Kitchen plans

[libbygrl109]

So this is the plan so far. I am so excited about all of the extra cabinet space we’ll be gaining. We have close to none right now. The cooking area is the space for our current kitchen. We currently have hardwoods in the dining area, and will have them extended into the kitchen. I am now trying to figure out if I need to make any changes to the cabinetry. Looking at the plans, the garbage cabinet is the one to the left of the range. That means I will have to use the cabinet to the right for pots and pans. I am wondering if that will be enough? I cook a lot, and have cookware of various sizes that I use quite a bit. I guess when we start cleaning out, I could pare down to only the things I absolutely can’t live without. Or maybe I am just overthinking but right now. *ETA I edited now that I know my right from my left 

[winecat]

Why is the garbage cabinet in that location? It doesn't seem very convenient.

[RockNVoll]

Can you swap the garbage cabinet and your pan cabinet? I think it would be better to have the garbage cabinet closer to your sink and prep area; otherwise, you'll have to keep stepping around your stove to dump scraps and such. Although, the downside is that you'll be standing in front of the garbage then when you're prepping and no one else can get to it. Hmm, I guess you could go either way but I lean towards swapping them.

As for pot/pan storage, can you use the upper cabinet above where the garbage bin is now for additional space? It does sound like one cabinet would be limiting for you. I have my regularly used cookware relatively pared down and I still need a double cabinet to store it all.

[origami]

It looks like you have a corner cabinet on the bottom. Is that right? What are you planning to put there?

[expectantsteelerfan]

Is a garbage cabinet necessary? I know they are nice, but I've gone a while without one, and my realtor pointed out that that was the one thing the kitchen in the house we're under contract for doesn't have, and she was surprised when I just shrugged. If space is a premium, garbage is the last thing I'd make sure we had room for.

I agree that the cabinet to the right of the stove makes most sense for pots and pans. I wouldn't want to use the cabinet to the left of the stove either though. And the other side of the kitchen has no single door short cabinets. So I was trying to come up with where I'd put a garbage cabinet, but I came back to just leaving the garbage can out of the cabinets to the right of the cabinets by the fridge.

[libbygrl109]

winecat, RockNVoll, Wow, I guess I was really tired last night when I posted. I meant to say that the garbage is to the left of the stove, not the right. So, even with it on the left, I'm not sure I like it there. Right now, that is where I do all of my prepping. I guess there would be pros and cons about having the garbage right in front of me while I work.

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 6:14:59 GMT -5 origami said:

It looks like you have a corner cabinet on the bottom. Is that right? What are you planning to put there?

Most likely the appliances I don't use a lot, but want handy, like the blender, food processor, etc. If there is room, I probably could store cookware there, too.

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 7:35:11 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

Is a garbage cabinet necessary? I know they are nice, but I've gone a while without one, and my realtor pointed out that that was the one thing the kitchen in the house we're under contract for doesn't have, and she was surprised when I just shrugged. If space is a premium, garbage is the last thing I'd make sure we had room for.

I agree that the cabinet to the right of the stove makes most sense for pots and pans. I wouldn't want to use the cabinet to the left of the stove either though. And the other side of the kitchen has no single door short cabinets. So I was trying to come up with where I'd put a garbage cabinet, but I came back to just leaving the garbage can out of the cabinets to the right of the cabinets by the fridge.

Necessary, probably not, since I've lived without one for most of my adult life. My mom has had one in her house for years, and I always liked how the garbage was hidden, but still easily accessible. Our kitchen is pretty small, so I was hoping to make the space look as uncluttered as possible. I may talk to the designer about seeing if we could change the sink side a little. The problem is that my husband loves how we gain more walk-through space from the back door the way it is designed now. 

[lacey]

The aesthetics of your kitchen are beautiful. We have a 28” 3 drawer stack next to our stove. The top holds cooking utensils, the middle drawer holds 3 sauté pans(stacked) , and 3 fry pans (mostly stocked) along with all the lids. The bottom drawer holds a cast iron skillet, a large Dutch oven and two stock pots. We have a wok that is stored elsewhere, along with all baking sheets and pans and our Pyrex dishes. So, all that is to say whether the one stack is enough will depend on what you’re trying to put in there. I LOVE drawers though - highly recommend considering them instead of door cabinets.

