HELP :) Advice on kitchen plans and how to start our reno??
5 years ago
Hello Houzzers!
I was researching customer experiences with Freedom Kitchens (yikes) and landed on this well informed reno community. We just bought our first apartment and are ready to renovate, starting with knocking out a kitchen wall, which partly separates the living room to create an open plan space, and start installing a new kitchen.
Given that there are heaps of bad reviews on large kitchen suppliers like Freedom and Good Guys, I'm looking for advice on how we can differently approach and project manage our new kitchen install. Ideally we would like to do as much as we can ourselves to save on costs to ensure we can have the best possible kitchen for our budget of approx. $20k.
For some background, our current kitchen and floorplan is here below. The current kitchen will be completely removed and the new one would be roughly modelled on our neighbour's layout, who have removed the wall already. Note: the wall removals plans are submitted to the strata, there will only be about 30cm of the wall remaining on each side.
Here's is a rough plan of how I see our kitchen coming together, including storage and appliances. We will most likely not have any space for overhang cupboards.
Here's the inspiration for the kitchen design, we prefer white handless laminate cabinets with Ceaserstone benchtops and island.
My questions to you lovely folk, any advice is welcome:
- Any suggestions on the kitchen plan, anything that you think doesn't work or can be placed better?
- How feasible is it to achieve this kitchen design with our budget? What should we prioritise?
- If we don'/t go with Freedom, who should we be contacting first to start the reno? e.g. can I give this rough plan to a cabinet maker that can work out the design to exact measurements? Do we need to contact a builder at all?
- When should we contact the electrician?
Appreciate any help that can get us on our way :) Thank you in advance!
Cheers,
Xenia
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5 years ago- 5 years ago
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Seeking advice on floor plan for a major reno.
Comments (15)sorry for the delay, internet probs..The measurements look better than expected but the headroom in the stairwell is a problem ie if the new stairs begin at the old toilet door by the time you reach the back wall of the toilet going down you haven't gone down far enough to avoid hitting your head on the floor!!.. one solution is to have an upstairs laundry, or take space off the new living area and i've attached another idea but, with the accurate measurements there will be other ideas and i'll let you know.....See MoreHelp .... Getting started on renos!
Comments (18)Lovely story attached to this house MB Design cheers This 1960s house in suburban Melbourne has been overhauled by Branch Studio Architects to create a contemporary home for the original owners' granddaughter (+ slideshow). The local firm was tasked with revamping the dream home of a pair of Jewish refugees – one a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp – who had arrived in Australia with little more than the clothes on their backs. The couple had built the house as soon as they could afford to, and lived in it for the rest of their lives. After they both died, it was passed down to their granddaughter Danielle and her husband Adam, who works as a writer – hence the project name, Writer's House. The brief given to Branch Studio co-founder Brad Wray was to restore the house to its former glory without turning it into a "mid-century mausoleum". "It was our joint intention that whatever new works we did to the house would not impact on the original integrity of the original house and it memories," explained Wray. "There is often a very fine line between creating a nostalgic 'museum' of something that was and removing all notion of the existing all together," he said. Built in 1968, the two-storey house was designed by emerging designer Michael RE Feldhagen, a protégé of modernist architect Ernest Fooks. It was one of a number of International Style properties built in the Caulfield area at that time, although many have since been demolished. Respecting this, Wray's team chose to leave the building's facade largely unaltered. The only real change was the addition of steel-framed windows, to replace the original wooden ones, and a more minimal white colour scheme. A much bigger change was made at the back of the house, where a new "party deck" has been created. Flanked by perforated aluminium privacy screens, the deck extends the building further into the garden. Related story Pump House by Branch Studio Architects is a metal-clad lakeside retreat "[It] not only solved a practical issue of overlooking, but more importantly was used to extend the internal areas to create a much more flexible internal/external cohesion of space," said Wray. Inside, the house is still filled with the bespoke joinery created by Jacob Rudowsky – a popular local craftsman – shortly after the house was completed. One of the biggest challenges was designing a contemporary interior without making these restored traditional elements feel out of place. Wray took a risk by choosing to pair them with plywood surfaces and concrete floors. "The hope was that the marriage of raw and refined would be seamless and elegant," said Adam. "To this end, every room in the double-storey building was totally reimagined, but each space retained hints of the original, Easter eggs pointing to what came before," he added. Behind the deck, an assortment of living and dining spaces are organised around a generous plywood-lined foyer, which functions as a gallery for the clients to display their art collection. The kitchen features contemporary cabinets fronted by lime-washed plywood, while the living space is furnished with old sofas reupholstered in vibrant green fabric. Three bedrooms are located at the opposite end of the house, along with two bathrooms, including one that features a concrete tub and decorative grey tiling. The ground floor contains a wine and whiskey cellar, a garage and a writing studio for Adam. The building is the latest in a series of 1960s renovations, as more new owners start to appreciate the modernist style of architecture. Other recent examples include a refurbished London terrace house and a renovated Ivory Coast villa. Photography is by Peter Clarke/Latitude Group. Project credits: Architect: Branch Studio Architects Project team: Brad Wray, Rowena Henry, Simon Dinh Landscape architect: Plume Studio Structural engineer: Perrett Simpson Stantin Original architect: Michael RE Feldhagen Original furniture: Jakob Rudowski New dining and coffee tables: Brad Wray Workshop Rudowski sideboard restorations: Orchard Design Concrete bath and vanities: Hungry Wolf Studio...See MoreHelp! Advice needed on a major reno
Comments (41)answering your questions: change the sliding door to a bench height sliding window and use the salvaged sliding door in the western end of the dining room where the best entry position is for the deck, you MUST have a proper legal drains do not consider anything else...the drain pipe for the garage laundry can be on top of the concrete floor, behind the washing machine and through the sink cabinet and/or under built in storage and only needs a few cms not a whole floor and no stepped up area that you would see or trip over.. the laundry can't be in a separate room as there's not enough space for a separate laundry without compromising the size of the garage...a laundry cupboard 80 cm deep is enough for the washing machine (allowing for the drainage pipe) you could use the old line cupboard to store anything you want but it's not cost effective to change, the entry foyer is already as big as in many modern homes and there's generous flatpac biw space in the small study.... the family bathroom is 2380 x 2370 (ie the old study minus 1m for hall way and wall thickness and, arranged exactly as shown to allow for the wide window there should be space for a bath up to 1800 x 750, vanity about 1200 x 500 and shower space 1200 x 800 and leftover space makes the small linen cupboard with the door deliberately opening towards the shower to use the back of the door for hanging racks for towels and clothes....btw i understood your priority was maximizing separate sleeping rooms and minimising costs...my last plan has five separate sleeping rooms plus the lounge with sofa bed totalling sleeping places for at least 10 people plus the potential for bunks in the garage so you need to decide what is most important and where you're prepared to compromise...See MoreCan you help us with our kitchen reno floor plan?
Comments (83)I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale....See More- 5 years ago
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@oklouise we are thinking of putting it in the right hand corner. Our living room is a bit awkward, especially with a 2.8M couch!
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