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All Things Renovation
Design Coaching: Peter And Chrissy’s Builder-Grade Kitchen Plan (I’ve Got Thoughts!)
Oh boy, this is fun. I love inserting myself into other people’s problems (usually when asked) so this whole “help someone else design their house” thing is already making my dopamine spike. After sifting through countless submissions (sooo many good ones–thank you to all who applied!), battling weeks of email hacking snafus, and balancing our super stacked schedule, we FINALLY found our match. You can read about this sweet couple here!
To refresh your memory Chrissy and Peter, our first participants in the Renovation Coach series, have 3 kids under the age of 3, really good taste, and enough experience with remodeling to not hire a contractor. And yet, like all of us, doing it alone feels daunting and scary (because it simply is the nature of the beast).
About The House
The house was built in the 90s and has an addition and some awkward angles and finishes for sure. But the neighborhood is great and the lot is HUGE. They want to change a lot about the house – adding a primary bedroom, moving the powder bath, adding a mudroom, moving the washer/dryer upstairs, and redoing the kitchen (maybe more, but that’s what came out of the 2-hour initial session). For our purposes, we are talking kitchen, but it was so good to know what else they were thinking – how long will this string be??
For total visual context of the space before we get into the ins and out of this kitchen, here is a video of the space! (just wait for the ads to play:))
Back To The Kitchen (Pre-Move-In)
Here’s how it looked when they first moved in. From the drop ceiling to the weirdly shaped island to the unfortunate, immovable structural elements, the kitchen was not their fantasy – both in function and style. Their biggest complaint has been the lack of storage but truly it all needs updating–countertops, cabinets, appliances, flooring, you name it. The flow is a bit weird overall and they’re open to reimagining the space entirely. Oh, and the cabinets are falling apart. “BUILDER-GRADE” (she shakes her fists at the sky).
They’ve already made some killer changes, starting with the floor. They opted for this beautiful wide plank wood flooring, getting rid of the checkerboard, which only enhanced the datedness of the kitchen, but also opened up options. By changing the direction of the wood floors it also really helped to better connect the kitchen to the living areas.
Here is what their kitchen looked like the day we stopped by to check it out. As you can see, they are mid-project and have been agonizing over the best solution for this space to keep moving forward. They’ve explored a number of layouts and have yet to land on the right one (her keynote collages look like mine – abundant and messy a la A Beautiful Mind. When we first got there she had a plan and two hours later we totally changed it (for the better, we think).
Chrissy’s First Mockup (Pre-Meeting)
Christy wanted to extend the size of the kitchen into the space next door (which seemed to be initially intended for a dining room). Desperate for storage and a nice big island for cooking and entertaining, they thought that this could be a good solution. I didn’t, TBH, especially because once you get into the space the biggest issue is two different ceiling levels.
The dropped and vaulted ceiling is really the culprit here. Well, actually it’s just a regular 8ft ceiling in the kitchen zone that feels like a dropped ceiling because the rest of the space is vaulted. But this cross section is definitely structural, holding up part of their kids’ room upstairs, so they have to find a way to work with it.
There were some other issues, as well that they wanted to address.
Speaking of structural, both the wall attached to the stairs and this diagonal corner wall connecting to their current washer/dryer closet, have to stay. In this back area is the entrance from their garage, a tight walk-thru, with laundry on one side (that they want to be moved upstairs) and a teeny tiny powder bath on the other. Ideally, they’d love to find a way to add a mudroom in this area…but one project at a time. My perspective was that all these little moves would end up costing $250k at least and not all of them were worth it. Moving a powder bath 5 feet could cost $25k (could also be less, but you just don’t know) so I advised against it unless they were 100% sure this was their “forever home”.
Stepping into the kitchen, this is your main view: a bank of tired cabinets, the sink, the dishwasher, and a view that overlooks the dogs’ potty zone. (Did I mention they have two cute pups?) The whole house actually gets really great light exposure from the many windows in the living room, and Chrissy hasn’t loved looking out into this area. They’ve discussed removing this window entirely (or maybe the one in the dining room) or just shifting it over to make room for their ideal cabinet layout. Regardless, they will put in new windows should they keep them here.
