hey everyone! just bought this house and looking for some kitchen design ideas.
originally i assumed the wall separating the kitchen from the rest of the house wasn’t load bearing, and i was just going to remove it and drop an island in — but part of it is load bearing, so it’s back to the drawing board.
you can see a stud pack in the last photo that is load bearing, so either that face of the dividing wall has to stay, or a column can be added there.
i’m thinking of removing the other two faces of that wall (the one with the “window”, and the one where the dishwasher is now), and removing all the other bits of wall that come down and around, which would just leave one freestanding wall without any other doorways or anything to the kitchen. this wall would serve as a divider and a place to hang upper cabinets.
i’m also thinking about removing the existing built-in pantry and using the coat closet nearby as a pantry (photos have captions pointing out where this is)
then, the entire back wall of the kitchen can be cabinets and countertops, with maybe the fridge all the way on the left (where the pantry is now) and either a range somewhere in the middle or a cooktop + wall oven/microwave combo (perhaps all the way on the right side of that wall).
then i think i could do a big L-shaped countertop, starting where the left side of the sink is now, extending a counter-depth out from the new wall, and turning to be parallel with the back wall. this would make basically a U-shaped kitchen with a gap at the bottom of the U. the sink could be on this L-shaped countertop, and there could be overhang there for putting some barstools.
i’ll be working on drawing some of this up later, but i wanted to post here with the hope of getting some ideas flowing. maybe a column would be better than that one wall? or is a sorta-U-shape not the best option here?
thanks in advance for any ideas!
-adam
ConnieLingus24
Ok. I am a fellow homeowner with an early 2000s builder special kitchen from a developer. I have your floor tile and your corner sink. I have the following question: are you going to hire a kitchen designer?
Kitchens are insanely complicated. It would be helpful to employ one of these professionals so you they can 1) listen to your ideas and ask questions to get a sense of how you use the space and 2) give you meaningful feedback because they’ve done this type of project a lot.
I have a small kitchen (17’x10x) in a vintage building. So I have the opposite problem in that I have nowhere to expand. I’m hiring someone on that front because spatially it’s complicated. I say this even after designing a master bathroom by myself for a space that is smaller than my cubicle at the office. However, not breaking up a kitchen, dining, living space logically for a large space can spur other issues. Case in point, large kitchens can be harder to cook in (I’m a fairly ambitious home cook and find large kitchens kind of taxing). So back to my larger point: spend the money on a consult for a kitchen designer. It can save you a world of pain.
Ps. Whatever you do, kitchen designer or not, lose the current flooring and corner sink.
marykd96
I’ve got a crazy idea, the dining room windows get turned into French doors, your current back door gets walled up and the current windows in the kitchen get raised. Now the stove and window wall will become a big L.
In my scenario the dining and kitchen wall is open from the future end of the countertop where the back door currently is to the load bearing wall and the hallway wall gets closed off to add more countertop space to make it into a u shaped kitchen and add more storage.
wolpertingersunite
Could you open the wall to the right of the sink too? Seems a little claustrophobic in that corner.
seannash1
If the kitchen has to be in that spot the first thing I would do it make the quadrant/sink area square and fill in the entrance to the kitchen that’s nearest the cooker.Then I would run a row of cabinetry on that wall the full length. Directly in front of that row of cabinetry I would place an island with seating on one side and that would be it. I would open out the side that leads I to the space with the triple window. If its load bearing I would put a beam in there to get it open. The room with the triple windows would become my dining area.
M0grieP
This floor in the Kirchen is the biggest problem. It hurts my eyes.
6 Comments
hey everyone! just bought this house and looking for some kitchen design ideas.
originally i assumed the wall separating the kitchen from the rest of the house wasn’t load bearing, and i was just going to remove it and drop an island in — but part of it is load bearing, so it’s back to the drawing board.
you can see a stud pack in the last photo that is load bearing, so either that face of the dividing wall has to stay, or a column can be added there.
i’m thinking of removing the other two faces of that wall (the one with the “window”, and the one where the dishwasher is now), and removing all the other bits of wall that come down and around, which would just leave one freestanding wall without any other doorways or anything to the kitchen. this wall would serve as a divider and a place to hang upper cabinets.
i’m also thinking about removing the existing built-in pantry and using the coat closet nearby as a pantry (photos have captions pointing out where this is)
then, the entire back wall of the kitchen can be cabinets and countertops, with maybe the fridge all the way on the left (where the pantry is now) and either a range somewhere in the middle or a cooktop + wall oven/microwave combo (perhaps all the way on the right side of that wall).
then i think i could do a big L-shaped countertop, starting where the left side of the sink is now, extending a counter-depth out from the new wall, and turning to be parallel with the back wall. this would make basically a U-shaped kitchen with a gap at the bottom of the U. the sink could be on this L-shaped countertop, and there could be overhang there for putting some barstools.
i’ll be working on drawing some of this up later, but i wanted to post here with the hope of getting some ideas flowing. maybe a column would be better than that one wall? or is a sorta-U-shape not the best option here?
thanks in advance for any ideas!
-adam
Ok. I am a fellow homeowner with an early 2000s builder special kitchen from a developer. I have your floor tile and your corner sink. I have the following question: are you going to hire a kitchen designer?
Kitchens are insanely complicated. It would be helpful to employ one of these professionals so you they can 1) listen to your ideas and ask questions to get a sense of how you use the space and 2) give you meaningful feedback because they’ve done this type of project a lot.
I have a small kitchen (17’x10x) in a vintage building. So I have the opposite problem in that I have nowhere to expand. I’m hiring someone on that front because spatially it’s complicated. I say this even after designing a master bathroom by myself for a space that is smaller than my cubicle at the office. However, not breaking up a kitchen, dining, living space logically for a large space can spur other issues. Case in point, large kitchens can be harder to cook in (I’m a fairly ambitious home cook and find large kitchens kind of taxing). So back to my larger point: spend the money on a consult for a kitchen designer. It can save you a world of pain.
Ps. Whatever you do, kitchen designer or not, lose the current flooring and corner sink.
I’ve got a crazy idea, the dining room windows get turned into French doors, your current back door gets walled up and the current windows in the kitchen get raised. Now the stove and window wall will become a big L.
In my scenario the dining and kitchen wall is open from the future end of the countertop where the back door currently is to the load bearing wall and the hallway wall gets closed off to add more countertop space to make it into a u shaped kitchen and add more storage.
Could you open the wall to the right of the sink too? Seems a little claustrophobic in that corner.
If the kitchen has to be in that spot the first thing I would do it make the quadrant/sink area square and fill in the entrance to the kitchen that’s nearest the cooker.Then I would run a row of cabinetry on that wall the full length. Directly in front of that row of cabinetry I would place an island with seating on one side and that would be it. I would open out the side that leads I to the space with the triple window. If its load bearing I would put a beam in there to get it open. The room with the triple windows would become my dining area.
This floor in the Kirchen is the biggest problem. It hurts my eyes.