If you flip the sink and dishwasher you could probably get close in centering the sink with the cooktop/hood which would visually look more appealing in person, especially if you were planning on pendant lighting. 36" is standard between walls/furniture and the dining table, so that looks right to my eye. Also, looks like there is a clear pathway around living area, through mud area and into guest space. To be considered wheelchair accessible, the doorway would need to be 36" and I cannot tell if it is or not. Also, there is usually a nice 60" round radius for turning a wheelchair around, but I understand if you are constrained to existing room sizes.

^Completely ignorant of NKBA design standards and best practices. Good example if who not to hire.

A one butt kitchen aisle is 42”, and a 2 butt kitchen is 48”. That is measured obstruction to counter overhang, not cabinet box to cabinet box.

A passageway with walking behind someone seated needs 44” to walk past, between a seated person and sn obstacle, but back to back island yontable seating needs 60” for a passageway between 2 sets of seated people. .

Placing a sink and range butt to butt, with a minimal aisle, only works for 1950’s one person doing the drudgery. Modern multiple worker kitchens need those key points offset, to allow individual workers unimpinged work space.

Swapping the fridge and ovens, and placing the MW adjacent to the fridge allows gor a snack zone outside the prep zone, away from hot and sharp.

Corner pantries sre the eorst possible choce. They interrupt counter space, and end up not being efficient. Just remove the walls, keep the counters and uppers there continuous. You will end up with more storage, and more counter space, and far better flow.

Garages are ugly things. They shouldn’t dominate a facade, and make the people portion look like the servants quarters. Side load and pulled back from the facade is slways the best choice.

The stsirs look insifficient for the room height, and are tucked away in shame. They ste importsnt vorridors and features of a home, as well ad utilitarian. They also waste the space underneath.

Lots of trash an work needed on this one. Your designer is completely and utterly clueless about ADA dimensions and designing, and the clearances needed for access. And theres zero regard to sighting and design for passive solar. Lots of work needed needed, but starting over completely is the best route.

The only place for a tv in the living area is above the fireplace. The dining space is too tight and too close to the island seating.

I can not get past "wheelchair friendly".

“you could probably get close in centering the sink with the cooktop/hood which would visually look more appealing in person”

That’s a nope. It would mean that whoever’s at the sink will have to be touching behinds with whoever is at the cooktop - which is the worst if it happens to be your mother-in-law. As to the ”visually more appealing” that’s a nope too. The idea that cooktop and hood must be lined up symmetrically is dumb. The reality - not the fantasy - is that it would only look symmetrical when you are standing in one spot directly in front. Move to the right or left or anywhere else and you won’t see the symmetry; so having the hood and cooktop be ”symmetrical” as a goal is indicative of someone who has not thought through interior design principles.

Overall, I think the design looks good. The office could give up 6" or more if you want more breathing space between the kitchen table and island. The only thing I would change is to move the wall ovens to the left so you have a large counter to the right instead of a smaller counter to the right and left. The bigger counter could then be a coffee/breakfast/snack bar as well as a landing for the ovens.

The fridge is buried in the middle of the kitchen, so anyone who is not the cook will be invading the cook’s space. Also the corner pantry is a space hog. I’d love to use that shallow closet for pantry storage - easy to see everything and no wasted space for one to stand.
Is that a sliding door right by the table? That is such a tight squeeze. What if you changed to three single glass doors - instead of windows on either side of the fireplace, and one toward the right side of the plan on the side of the dining table. Of course you’d want them equidistant for aesthetics, probably the middle would be used more than any other, and you’d have to connect the balcony to the deck (but not sure why anyone would want a private balcony there anyway?).
Finally, plan a hutch or built in or cabinets on the blank wall in the dining room.

Quick diagram:

"* An wheelchair friendly guest suite and main area layout."

Why is there concern about butts in the kitchen when the butt in the wheelchair can't even get into the house??

We need some information about the guest suite. How often and for how long will the guest suite be used by a person in a wheelchair? Do they need independent access to the garage and front walk? Do they participate in kitchen activities? Are they able to make the tight turn between the sofa and kitchen fixtures? Does anyone leave shoes and backpacks on the floor of the mudroom that can make exiting the guest room challenging? And, for that matter, pleasant?

I think the constructive criticism you have received is very thought provoking.

I think that at a little over 3 feet wide, the island should be wider. I think the dining chairs are too close to the island

Im probably on my own here, but the corner pantry is awkward and a waste of space. Theres not a lot of space next to the cook top, and you have no single counter area more than 36”. It seems like a big kitchen, but the space you would actually use is quite small.

