HELP! kitchen layout advice

5 years ago

Looking for some help.

Family with 7 and 9 yo and currently 39 weeks pregnant - need to finalise my kitchen in the next day before baby comes and I have been back and forth a hundred times on it now and at the point of giving up..

Breakfast bar backs onto living/dining area and bifold doors open up at that pillar to outdoor deck area. I am wanting sufficient length for three children to sit there together.

Bifold windows in front of sink open out to huge covered deck and look over backyard and pool area. Happy with amount of bench space there for inside/outside interface and that I can see all of backyard from the sink.

Stove in front of fixed window looking at green hedge on boundary fence.

Happy with all of that. Challenge I am having is with the wall opposite the sink.

Priorities which have led to this design are Fridge near entrance to kitchen so children getting drinks etc can come and go and not be in the main cooking / prep area.
Wall ovens with pot drawers underneath so no bending over from oven and hot surface away from new arrival.

Pantry with shallow shelves for easy reach food items. Wider bench at one end to allow for mixer or coffee machine on a bench top.

Builder is suggesting cavity door for pantry which eats into pantry space - which is already tiny. Kitchen designer suggestion bifold doors for a better finish and to make pantry more accessible. Trying to keep the line of cabinets and pantry aligned for visual impact. Concern with bifold is when they are open the air out into the kitchen area.

Feel like pantry is so narrow it is just a cupboard, happy to bring opening to kitchen down from the 1000. Trying not to compromise breakfast bar length.

Anyone have suggestions as to what to do?
Many thanks.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

oklouise
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
the opening into the kitchen could be narrower and the breakfast bar deeper (for knee spaces) and wider say 1800 x 900 and swop the oven and pantry so that cookware taken out of the oven can be rested on the cooktop and the coffee station could be in the corner between cooktop and sink (keeping all the hot appliances at the end of the kitchen) and forget tall pantry doors and consider having pantry divided into top and bottom sections with drawers in the bottom and wall cabinets with bifold doors only to counter height not full height and think about what to store in the cupboards...below counter 45cm wide door cnr cabinets are ideal for big appliances and less often used serving ware and giant saucepans and there would be more counter space in the corners for coffee making with wall cabinets for cups and glasses and the other corner for meal prep with wall cabinets for serving plates and the pantry between oven and fridge and try the bar fridge under the breakfast bar with a deeper overhang for stools on both sides with a stool for mum...with such a short time to delivery you need to make some fast decisions but best of luck with the kitchen and your precious new baby...this rough suggestions has only approximate dimensions and needs to be confirmed by your designer
Merrin Hodge
Original Author
5 years ago
Thankyou oklouise. In your opinion, was is minimum distance between fridge and breakfast bar you would recommend.