Plumbing will likely stay on this back wall to keep costs and complications down. But they want to shift the sink over, swapping it for a bigger/better one, then flanking it with a panel-ready dishwasher and trash drawer. And of course, all of this means new cabinets, countertops, hardware, appliances, etc. Again, here is their last mood board (which is rapidly changing, per the usual design process).
Chrissy has great taste and design eye – I loved her mockup. None of these elements are final except for the style/color of the cabinetry. The one thing they know for sure is that they love the AXSTAD blue kitchen cabinets from IKEA. The price is right and the look and color really speak to them. Us too. Initially, she wanted to extend the cabinetry all the way across, into the vaulted ceiling dining area, creating a bar zone and prep area with more storage. But she’s struggled with the right combination of cabinets that will align with that ceiling height jump in a visually pleasing way.
Additionally, they are losing the corner cabinets, instead shifting the oven zone in line with the back wall to create more of a galley-style kitchen. In order to make this work and look right, they will need to address this weird wall situation and plan to bump it out to make it flush with the walkway opening. Doing this will also add about a foot of space to the powder bath on the other side (another project they have plans for, but again, one thing at a time!).
Another part of Chrissy’s design (and we are definitely aligned here) is to keep the island. Well, this funky island will not be staying, but a new rectangular island will take its place. Again, one of their big issues is having enough storage, so prioritizing extra cabinetry here makes sense. They talked about keeping the stools where they are currently, but Gretchen had the idea to build in the overhang at the end of the island instead, near the garage entrance. Enough room for the kiddos to have a seat on a couple of stools while dad cooks, and plenty of room to stand and gather around the back of the island when entertaining–which they do a lot of–while maximizing storage along the backside. The cooktop would stay here (though at one point in our meeting, we discussed swapping it with the sink but that would likely be too much of a ha$$le).
Behind the island is their “pantry”, in quotes because it’s more of a Harry Potter closet than a pantry, positioned in the void under the stairs. In all of Chrissy’s plans, integrating a new pantry cabinet was a staple of her design. If you scroll back up to her mockup, she originally envisioned it next to the paneled fridge, likely coming out past the 8ft ceiling divide. The problem then became making it look right with the vaulted ceiling. Would it come up past the 8ft and intersect with the vault? Or stay the same height? Does IKEA even make cabinets to fit a situation like this? And how would this all shake out measurement-wise?
Well, Gretch suggested instead turning the original stair/pantry wall into a grand wall of floor-to-ceiling-pantry cabinets, closing off the existing door, and moving its access to the side hallway with some clever angled doors or drawers. Both Chrissy and Peter perked up at this. Of course, it will all have to make sense dimensionally and could be impacted based on the size of the new island. And it means more projects. But it could be a very cool statement moment and would give the chef something more interesting to stare at than the current situation.
With more storage going in the island and the potential for a larger pantry area across it, the initial bar/cabinetry build-out into the living space now becomes less crucial. But the problem still remains. How do you integrate this living area with the kitchen so it feels cohesive and connected? Ending the cabinets in the same place as they are now might keep the kitchen feeling small. But extending it into a wet bar or just more counter space isn’t super functional if they also need this area to hold their dining table. Sure, it’d give them more storage but it’s unlikely they’d actually use it for prep space.
Our Solution?
So what if instead, it became a built-in dining banquette, flanked with cabinets and shelving? This might feel more visually intentional than closed-off cabinets and could address the ceiling shift in a way that makes sense–to us at least. Remember, Chrissy is not married to this window staying here, so a new window could shift around or it could leave altogether and make room for a matching bookcase to flank either side of the bench (with the window in the middle?). The bench (and the shelves) would provide even more storage, but could also turn this wall into a really beautiful, thoughtful focal point.
