[suskyre]

Hi all,
first of all, let me say how glad I am that I came across this website, it is truly a treasure trove.
I have been a fan of Ikea furniture for a long time now (probably 80% of all our furniture is from Ikea). We are finally going to remodel our kitchen this summer and I was so excited to read about the great quality of the Ikea kitchen cabinets.
I've already done my homework and witten a mission statement (see below) and did several layouts on the kitchen designer. I'm attaching the designer file and some thumbnails for your review and am looking forward to hearing your input.
Susanne (CA formerly Germany)

my mission statement:
I want my kitchen to be very functional and efficiently organized. I want more counter space and and storage space than I currently have. I usually cook by myself, but want enough space so that one more person can work without interfering. We are on a tight budget, so I would like to avoid moving the water and gas hookups. I want the kitchen to look light and contemporary with some bold color accents.

I will keep my current fridge and dishwasher and will buy a new gas cooktop, electric wall oven, range hood and microwave.
Things I would like to have:
a tall pull out pantry
under counter lights
horizontal top cabinets
glass front top cabinets
pull out garbage (either under sink or next to it)
an open shelf for my cook books

[NBeth]

Hi,

I'm looking at your planner file now. What's in the empty square at the bottom of the room, past the table? Do you do a lot of recycling?

[suskyre]

Hi,
the empty square is the entry way, with the front door in the wall that's perpendicular to the window wall. I have one of the Ikea shoe cabinet against the wall facing the door, but otherwise it's an empty space.
I should explain a few more things about the layout. The wall on the right side (if you look at the top view) only goes to the small interior wall, which I put into the layout just to mark the spot where the wall ends. The rest of the wall doesn't exist and the room actually open to the living room. I'll take some pictures when I get home this afternoon. The door next to the fridge opens to the outside of the room and goes to my laundry/pantry area.
As for recycling, we do a lot of it, but our recyclables don't need to be separated. So I would need a regular trash can and a large recycling bin. I figured of putting 2 pull outs under the 36" sink cabinet. I also do worm composting for all my kitchen scraps and was looking for a good solution for storing about 2 days worth of scaps in a bin somewhere. I currently have a small (2-3 quart) trash bin with a lid that opens when you step on a pedal. I really like the hand free lid, but I don't think I'll have a good spot for a can on the floor in my layout. So I'll probably just put a small container with a lid somewhere on the counter, unless someone comes up with a better idea. I cook a lot from scratch with lots of veggies so every time I cook, I'm using the composting container.
Thanks for looking at my layout
Susanne

[NBeth]

Good morning,

Here's a slightly different take on your kitchen. The revision started with the fact that the microwave cab needed to move: it won't work next to the corner cab like you had it. Which meant moving the pantry, which meant... you get the picture. Since the 49" corner unit is pretty inefficient, this design has a smaller sink cab (with a big single basin sink--bigger than one of the double basin bowls would be). That gains room for a second 37" corner. What I'm imagining is that this second corner could be where you keep all of your garbage, recycling, and composting, in something like this: Amazon.com: Knape & Vogt - Waste Bins / Kitchen Storage & Organization: Home & Garden

You will note the pantry overlaps the little "inner wall" (which I'm guessing is the framing for the entrance to the living room?). It's pretty easy to notch cabinets to address issues like this and if your dimensions are accurate, it won't interfere at all with the function of the drawers. Of course if you don't like getting so close to the edge you can reduce the drawer base to 30" and you'll have plenty of room--in fact you could try an 18" wide pantry mod to make up some of the lost space.

One nice thing about moving the pantry to this side is that you will have room to use the 153" hinges on a door rather than being stuck with the pullout function in order to get drawers. Pullouts are cool, but most seem to find doors easier to deal with in the long run. Always note you can add drawers, change how many are deep vs. shallow, etc. in any of these Ikea pantries.