Also, if your grid is supposed to be 1’ squares, some of your room measure,ents dont seem to line up?

Emily's comment about the fridge being buried is a good one. You could put the ovens where the fridge is and the fridge at the end of the run where the ovens are now. It's easily accessible with a great space for coffee/breakfast/snack bar next to it. Centering the sink would allow you to put the DW closer to the breakfast bar where dishes can easily be put away in drawers or cabinets there.

Moving the sliding doors is also a good idea but I would prefer two sets of sliders (where she has the single doors drawn). I wouldn't bother with the door in the living room.

I agree with DF Hughes that 4'4" is plenty of space for two cooks. Any more than that and it's inconvenient to swivel from prep to cook space. IMO.

Designing for accessibility in a private home for a specific individual is very different than complying with ADA standards. So if you have a regular guest who uses a wheelchair, I would talk to them.For example, my brother, who has been paraplegic since birth, prefers a tub to a shower. If you are designing for the future you, “just in case”, I would only worry now about wide enough doorways and there being adequate blocking in the bathrooms to add grab bars later. A bench seat in the shower and a hose type shower wand are a good idea in any home. In the last twenty years, our showers have seen a broken ankle, a broken femur, two broken arms, a blown out knee, assorted wounds involving stitches and a hip replacement.
To Mark’s point about getting into the house, if you can put the ramp in the garage, undercover, you will never have to worry about snow and ice on it. But ramps eat up a lot of space….1 ft of length for every inch of height. Perhaps you could eliminate the step up from the porch to the front door, and grade the front walkway to allow access. Someone pointed out the problems of a mudroom right outside the guest room.
In our townhouse, we have the mudroom space in the hallway between the guest room and the guest bathroom and I can testify that it is highly annoying. For someone in a wheelchair, a side by side fridge is the best, and the stove should have the controls on the front. We chose a downdraft vent for my brother’s stove, so that he could reach the on/off button. We also went with completely open shelving, eliminating the possibility of cabinet doors being ripped off their hinges. We did use hickory for the cabinets and it has held up really well.

A huge thank you to all for all of the suggestions and constructive criticism so far. You brought up quite a bit to think about.

I'll start by addressing the "wheelchair friendly" bit. I was trying to be concise but clearly more detail would be helpful. @bpath asked all the right questions. Wheelchair friendly was targeted at wheelchair bound guests coming over for a holiday and the rare weekend stay. The goal wasn't a fully accessible design for accessible "occupants" just accessible for short-term "guests". Maybe there was a better phrase for that. It only takes carrying a disabled guest through a 30inch bathroom door one time to realize how critical this can be.

@fissfiss was very in line with my now vs later thinking. Now would be make the hallways and doorways wide enough, place blocking before drywall, etc. I made sure that we had the 5 foot turning circle in common areas and the guest room and all downstairs doorways are 36". Accessible access to kitchen appliances was not a concern since this is catering to guests and not occupants. For eating areas the disabled guest can be positioned at the head of a table they don't necessarily need access to every seat. Should changes be needed down the road, cabinets are easy to change out. Walls not as much. Ramp in the garage was the plan but we would utilize the temporary ones for select weekends rather than something built in. Or to be honest we have had a few people do the two step carry in the past without issue. With the door suggestions others posted we may be able to have curbless access to the deck which wasn't an initial consideration.

@User harsh but I appreciate the feedback. I have seen NKBA diagrams for clearance behind a seat but nothing for seats back to back. Does such a clearance dimension exist?

As far as swapping the fridge, it may not be obvious on the plans but the fridge area is recessed into the neighboring room. This is allowing the use of a standard depth fridge with a counter depth appearance. If placed on the opposite wall it would either stick out or I would need to fit a wider counter depth fridge for the same capacity.

Stairs are the correct size and stacked (with basement stairs directly below them) to avoid lost space. We looked at other layouts but all seemed to be less efficient with square footage. Maybe we missed something obvious.

@cheri127 you're right we can squeeze another 2 inches off the office but the limiting factor was alignment with the hallway to the left. I would be worried things would get too cramped moving the oven to the same wall as the cooktop. You're right though thing's would be a little tight on space fitting a coffee station (and that's a necessity).

@emilyam819 We have a built-in planned for that exact spot but it didn't make the plans. It will include the wine fridge that's currently "floating". Your door suggestions had us thinking. You (and several others) were dead on that it would be too tight having a door in the kitchen. Could we get away with french doors and a window instead in the kitchen? The single doors looked a little bit too narrow for the room.

