Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Jan 12, 2014 10:56 pm Hi
Would love some feedback on the proposed kitchen layout attached. I've never attached anything here so I hope the image of the sketch works out. There will be a split in the double storey house with 3 sets of steps going down towards the back of the house, including steps going down from the laundry to the kitchen area. There will be a 5.4m wide sliding stacker door on the lefthand side of the kitchen and a 2.7m wide one in front of the kitchen. That's one version of the kitchen layout whilst the other is to have an U shaped kitchen and have a servery window instead of the 2.7m door. What do you think? I like the idea of the laundry being incorporated in the kitchen space by having access to it and it will be hidden behind kitchen cupboard doors. What is a good size for the island bench to house 4 people to sit down and eat? Or how much room on each side is best for access/walkway? The whole back area including dining and family room is about 12.5m by 4.5m. Thanks Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout 2Jan 13, 2014 12:04 am Some random thoughts from me How big is your island? My thoughts are it might be squishy with the sink there too. You could try a layout with the island the other way? Can you move the fridge out of the corner? I quite like the doors to the kitchen, but wonder if it's a luxury that might be better directed to making the kitchen bigger. If you had the u shaped kitchen and rejigged the linen/pantry/laundry cupboard you could give yourself more bench space and still have a bkfast bar Recently moved to a 60's home in need of some improvement! http://s797.photobucket.com/user/leenii ... ch%20House Old house: http://s797.photobucket.com/albums/yy25 ... loo/House/ Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout 3Jan 13, 2014 8:49 am leni Some random thoughts from me How big is your island? My thoughts are it might be squishy with the sink there too. You could try a layout with the island the other way? Can you move the fridge out of the corner? I quite like the doors to the kitchen, but wonder if it's a luxury that might be better directed to making the kitchen bigger. If you had the u shaped kitchen and rejigged the linen/pantry/laundry cupboard you could give yourself more bench space and still have a bkfast bar Firstly thank you for taking the time to respond Am I right in thinking that an island bench wouldnt date as much as a U shaped one? U shaped give us a full bench of nothing on it, as the sink will go under the window, and heaps more storage but I like the look of the island better. Island is probably about 2.3-2.4m by 1.2-1.5m. That's to ensure that we have about a metre on each side of the bench to walk around (is that ok?) and it will allow for 4 people to eat at the bench. The island the other way - do you mean to turn it 90 degrees so it looks straight outside to the sliding doors and hence alfresco area? If so, I tried that but I think it will encroach on the rest of the layout, namely the dining area. The whole back bit needs to house the kitchen, dining and family room. The items that are labelled don't have to go there, that is, the fridge can move as can the other appliances. The only thing is, I want the stove (900mm) to be along that wall along with 2x600mm wall ovens. Happy for any suggestions, sketches, etc and for honesty here. It's an important part of the house and I want to make sure it's right. The split is the main thing restricting us here. Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout 4Jan 13, 2014 4:31 pm Hmm I really think you need more bench space. I'd go for a u shape. I live island kitchens but they do take up more space Recently moved to a 60's home in need of some improvement! http://s797.photobucket.com/user/leenii ... ch%20House Old house: http://s797.photobucket.com/albums/yy25 ... loo/House/ Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout 5Jan 14, 2014 12:29 pm I quite like the layout; the spatial relationship of the kitchen to the laundry is good, as is the way you've worked pantry cabinets in. I have a personal preference for not having the wall ovens next to the fridge; I want a bit on a bench top there. In your case, I'd move the fridge to the other corner (better access to outdoors that way, too) and put the wall ovens either in the corner where the fridge is now or poke them through the wall to the laundry, sacrificing some cupboard space there but picking up 600mm more benchtop. What is the route between the laundry and the clothesline? Do you family members get themselves drinks and snacks from the fridge while you are cooking, and, if so, what direction are they coming from? Conventional wisdom here in the US is at least 1050mm between work