I've changed the horizontal cabinets to be symmetrically sized (makes more sense in the new layout too). You will probably want some filler between them and the pantry, but perhaps not, depending on your tastes. On the fridge side, to properly frame a fridge you actually need deeper cover panels than the planner shows. Ikea sells panels 3x8'.

On your little buffet I've adjusted the cabs so that they're symmetrical--the other arrangement was very awkward to my eye. You can leave the doors off the middle cab for cookbooks (or hide with doors as you please, of course!).

See what you think...

[suskyre]

Hi,
thanks for the suggestions, I like the changed buffet a lot better, you are right it was a bit awkward before.
Could you tell me why the microwave cab can't be next to the corner cab? I would really prefer to keep the pantry next to the fridge, that way I can keep the other side more open looking. It just feels too closed in to me with both ends of the U having a tall cabinet.
I'm probably going to go with a single basin sink anyway, so the switch to the smaller sink cab is fine. I also find the corner recycling unit very intriguing. The only problem is that I would really like to have lids on the bins for the compost and the trash (smell and those pesky fruit flies), so I was thinking of using a unit like this Haefele pull out: Euro Cargo Door Mounted Pull-Out Waste Bins from Hafele | Kitchensource.com

[NBeth]

The protruding microwave shelf interferes with the door function on the corner cab, no matter which way you put the door. I agree that I'd personally prefer the tall stuff on one side, but the micro would mess up your horizontal cool look if it were moved! Since your total layout is so open, I don't think the tall cab will close things off all that much really, but it's up to you how much it matters.

Maybe those horizontals should go to the buffet and switch to regular cabs everywhere in the main kitchen? You could do a double layer at the buffet but consider keeping one layer doorless, for books. Here is a mock up of that option. I've trimmed back the wall cabs on the fridge side to open things up a bit since you gain a bunch of storage space on the range side. Glass doesn't play well with grease, so all of the new doors are solid. Now the pantry looks more integrated on the range side. Just to give you an idea...

[NBeth]

Oh, re. the corner recycling unit. You're right, I'd prefer lids too. I wonder if alternate cans would fit the base--there are other triangle shaped cans out there. Greenie227 has this unit installed--you could see what she can tell you about it's size and shape... or maybe there's another similar unit? Anyway, the concept is fabulous....maybe it could be implemented using cans on the Ikea's lazy susan, with only one layer installed or the top one very high?

[dcmerger]

I did not read every response all the way through but just wanted to chime in about the "buffet" area. I would not use overhead cabinets above a 12" deep counter like that. We had something just like that and got rid of them in our renovation. It is difficult to use such a short counter with something overhead. Instead, we have a few very small open shelves for decorative objects. Or you could even put a nice piece of art there.

[NBeth]

Originally Posted by dcmerger

I did not read every response all the way through but just wanted to chime in about the "buffet" area. I would not use overhead cabinets above a 12" deep counter like that. We had something just like that and got rid of them in our renovation. It is difficult to use such a short counter with something overhead. Instead, we have a few very small open shelves for decorative objects. Or you could even put a nice piece of art there.

Hi, I've never had one so this is an interesting perspective. Why does having something overhead make more of a difference if the counter is shallow? What if you're not really going to do things on it, but simply display things? I do know someone with a unit like that and it works great as a place to put birthday presents and desert displays at parties. On a day to day basis it has some knick knacks and family photos.

Actually, I think there may actually be room for a deep base here since it turns out the right hand wall doesn't actually exist at the point where the dining table sits--there's just an opening into the living room. I might be inclined to cut two 36" drawer bases back to 21.25" deep (to still use drawers but gain a few inches) and use those instead of the shallow bases, particularly if that would improve the function of the total set.

[suskyre]

Interesting idea about cutting back some deeper cabinets. I'll have to go and measure the stuff I plan on putting in the cabinet to see if it would fit into the 12" base. I think a regular size base would move the dining table too far out into the living area. As for the counter space on top of the 12" bases, I agree, I wouldn't want to work on that, but I plan on using this area just for a fruit bowl or to put serving dishes when we have guests.
Susanne