I mention this only because you mention liking to cook a lot. Do you feel like you will have enough counter space for prep? It looks like it will mostly be between the sink and stove?

[origami]

Apr 24, 2021 8:35:21 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Apr 24, 2021 6:14:59 GMT -5 origami said:

It looks like you have a corner cabinet on the bottom. Is that right? What are you planning to put there?

Most likely the appliances I don't use a lot, but want handy, like the blender, food processor, etc. If there is room, I probably could store cookware there, too.

👍 asking because I have a 2-tier lazy susan in that cabinet and that’s where my pots and pans go. It’s a “big” space even though it looks small. It’s only the opening that’s small.

[dr.girlfriend]

I love my pull-out garbage cabinet (hope yours is pull-out, where you pull the door directly rather than having to open the door and THEN pull something out?) but I definitely like having it right near the sink if possible. Most of the time I do my food prep on the counter by the sink and then dump the trash directly into the garbage there.

I'm not a big cook, but we have limited cabinet space and have all our cookware in one cabinet by the stove. The top drawer is spatulas, scrapers, whisks, etc., and then the bottom two deep drawers are pots and pans. We have a lid rack that holds all the lids at an angle so they fit (it was from IKEA). I think we fit at least 15 pans or so since you can have several rows stacked. I'll try to take a picture. I would plan on paring your cookware down to the most frequently used stuff, and then having more rarely-used cookware in a high cabinet that you can get to with a stool.

I definitely recommend doing drawers everywhere you can on the lower cabinets instead of doors. We only have one door (under the microwave) and it bugs the hell out of me, having to open it wide before you can pull the pull-out out.

Also, given that you have that big glass tower, I would think about whether you really want glass-front cabinets over the sink.  I have one glass-front cabinet and although I love the look I can really only have "pretty" stuff in it which limits the utility.  Unless you already know you have enough pretty dishes and glassware to fill both those spaces, I think you might want solid doors by the sink.  

It's a little hard to tell scale, but is that sink kind of small?  I would go as big with the sink as you can.  I know mine looked like a bathtub when it first arrived it was so big, but we fill it so much more easily than I imagined, even with just three of us in the house!

Finally, I don't know if you'll have room, but I think you might given how they've stuck a weird lamp (?) there -- I would HIGHLY recommend doing a very shallow cabinet along the exposed side of your fridge.  We have one that's only 6" or so deep but it holds a TON.  This was the inspiration:


But ours actually has shelves to hold lots of mugs and cans and stuff.  That said, our kitchen is TINY so maybe you don't need the storage space, but we needed every inch.  Even so, having a little cabinetry there instead of a panel makes the fridge look more "built-in" I think.

Here's ours:

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 9:09:47 GMT -5 origami said:

Apr 24, 2021 8:35:21 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Most likely the appliances I don't use a lot, but want handy, like the blender, food processor, etc. If there is room, I probably could store cookware there, too.

👍 asking because I have a 2-tier lazy susan in that cabinet and that’s where my pots and pans go. It’s a “big” space even though it looks small. It’s only the opening that’s small.

DH and I were just talking about a lazy susan vs. just shelves. I do see the appeal of it. I was wondering about how much weight it would hold before it doesn't want to turn. How much are you able to fit?

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 9:24:34 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I love my pull-out garbage cabinet (hope yours is pull-out, where you pull the door directly rather than having to open the door and THEN pull something out?) but I definitely like having it right near the sink if possible. Most of the time I do my food prep on the counter by the sink and then dump the trash directly into the garbage there.

I'm not a big cook, but we have limited cabinet space and have all our cookware in one cabinet by the stove. The top drawer is spatulas, scrapers, whisks, etc., and then the bottom two deep drawers are pots and pans. We have a lid rack that holds all the lids at an angle so they fit (it was from IKEA). I think we fit at least 15 pans or so since you can have several rows stacked. I'll try to take a picture. I would plan on paring your cookware down to the most frequently used stuff, and then having more rarely-used cookware in a high cabinet that you can get to with a stool.

I definitely recommend doing drawers everywhere you can on the lower cabinets instead of doors. We only have one door (under the microwave) and it bugs the hell out of me, having to open it wide before you can pull the pull-out out.