Feedback on the corner pantry is heard loud and clear. As I'm sure many of the designers have experienced there is always that one thing clients ask for that doesn't make design sense but is important for them. Walk in pantry is clearly that for us. Last 2 kitchens were professionally designed. We tried pantry off the kitchen, full height pantry cabinets, reach in small pantry and our current home is a walk in pantry in the kitchen. We absolutely love the walk in and the quantity and range of things it can hold. Clearly we should keep looking at options and see if we can find something that frees up counter space and provides the quantity of shelf space we're looking for. The coffee bar comment has available counter space looking a lot smaller than it did originally.

The concern with moving the oven to the end of the current wall was both symmetry as well as distance from the fridge and stove. Would eliminating the angle for the corner pantry and gaining the extra 2.5' of counter space be a better compromise? I should probably also mention there is a column holding up the second floor there so eliminating the pantry isn't going to eliminate the wall next to the fridge without some more structural redesign.

Again thanks for all the awesome feedback so far. Apologies if I missed anyone's questions/suggestions.

Just for comparison this is the no-pantry option:

I like the two sets of french doors.

Also like the smaller pantry. Then you’d redesign the oven wall because you shouldn’t have a tall thing breaking up a valuable run of counter. A cleanup sink would be great on that wall, and prep sink on the island.

Re: your no pantry option- Sounds like it’s not what you’d choose, but just wanted to note that here as well you wouldn’t have the (tall) fridge breaking up the counter space. It would negate any potential benefit of more counter by eliminating the pantry.

Just checking, do you have a current wheelchair-user you are welcoming? or is this a future expectation? or are you just being prepared?

I have never found that I need the oven near the stove or fridge but that's me. With the linear pantry your counters are plenty big on either side of the ovens, though. Consider moving the DW to the left of the sink. I realize istallation is a little trickier and you'll lose a few inches (you'll still have plenty of room for a 21" trash pullout) but if dishes are going to be stored on the oven wall, that's a hike from where the DW is now.

I love the french doors too!

I agree with cheri on the oven not needing to be so close. Food goes in for 12-30 minutes at a time. I like having my landing counter across from the oven, it seems a natural ”spin” to set a pan down.

@emilyam819 we do too. I'm glad you suggested doors!

I always prefer to avoid sinks on outside walls but you make a good point about rethinking that wall. Is there such a thing as too long of a counter run? Thinking back on past kitchens I don't recall ever having a cabinet over 36 inches but the previous kitchen did have an 8 foot/3 cabinet run along one wall and it was more space than we knew what to do with.

@bpath I previously had a wheelchair bound relative that brought to light a lot of these issues. As family members age it seems wise to be prepared. As @fissfiss mentioned there's also the possibility of a broken leg or something unexpected that lead to some short term accessibility needs as well.

@cheri127 I tend to agree. We currently have an oven next to the cooktop and it's a horrible collision point. Almost anything that goes in the oven gets prepped first. As long as the distance from island to oven is reasonable that's the most likely path. Did you mean DW to the right? We currently have it to the left of the sink and a pullout trash to the right (centered in the space).

I meant to the right, yes. You also don't need 24" for a trash/recycling pull out. You'll lose a few inches putting the DW on the end because you'll need a support there for the countertop, but since you don't need the 24" for the trash, it would work. In fact, I'd use an 18" pullout for the trash and have a 30" drawer base.

How about a pocket door for the pantry?

So I did buy a “portable” suitcase ramp for my house, to get up one step on the side porch, and did install wheelchair friendly thresholds between the covered side porch and the kitchen. The suitcase ramp barely fit in my Ford Flex. Being made of aluminum, it is light enough for me to move by myself. After I bought that , I stopped in at Tractor Supply for something and realized that they have many options for portable ramping that might have been a better, cheaper option. Not ADA compliant, but useful and practical compared to people risking hernias.

Speaking of that column in the evil corner pantry wall, it looks like you can't have a flush beam because of ductwork to get to some upstairs rooms, so:

I think you should consider the idea of sink/clean-up zone on the exterior wall, with a prep sink on the island:

@cheri127 We may take another look at alternative dishwasher placement. It would only cost an inch of space. We needed 21" for the trash pullout we looked at so maybe shave a few inches either way.

Not enough wall length for a pocket door unfortunately.

@3onthetree it is a big 5.25 x 14 beam but it's not a continuous span. There's two 24" open joist bays on either side. We laid out all of the ductwork without issue. R30 walls and R60 ceiling requires some pretty small ducts anyway.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH that fridge location does flow a lot better. A few others mentioned keeping the fridge on the edge of the work area which would help with snack access. We actually did that top right picture in another home and love the convenience.

