a dining room) Plus, we'll get an actual dedicated entryway that we've always wanted!

Then the rest of the kitchen is pretty straightforward. But it gives us plenty of counter space--the original goal--and more space to move around and I think we'll end up a more storage, too.

DH and I are going to think on this over the next week (probably overthink, haha) and decide if this is really the best option for us. Would be happy for any feedback you guys have or any issues you see with this plan--maybe things I haven't thought through?

[tacokick]

I love the updated plan!

[aprilsails]

The updated plan looks great! My only concern is you have lost your pantry. You will have more lower cabinet storage so that should help, but will it be adequate? Do you intend to add a window over the sink?

[bhnumbers]

Mar 25, 2021 13:36:30 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

The updated plan looks great! My only concern is you have lost your pantry. You will have more lower cabinet storage so that should help, but will it be adequate? Do you intend to add a window over the sink?

I still have a pantry. If you look at my OP, it's on the other side of the step down area. I know it seems like it's far away, but the whole area is really compact so it works well for us.

And I don't think we're going to add a window over the sink, but we will price it out. Our architect said that it could be a ton of money (like almost $2K) and that's so much money for one window in a space that will get a lot of light anyway. If it's more affordable, we will definitely consider it!

[mrsukyankee]

That's fabulous. Love the new plan.