Layout for kitchen/dining/family area
luna1900
10 years ago
We are re-designing the back of the house and we are having trouble deciding the best layout so if you can help in any way we would really appreciate it. It is going to be open plan and it will house the kitchen, dining area and family area with sofas, tv and storage for kids toys.
The back of the house is south facing and we are looking to get two large sliding doors into the garden with wall in between (about 2 meters) to avoid having too much glass and also as a feature. Ideally we would like an island in the kitchen to help with storage and with some stools around to use as breakfast area/gathering area (we currently have a breakfast bar and no matter what we do, our friends all end up gathering around it!). We are also looking to have a wood burner for extra heat although there will be underfloor heating.
Off the kitchen there is a utility room for the washer/drier etc. The drawings I am attaching are work in progress. It shows two doors into the kitchen which will be replaced by just one (where best to place it?). It also shows the dimensions of the utility room but this can still change as currently is only about a third of the space. We could move it to another part of the room if is sense.
My issue is that although I would like the kitchen area towards the back of the room, I don't like the fact that you have to walk right through the kitchen to get into the room. Also if you look at the drawing you will see that there is a note saying "dead space" which obviously I want to avoid.
If you can come up with any ideas/advice we would really appreciate it as the more we look at it, the more confused we get.
Many thanks in advance!
Maria
The back of the house is south facing and we are looking to get two large sliding doors into the garden with wall in between (about 2 meters) to avoid having too much glass and also as a feature. Ideally we would like an island in the kitchen to help with storage and with some stools around to use as breakfast area/gathering area (we currently have a breakfast bar and no matter what we do, our friends all end up gathering around it!). We are also looking to have a wood burner for extra heat although there will be underfloor heating.
Off the kitchen there is a utility room for the washer/drier etc. The drawings I am attaching are work in progress. It shows two doors into the kitchen which will be replaced by just one (where best to place it?). It also shows the dimensions of the utility room but this can still change as currently is only about a third of the space. We could move it to another part of the room if is sense.
My issue is that although I would like the kitchen area towards the back of the room, I don't like the fact that you have to walk right through the kitchen to get into the room. Also if you look at the drawing you will see that there is a note saying "dead space" which obviously I want to avoid.
If you can come up with any ideas/advice we would really appreciate it as the more we look at it, the more confused we get.
Many thanks in advance!
Maria
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Comments (13)
PROLEICHT New York
10 years agoYou might want to consider switching the kitchen with the living room so as to avoid walking through it. It looks like there is enough space for a long kitchen island to double as a bar/breakfast nook.
Here are a few examples of kitchens:
Clinton St Brooklyn · More Info
Leicht Westchester Showroom · More Info
https://www.houzz.com/photos/2013-collection-modern-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~3866150
https://www.houzz.com/photos/2013-collection-contemporary-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~3801003
https://www.houzz.com/photos/2013-collection-contemporary-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~3799606
https://www.houzz.com/photos/2013-collection-contemporary-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~3851207
If you're in the area, come join us for breakfast and check out our free kitchen session every 2nd Saturday of the month: http://leichtnewyork.com/how-much-will-your-kitchen-cost-class-registration
All the best! Let us know if you have any questions!luna1900 thanked LEICHT New YorkRelated Discussions
Thoughts on kitchen/dining/family extension layout?
Comments (10)Hi. I think as you have said that you are a bit messy, the kitchen is in the right place, slightly hidden from the lounge/dining area. If you moved it to the other side of the house, you would change that nice flow from dining to lounge area that you have at the moment. Both will be bright airy spaces, I would think, so that shouldn't be a consideration. If you are going to stick with having your sink on the peninsula, I would also consider a double height worktop to partly hide all the bits that always seem to gather around a sink. You seem to have the space there to do that, could perhaps add shallow units behind the sink and a small breakfast bar. Whereabouts are you? Let me know if you need any more help! Kate....See MoreBest layout for family kitchen / dining space in 5.5m x 3.2m room?
