Discuss I'd appreciate any thoughts on my design on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. I'd appreciate any thoughts on my design - Need help with planning your remodel? Want a kitchen planner to review your ideas? This is the happenin' spot!.
We've been planning a kitchen remodel in our row house for many months and I've finally got what I think is a decent plan put together, partly thanks to reading these forums. Of course, it never hurts to get a second or eleventh opinion on these things, so let me know what you think. A few things:
This is intended to be a low-impact kitchen remodel, we're basically just replacing the old cabinets and countertops, updating the appliances, and adding some electrical outlets and lighting. No major remodeling. The cooktop and sink in this design are in pretty much the same place as the current ones.
I thought about a U-shaped design, with the bottom of the U along the west wall, but with our small space (9x13) and unfortunate door placement, we wouldn't have gotten much contiguous counter space, which is something we need. Also, the south wall is occupied by a cast-iron heater, which would be a huge pain to relocate. So I went with an island instead, two people will be cooking in this kitchen and the island will allow us to stand on opposite sides and chat while we cook, rather than having our backs to each other. I may build a dolly for the island with locking casters so it can move around.
Little things:
- The floor in the kitchen is white tile.
- The island's countertop surface will actually be 48 inches by 30 inches (Paperstone slab), not 45 x 25 as it appears, but there's no way to do that in the planner.
- The door on the north wall is actually an open archway to the rest of the house, there's no door. The door on the south wall leads to the back yard.
- The empty spaces on the sides of the wall cabinets will be filled in with narrow shelves.
Only thing that comes to mind is that it's somewhat tight around the island (3'0, 2'6, and 2'0). Beyond providing some gap between the oven and the fridge (perhaps consider a tall cabinet there + a cabinet over the fridge), I see the rest of it working out.
I'm also concerned about space around the island. Can you mock up the space with some cardboard boxes the size of the proposed island with the 48x30 counter? Then walk around playing pretend and see how it feels? The way it's shown in the planner (without the XL counter) looks pretty crowded already. About 36" clearance would be minimum for comfort, I'd think.
How about using a freestanding piece like GROLAND?
I see that your ceilings are only 7' so the following suggestions may or may not fit the space you have but I thought I'd mention them anyway.
A 15"
H
x 24"D cabinet over the refrigerator and a tall cover panel would make it look more built-in, if there's room.
Have you considered a tall oven cabinet instead of the oven base and wall cabinet? It would provide a lot of storage. It could be set on a box of 2x4's (on their sides) instead of legs if needed for ceiling clearance.
We did actually use a big piece of cardboard as a mockup of the island, it felt OK to us for clearance on the sides. One of the reasons I was thinking of building a dolly to put it on was so we'd be able to move it in case we need extra space on one side temporarily.
Unfortunately our ceiling is so low that there's no room above the fridge for a cabinet, and no room for a narrow pantry between the oven and the fridge. We also considered a tall oven cabinet, but after using our cardboard to approximate it, it made the kitchen feel too small. The low ceiling really cramps our style in that regard, it makes the kitchen feel much smaller. The fridge and oven in a tall cabinet together combined to make it feel like a wall, which made our kitchen seem like it was 9x10 instead of 9x13. I came up with the oven with counter space on top and a shallow wall cabinet as a compromise between storage space, work space, and an 'open' feeling.
Just because I didn't like the tiny amount of prep space between cooktop and sink, I reconfigured the whole space for ya!
Take a look...it might be more than you're willing to take on, but it might give you some insight into improving the functionality. This plan gives you separate cleanup and cook/prep spaces, as well as secondary prep and quick snack space.
Based on the dimensions of the fridge, a 15" deep cabinet can eek over the fridge. Space it out and add a 3x8 cover panel cut down to fit, and it'll give a lot more of a built-in look to a regular fridge.
Anyways, here's a rework of mine's which takes advantage of the north wall to offer the additional work surface. The microwave shelf cabinet can be swapped out with a regular cabinet if desired.
__________________
Please note that all advice, information, and layouts provided by forum members on this site was done on a voluntary basis and out of kindness of their hearts. If you appreciate the help you received, please support this site and donate to keep it going.
Last edited by Narf; Jul 12th, 07 at 7:29 pm..
Reason: Revised fpf for 24" MW cabinet.
Thanks all for the ideas. I must have measured our fridge height incorrectly, because there's actually only 12 inches of space between the top of it and the ceiling.
After playing around with some of these ideas and mocking them up with cardboard, I think we're going to go with something close to my original design. The L shape was a good idea but didn't give us the uninterrupted expanse of countertop that the island does, unfortunately. Thanks again.
We are the premier IKEA Kitchen Installer in Massachusetts. Our company offers complete in-house design service followed by an impeccable installation.
Custom. IKEA. Doors. The idea for Semihandmade came from a desire to offer the same craftsmanship we produce in our Los Angeles-based Handmade studio to a wider audience, at a lower price.
Our House ‘takes the pain’ out of the design and installation process by providing hassle-free service every step of the way. Serving CT and the greater NYC area.