surfaces, and no more than 1300mm (otherwise you are running laps). I think you should allow at least 1050 between the pantry cabs and the edge of the island, 1200-1300mm between the island and the main bench, and 900mm between the edge of the bench and the slider. Minimum allowance side to side for a chair should be about 610mm, a little more for a stool as those are harder to get up and down from --you can't pull them straight back, sit down, then pull yourself straight forward to the table, and you don't want elbows hanging out in the traffic pattern. So say maybe 2100mm for three stools, 2800-3000mm for four? 2400 is definitely tight for four, and a meter for the walkway adjacent to the pantry cupboards might also be a little bit of a choke point --even 50mm matters when you're dodging an open cupboard door. I'm not a huge fan of u-shaped kitchens in small spaces because so much of the cabinet space ends up as corners. The distance between the island and the main bench may be the determining factor here --if its more than 1.5m, it might pay to go u-shaped with the servery window; if its less but you really need more bench top, you could still use the servery window (or windows) idea and turn the island into a peninsula that attaches to the wall. There would be some advantage to that in that the extra piece of benchtop would make a natural landing spot for stuff coming in and out of the servery window. (If you do that, you'll need to consider your use patterns before you decide where the fridge should be. Might be better to leave the fridge where it is, and move the ovens to the outer wall.) If you repost the drawing, try it with more measurements right on there and you might get more responses. Chris On the threshold of retirement... and trying to check my assumptions at the door Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout 7Jan 16, 2014 9:59 pm ChrisE If you repost the drawing, try it with more measurements right on there and you might get more responses. Thanks for responding to my post. I've attached the proposed plan with dimensions. I like your idea about moving the ovens and fridge around. We want to make the most of the space we have. We can still make changes as we haven't had our kitchen appt yet. I'm hoping that the island bench is wide enough to have cupboards on both sides so need at least 1.2m wide and have enough room to seat 4 people but they all don't need to be sitting side by side. There can be 3 side by side and another one around the corner a little. Love your conventional wisdom here, thank you Clothes line may be on the side where the laundry is or out the laundry door and straight down the house towards the backyard somewhere. Not sure as yet. Family doesn't normally help themselves to snacks whilst I'm cooking, they're not allowed to! If they do, I would say they'd come down the middle of the house to the kitchen or the family area on the opposite side of the kitchen (see tv area on plan). I'm keen to make the island bench scenario work over the u-shape. Appreciate your help here. Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout - now with dimensions 8Jan 19, 2014 8:24 am Excellent!! Looking at your drawing, I'd suggest seriously playing with the idea of converting the island to a peninsula, and the kitchen windows from sliding doors to counter height windows. I think the 800mm from the island to the windows might be too narrow to be a useful aisle, but would add a useful lot of bench and cabinet space. A peninsula could be plenty wide enough for 4 people, even if you increased the the aisle in front of the pantries to 1100mm. The DH and I tested out those 'conventional wisdom' measurements using an ironing board in front of our current stove and they seem pretty right to us --at least as far as the minimums go. For the cabinets on the side of the island facing towards the lounge, have you considered using overhead cabinets (300mm deep) instead of regular base cabinets? That way you could have a deeper overhang, which would make the seating at the island more comfortable, too, besides limiting the knees and feet cracking into the cab doors. 