I've seen a few of the dual prep/cleanup sink setups but it really didn't seem very useful to us. Typically prep happens first and cleanup happens after without overlap. Are we missing something?

How does a person in a wheelchair frienderly get into the house?

(I made up the word "frienderly")

"it is a big 5.25 x 14 beam but it's not a continuous span. There's two 24" open joist bays on either side. We laid out all of the ductwork without issue. R30 walls and R60 ceiling requires some pretty small ducts anyway."

Don't know what "not a continuous span" means, or "24" open bays" mean. The beam spans 17', and either 19.2", 16", or 12" floor joist spacing. And ductwork size is based on CFM for each room. Here is what I was indicating, if I am understanding your drawing correctly and making the right assumptions on your 2nd floor layout:

I've seen a few of the dual prep/cleanup sink setups but it really didn't seem very useful to us. Typically prep happens first and cleanup happens after without overlap. Are we missing something?

It depends on cooking style and how many people are trying to use the kitchen at the same time. One cook, or a cook and helper working at different times (cook first, clean-up later) wouldn't need two sinks, but if multiple people are working at the same time, a separate clean-up/dish storage zone is nice. While one person is prepping or cooking, a helper can be helping with prep, or loading or unloading the DW, or gathering dishes to set the table, without entering the primary prep or cooking zones. Original plan:

In the plan I posted previously, one person could be chopping veg for mirepoix, while the helper is sauteing bacon (which he's rinsed in the clean-up sink) in the skillet. When he is finished with the bacon, the person prepping the veg can move to the cooktop, while the helper turns his attention to peeling potatoes. When he's finished with the potatoes, he (or another helper) can load the used utensils and vessels in the DW, then gather dishes to set the table, all without crossing the primary prep zone.

More about efficient kitchen planning and use in these threads:

NKBA guidelines

New to Kitchens? Read me first.

Discussions--all drawer bases

Just some "frienderly" advice. ;)

Nice house.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH I would also add that two sinks depends on how clean you are in general, too. If people like to pile dishes up at the sink (clean or dirty) having 2 sinks is a blessing when you go to cook. I don't have helpers when I cook unfortunately, but I'd still love 2 sinks so I could separate those 2 tasks.

As always, your plan nails it. Missed you while you were gone. :)

OP: make sure you have at least 5' between the dining TABLE and island COUNTER.

Rotating your island will make it tiny, so I think your current orientation is the best.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but at 4'8" wide your front porch seems uncomfortably narrow if you plan to have seating there. Try placing some chairs or a love seat facing a wall, placed so the chair backs are 4'8" away from the wall. Have people sit there, then try walking between the wall and their legs.

As always, @mama goose_gw zn6OH's idea is best :) Also would allow a window, which as far as I can tell, you don't currently have in the kitchen and imo is a grievous oversight.

@Mark Bischak, Architect wheelchair ramp in the garage. It gives a nice, open, covered space to load/unload and the ramp could be deployed or stored as needed. fissfiss had some great suggestions on ramp options.

@3onthetree in simpler terms the beam is flush with the ceiling so nothing hangs down or needs to be planned around. The location is correct in your diagram just not the height. The joists hang from the beam rather than sit on top of it. We're using a 24" truss spacing. 19.2, 16 and 12 are also options but are less common with engineered truss construction.

@mama goose_gw zn6OH wow I love the diagram! That makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure if we'll ever have that many helpers (I wish :) but it definitely is much clearer now. We'll have to do some more thinking on zone layout.

@anj_p I would be afraid dishes would be more likely to pile up for us. Needing room to prep is usually my motivation to finish cleaning up :)

We're at 5' 1" between the two. We tried laying it out in our current kitchen and it feels like it works well.

@chicagoans good catch. You're absolutely right that needs a bit more space.

@Elizabeth we debated on the window question. Our current place has a window on the sidewall of the living room and even with curtains the glare on the TV can be annoying mid-day. We intentionally avoided windows facing the TV this time.

Our current kitchen is floor to ceiling glass and even 20 feet back we have ample lighting during the day. I was hoping the French doors and large picture window would cover the kitchen in this design as well but we're definitely open to feedback if that's too optimistic. With the suburban lot selection the focus was on front and rear windows over side windows facing neighbors.

" . . . the ramp could be deployed or stored as needed."

I could be wrong, but I think you may be in for an unpleasant surprise when the time comes to deploy and store a ramp suitable to handle a wheelchair.