So that’s where we left them, with plenty of new ideas and potential solutions swirling. The biggest question now is how does this all fit together?? Does that wall really have the right length for a double oven, sink, trash drawer and dishwasher, drawers, panel-ready fridge, open shelving bookcase (that starts at exactly the right spot with the weird ceiling shift), plus a built-in dining bench? How big should the island be? Can a grand pantry wall fit into the mix?
Their Homework
We were so excited about the layout change, but Chrissy really needed to figure out math-wise if they could fit their appliances AND the cabinets in the same kitchen footprint, utilizing the island for the cooktop and knowing that we’d have more storage in the new pantry and the floor-to-ceiling library cabinet focal moment in the dining room. We can’t really do much until we know that the layout will work within the footprint (we all feel hopeful).
They have to do some homework to get all of those answers, so we’ll check back in with them soon. I also tasked them with taking an inventory of their kitchen things, what all they’ll need to store, and mapping it out based on the new proposed design — a practice we swear by! Maybe they’ll find they don’t have so much of a storage issue after all?
As I was writing this I realized that this is a LOT to try to understand without you being in the space. If you’ve made it this far you are as invested as we are. With 3 kids under three years old, attempting a kitchen remodel is a doozy (thus me wanting to help). They think they can get it done in under 3 months and I’m loving their enthusiasm. They aren’t hiring a GC and instead are going to hire subcontractors and manage the project themselves, which honestly I think will make it go faster if they are on top of it and certainly could save them some money. They have already started getting bids and making relationships with subs and honestly, we all know that no one can get shit done faster than a mom, so maybe the 3 kids under 3 years will actually prove to be the motivation to drive fast. Regardless, we are along for this ride and hoping to not just be a backseat driver. Next up is seeing the update on the layout with our new plan and then we’ll go shopping for tile and stone (assuming that we are good to use the IKEA kitchen).
Since this is the first time we are documenting someone else’s project (and not doing renderings, etc) let us know if you have suggestions on the rollout of this – it’s a lot of information to get so we’ll try to break it down so you can weigh in and also gleam any help for your own project. A huge thanks to Chrissy and Peter for being our guinea pigs:)
This is great! Very excited to see how this develops, and I think you explained things perfectly!
I’m so excited for them!!! Love this and can’t wait to read more ?
oh oh oh I have a suggestion! I’m super into English home design, so that’s a very specific thing. but I love their way of doing pantries, especially when they tuck the fridge away in one. I think that the laundry room and the current pantry would be good options for this; tuck the fridge into one of those spaces and make the other a pantry (I kind like the idea of having storage where the laundry is now, you could drop your groceries in there when you come in. not so great as a mudroom, because presumably that’s not where kids and dogs come in from outside? although kinda gross right across from a powder room…). and then the run of cabinets along the wall could be cleaner with no uppers, but with a bigger window, and with a big sink right in the middle.
everyday dish storage would be a good way to transition from the cabinet run to a banquette. easy for kids to help unload the dishwasher right into it and help set the table as well.
and please I hope they’re going to add ventilation over the cooktop….
I love the idea of a main fridge integrated into the pantry wall, and a set of fridge drawers under the counter next to the dishwasher. This would allow for some workspace to the right of the sink, which is key.
Unless you’re diy-ing the plumping, electrical, and window installation, and not upgrading appliances – I think you’re realistically spending at least $30k on this kitchen. (Just thinking back to the $20k budget mentioned in the introductory post)
Also curious about the impact of moving windows on the exterior of the house–it seems like it would get pricy to adjust the stone/siding/stucco on the outside to make it look integrated.
I would put the counter stools on the side of the dining room It might be crowded coming in from the garage and since the dining room is right there the stools would fit in. Kitchen sink area seems crowded with the built in ovens so close. Good luck.
I also think it makes sense to place the stools where the kids and guests can grab a seat as they enter the kitchen from the living areas. However, in a tighter space where you need basic stools rather than larger, comfy counter seating anyway, being able to tuck the stools out of sight near the ovens could be really handy. The go-to, more comfortable seating will likely be the banquet/kitchen table. This project will be fun to watch! :)
Yeah, if you think realistically about where people sit at parties, where your kids are going to be gravitating, it’s definitely on the open family room/dining side. I feel like the stools won’t get used being literally sidelined over by the garage entry. Right when I saw that I was like, wait, that’s a super weird spot for an overhang!
