[Chronos]

My wife and I are agonizing over the space plan & layout for our kitchen & family room. It's getting to be a real point of contention. I have attached "as built" renderings in PDF format (hopefully this is OK). I cannot use Ikea's kitchen planner because of the totally weird shape of the spaces.

Currently we have:

• a small peninsula that creates a sort of G shape
• an opening into the dining room
• an odd nook area composed of angled windows
• a large popout garden window over the sink
• a sliding glass door that opens into the back yard
• a sofit on the ceiling

The main drawback to the current layout is that we don't have enough storage (or efficient storage). And, when we hold parties, everyone gathers in the kitchen and crowds around the peninsula. This effectively jams up being able to work with the oven and microwave. We currently have a small breakfast table + 4 chairs in the nook.

We are willing to consider all most anything. We have looked into the following:

1. Remove peninsula, change the floor-to-ceiling windows in the nook to base cab height, run new cabinets straight off the sink/dishwasher along, remove large sliding glass door and replace with 33" french door, change microwave/oven to stovetop range with microwave over it. My wife likes this idea. My concern is that we will lose a lot of space in the nook effectively rendering it useless for seating 4. Maybe 2 with a small pub table.
2. Remove peninsula and try to make existing space more efficient. Maybe add window seat along angled nook windows with storage underneath. Cut down existing popout garden window to smaller flat window and install wall cabs on either side. I like this idea because it doesn't kill the space for kitchen type eating and it is the least expensive option. My wife doesn't think we'll have enough storage.
3. Remove peninsula. Install french doors in angled window area of nook. Install cabinets on opposite wall.
4. Basically #1 plus using family room as eating area.

I'm hoping someone sees something in this that we're missing. We want the space to be more entertainment friendly -- but I don't want to ruin the resale value of the home by doing something stupid. The original designer for our tract house obviously laid out the kitchen as well as he/she could for the space but my wife has a visceral hatred for the peninsula.

We are also willing to entertain the idea of using a design consultant to help us through the idea phase (we're in San Diego ). Our plan is to use Ikea Adel cabs in medium brown finish. HELP!!!!!

Address:2149 Fenton Parkway San Diego, CA 92108 Telephone:619-563-4532 Store hours:Open Daily 9am-9pm IKEA Store Directory Entry for IKEA San Diego

[zeuss]

I'd love to take a look at this space with you - this kind of thing is right down my ally. But it is finals week for me and I'm studying right this minute for a Constructions Drawings exam tonight. SO maybe in a few days, I can spend some serious time on your ideas.

But just a few quick questions -

• is that a dining room on the other side of the kitchen behind the yellow wall?
• If it is, would you entertain the idea of one main eating area and a snack/breakfast area for eating instead of 2 table and chair sets?
• How many live in the house?
• Do you have young children?
• what kind of entertaining do you do?

[NBeth]

Hello and Welcome to Ikeafans!

Your existing space doesn't look so terrible but I bet you don't have great drawers and pullouts like Ikea can give you, so much of your storage is hard to use....therefore one obvious (cheaper) choice is to keep same footprint but create more effective cabinets.

Since you hate the current layout for parties, however, I can see wanting to change that.

Nonetheless, I'm not so keen on expanding into the nook, just because it's a funny shape and would be hard to get much efficiency in your cabs there. What about expanding into the dining room? Looks like there's no load bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room... You could knock down that wall, reverse the positions of the sink and dishwasher, add a 24" drawer base to their right (on your orig layout), then the cooktop moves into that line, then continue onward along the entire outer dining wall with base cabs (either no uppers or glass uppers). The dining portion could contain serving ware, china, table clothes, ETC. You could also get rid of that funny angle on the existing pantry wall so that these could be more efficient (one must be triangular?). You might move the wall oven set to a different location along that wall--depends on how you use it.

In such a plan I would be inclined to keep the peninsula--I don't think it would be such a traffic burden anymore as many people would be in the dining area and the cooktop is not boxed in. But you can optimize storage in it by turning some cabs to the other side, using drawers, etc..And perhaps you'd want to shrink it? I can't use the planner today so I'm afraid I can't mock it up right now: I hope this makes some sense.

Now I can't tell where you might have windows in your dining area, how you currently use the adjoining space, etc.. All of these could be important, so tell us more ...

[Chronos]

Yes it is a dining area on the other side of the wall which the stove is on. While that could be blown out, it creates new problems since it opens into a vaulted ceiling area and a china cabinet/hutch (storage) on the wall itself. However it is NOT a load bearing wall. And yes, it would get rid of that funky angle which would mean not having to cut the cabinet down.

Regardlesss, we would be willing to look at a single eating option. The dining area isn't used much. What would the nook be used for then? I guess breakfast seating?

Only 2 -- my wife & I -- no kids.

We like to host larger parties and gatherings for 2 - 3 other couples.

See attached 3D view into dining room. (Note cabinet poking through angled wall -- can't get rid of that for now.)

[NBeth]

Hmm. Looks like those dining windows are pretty low set. Of course you can just ignore that and go ahead and put cabinets in front of them (no wall cabs obviously). The china cab is easily moved to the family room or elsewhere--if that works for you. I don't think it's a problem that the dining area is vaulted, but you might try it in sketchup to see if it works for you.

Now I'm wondering if you could blow out the oven/pantry wall.... Can you vent upward, or is there another unit above?

[Chronos]

My wife hated the idea of expanding into the dining room after she saw my rendering. Her comment was "I don't want the first thing people to see is part of my kitchen when they walk in the front door". End of discussion.

I need that "Designing for the sexes guy"....

[NBeth]

The cook zone ended up a bit more toward the "dining" area than I was expecting based on your original layout, I admit But what if there were no"appliance" looking things as people come in? Not sure what those things are to the right of the stove but do they need to be there? Could you stick with the cooktop and wall oven model so that there's mostly a row of drawer bases with a slim cooktop barely showing above and toward the kitchen? No "backsplash" in the dining area either: end it with the cooktop. What do you think about that? (more importantly, what does she think? )

[Chronos]

Originally Posted by NBeth

The cook zone ended up a bit more toward the "dining" area than I was expecting based on your original layout, I admit But what if there were no"appliance" looking things as people come in? Not sure what those things are to the right of the stove but do they need to be there? Could you stick with the cooktop and wall oven model so that there's mostly a row of drawer bases with a slim cooktop barely showing above and toward the kitchen? No "backsplash" in the dining area either: end it with the cooktop. What do you think about that? (more importantly, what does she think? )

I don't think I could push that much stuff back. It would still be visible as you walked in. She was also concerned about losing her dining area even though we rarely use it. She would rather lose the breakfast nook to more cabs even though that's where we sit every day. I'll post the other design comp later today that she favors.

[Chronos]

Originally Posted by NBeth

Now I'm wondering if you could blow out the oven/pantry wall.... Can you vent upward, or is there another unit above?

The oven/pantry wall in the as-builts backs up onto the stairwell. So no chance for expansion there.

[zeuss]

I have some ideas if you can just hold on a bit more. It is crunch time for me at school. I've got a computer 3D model due and a real model to finish building - then 2 weeks off YEAH!

But I'm thinking about this design problem - don'y you worry