Kitchen plans - phase 1
So. We're remodeling the kitchen. Really. We've been talking about this forever but now it's really going to happen. Dirk's dad is coming out to be our slave driver in October, so we have a timetable and everything.
Problems we're fixing:
- 20-year-old cabinetry that was bottom-of-the line fiberboard when it was new, not only ugly and splintery but also of poor design, with no opening wider than 13".
- lack of dishwasher
- stove is isolated, no countertop, no overhead cabinets, no vent.
- Vinyl peel-and-stick tile and laminate countertops are both cracked and peeling
- Refrigerator is old, inefficient, and has to be held shut to get a seal, resulting in mildewy gasket, and condensation drip into the produce bin.
- All lighting is from one ceiling fan, shadows on every work surface
Challenge:
House floorplan is circular, guaranteeing that (a) there's no need to go through the kitchen to get anywhere but (b) people probably will because they can.
3 doors, 1 counter-high window, 1 full-size window, pantry closet, and built-in hutch. Only one straight continuous wall space.
Gratuitous add-ons:
- Solid surface countertop, no clue if Corian/quartz/granite, each has its advantages.
- undermount sink with built-in drainboard, either as part of the sink or carved into the counter (depends on counter material)
- roll-outs, dividers, customized storage in the cabinets.
- fancy appliances bought used off craigslist. Champagne tastes, beer budget, go figure.
We came up with what has become our final layout back in the spring, after Dirk churned through every floor plan we could think of and produced 20 variations (islands, peninsulas off of each of the 3 available walls, stove in several different locations, etc). This one (we'll call it "plan A") was simultaneously our favorite and the kind of counterintuitive plan that people who hadn't done the optimization would look at and say "what the hell were you thinking??" It made me nervous. We called in a kitchen designer, and he came up with what was essentially our plan B (except our plan-B was better in two small ways, and worse in two, but otherwise identical). We basically just invited him in to throw a professional eye on the situation and make sure we weren't missing anything obvious, and his straight-forward insufficient-storage poor-task-flow design confirmed that when you have a quirky space, it's better to go with a quirky design.
The whole kitchen designer thing was a bit weird. He's the %sale kind not the hourly kind, so we paid him nothing because we can't afford his cabinet manufactuer. I don't truly feel bad, but I have moments of guilt. Mainly that I didn't call him back and officially break up with him, secondarily that we've adopted one of his two improvements (move the fridge 12") and he doesn't get any credit, and in a broad sense that we set him up for a fall by inviting him into this project with a tight budget then rejected his plan because he stuck to budget and gave us only the few cabinets we could afford. My complaints about his floor plan are many, that's why it had always been plan B not plan A, but one reason it stuck with us as an active alternate was because it was cheaper, easier to install, and not going to require as much fussing. But when a major reason the proposal is cheaper is because it has fewer cabinets and less square-footage of countertop, that is entirely the wrong place to be cutting corners. And then he sort of blew off my comments on how that wasn't a lot of cabinet space, on the basis that he'd forgotten entirely about the dish hutch therefore we had even more space than he thought we did, therefore there couldn't possibly be a problem - so whenever I start feeling guilty I remind myself that he didn't listen to us very well.
Here's the three-stage overview, the old design, the final Plan B that had part Dirk and part Bill ideas, and our Plan A.
1. Current kitchen, with table, microwave cart, and portable work surfaces next to the stove. Red lines mark structual stuff (pipe runs, load-bearing column) that can't possibly change, but it's kind of a moot distinction as we're not changing any of the walls really.
2. Plan B. Storage volume exactly equal to the old kitchen cabinets, ignoring all cart/portable storage (which is essential) The wrap around the plumbing column is all KD, the high cabinet (coffee station) on the short wall is all us, an addition that brings storage space back up towards usable. While this is a great traffic flow between any of the three doors, this is a kitchen, not a hallway - the advantage of the circular layout with two staircases is that there's *always* another way to get from here to there.
But see how he moved the fridge over toward the wall? We're keeping that bit. But we're the ones who added that 30" width of low+high cabinets against the short wall as coffee and appliance station; he had that totally bare and just an extra 6" of island width. Goober.