Can see what you mean about pantry cupboard from bench height up - just looking at if I decrease the opening space into kitchen I can gain anything to make the pantry more meaningful encore I go down that other route
Related Discussions
Advice needed for kitchen/family/dining room layout
Q
Comments (4)
Hi Mel, You have the right idea to place kitchen on south wall. I wouldn't mind laundry over there too if possible. The more north wall for living and sun light the better. I believe a generous pantry can be waltzed in with modified bathroom layout and kitchen having a similar layout to what is shown here. If you wish to supply clearer dimensions I'm happy to play! Also lets try to avoiding the internal toilet we can look straight at as we entry home and walk down the hall. Windows to kitchen even with fence view is excellent for cross vent, light and can have outlook to hanging herb baskets. The good old garage at the rear using miles of land for drive! The latest craze for installing by-fold doors is great but they do not allow for small inlet of fresh air such as is required in cold weather. A few windows will providing air movement and cross ventilation much safer than having to leave a door open. New models of sliders are preferable (if you can clean tracks easily) as the doors are out of the way and not a walking into hazard. Good luck. Margot
...See More
kitchen layout and pantry cupboard advice please
Q
Comments (30)
Thanks dreamer, might look into a sliding window for the splashback. And have put the benchtop as 650mm for now, may increase further. Thanks siriuskey. I am leaning towards your design and using the corner as appliance/pantry. The bifold from bench height up would certainly work really well functionally but I’m not sure I’d like the look. I’ve sketched up having the area 800 deep to house the fridge and to have a step in pantry/appliance cupboard (500 deep bench, 300 step in cavity). 2 variations of the cupboard, first with sliding doors opening from centre (approx 1m opening so might feel a bit pokey), or second with perhaps stacker doors to right or bifold (this would block off bench space between pantry and sink when open though). This cupboard would be pretty big (2280mm) so don’t think we’d need the appliance cupboard next to dining area. And could have oven under cooktop. Dining and kitchen could be separated by small wall.
...See More
Kitchen layout advice needed
Q
Comments (48)
Sorry Darlene but that's just no good...........a big part of the problem here is your trying to keep the cut out alfresco/outdoor living that is at odds with the style you are trying to work with, and it's causing the squeeze/compromise to the main central internal living spaces. There's nothing wrong with this type of thing in concept but they require experienced hands to resolve elegantly as opposed to a clunky way.... Refer to the plan I posted earlier - there is not one dogleg to be seen. paths of movement are streamlined and neat and proportions and alignments are balanced. What you've proposed above here walking straight into the dining area is not a good option and it makes your house feel smaller - this may be justified in situations say when you have no space in an apartment or unit scenario.........your on 2 acres or something? - your home should feel appropriately scaled and with space to breathe....... There are different plan configurations that will meet your particular brief requirements but the problem you have is that you are locked into this particular perimeter that has developed and then in the process of trying to sort it out you keep forcing/rejigging everything within the same shape/format that is actually not a fixed thing Here are your options: (a) seek some pro design guidance with a professional who understands the style/language you are working with - but don't be surprised if the nominated budget is exceeded in a custom format (b) explore some alternative options what siri & I suggested in considering off the shelf solutions of similar style that may be more aligned with your budget (c) keep going the way you are doing your head in fumbling around trying to DIY design your home but clearly falling short of your vision Best of luck!
...See More
Hi needing advice on our kitchen layout
Q
Comments (19)
Thankyou to you all for your input. A lot of great advice and ideas. It’s only my husband and I. As it’s our future retirement home. So main bedroom isn’t an issue. As we both are up early . We have added bulk head on entries to ensuite to help divide the room a bit. Entry we like as is. As end wall will be a big feature wall. I’m half inclined to turn is And bench around but the hubby wants to leave it 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I think we will end up with a clear island bench. Possibly put dishwasher and main sink in butlers . Butlers sink over with the stove. Other end with theatre and BEd 2 and 3 will be closed off unless family and visitors are with us. So won’t be used much at all. Was another bedroom there but we deleted one .so rooms are huge. We moved garage from the other side of the house so it will be closer to the shed and saved another driveway, that’s why the patio 1 is there as a walk through to carry groceries in etc from the car. Always said I’d never build again. I hate making decisions and find it very hard to visualise things 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️😂😂😂 Have our joinery consultation next week so wish me luck and I’ll let you all know the outcome😉 Thankyou again for your advice.
...See More
oklouise
5 years ago
the minimum space i would have between the fridge and the end of the island is about 900mm, but you can keep the 1000 without losing anything but mum's stool changing the length of the island doesn't really help the pantry,,,, the deeper pantry shown on your plan is not storage area it's just walking space so my suggestion is to eliminate the walking space and concentrate the storage into more easy access drawers ...it's also commonly suggested that corner cupboards are of no use but with 45cm doors they make ideal storage space for big applinaces (imo much cheaper and more useful than the corner drawers) and extra counetr in the top half of my pantry makes counter areas to stand a mixer or food processor ...another pantry option could be to consider vertical pull out pantries between the new oven position and the fridge

HELP! kitchen layout advice

Comments (3)

oklouise

Merrin Hodge
Original Author

Related Discussions

oklouise

COMPANY

EXPLORE HOUZZ

CONNECT WITH US

HELP! kitchen layout advice

Comments (3)

oklouise

Merrin HodgeOriginal Author

Related Discussions

oklouise

COMPANY

EXPLORE HOUZZ

CONNECT WITH US

Merrin Hodge
Original Author