I can’t wait to see the continuing process/ progress of this kitchen. The couple seems well-suited to do all of the legwork. You and your team really had some great ideas for updating. I think *all* of the 90s kitchens had some sort of angled island, I guess it was “the bomb” back then.
I like the new plan, and we did a similar approach with our kitchen using Axstad in grey. We love it! We did pay for ikea’s preferred local installer though which I recommend HUGELY, and it was not that expensive relatively. It is possible to do yourself, but we ran into so many tiny detail/ikea quirk situations that they were able to expertly and quickly solve. What would have taken us at least 2 weeks took them literally less than 2 days.
For the extension in the dining room, what about just a long bench with storage all the way across instead of the high cabinet/shelf/bench combo? Could still provide continuity and storage, but avoid the ceiling height issue entirely plus provide more white space for art and/or open shelving.
This is going to be a really fun new series, but would be wonderful if EH could invest in drawing up (rough!) floor plans in order to help us readers make sense of all this :)
I’m having a bit of a time understanding the full layout (without the handy floorplans ala your own house), but I’m along for the ride. Also, Emily , are you petite or is Peter exceptionally tall?
This post was super clear — don’t worry about it being info-packed. This post is great! Keep ’em coming!
This is so fun! Excited to see it develop.
The cabinet color is going to be so nice! In terms of layout, you might consider mocking up a peninsula design. I think this is a situation where that may work better for you than an island in such a tight space. It also would make it easier to work with the existing ceiling configuration. Lastly, is there a reason you went with installing new flooring before finalizing layout? Just curious. Good luck with the project!
I am just going to leave this here. No idea if these dimensions are correct but this would be a much more functional kitchen than your proposal.
Yes! I strongly urge the homeowners to consider this. I also strongly urge getting a full professional plan drawn up that incorporates what their vision is for that entire corner of the house.
I like this plan! It corrects for a lot of the odd architecture in the kitchen, and would function better. People often think what they want is more storage, when what they actually need is more streamlined organization.
This looks great, but I wonder if the opening between their current pantry door and the angled wall needs to stay open for some reason. In your drawing the new cabinetry is blocking that opening, which is a great idea if the space back there does not need to be accessible. I had that question when I first looked at the images, as it’s not clear what’s through that opening.
While thoughtful, I don’t think this design is a money saver. That seems to be a particularly strong guiding force.
This wouldn’t move either set of windows, and there is already electrical on the wall where this would put the range (assuming induction) so while there would be a cost to update the electrical, this is otherwise, a pretty big money saver compared to Emily’s plan. Moving the windows would require re-siding the exterior or at least patching in the siding if matching siding can be done. Its not as cheap as Emily is making it out to be.
Not sure it works if they didn’t run the new floors under the island though. This is an example of why its important to actually make plans for the whole house redesign before starting anything like reflooring.
I think this would be easier to understand and read through if there were a floor plan with accurate measurements. It also feels like a lot of stuff is being smushed in – are double wall ovens needed? Where does one rest a wine glass before washing with the sink so smushed in? What about a peninsula on the dining side instead of a massive island? Is the island even massive? Hard to tell without any dimensions.
Dimensions are always important, but especially for a kitchen, where just a few inches on things like aisle width and island overhang can make or break functionality.
As someone who has DIYed a couple of kitchens and loves a little challenge, this is super exciting. The one thing that stuck out to me the most is how small the proposed countertop is around the sink. The tall cabs on either side appear very imposing and like the person at the sink would be an afterthought. What about putting the oven into the island (or below counter height in the same corner) so that the counter can be that much wider to the left of the sink? Or consider the fridge on the left side and let an open countertop extend to the right so the room doesn’t feel so broken up. My 4 cents!
