Renovation Plans

[k3am]

I guess I've been vague. This may be interesting and/or helpful (or none of the above!) for folks here. Or maybe just interesting for anyone that's bored. 

This is our existing floorplan: ibb.co/ss0x4gN

This is the concept phase for our revised: ibb.co/fHFggMq

We're moving some doors and walls around, and hopefully will have a more functional space. The laundry and powder rooms are in "maybe" status - maybe they don't happen now, maybe they do to take advantage of the time that we already have people invading our space. 

The living room doesn't have much in the way of changes. We are strongly considering raising the room (it's currently a sunken living room), but it's not necessary with how this floor plan is laid out. (They gave us several options, where raising it was entirely prudent/safety related. In this lay out, not so much. Right now, we have huge empty are between the kitchen and family room that I work out in - which goes away in the revised, so that's my biggest genesis for raising the floor - I can workout in the entry way area/part of the living room. 

Any glaring things that we need to address? It's terrifying to spend this much money and risk missing something. I'd hope that having the designer helps mitigate, but I've been pretty impressed with the "hive mind" of this place. 

ETA: The dining room table is basically a non-negotiable for us. I spent 5-6 years wanting it before buying it, and another year before they got us one without flaws. I love the table. We agreed that worst case scenario, we could find something else, but I really love the table. The family room size in the revised is basically the same footprint (different type of furniture) that we already use for it.

[penguingrrl]

That looks like a much more useable plan. You’ll get a much better kitchen, still have a dining room (I use my formal dining room all the time and am a huge fan of having one) and all around have a more workable layout. Good luck!

[lessel]

This looks great!

Random thoughts... take or leave:
- I'd almost lean toward a built-in island vs. one on casters. I think it could give you more storage and I think you have the space for it?
- I'm kind of wondering about the double oven placement. It seems a bit far away from your main prep areas.
- Is there a pantry space? I think that might be what's next to the cooktop, adjacent to the living room... maybe swap that and the oven? Maybe that's a depth issue though?
- Maybe this is a small detail and won't be obvious, but the dining room seems a bit more left than feels balanced. I know it's just a rendering, but it seems like you'd kind of want the light over the dining table centered in the width of the sliding glass door?

Oh, and re: sunken living room... is this your forever home? (I know that's always hard to predict...) My grandparents live in a ranch w/a sunken formal living room and my grandfather has fallen several times. It is definitely something to consider for aging in place. Probably an unfun added expense though akin to tires... you spend a lot of money and don't really feel much of a difference.

[k3am]

Jan 26, 2024 9:34:51 GMT -5 lessel said:

This looks great!

Random thoughts... take or leave:
- I'd almost lean toward a built-in island vs. one on casters. I think it could give you more storage and I think you have the space for it?  Not really space for it. This is as big as it can be and still meet code. I'm not 100% sold on the island in general - i tmay get nixed during planning, and with it movable, if we hate it, we can just be done iwth it. 
- I'm kind of wondering about the double oven placement. It seems a bit far away from your main prep areas. There was logic there that I honestly don't remember. 
- Is there a pantry space? I think that might be what's next to the cooktop, adjacent to the living room... maybe swap that and the oven? Maybe that's a depth issue though? No true pantry space to swap it with. I think the issue was not wanting hte oven built into a corner. If it's centered more on the side wall and not in the corner, there wouldn't be much counterspace by the stove. 
- Maybe this is a small detail and won't be obvious, but the dining room seems a bit more left than feels balanced. I know it's just a rendering, but it seems like you'd kind of want the light over the dining table centered in the width of the sliding glass door? Intentional so that there's a clear pathway to the slider without needing to walk around the table. We've discussed adding some exposed beams (obv non structural) added to break up areas into more defined spaces and be less of one big bowling alley. 

