[jenb]

My husband and I are trying to finalize our kitchen design in the next week or so. We can't even get the basic layout decided on (we've been working at this for 18 months).

Here are our finalists. I'm going to try to post inline. I would love to have some feedback or criticisms. The sink cannot move, so that's the only given.

OPTION 1 - Galley kitchen. We may or may not open up the wall above the range for view of den. Microwave will be in upper cab on end of range wall (cab #12). The door at the top of the pic is actually a doorway to the dining room. The door on the right is a doorway to the den. The door on the bottom is the door to the laundry room. With this plan, our pantry would have to relocate to the laundry room.



What I like about the Galley plan is all the drawer space and counter space adjacent to sink and range. What I don't like is the fridge blocking view from sink to nook and not having pantry space in kitchen.


OPTION 2 - Peninsula. Micro would be in cab #10. Stools at peninsula. Would probably store something under it (trash, rolling cart) at end of cab run. Might open wall above range. Cabs at bottom of pic would be pantry and area for phone, etc...



What I like about the Peninsula plan is that the fridge won't be blocking the view of the eating area. The glass cabs (12 &11) would look nice from the den. What I don't like is that the range area is very cramped.

Any thoughts???

Here is the original floorplan if that helps any :-)

[nyc_home]

In general, I like the penninsula plan better. Since your kitchen's so big, I think it's nice to have space to pull up a few stools and I agree that glass cabinets visible from the dining room are a good idea.

One suggestion I have would be to move the fridge down to the nook on the bottom of the room and flank it with the high pantries. I love the way it looks when a whole wall is built up with floor to ceiling cabinets. You'd get a little more counter space near the range and that corner would feel more spacious as well. Traffic wise, it does mean that all your food would be around the peninsula from the stove. I think your family/use patterns would determine how much of a pain that would be. That is, if you have kids or just want guests out of your way while you're cooking, you could store some glasses and plates in the pantry cabinet . That lets people come in from the den and grab a drink and quick snack without ever coming in the main kitchen. If you like to have two or more people cooking at once, it might get annoying to have the refridgerator so far from the work area.

Can you post the 3-D views from your planner?

[jenb]

Thanks for your feedback!

I wish I could move the fridge to the nook, but unfortunately the window starts 14" from the end of the room, so I can really only have 12" deep cabs down there without totally blocking the window.

Here is a link to my photobucket account. The 3-d's are totally out of order, but I labelled them so that should help some.

http://photobucket.com/albums/b160/jenb_in_texas/

[GardenOfDarwin]

jenb

18 months! Wow! It does show--you've got nice plans. Do you have a key for all the numbered cabinets?Something showingwhat's intended to be stored in them, or what sizes/arrangements they are?

I particularly like theplan with the peninsula, partly because I really like your pantry set-up at the end of the room. Are you planning on using the new Linjar there? Forgive me if you've already said...is this Askerum?

I like the peninsula, but I'm wondering if you could put the space underneath to better use. I see that you've avoided corner cabinets--good for you! One thing to consider, though is making the cabinet at the wall end accessible from the opposite side so that you don't lose storage, and then use a series of units facing the main prep area on the other (open) end. Does that make sense? You could put a 15" unit in there and do the Rev-A-Shelf pull-out like jordanl did.

I agree that the range area is cramped in this set-up. I'll have to think on it when I'm not entertaining toddlers and making dinner. Just a couple of thoughts to get started...

Susan

[Lisa]

Susan, the new planner numbers your cabinets for some reason.

[GardenOfDarwin]

huh, ok. Have I mentioned that I haven't downloaded the new planner yet?

Susan

[nyc_home]

jenb wrote:

Thanks for your feedback!

I wish I could move the fridge to the nook, but unfortunately the window starts 14" from the end of the room, so I can really only have 12" deep cabs down there without totally blocking the window.

I still like plan 2 better, even without moving the fridge.

[jenb]

Thanks guys again. We're trying to get all this figured out

18 months is a long time to be waffling over all this. I've watched so many people come and go on the THS forum. I've been lurking there since pre Volume 1 for crying out loud!

I neglected to mention before that we've not chosen a door style yet, so the ones in the planner were just goofing around, although I do have a serious love affair with the APPLAD blue-grey. I just don't think I have the guts to go for it. We're basically choosing between ADEL Birch and ASKERUM at this point.

I have a friend with a range and fridge wall a lot like we're contemplating on the Peninsula plan. It seemed okay. Not my dream, but then again, this isn't my dream house anyway, so I've just got to make the best of what I have.

Oh, and Garden, I agree the area under the end of the peninsula could be put to better use. The planner wouldn't let me stack the counter on top of the cabs, and I need to try to get 4 seats there, so I probably wouldn't put too much under there, but had thought maybe a narrow drawer unit facing toward the seating for junk might be nice. Gotta have some junk drawers!

[nyc_home]

jenb wrote:

I neglected to mention before that we've not chosen a door style yet, so the ones in the planner were just goofing around, although I do have a serious love affair with the APPLAD blue-grey. I just don't think I have the guts to go for it. We're basically choosing between ADEL Birch and ASKERUM at this point.

I think you could pull off the blue-grey on your nook wall with ADEL on the rest of the cabinets, especially if you use a countertop, floor a/o backsplash that pulls in some of the blue-grey. As you can see from my design, I don't really have space for an area like that, so I love the way it looks when you have a whole wall built up.

[GardenOfDarwin]

I think nyc-home's on to something...and think of it this way--if you find once it's up that you don't like it, or you're afraid of leaving it for resale purposes, you can always pick up some extra doors in Adel or whatever your other door style is, and store them away until you need them. Or change them out with the seasons! I could see Abstrakt red there too! (But maybe that's MY obsession speaking...)

Susan