When we first moved into our house we decided to make some changes based on our needs at the time. The living space was essentially in one large room, with 2 bedrooms through the doorway to the left below. These photos are from the day we took possession of the house.
We took down the little “peninsula” that had been built with a piece of butcher block and treated railway ties. Ummm… yeah. I also didn’t like the placement of the fridge and stove. The fridge really cut off the room, but to be honest it felt like there was no good place for it.
The back door was our primary entry. Gabriel was 2 at the time, and I didn’t like the idea of walking into the stove every time we came through the door. During the summer the boys are in and out so often, and I had visions of a handle being grabbed and burns all of those things you worry about with a busy toddler. So, it made sense to me to move the stove, cabinet and fridge. We had talked about putting some sort of buffer/make shift counter beside the stove, but that never happened. Fast forward nearly 3 years down the road, and this is what we have today.
It kind of works, but as I mentioned in a previous post, there is still not really any counter space beside the stove. We also added a roll away dishwasher into the mix and a free standing island. Here is a mock up of our current kitchen layout.
This is what I would like to do as “Phase 1” plan to bringing more function into the kitchen until we can afford our full kitchen reno.
Much to my husbands dismay this means moving the fridge back to where it originally was when we first moved in. I completely see his point, because, its true. But the main difference for me is that the stove is tucked away, and I will have counter space to use beside my cooking area for prep. The only prep space we really use is the little island top. The counter top beside the fridge holds the toaster oven and has become a complete drop zone which is never available to use.
I would like to reclaim that counter space, and also potentially nix the pot rack and put in shelving across the length of that wall. Matt really likes the pot rack, and feels like open shelves are just asking to be a cluttered mess. I am not a total lover of open shelving in the kitchen, and prefer closed cabinets {even though it’s fun to display things}However, I do think that it is a really inexpensive solution to make our kitchen work harder. We have so little storage in this kitchen… and I just don’t know how far down the road a “reno” is… so I am trying to think of ways to make it work as well as possible.
It is a temporary fix, but closer to where I would eventually like the kitchen to be. This kitchen is awkward in that there is no great spot for the kitchen appliances. It is really a galley style kitchen {or at least it will be, right now it is a bit of a U configuration} For a long time I thought I wanted to bring a peninsula in on the right hand side, but I was hesitant because it would cut off traffic flow. Islands in kitchens seem to be monstrous these days, and I while love that trend, its not something that will work in this room. My sister put in an awesome peninsula and a small island, and that gave me a visual of how to make a narrower island work in a kitchen. {our current little cart is just too narrow :-/ )
Something we need to consider is that the doorway in the kitchen is going to be removed and widened to the small window on the back wall. I’d like to close in the window, because it now looks into our added mud room and is positioned exactly where I want hooks for winter gear! {on the other side} The current doorway is the connection point between the old house and the addition, and widening that entry point will really open things up and connect the two spaces.
After much deliberation, this is the layout I have landed upon for our someday kitchen reno. {at least for now!}
My drawings are certainly not perfectly to scale, but this gives you an idea. I would like to leave the stove in the proposed general area but add more counter space. I would like to relocate the fridge, remove the small partition wall, and extend the counter top to the window. We would also like to put in an island that is standard counter top depth, but long 🙂 I love this island below, utilizing a nice blend of open and closed storage.
I also love how this island looks more like a piece of furniture in the kitchen.
I love the first island, but I’d also like to get as many wide drawers in as possible for storing our dishes. So I could see doing something similar to this layout, just not as wide, and perhaps cladding the island in reclaimed wood.
As you can see, our minds are not totally made up, which is fine because we have time to think it over. We are trying to figure out how to open the wall up sooner rather than later though… thoughts? I’d like to reuse our built ins in the dining area to create a server of sorts.
What do you think? Any layout suggestions? What’s your vote for open shelves? Yay or nay?!
-Miss Ash
Hi Mizzz ash
You dream plan looks good!
My suggestions are:
If u can do an overhang on one side where stools could go it would b a great place for the kids
Drawers, drawers and more drawers
Closed cupboard, you can do pitted glass front to lighten the look, open shelves looks messy very quickly…