Discuss Small urban modern kitchen -- advice needed on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. Small urban modern kitchen -- advice needed - Need help with planning your remodel? Want a kitchen planner to review your ideas? This is the happenin' spot!.
All, I am posting a proposed mockup (as a PDF file) for a kitchen renovation for our very small, squarish kitchen. The rest of our house is midcentury modern (both in architecture and design) and so we're aiming for an open kitchen with above-counter shelving (roughly sketched on this mockup) rather than cabinets.
Thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. Fridge is an energy-efficient tall and slender model purchased separately, range will be countertop with separate oven, and dishwasher mounted under cabinet.
We live in a mid-century modern townhouse and are looking at Ikea for remodeling our kitchen. Currently it's set up in a horseshoe arrangement (counters on three sides) and we want to maximize useful counter space by making it into a galley. It's small -- only 8.5' x 8' -- so we've tried to keep it simple. We're planning open shelving above the counters -- in the designer I entered these as heaters, since shelving isn't an option.
Any thoughts or improvements would be much appreciated.
Welcome!
Notes on a quick revision: do you really have a 20" wide range? I changed it to 24 to be safe.
Your stove and sink were too crowded: I put on one each side offset from one another so two people can work at the same time.
You didn't have any provision for venting: I made a break in your shelves to remind you to deal with this (at minimum you can't have shelves right above a heat source like that). You might be able to hang an OTR microwave from a strongly supported shelf to keep your open concept.
I suggest a single bowl 24" sink sink since you'll have the dishwasher and space is at a premium. I put them next to each other: that works much better than the way you had it. I've also reduced the depth of the first level shelf so that you don't bonk your head when you do the dishes! This is still enough room for all sorts of vinegars, oil, spices, peanut butter, etc..
Now you have room for a bigger 24" wide drawer set. I've also combined units so that you can have one of those huge 36" wide drawer bases: you could hide a small country in one of those babies!
Finally, an important question: do you need those half height walls? Because they're stealing 6 precious inches of space from your kitchen and they don't fit the open concept either. You could have a full width range and dishwasher (just examples) if you got rid of these things! What do you think?
I 2nd everything Beth said and I totally agree that you'd be better off with end panels on the base cabinets that 1/2 walls. You could use every inch.
One question though - do you have special storage needs for the 15" & 18" 4 drawer stacks? Because most people around here have found that the 3 drawer stack that includes 2 deep drawers works better in most cases. Those deep drawers hold an amazing amount of stuff. Plus they match the wider units in drawer depth to give cleaner lines for your modern aesthetic.
Are you going for a Nexus YB or BB for that mid-century modern look? What other elements are you going with to create that hip cool look? flooring? Backsplash? Countertop? etc.
I'm sorry no one has answered before now. We really try to answer questions promptly, but yours must have slipped through the cracks.
As far as you plan goes, there are just a couple concerns, but it mostly looks great.
First, I would really like to see the sink with counterspace on both the left and right sides. Could you switch the sink and dishwasher around? Or maybe move the drawer unit next to the fridge down the the left of the sink? It would really help your kitchen effeciency.
Second, what plans do you have for the stove vent/hood? You really need something to help the air quality in your home? Could you put a modern hood and shelves on either side?
Third, are you going to have a microwave? If so, where?
What doorstyle are you going with to keep your midcentury modern feel? Nexus yellow brown?
I've attached an updated kitchen -- can't seem to get a hood to go over the stove, but imagine one there. (The stove, in this case, is symbolized by the black countertop, as we plan to get either a glass cooktop or an induction countertop.) We put the 12" storage to the right of the stove so that we won't be pressed up against the wall while cooking, and so we can turn the handles on pots to the side, as we plan to buy a narrow (hopefully 20") cooktop. We put the sink on the end so that we can have a longer countertop on that side of the kitchen -- we've found that 2-3' counters aren't that useful. I also switched to the larger drawer units, based on others' suggestions.
We're not sure about color -- the rest of our house has a lot of yellow-brown wood (parquet floors, open wood staircase, &c) and although the Nexus YB seems like it could be a good fit, there is something attractive about the Solar white. Thoughts most welcome. We will tile the wall with small square tiles, we think,but are not sure of the color scheme. Countertop will be a recycled material -- maybe Paperstone?
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