Comments (11)There are a few problems:- If you run the units right down the right hand wall, you make the space in the dining room narrower. You need approx 7ft plus across for dining table, that's 3 ft for the table and 2 ft for a chair either side to be pulled out in order to sit down. This leaves you with about 1ft between the side of the table and the kitchen unit next to it. Also, you will have a nib on the left hand wall where the dining room ends and the kitchen begins due to the steel that needs to sit on top of it, ( the size of the nib will be dictated by the construction of the wall & what it's supporting above ) so the space will still look divided if you don't disguise it with units above. ( Don't forget the party wall agreement ! ) I don't think you have space for units right the way down and the table and chairs. Plus you are limiting yourself to just over 6 metres of units, once you start putting an integrated fridge, then freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, you won't have much left for all the food plus pots & pans, drawers etc. All this and the dining table is not near the garden, where it would be better off. ( in my opinion ) You also need to consider the windows at the dining room end as they look quite close to the wall, will you be able to fit a unit in there without going across the window? You also need to consider the windows at the dining room end as they look quite close to the wall, will you be able to fit a unit in there without going across the window? If you could overcome the plumbing and it should be possible, then maybe you'd be better of with this:- Move the kitchen to the dining room and have the ' U' shape in there. You can still have just units on the bottom, you'll have over 9 metres of wall space for units so a third more. You won't need to worry about the nib being in the way. The dining area will be plenty big enough for the table and chairs, and you'll be able to eat and look on to the garden. You should be ok with the plumbing, it's only water feed and water waste from the sink, dishwasher and washing machine. It has to go under the floor further but at least it's not a soil pipe!...See MoreAdvice on Kitchen/dining area/family room layout
Comments (12)We are planning on putting a utility room in the second garage (which is that new little room at the top of the garage in Floorplan 2) as currently the utility room is in the garage (cold and next to the rakes!). We looked into the breakfast room idea as it was my favourite layout (and more conventional) but were told by the builder to go out to make it flush with kitchen external wall, would cost £20k+ and we'd only get a few feet more width before it starts blocking the view of the garden from the conservatory. It is really a dilemma - I think my biggest problem is how the current floorplan looks on paper - I feel it would probably work well but I don't think I'd even view a house with such a nuts floorplan (except out of curiosity!) :)...See MoreLayout: Kitchen, Lounge and dining area
Comments (21)I think there are a few things that hinder the layout. The double doors from the lounge to the extension will make putting a sofa anywhere difficult, so i'd ditch those. They affect the furniture layout in the main lounge too, and are unnecessary. I think the span of doors and windows across the back are in the wrong place and too large. If you're having double doors in the hall, then directly opposite, should be another set for flow and light. It's crucial that you have enough wall space when going open plan, to put furniture. You need to consider furniture placement as essential when planning the area in the first instance, and a lot of people come a cropper when they do this. They design an area without any thought to where they're going to put sofas and T.V's then realise that there's not enough space or wall left to put them on. Where you put all of these directly affects placement of the dining table too. The Utility area is under utilised for space. Is there a provision for a downstairs toilet? A larger area can be used. You could go for a layout like this :- However, in my opinion, the kitchen is now too large for the space, and, the dining area is too small. So, I would change to this kind of layout, which gives you more equal proportions for everything. Plus, it looks nice and spacious. There is a properly assigned dining area with room for a sideboard and mirror over. The Utility / Coat room has access both from the Hallway and kitchen. The lounge area has plenty of room for a corner sofa and T.V area. All the windows and doors are central without compromising furniture placement. The only thing still missing is the downstairs loo, so hopefully there has been some provision for this elsewhere, or the Utility area will need amending further....See More
luna1900
10 years agoluna1900
10 years agoThank you all for your comments.
Maria, I think you are quite right saying that the corner where the kitchen is situated in the drawings will get dark by mid afternoon and to add a bit of extra light to that area, we are planning to add some glass on the roof as half of it is an extension. If you look at the end of the utility room you will see that this was the original back wall of the house. The ground floor was extended by the previous owners but they put a double conservatory in order to extend which is not practical at all (too hot in the summer/too cold in winter) so we are looking to re-roof and to add some glass on the roof to allow extra light to come into the darker side of the room. We are also removing an internal wall. I am attaching the drawings of the house as it is now for your information.
The current layout is quite different. As you come in from the hall into the back of the house we have quite a large dining table and after that the family seating/tv area. From here there is a wide opening to the left that takes you to what currently is a big play area and then the kitchen to the back of this. This layout is relatively new as I needed to find out if I could live with the toys so close to the kitchen and family area. What used to be the play area, a separate room at the front of the house, is now a "grown up room".
The access to the house is from the front, into the hall and then you have the door that will give you access into a large room at the back of the house. I don't need (or want) the two doors showing on the drawings.
To be honest at this point nothing is set in stone so the room is a blank canvas. The drawings we have are very basic and do not really reflect what we want but maybe is that we weren't clear enough when we gave our instructions to begin with and that's why I thought I should post here to get fresh ideas and then go back to the guy.
As you said, this is going to be quite an investment and it needs to work now while the kids are still small but also in the future. We enjoy having friends and family over so the big open plan space will be great. I just need to make sure the layout we decide to go for is the right one.
Many thanks!
luna1900
10 years ago
Maria Smith
10 years agoluna1900
10 years ago
Kathryn Peltier Design