I don’t think the double oven + cooktop is a good choice for this kitchen given the space constraints. They just take up too much room. Also more expensive than a range. (I cook and bake a lot.)
I agree. We had limited space in our narrow galley kitchen and we prioritized fitting in a 36″ range since we cook and bake a lot. I think Peter and Chrissy may be hoping to save money by keeping the stovetop where it is currently (totally understandable!), but keeping it there and keeping the separate cooktop/oven(s) might be causing more problems than it solves. Problems like: layout issues to accommodate the ovens, usability of island seating next to cooktop, and ventilation for the cooktop, and air quality/fire danger of gas in the first place. (I can’t tell if that cooktop is a downdraft model for ventilation.) I know it’s hard to get everything one might want and stick to a very tight budget, but if this were my kitchen I would definitely go with a 36″ or even 48″ induction range.
I love this series! I also managed my whole-home renovation, and we did an Ikea kitchen (my second). Unless you get an Ikea fridge, doing panel-ready might not be possible. Last I checked, they were only offering a 24″ wide panel-ready fridge, which might be too small for a family of five, but perhaps that has changed. Our solution was to use a different door finish for our fridge (we used a third-party supplier) as it’s on a different wall than the rest of our cabinetry. Is it possible to move the fridge to the pantry wall and surround it with cabinetry? That way, that whole section could either be a different door finish – if they want panel-ready – or they could even build the fridge-surround to accommodate a regular (non-counter depth) fridge by potentially tucking it into the studs of the wall where the existing pantry is, essentially making it look counter-depth. Looks-wise, a panel-ready fridge is great but from a functional point of view, it can be challenging to fit a big dish in there or groceries if you tend to do a big run. If the fridge moves to the pantry wall, then you could maybe… Read more »
Look at Lauren Liess’s Lake House Kitchen Renovation she did for her dad. His kitchen also had that dropped ceiling and she did a great job extending the kitchen past it in a really thoughtful way.
Oooo – good memory! I just watched a tour of that house after reading this ( and I agree – it seems a shame to limit the size of this kitchen just because of the ceiling height when they have such a nice big space to play with.
I have that floor plan saved (we have a similar kitchen)
This is really helpful, Pia! Thank you!
Here it is here, too: Making a long peninsula go across (along) much of the length of the span where the “drop” ceiling ends & the vaulted breakfast area/seating area begins, such that the row of peninsula seats are in the breakfast area/seating area (similar to what’s done at Lauren Liess’ lake house), could be a way to extend & expand the kitchen. Lauren uses special lighting to help integrate that long peninsula with both the kitchen & living area.
I don’t have a lot of renovation experience but I do recognize that divine combo of ‘deep exhale + dopamine spike’ that is a space recognizing it’s potential and that storage-surround, built-in banquette is IT!
Groovy experiment folks -looking forward to further developments. Thanks for bringing us along : )
Just my thoughts: I think going from a significant amount of space on both sides of the sink (and being a mother of 3 children), I would greatly miss the space -the sink seems pretty tight in the new design. I LOVE a kitchen island (I don’t have one because of space) but think that in this case a peninsula would be a better use of space. Then when you’re cooking you also can visually see the children in the room. Have the pantry be part storage and part coffee station?
I agree!! It looks too squished for the sink and the lack of counter space is so sad. I vote for a peninsula instead of of that huge island with seating. You could still keep an island but a much smaller version without seating.
I just renovated my own kitchen (built my own cabinets from scratch) and it was north of $30k so I think the budget may be problematic with the panel-ready appliances. Those are super costly and had to nix them! I would add my vote to the peninsula as well. Perhaps you could do a peninsula with a counter that overhangs and put bar stools over there? Of course that would eliminate the possibility of a banquette under the window. Then shift the fridge to the pantry wall to give you more counter space next to the sink. Whatever you decide I’m sure it will be lovely!
I like a sleek counter-depth fridge in a cabinet wall. Almost as unobtrusive as panel-ready, but much more affordable.
