[zod]

Hi folks. I stumbled on this site and have been reading and researching for days now. I'm in a small Brooklyn apartment that needs a new kitchen - floors, cabinets, appliances, pretty much everything... but I'm on a budget. The kitchen is small. Tiny by suburban standards, nicely sized for Brooklyn.

I'll attach my plan and would love any recommendations. I'm struggling a bit with the cabinet layout - I've only got 87" of space for cabinets, so I've divided everything up as best I could. I don't love the fact that I've got a bunch of little cabinets, but can't see what else I can do. I originally had one glass cabinet at the end, but was told by a wise lady (my mom) that it would look odd and out of place, hence the two in the middle over the sink. I'm going for a relaxed, non-modern, look with the Stat white cabinets.

A few questions -

I wasn't able to add the big apron single-bowl domsjo sink to the 24" sink cabinet. Is that a limitation of the planner software, or will it not fit? Also, will such a big sink overpower a smallish kitchen? And how are ikea sinks (are they fireclay?) compared to enamel on cast iron or enamel on steel sinks?

What color appliances should I go with? Everyone is moving towards stainless, but I'm afraid that would clash with my non-modern look.

I'm getting a cabinet warning next to the wall - do I need more space to open that cabinet or something?

Countertops - I'm on a budget, but am leaning towards quartz. Laminate looks too cheap imo and wears poorly. Wood would look good and fit the style, but my handy consumer reports indicates that wood tops score the lowest and need the most upkeep. I'm not good with upkeep. Question - what do you all think about the thinner 2cm (.75") quartz countertops vs the 3cm ones? 3cm is standard, but 2cm is predictably cheaper. I'm sure there's no functional difference, I just don't want them to look bad.

I'll get to the range, flooring, and backsplash later, let's start with the basics. Thanks!

[NBeth]

Welcome to Ikeafans!

Here's an alternate plan that includes the range wall: you need some cabs on either side for max utility and safety. Are you sticking with that 24" wide stove?

I've fixed your sink cab to give you the farm sink (you need to choose a different cab base structure of the same size in order to get that option), and I've revised your wall cabs so you won't bonk your head when you do the dishes .

I would do black or white appliances in this space. We have white with Stat and are very happy with that look. For some reason white is often slightly cheaper too! I've changed the cab that was giving you warning into a drawer cab: more useful and you can put it virtually flush with the wall (so long as things are square--old places sometimes need a 1/2" or so of wiggle room).

Hope this helps!

[zod]

Thanks for the input!

Here's why I made the choices I did and a few pictures to show our current layout. The nicer picture on the left is how the kitchen looked when I bought the place. As you can see, that wall window looks into the living room, and the folks I bought it from had a little table to eat at. I have a forhoja kitchen cart there now and a directors chair that we never use. The apartment has no dining room, so this can be sold as a [small] eat in kitchen, and I think I should keep it that way, hence no wall of cabinets on that side.

You can also see where the range is - on that little black surface, raised an quarter of an inch from the rest of the floor. I would love to install a 30" range (more room, more features, small price difference), but have no idea what to do about the floor over there. I was planning to put down laminate flooring in the kitchen over the hardwood (which is really beat up in places), but figured I would have to leave that area alone and be forced to stick with a 24" range.

You'll also see why I didn't install a hood - above the range are the hanging pots and pans - very useful storage for a small kitchen, and a big window that can be opened for ventilation right near the range.

In the other (camera phone) picture, we have our garbage. I figured two door cabinets would be easier to open halfway because of the garbage can than another set of drawers would be.

Lastly, because of the lack of space, I think we'll have to continue to use full-sized cabinets over the sink. That's what we have now and it it just means dodging an opening cabinet while washing dishes every so often
I also don't think I can keep four glass cabinets neat enough -- I don't think I have enough glasses and things that look display-worthy to fill up that space. My girlfriend (DG?) was alarmed that we'd have two glass cabinets. She'd lose it if we had four.

I'll stick with the white appliances - they are definitely cheaper, but I'm still a bit at a loss with the floor/range issue.

[madp67]

Welcome to IKEAFANS! Zod! Glad you "stumbled" upon us.

Thanks for posting those pics. Is there any wasy that the floor can be made level so as to not have to use the 24" range?

NBeth's is a very good design layout. Have you considered keeping it as an "eat -in" kitchen and just extending the countertop on the range side? You would then have the ability of sliding countertop stool underneath it? It would be a much more functional kitchen if the layout resembles NBeth's layout.

I think you could also benefit of having a shorter cabinet above your sink. I realize that you say it's not a big inconvenience today with the current set up, but you're also remodeling this kitchen to make it function and look better so it's something worth considering.