Also, given that you have that big glass tower, I would think about whether you really want glass-front cabinets over the sink.  I have one glass-front cabinet and although I love the look I can really only have "pretty" stuff in it which limits the utility.  Unless you already know you have enough pretty dishes and glassware to fill both those spaces, I think you might want solid doors by the sink.  

Finally, it's a little hard to tell scale, but is that sink kind of small?  I would go as big with the sink as you can.  I know mine looked like a bathtub when it first arrived it was so big, but we fill it so much more easily than I imagined, even with just three of us in the house!

I was thinking of going back and making all of the cabinets under the window drawers.

The big glass cabinet will be our hutch. I have my grandmother's china, along with our crystal and special knickknacks to put in there. The glass cabinet above the sink will hold my cookbooks and maybe some other prettier things. 

The sink is on my mind, too. I think it's just a placeholder until we actually go back next month to pick out everything. The drawings say it's a 27" cabinet, so I definitely plan to get the biggest sink that will fit, or at the very least, as big as the one we have now (21").

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 24, 2021 9:39:07 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

The sink is on my mind, too. I think it's just a placeholder until we actually go back next month to pick out everything. The drawings say it's a 27" cabinet, so I definitely plan to get the biggest sink that will fit, or at the very least, as big as the one we have now (21").

I was trying to figure out what size sink I have...I know it's a Blanco Silgranit...I think it's probably 30" or 32" in a 36" cabinet, and I definitely didn't know what I was missing with the tiny sink before!

A few more things, and I apologize if I mentioned these already.  I have the touch faucet, which has been really handy, and an instant hot-water dispenser which I absolutely love.

[origami]

Apr 24, 2021 9:30:34 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Apr 24, 2021 9:09:47 GMT -5 origami said:

👍 asking because I have a 2-tier lazy susan in that cabinet and that’s where my pots and pans go. It’s a “big” space even though it looks small. It’s only the opening that’s small.

DH and I were just talking about a lazy susan vs. just shelves. I do see the appeal of it. I was wondering about how much weight it would hold before it doesn't want to turn. How much are you able to fit?

The weight is no problem. I think this thing was designed for pots. It’s plastic but it holds all of them. Mine doesn’t turn all the way because of the long handles hitting the wall. Not because of the weight. My pans are also different shapes and don’t stack well. If they did I might feel differently about doing vertical storage in a different space. (ETA: not every pot is in that pic but it does hold my whole set)

Attachments:

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 9:44:00 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Apr 24, 2021 9:39:07 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

The sink is on my mind, too. I think it's just a placeholder until we actually go back next month to pick out everything. The drawings say it's a 27" cabinet, so I definitely plan to get the biggest sink that will fit, or at the very least, as big as the one we have now (21").

I was trying to figure out what size sink I have...I know it's a Blanco Silgranit...I think it's probably 30" or 32" in a 36" cabinet, and I definitely didn't know what I was missing with the tiny sink before!

A few more things, and I apologize if I mentioned these already.  I have the touch faucet, which has been really handy, and an instant hot-water dispenser which I absolutely love.

Yeah, we won’t be able to go up to a 36” sink cabinet, at least not without getting rid of the angle at the end of that counter, and that is something DH will not compromise on. Our current sink is from the small update we made when we first moved in 15 years ago. It’s pretty deep, but looking at sinks now, they may be even deeper than what we already have. So, that will help to hide the dirty dishes more.

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 24, 2021 10:01:16 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Apr 24, 2021 9:44:00 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I was trying to figure out what size sink I have...I know it's a Blanco Silgranit...I think it's probably 30" or 32" in a 36" cabinet, and I definitely didn't know what I was missing with the tiny sink before!

A few more things, and I apologize if I mentioned these already.  I have the touch faucet, which has been really handy, and an instant hot-water dispenser which I absolutely love.

Yeah, we won’t be able to go up to a 36” sink cabinet, at least not without getting rid of the angle at the end of that counter, and that is something DH will not compromise on. Our current sink is from the small update we made when we first moved in 15 years ago. It’s pretty deep, but looking at sinks now, they may be even deeper than what we already have. So, that will help to hide the dirty dishes more.