Just here to second that I highly recommend doing a kitchen census – take pictures and write down every single thing you have in your kitchen. You have forgotten half the things you need there! Then unpack on paper once you have a layout – I did this on your recommendation and I have changed the location of exactly 2 things since I moved back in after the remodel!
I love this content! Thank you Peter and Chrissy for sharing your journey with us!
I have a similar lower kitchen ceiling extended to vaulted dining room layout. When we remodeled, we handled it in a manner you are suggesting but with cabinets for extra storage instead of bookcases. I LOVE the combo of closed storage I don’t have to keep super neat and the display portion of the upper glass cabinets (and there’s a matching cabinet on the other side of the window). I can’t attach a photo grrr it’s saying the file is too big :/
And i have molding that connects the top of the upper cabinet to the lower part of the vaulted ceiling, gah I need to figure out how to make the photo size smaller so I can attach!
Use imageresizer.com to quickly resize pics.
Do they need to keep the current laundry situation for a while? That space seems much better for the fridge, as others suggested– it would allow for more counter space around the sink, which tends to be an important work area. And, it would allow for a non-Ikea fridge and/or a full-depth one, as other commenters have pointed out.
The grit and polish blog did a similar fridge location in their farmhouse. Great idea! I agree with other that counter space around the sink is super important. If they aren’t ready to move their laundry, the cost of a stackable washer/ dryer to fit the fridge in there for now may be worth it. (Bonus – no need to buy a panel ready fridge.) Or maybe the washer or dryer (or both) could be moved to the garage to make room for the fridge in that space for now. If they could make it work to just house the fridge for now, moving the laundry upstairs could be phase 2 and making that space a butlers pantry (or whatever they want to call it) could be phase 3. I am excited for them and loving this collab!
I would nix the island and make a peninsula coming from the wall that has the refrigerator on it. Bar stools and countertop would provide further seating adjoining the dining area. Put the refrigerator on the wall where the pantry is. It would make the kitchen more open and easier to navigate.
After thinking about it, I 100 percent agree about nixing the island and instead going with a hefty “island like” peninsula parallel to ceiling edge. We had one like this that was wide enough to have the sink, and room for food prep and serving plus 4 barstools. It also was adjacent to our dining area and it was perfect! Could double as serving buffet. The width is the key!
My daughter-in-law had a cabinet turn removed to make a galley kitchen. Same size but looks and feels so much bigger.
I agree that the kids stools should not be on the stovetop end of the island. They will be up and down off those stools. The dining room end makes more sense for kids and adults.
How fun! As someone who has a stovetop in a peninsula, I would avoid cooktops so close to where you expect people to be sitting. It ends up not being functional at all because no-one (kids or adults) want to be sitting so close to a stove. Also, there needs to be a hood and since there is another story, you are going to need to vent via an exterior wall…. My hood is over my peninsula – another reason that seating becomes awkward.
Great project and ideas. I am concerned the cooktop in the island has no ventilation; also appears is gas. Indoor pollution concern.
Love this series and love that they managing and doing the work themselves! Thanks for walking through the process. Also, the difference that flooring makes already!
Chrissy and Peter thank you for inviting us in! What a delightful family and your work is incredible. Those built-in beds! Wow. Floorplans are so fun. The kitchen is where parents spend most of their time, so I’d prioritize natural light and connection with indoor AND outdoor kid spaces (which will later simply be people spaces – also great!) There is a lot I don’t know, like backyard use and access, but in case this is relevant, and because there is already talk of changing mechanical (laundry and powder room) I want to throw out the crazy idea of moving the kitchen entirely. We did this in our house, on a shoestring budget, all DIY, also IKEA Axstad :) and we also have tiny humans – so I feel a sense of kinship and want to say that for us, moving the kitchen was worth it. Also bonus: we were never kitchen-less. We kept the old kitchen until the new one was useable. If this were my house, I’d explore the idea of building a wall right where the ceiling changes. This would feel natural. The old kitchen spot would be under the second floor and could be a mudroom… Read more »
This is the floor plan I keep coming back to every time I think about this ?