[NBeth]

Where is your fridge?? Just realized it's missing. I think you're saying there's a pass through to the living room? What about making a bar setup there for eating? Can be very pleasant and stylish too...

Trash can go under sink in a pullout: don't let that stop you from getting a set of fabulous big drawers--you will love them--everyone does!

I'm sure flooring surface issues can be resolved--no big deal. But a 24" stove may make sense for this size space...always a tossup there.

[NBeth]

Here's an example of how you can save your head and gain storage on the sink wall. Upper cabs can hold seasonal supplies not often needed, etc..

I've also reduced the amount of glass and to make things symmetrical, reduced cabs on right hand of sink. You will gain half of the lost space below because you'll have fewer cab walls using one big unit than using two smaller units. Conversely above, in order to give you only a few symmetrical glass cabs, I've reduced space by a small margin in giving you paired 15" cabs instead of single 30" cabs. You could simply install one glass and one solid door on a 30" cab but that might look odd from some angles. No matter which way you play with the glass issue, having an extra layer of cabs above makes up for any losses many times over.

Cabs on range wall are reduced so you could have a small table in here, but I'd still like to play with the idea of a dining bar around the pass through window....and still need to figure out fridge.

[zod]

Thanks again for all of everyone's ideas!

I actually went to my local Ikea (Hicksville, NY) and had a brief talk with one of the kitchen designers there. She agreed with NBeth's idea of double-stacking the cabinets. I was worried that it would make the small kitchen feel too claustrophobic, but she thinks it'll be fine. I ran into problems fitting the 15" high cabinets into my 87" space without wasting space - the only sizes Ikea has are 30" and 39" wide cabinets. What I did was reduce the main cabinets down to 30" and stacked 24" cabinets on top. It will allow me to put bigger things in the top cabinets (a Foreman grill box, for instance) and slightly reduce the amount of glass shelf space (which makes the girlfriend happy). While at Ikea I noticed the Perfekt organizer. It was 9" wide, which makes my span of cabinets 78", which is a much more ikea-friendly width. I figure I can put a few cookbooks and bottles of wine in there, maybe with some other bottles on top of it.

I decided not to reduce the size of the cabinets above the sink. I know it looks nice, but I really can't spare the cabinet space. The Ikea designer (who has her own design biz) said that she has a row of regular cabinets in the kitchen herself and it isn't a big deal.

I also relented and put in a wee bit of cabinet space near the range. I'm sticking with the 24" range because of space concerns (for now), and added the small pullout cabinet next to it. My problem with the other side of the oven is if you look closely at the picture I posted of it, you'll see that the window actually extends past the oven area and down a bit. There's molding all around the window, so I can't really put anything right up against it. I was hoping that I could get some white (plinth?) wood and bracket the window a bit and add a few inches of counter space between the wall and the oven (there is empty space there now). Hopefully they can use some extra Silestone from the Djomso sink cutout. We'll see. I'm now very excited about having all of my oils and such right near the stove in a handy pullout cabinet. Seriously excited. Perhaps more excited than I should be about a kitchen cabinet.

Oh, and my fridge is recessed on the other side of my cabinets. I was lazy and didn't add it in.

As suggested, I'll put in a pullout trash under the sink for recycling so I can better use my pullout cabinets.

I think I'm gonna go with .75" (2cm) blue safita Silestone, unless I can find some inexpensive granite places nearby.

I've gotten conflicting opinions about the match of Kroken handles and Stat White cabinets. Thoughts?

[NBeth]

Inquiring minds still wonder: where's the fridge?

[zod]

Ok NBeth, I figured I'd do it right. A note to folks who just want to do a quick mockup -- do it right the first time. There's no way (that I figured out) to change the shape of the kitchen once you start. So I had to do everything from scratch. No biggie.

Here's my updated mockup with...wait for it...the fridge.

Coupla questions:

What do you all think of the Stat White with the Kroken handles?

To those who have had quartz (or other stone) countertops - can you re-purpose the sink cutouts? For example, I want to take the cutout from the sink area, and put it in two sections near my range. There should be plenty of material, I can't imagine why they wouldn't be able to do it.

[NBeth]

Handles are good. Suggest you cut down another perfekt if necessary to get stacked look (haven't opened planner so not sure what size is on top row of cabs). Make sure you get a cab above that FRIDGE (yay!). About the sink cutouts--big problem is they won't be as deep as the range itself, so if you're thinking they can sit on either side you'll have a depth issue...

Best of luck--I love my Stat kitchen