Mine was so deep at first I was worried about it (I'm only 5 feet tall) but it is great.  I do recommend having the sink grid.  I wasn't sure of the utility of it at first especially since it was a little pricey, but now I can't do without it!  Amazing how many things like that you find out about...

[libbygrl109]

dr.girlfriend, I really like the idea of a cabinet by the back door. The backdoor is our main entry into the house for us, so it will be where we hang our keys, dog stuff, etc. I could see it holding my floor steamer, if it fit.

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 10:13:10 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Apr 24, 2021 10:01:16 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Yeah, we won’t be able to go up to a 36” sink cabinet, at least not without getting rid of the angle at the end of that counter, and that is something DH will not compromise on. Our current sink is from the small update we made when we first moved in 15 years ago. It’s pretty deep, but looking at sinks now, they may be even deeper than what we already have. So, that will help to hide the dirty dishes more.

Mine was so deep at first I was worried about it (I'm only 5 feet tall) but it is great.  I do recommend having the sink grid.  I wasn't sure of the utility of it at first especially since it was a little pricey, but now I can't do without it!  Amazing how many things like that you find out about...

My mom has a Blanco Siligranit sink, too. I love it. I am average height (5'7"), and I find myself making a deep dive into it when I'm doing dishes there! I don't know if it's in our budget, though. We are already spending more than we originally planned over a year ago by extending the cabinets into the dining area. Right now the sink is part of the countertop price. I will have to see how good the included sink is, and how much more the Blanco would be.

[dr.girlfriend]

Apr 24, 2021 10:37:28 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

dr.girlfriend , I really like the idea of a cabinet by the back door. The backdoor is our main entry into the house for us, so it will be where we hang our keys, dog stuff, etc. I could see it holding my floor steamer, if it fit.

Looking at it now, I guess I was confused by the view...looks like there is an end-cabinet, but if that's a pull-out maybe you could flip it to the left of the fridge and then have the shallow cabinet on the right?  Like I said it would only add about 6" or so to the total run but since it's so wide (the depth of the fridge) it's really handy.  Here's a different view of mine -- I don't love how they used drawerfronts to "finish" the front but we did our reno on the cheap!  

[froggy76]

The plan looks really beautiful and practical. One thing I noticed is how tight the walkway is between the fridge/pantry and the dishwasher. Will this be a heavily trafficked path? I don't think you'll be able to get through with the dishwasher open - just something to consider if you think that will become an issue.

[libbygrl109]

Apr 26, 2021 11:07:13 GMT -5 froggy76 said:

The plan looks really beautiful and practical. One thing I noticed is how tight the walkway is between the fridge/pantry and the dishwasher. Will this be a heavily trafficked path? I don't think you'll be able to get through with the dishwasher open - just something to consider if you think that will become an issue.

Thank you! Our dishwasher is already closer to the end of that run, so we are used to it. It’s a pain, mainly because we have a microwave cart and garbage can along the back wall taking up the walk-around space, but will be doable. We’ll have more clearance in the new space. I think the opening will be 44” when it’s done, which is about a foot and a half more space than what we have now.

[libbygrl109]

Apr 24, 2021 8:59:52 GMT -5 lacey said:

The aesthetics of your kitchen are beautiful. We have a 28” 3 drawer stack next to our stove. The top holds cooking utensils, the middle drawer holds 3 sauté pans(stacked) , and 3 fry pans (mostly stocked) along with all the lids. The bottom drawer holds a cast iron skillet, a large Dutch oven and two stock pots. We have a wok that is stored elsewhere, along with all baking sheets and pans and our Pyrex dishes. So, all that is to say whether the one stack is enough will depend on what you’re trying to put in there. I LOVE drawers though - highly recommend considering them instead of door cabinets.

I mention this only because you mention liking to cook a lot. Do you feel like you will have enough counter space for prep? It looks like it will mostly be between the sink and stove?

The drawers are something to think about. The cabinet on the right is only 20”, though, so I don’t know how much less we’ll be able to fit.

The space between the range and sink is where I prep now, and we will be losing a few inches because of the change in cabinet sizes. However, we are moving our coffee pot to the counter under the window, and getting rid of some other counter clutter, so I should have ample space to work.