3. Plan A, in one of its iterations. We keep shuffling minor details back and forth (Microwave up/down, Wall cabinets near stove feasible?, How to manage the pipe stack, Where's the trash?)
Things we're digging about our layout:
- work triangle is fairly compact
- two separate areas of prep space (peninsula and counter-run)
- prep areas adjacent to but not in the path of the appliances (fewer 2-cook collisions)
- nice vegetable flow: fridge to sink to chopping (rt of sink) to launch-time (ingredients left of stove) to cooking.
- nice dining flow: plates in the built-in by the stove, either to dining room or fill at the stove and then to dining room.
Things that make me slightly nervous:
- cook at the stove standing in walkway to dining room - 42" is plenty of space, right? and that's not a high-traffic path since the dishes are on the dining room side?
- peninsula eating area is going to turn into piling zone clutter-ville. That's inevitable. Our table is currently similarly buried. Is this any worse? Can this be avoided?
- There's no good place for the microwave. We tried really hard to keep a cabinet on the short wall (see plan B) that would hold either the microwave and toaster oven or the coffeemaker, but that just didn't fit (exacerbates the cook's-butt-in-path problem). So now all those are on the countertop in the corner.
-- tried having a built-in microwave shelf in the high cabinet, but it was (a) too big for our compact MW, and (b) too small to also hold hte toaster oven, so we realized that just 4 more linear inches of counter (difference between toaster on counter and toaster on MW on counter) would buy back that wall cabinet space.
-- I'm trying to persuade Dirk that we can put something on the peninsula, but one aspect of the flow is that the far side of the peninsula is pretty isolated. That's way too far to go to make coffee. Fortunately, that's not built in, so I still stand a chance at convincing him. Though if that part of the peninsula is also clutter-ville, I may be doomed.
- fine details of the paths, that can't be changed and won't be any worse than they are now, yet it frustrates me that these are unfixable red flags of classic design flaws: cleanup flow sink/trash/DW and distance to dish storage. Fridge is far, around the corner from dining (the last-minute ketchup, glass of water, etc)
We're in the refining stage right now: Is that really a 21"+15" or is it two 18"? The classic drawers vs doors debate. Where's the trash? and more...
More news as it comes.
Problems we're fixing:
- 20-year-old cabinetry that was bottom-of-the line fiberboard when it was new, not only ugly and splintery but also of poor design, with no opening wider than 13".
- lack of dishwasher
- stove is isolated, no countertop, no overhead cabinets, no vent.
- Vinyl peel-and-stick tile and laminate countertops are both cracked and peeling
- Refrigerator is old, inefficient, and has to be held shut to get a seal, resulting in mildewy gasket, and condensation drip into the produce bin.
- All lighting is from one ceiling fan, shadows on every work surface
Challenge:
House floorplan is circular, guaranteeing that (a) there's no need to go through the kitchen to get anywhere but (b) people probably will because they can.
3 doors, 1 counter-high window, 1 full-size window, pantry closet, and built-in hutch. Only one straight continuous wall space.
Gratuitous add-ons:
- Solid surface countertop, no clue if Corian/quartz/granite, each has its advantages.
- undermount sink with built-in drainboard, either as part of the sink or carved into the counter (depends on counter material)
- roll-outs, dividers, customized storage in the cabinets.
- fancy appliances bought used off craigslist. Champagne tastes, beer budget, go figure.
We came up with what has become our final layout back in the spring, after Dirk churned through every floor plan we could think of and produced 20 variations (islands, peninsulas off of each of the 3 available walls, stove in several different locations, etc). This one (we'll call it "plan A") was simultaneously our favorite and the kind of counterintuitive plan that people who hadn't done the optimization would look at and say "what the hell were you thinking??" It made me nervous. We called in a kitchen designer, and he came up with what was essentially our plan B (except our plan-B was better in two small ways, and worse in two, but otherwise identical). We basically just invited him in to throw a professional eye on the situation and make sure we weren't missing anything obvious, and his straight-forward insufficient-storage poor-task-flow design confirmed that when you have a quirky space, it's better to go with a quirky design.