Oh, and re: sunken living room... is this your forever home? (I know that's always hard to predict...) My grandparents live in a ranch w/a sunken formal living room and my grandfather has fallen several times. It is definitely something to consider for aging in place. Probably an unfun added expense though akin to tires... you spend a lot of money and don't really feel much of a difference.  It's a two story and we live in a stupidly expensive area, so likely not the forever home. A good amount of the houses nearby have raised the sunken living room, a good amount haven't. I'm sure it will come down to costs, but we were glad that with this floor plan option it isn't necessarily a need. We won't have a good idea on price until we start bidding the work, but the designer said in past projects, it was about a 1/3 of the cost to add it on vs. doing it as a standalone job.

[lessel]

k3am - Sounds like y'all have done a great job thinking through the obstacles and options! For the pantry... what is that space to the left of the fridge on the design? Could that be pantry cabinetry?

[k3am]

lessel, it's a regular set of lower cabinets and an upper. And DH's standalone ice maker, which is CLEARLY a priority. (The man has a weird obsession with ice. The fridge that was here when we moved in had two icemakers, that I thought was dumb until one broke. When we replaced the fridge, he insisted on another with two icemakers, which he got. And one broke. So now he doesn't trust a fridge based icemaker.)

I'm not too worried about not having a pantry, since I've never had a true pantry. It would be nice to have for sure.

[lessel]

k3am That's too funny. It just goes to show you how personal design decisions can be. I couldn't live without a pantry and your H can't live without an ice maker... and an ice maker would probably be super-low priority on my kitchen wish list!

[k3am]

Right now we have 100% of our food items in an upper cupboard (2 door) to the left of the stove, and in what I suppose someone might would call a pantry, but really isn't. The area to the left of the ovens in the existing floor plan is the "pantry" - but a chunk of that is wine bottle storage (stupid allocation of space, and I love wine), so the actual width is maybe 12"?

We keep any food that's sealed (chips packages, lunch snacks, Costco run stuff, etc) in the garage.

[lolalolalola]

I feel like your kitchen triangle is a bit too big? If you have tough skin you could post in Houzz. They give good advice but often act like assholes while they are doing it lol.

[momin2013]

Overall I think it’ll be a very nice layout.

My thoughts:
- I think the moveable island is too shallow. At 1.5’, I don’t think it will be all that useful. I’d try to double it if possible and make it fixed vs. moveable.
- When I zoom out and look at the top half, the kitchen takes up more than 1/3 of the length. I agree that you need an eating area, but I think the family room portion is really small. I think ideally I’d shorten the kitchen a bit, same with the dining area (and move it to the right so it’s closer to centred in the space) and enlarge the family room.
- I would absolutely raised the sunken floor if at all possible.

[lolalolalola]

You absolutely do not have room for a larger fixed island. You have ovens on one side with 3 foot clearance abs DW on the other worse with w 3.5 foot clearance. That’s small already so definitely don’t shrink it.

[k3am]

Jan 27, 2024 15:12:24 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

You absolutely do not have room for a larger fixed island. You have ovens on one side with 3 foot clearance abs DW on the other worse with w 3.5 foot clearance. That’s small already so definitely don’t shrink it.

Oh definitely not! we've had multiple designers tell us the same when they were proposing. With our current layout, we are currently not within code - space between peninsula and fridge is less than required. When we bought the house, they had a full sized fridge, which made it even narrower, we got counter depth when that one broke, and it's still too narrow of a space. And for some reason, people are drawn to standing in that spot by the fridge leaning up against the counter. It drives me nuts. 

I mentioned upthread, but kind of buried.. I don't love the island in general. Of the various options/plans they showed us, this was one of the few we both liked. DH is pretty sold on the island, because he's envisioning being able to prep food there while watching football on the living room TV. I'm hoping he comes around. And/or he'll realize that we'll likely buy a much bigger TV to mount over the fireplace (GASP! I know H&G hates the concept, but we like it and it works for us) in the family room, so he'll be able to watch TV there and prep at the peninsula. (He does 100% of our weekend cooking, so I need to keep him happy.)