Vera, the garage entrance is thru the laundry/powder hall. With your plan, they would have a very very long trek around the stairs with groceries and every time they enter the house!
Here it is in 3D
The fridge, stove, pantry, etc. would be under the low ceiling, while the rest of the kitchen would be under the vaulted ceiling. The sink and dishwasher could be on the back wall under a giant window. This layout gives a clear walkway between kitchen and dining table. And when working at the island, you are looking into the family room.
So the old kitchen space would be available for a mud room? Have I understood correctly? I think you’d still need access from the old kitchen space to the new one. But I have a feeling this plan would be over the budget.
Another voice here to say the sink needs a lot more breathing room around it! I’d love a floor plan before/proposed after as well, with walls, openings, and main aisles measured out. I’ll wait for that info to weigh in on the island vs peninsula question! I love kitchen redesigns and over the years have gotten decent at seeing ways to improve function and flow, so I love renovation posts like this and am vv interested in the journey :)
It feels way too crowded and smushed in around the sink. I think most of us don’t need more storage, we need a serious purge. I’m excited to see how this all plays out.
I loved reading this! The only thought I had was to consider making a cased opening into the kitchen where the ceiling vaults, similar to the one from the dining room into the family room but wider. It might impact the overall openness more than they’d want, but it may also help define the two spaces more clearly and eliminate the need to connect them in some way.
Peninsula, no island, is the solution, with the stove moving to where the fridge is, and the fridge moving to the pantry wall with built ins around it.
Moving/removing a window means insulation and siding work so if the budget is really tight, that seems important to consider. Project creep! :)
Love the overall plan, but the sink feels cramped to me. I like having some space next to the sink for drying rack, stacking dishes at the end of a party or big cooking spree, etc.
One small tweak to consider is to check whether a 30” fridge is doable here. As a family of 5 they could supplement that with an under-counter fridge for drinks and kid snacks, or maybe they have garage space for an overflow fridge. I am really happy with my tall, 30” fridge and it’s still plenty of space with 2 preschool age kids.
Excited about this! Just one thing – a floorplan view is MUCH EASIER to understand than photos – of we could have a floor plan on the next blog that would be awesome
So many ideas! Just to add — we just did a full home renovation and nixed having a sink with a window over for our sink in the island (like the mountain house). All to say, don’t feel tied to having a sink on the outside wall, and by having it on the island you can be more part of the convo and life that happens in a kitchen (your back isn’t to it). But not sure if that is not part of the plan due to having to move plumbing.
The mountain house kitchen had a lower ceiling next to a vaulted room. Bringing the peninsula out into the living room worked well.
Yes, of course! Thank you for this photo, Rory!
A lot of people think the space near the sinks will be squished, but I think that’s only because we don’t have the measurements. By my calculations that wall is 12’ long. 30” for the double oven, 30” is a nice size sink (especially with a single bowl), and 36” for the refrigerator. That leaves about 2’ or 24” on each side of the sink, which is plenty. I also recently completed a kitchen remodel that went from a peninsula based kitchen to an island, creating what I like to call the double galley, and it is so much better to work in and serve meals in. We no longer have corners where we get stuck, and one person can work on each side of the island. Our kitchen is a bit narrow (13’ or 13’6”) and normally wouldn’t be recommended for an island, but we went with a 28-30” wide island (I think it’s 8’ long) and between 36-40” pathways. The pathways feel fine to us, despite being on the low end of recommended (usually 42-48”). It would be wonderful if they were able to move the laundry prior to the kitchen, so they can fully plan the integration… Read more »
I know Emily has a good eye, and experience redoing (multiple) kitchens, but I wish she had leveraged her connections and gotten a kitchen designer to take a look at this. It would be SO COOL to see what a specialist could do, and a breakdown of how they think though a complicated renovation like this.
As a person who regularly bakes with my small children, I would give a kidney for five uninterrupted feet of counter space (cookie sheet, bowl, cookie sheet , takes up three feet, add in a second kid in a tower, and a foot of space for the mixer and suddenly five feet doesn’t seem outrageous, does it?) That would be my priority in kitchen renovation, but every family is different!