The whole kitchen designer thing was a bit weird. He's the %sale kind not the hourly kind, so we paid him nothing because we can't afford his cabinet manufactuer. I don't truly feel bad, but I have moments of guilt. Mainly that I didn't call him back and officially break up with him, secondarily that we've adopted one of his two improvements (move the fridge 12") and he doesn't get any credit, and in a broad sense that we set him up for a fall by inviting him into this project with a tight budget then rejected his plan because he stuck to budget and gave us only the few cabinets we could afford. My complaints about his floor plan are many, that's why it had always been plan B not plan A, but one reason it stuck with us as an active alternate was because it was cheaper, easier to install, and not going to require as much fussing. But when a major reason the proposal is cheaper is because it has fewer cabinets and less square-footage of countertop, that is entirely the wrong place to be cutting corners. And then he sort of blew off my comments on how that wasn't a lot of cabinet space, on the basis that he'd forgotten entirely about the dish hutch therefore we had even more space than he thought we did, therefore there couldn't possibly be a problem - so whenever I start feeling guilty I remind myself that he didn't listen to us very well.
Here's the three-stage overview, the old design, the final Plan B that had part Dirk and part Bill ideas, and our Plan A.
1. Current kitchen, with table, microwave cart, and portable work surfaces next to the stove. Red lines mark structual stuff (pipe runs, load-bearing column) that can't possibly change, but it's kind of a moot distinction as we're not changing any of the walls really.
2. Plan B. Storage volume exactly equal to the old kitchen cabinets, ignoring all cart/portable storage (which is essential) The wrap around the plumbing column is all KD, the high cabinet (coffee station) on the short wall is all us, an addition that brings storage space back up towards usable. While this is a great traffic flow between any of the three doors, this is a kitchen, not a hallway - the advantage of the circular layout with two staircases is that there's *always* another way to get from here to there.
But see how he moved the fridge over toward the wall? We're keeping that bit. But we're the ones who added that 30" width of low+high cabinets against the short wall as coffee and appliance station; he had that totally bare and just an extra 6" of island width. Goober.
3. Plan A, in one of its iterations. We keep shuffling minor details back and forth (Microwave up/down, Wall cabinets near stove feasible?, How to manage the pipe stack, Where's the trash?)
Things we're digging about our layout:
- work triangle is fairly compact
- two separate areas of prep space (peninsula and counter-run)
- prep areas adjacent to but not in the path of the appliances (fewer 2-cook collisions)
- nice vegetable flow: fridge to sink to chopping (rt of sink) to launch-time (ingredients left of stove) to cooking.
- nice dining flow: plates in the built-in by the stove, either to dining room or fill at the stove and then to dining room.
Things that make me slightly nervous:
- cook at the stove standing in walkway to dining room - 42" is plenty of space, right? and that's not a high-traffic path since the dishes are on the dining room side?
- peninsula eating area is going to turn into piling zone clutter-ville. That's inevitable. Our table is currently similarly buried. Is this any worse? Can this be avoided?
- There's no good place for the microwave. We tried really hard to keep a cabinet on the short wall (see plan B) that would hold either the microwave and toaster oven or the coffeemaker, but that just didn't fit (exacerbates the cook's-butt-in-path problem). So now all those are on the countertop in the corner.
-- tried having a built-in microwave shelf in the high cabinet, but it was (a) too big for our compact MW, and (b) too small to also hold hte toaster oven, so we realized that just 4 more linear inches of counter (difference between toaster on counter and toaster on MW on counter) would buy back that wall cabinet space.
-- I'm trying to persuade Dirk that we can put something on the peninsula, but one aspect of the flow is that the far side of the peninsula is pretty isolated. That's way too far to go to make coffee. Fortunately, that's not built in, so I still stand a chance at convincing him. Though if that part of the peninsula is also clutter-ville, I may be doomed.
- fine details of the paths, that can't be changed and won't be any worse than they are now, yet it frustrates me that these are unfixable red flags of classic design flaws: cleanup flow sink/trash/DW and distance to dish storage. Fridge is far, around the corner from dining (the last-minute ketchup, glass of water, etc)
We're in the refining stage right now: Is that really a 21"+15" or is it two 18"? The classic drawers vs doors debate. Where's the trash? and more...
More news as it comes.