600(drawers)+300(cabs)+400(overhang)=1300mm for the island width That bank of pantry cabinets will have as much storage as most walk-ins! Are you thinking full height doors, or upper and lower doors, shelves over shallow bench and lower doors, or.....? What do you want to keep there? Chris Chris On the threshold of retirement... and trying to check my assumptions at the door Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout - now with dimensions 9Jan 31, 2014 11:08 pm ChrisE Excellent!! Looking at your drawing, I'd suggest seriously playing with the idea of converting the island to a peninsula, and the kitchen windows from sliding doors to counter height windows. I think the 800mm from the island to the windows might be too narrow to be a useful aisle, but would add a useful lot of bench and cabinet space. A peninsula could be plenty wide enough for 4 people, even if you increased the the aisle in front of the pantries to 1100mm. The DH and I tested out those 'conventional wisdom' measurements using an ironing board in front of our current stove and they seem pretty right to us --at least as far as the minimums go. For the cabinets on the side of the island facing towards the lounge, have you considered using overhead cabinets (300mm deep) instead of regular base cabinets? That way you could have a deeper overhang, which would make the seating at the island more comfortable, too, besides limiting the knees and feet cracking into the cab doors. 600(drawers)+300(cabs)+400(overhang)=1300mm for the island width That bank of pantry cabinets will have as much storage as most walk-ins! Are you thinking full height doors, or upper and lower doors, shelves over shallow bench and lower doors, or.....? What do you want to keep there? Chris The dimensions sound perfect for the island bench and close to what we were thinking. Just not sure how long, maybe 2.3m and around to one side accommodation for person number 4 to sit (3 should fit easily along the length of the bench). I'm leaning towards the island bench as I really like the idea of walking into the kitchen from outside and getting to the fridge that will be right next to the doorway there. We're moving it there after that suggestion. Haven't thought about what to do above the pantry, whether to have full length doors. I think not as the split in the house plus 2.7m tall ceilings would mean that the kitchen height would be about 3.2m tall. They'd be very tall doors! I'd probably put up there things I don't use all the time as they'd be too hard to get to Party stuffs like cups, plates, hotpots, etc. Thanks so much for taking the time to help here (Hmmm did I not click on "submit"... what a noob as the post has been sitting here for a day or so!) Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout - now with dimensions 10Feb 17, 2014 12:58 pm Hi redwynne, Layout looks good! I would suggest working on the island bench though, it seems to dominate the area a bit and the 800mm opening to the right of the island is a little tight, you want to aim for 1000mm min. I threw together an L shaped island for you to take a look at Also google sketch up is a really easy program to use and can help you get a feel for the layout. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen Designer @ http://www.diylab.com.au Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout - now with dimensions 11Feb 20, 2014 8:26 am Where you have the pantry marked can that be full depth,as in 600 or more mm? If you were to leave it as is I would move the fridge to the other side and double over tower on the left. Where is your MW going? From a functionality POV it would work a lot better as a J shape and I would just go fridge, w/o/ then top cabinet, to rangehood then follow the cabinets all the way around to the servery with some open shelves to dress it up at the end. Of you have the depth where the pantry is at present to put in a fridge and pantries either side of it then your 2 wall ovens in separate towers left and right along the back wall with rangehood centred in the middle and keep the island. Finally a way to stop those annoying banging blinds! http://www.stopnoisyblinds.com.au Breeze-Ins Pty Ltd 1300 557 803 nathan@stopnoisyblinds.com.au Re: Proposed Kitchen Layout - now with dimensions 12Feb 20, 2014 8:49 am Couple of points. You will have a dead corner which is hard to use. I would switch the door and fridge around so that the fridge is adjacent to the pantry and then the door next to that. I t will allow the bench to continue to the wall and stop. If you move the oven down to where the fridge is you can then move the cooktop along so it provides more bench to the left of the cooktop. This will also allow the cook top to be not directly opposite the sink which is bad feng shui. You will also then have an exact replica of my kitchen except your entry to the laundry is my entry to the scullery. I have a sketch up of my kitchen but will have to provide after work if you want. Cheers Mark Well, it was the default we got with our deign, walking through the build last week felt ok, based on drawings on the floor, it is basically a metre, which is quite a big… 3 843 Do you really want to accommodate the window? What is on the outside of the window? Do you want to be able to see your towels from outside? I would blank the window from… 2 10496 This thread is over 6 months old. I'd say the OP has long since decided on their layout. 5 20300 |