Help! Large Island Kitchen Layout

6 years ago

Hi! I'm purchasing a new home which has a very traditional center hall layout. I would like a huge kitchen with a 9 foot (at least) island and room for a kitchen table since I have 3 kids. I don't think I can fit both the island and the table in the current kitchen dimensions 14x17 so I'm planning on expanding to the Laundry and converting the Office to Laundry/Mudroom.

What are your thoughts? Any other ideas? We have a relatively large remodeling budget so knocking down walls is doable. I would like to keep the Family Room in the back of the house since it has a beautiful view.

Featured Answer

User

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

A banquette is the absolute worst use of the space possible. Especially with 5 kids. It’s a permanent corner restaurant booth with no one wanting to sit in the middle. Or the one sitting in the middle making everyone move because they have to pee. Contant fighting to be the one on the outside seat that can actually get out and move. It’s an HGTV fantasy picture that doesn’t pass the real world use test.

The same with a super duper big continent. Stone slabs are around 5x9. Going longer leads to seams. Each person occupies 24”-30” of space. The pictured island would seat 4, birds on a wire. The worst possible conversation or social seating arrangement.

You will never ever seat as many as you want at an island. And if you did do the big addition off the back to get a big enough continent, with multiple counter seams, you wouldn’t be talking any 100K. That’s a low master bedroom addition price. Even in the sticks. When you start adding on to the most expensive room in the house, you more than triple the average cost per square foot of new construction building.

This is a not a tiny house. It’s just not a huge house. And it can live just fine. It doesn’t need to have a bloated McMansion kitchen added on to it. But that would be the only way to get your wants. Wants vs needs. Prioritize. Is the kids education already paid for? What about your retirement? Fully funded if you were disabled tomorrow?

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Comments (15)

User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
You’re not getting it even if you knock the wall down. The house itself isn’t sized for what you want. Now, if you want to plan a 250K+ addition off the back, sure. But most would consider that remuddling a nice older Center hall. And it would probably actually reduce the value rather than add to it.

Go buy the modern house that you really want. Don’t attempt to McMansionize this one. It will be cheaper in the end.

Your kitchen size is more than perfectly adequate for food production for even a large sized family.
PRO
Main Line Kitchen Design
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Unfortunately Sophie has a point although around here the cost might be less. With all the doorways there will not be a solution that works very well and costs under 60K. An addition would work better, and that will get to you up to at least 100K.
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jenniferremus
6 years ago
I have attached a few ideas. The first layout keeps the floor plan the same. The island is only 8ft long and will require the sink and dishwasher to be integrated into the island. The design features, of course, should be ignored, but these images will give you an idea of how it would look.

Here is the second layout. It opens the wall between the laundry room and kitchen. I have also removed the french doors to allow enough room for the required appliances. The island is 9ft and will need to house the sink and dishwasher. The laundry room will become a banquette. More thought would need to be given to window placement and upper cabinet placement.
PRO
Main Line Kitchen Design
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Both designs have some issues. The first design serious ones.

In the first design only having an Island to eat at in the kitchen will detract from the value of the home. Unfortunately the dining room is too far away to be combined with the kitchen.

In the second design there are hardly any wall cabinets and the play room must have a door added to it to meet egress requirements, but both those issues are not as serious.

Design two will get netska09 what she is looking for. There are several versions of it such as also opening the wall to the playroom or closing the kitchen windows to add wall cabinets. Be careful if you go with the windows on either side of the range. Putting curtains on those windows is a fire hazard.

Around here the second design could be done as I mentioned before for around 60K soup to nuts, but in other locations it could cost double that.
netska09
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you all for your input!!

JenniferRemus, I really like your second option. I was kinda thinking of something along those lines but instead of a banquette (which I actually think is a really fun idea!), I would just do a table so I could put a door there to get to the patio. I was actually thinking about moving the garage door so it would open up into the office and then opening up that Laundry room completely. That would give me an extra 3 inches from the hallway for the table.

Main Line Kitchen Design, you obviously know your stuff! What do you think? I see the concern for the lack of upper cabinets. Do you think there should be a 3 inch or 4 inch clearance between the wall cabinets and the island?

Also, what would I do with that blank wall behind the island? That's a big wall of nothing. Pictures? I not a big fan of floating pictures without something underneath to center them on.