I agree about the counter space. I guess the island has uninterrupted space, but it’s on the opposite side of the island from the sink, refrigerator and stovetop, so that doesn’t seem like a great arrangement. In our narrow galley kitchen, we put the sink and all appliances except microwave along one side, in order to have uninterrupted counter space on the other side (and also to avoid things like the sink being opposite the fridge or range). We had to go with a 30″ fridge, counter depth due to narrow space, but we have the old fridge and additional freezer in the basement. It works well for our family of four (2 adults, 2 teens) who all like to cook and bake.
It’s silly to move the windows what looks to be just a few feet. That will require purchasing new windows, redoing some framing, replacing insulation and siding, and possibly working around whatever electrical is in the wall. For no additional functionality.
What is in that space between the current pantry door and the angled wall? It seems like that opening needs to stay open for some reason, since your pantry suggestion stops short of it rather than closing it up to extend the pantry cabinetry (and potentially including the fridge as multiple people have suggested in the comments)?
I too think the fridge needs to move to where the washer and dryer are, or on the pantry wall. This would free up so much more space. Get rid of all the tall storage on this side and have a long sweeping bench that goes round to a peninsula outside of the low bit (like the mountain house) with a wide bench for the kids to each have a stool . With 3 kids you need at least 3 stools. They will use this all the time. Moving the window would eat up a lot of a smallish budget so avoid . It would be interesting see inside the current pantry as there looks to be more space under the stairs but behind that small door. If this could be better utilised it would solve a lot of storage problems.
I’m joining the peninsula chorus. It would make visual sense of the dropped ceiling, and make a nice, continuous, practical surface with the countertop along the window side. Plus I don’t really see how the pantry wall will fit with a big island in the middle, you’d end up with 2 pretty narrow “corridors”
I’m curious if coming up with a master plan for the laundry, mudroom, powder room, and kitchen all at once would end up being more affordable and less stressful in the long run than doing it piecemeal? A comprehensive plan would allow you to make sure you’re not doing work that would need to be undone in the future for example.
Out of the box question here. They have a sitting room and a family/TV room right next to each other. Do they use both? Is there an option where one becomes a dining room and the kitchen expands? It sounds like, with three kids, there’s never going to be enough space in that kitchen. Even with the banquette, which is a great space saver, we’re squeezing everything together. I would expand the kitchen to the current dining space, do a huge island that crosses into the dining room, put stools around the island, and then move the dining room to the family space. And I’d get a table that doesn’t scratch, so that it can be kids craft space when no guests in sight.
This is a great feature with brain teasing aspects ! It also seems that as a free advisor one can push the client less than a paying client. My hot takes: I KNOW they love the dark blue color but given the dropped ceiling, perhaps a lighter cabinet color would make for better visual flow between kitchen and living room? Could that diagonal entry to the dining room get squared off? I assume they are not living here or building a camp style temporary kitchen in the garage or something while this is happening? Because 3 kids under 3 for at least 3 months with no kitchen sounds..intense. Lastly, I realize that British kitchen/ dining areas tend to not use high stools and banquettes as is done in the USA. I think that’s why I really dont ‘get’ them, they seem restaurant -ish to me and I find them physically uncomfortable. That proposed built in banquette looks rather boxed in to me and you dont have a lot of space on the right hand side. Moving that dining window seems expensive . SO: I’d still end the kitchen cabinetry at the load bearing wall, put a long low vintage credenza… Read more »
I would love to see a video series of this! Really excited to see how this turns out!
A floor plan?
I join Team Peninsula! OR – and just a thought because I can’t tell spacing well – switch the floorplan and make the current kitchen a breakfast or dining room and move the kitchen out to the vaulted area. You could steal more space for a mudroom and have a cozy spot to enjoy family dinners.
What a fun journey! I’ve redone three kitchens and it’s my favorite space ever to rethink.