Would it be really crazy to turn the Dining Room into a MudRoom (we never use the dining room - its just a dust collector), putting the garage door into the Dining Room and then opening up the Laundry and Office to the kitchen and putting a large 9 foot dining/kitchen table in that area? Probably would need a header. The uneven back wall is just throwing me off and bumping it out even would be too difficult.
netska09
Original Author
6 years ago
Sophie, I'm actually purchasing from family. It's my childhood home and its a great honor to keep the house in the family. So I'm just trying to make it work. We have 3 kids now but will likely have 5! (eekk) so using the space wisely and efficiently is my main priority. I would love open open open but I think this house is beautiful, I just need to be strategic.
PRO
Columbus Custom Design
6 years ago
Hi netska - how do you plan on using the living room and the family room in your new home ?

Could you use the living room as your more casual family room space, use the existing family room as a casual dining / small sitting room area, and then devote the entire kitchen space to your kitchen ?

You could potentially move the exterior doors in the kitchen into the existing family room as well, giving you even more space in the kitchen.
netska09
Original Author
6 years ago
Okay. Thank you for that. We are not doing an addition. That was never an option. I was just looking for ideas on how I can maximize the space and not have "wasted" rooms which will never be used and just collect dust (i.e. office and dining room in our case). And I was looking for a nice big island because my kids like to sit perched up on it and help me cook/bake or like to do their homework there while I cook. If its not in the cards, so be it, but I thought I'd ask around for suggestions.

Columbus Custom Design, the living room was going to be used as a craft/playroom. I would like to keep the family room in the back of the house since it has a huge window to the beautiful backyard.
Milly Rey
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
You would lose a room—and house value. Be content with an L kitchen and a smaller island or a peninsula.

Use your rooms better. The dining room should be your “away” room if the living room is crafts and playroom. You WILL want that office as an extra bedroom later with 5 kids.
jenniferremus
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Lots of valuable feedback here. Can you share a picture of the current kitchen, just so I can see what you are currently working with?

I'm also curious on how the space will be used. Do you plan on eating the majority of your meals at the table in the kitchen or will this just be a hang out spot for the kids while mom cooks and/or have quick meals there?

Do you have an exterior door in the family room? I agree with Columbus that it would be most ideal to move the exterior door to the family room.

I have continued to play around with it as feedback and more information has come in. I have made the island narrower and back to 8 ft. You could technically have a 9 ft island, but when I was looking at it (maybe with this width) it felt too long for the area. I have also added shallow cabinets on the previously empty side of the island with some uppers. I would imagine the upper cabinets having glass fronts. (see pictures below for inspiration). This layout will decrease the opening between the family room and kitchen (still nearly a 6 ft opening), but allowing for more cabinets and better window placement. The space between the island and all the cabinets fall between 3ft-4ft (depending on the side). The eat in kitchen area is (in my opinion) too small for a swing door. I placed a slider there for now, although I would prefer no door (but a door in the family room).
PRO
RappArchitecture
6 years ago
The problem with your kitchen is less the size than all of the doors. Expanding into the laundry will give you more space, but there is still the issue of all those doors.

The focus on your kitchen is short-sighted. Before you start, ask yourself these questions: 1) Where will you and your family eat dinner on typical nights? 2) Do you entertain much, and if so, where will you eat? 3) How will the dining room be used? 4) How do you want the kitchen to relate to the family room? 5) What is the office for, and who will use it? 6) What is the living room for, and who will use it?

After you've determined how you will really use the house, hire an architect to help you make it function the way you want.
PRO
Debbi Washburn
6 years ago
Can you even out the laundry wall to the kitchen wall? If so you could do something like this:

Since you don't really use a dining room you can make that an office - open the walls of the family room into the kitchen and that will give you walk around space for the table which can be cheated over to the family room. As far as the size of the island, let that be determined by the space... a 9 ft island is enormous even with a large family - see what fits...

You will need to get with an architect and a good kitchen designer, but it is definitely doable...

Good luck!
PRO
The Custom Vent Hood Company
6 years ago
Hello!

Here is an example of a vent hood over a large island that we provided in New York. This can often help define the space, provide function and act as a focal point.
netska09
Original Author
6 years ago
I have a question for a contractor: Which option would be easier:

1) knocking down the wall between the laundry and kitchen and extending the laundry room wall out (there's a deck in the back, the exterior is cedar) to be flush with the kitchen exterior wall. No openings in the newly extended wall but the current kitchen window opening would need to be adjusted.

2) knocking down the wall between the laundry and kitchen and closing off the sliding door opening currently in the kitchen and expanding the single door opening to a double sliding door.