TRAFFIC, FUNCTION, AND NATURAL LIGHT IS PARAMOUNT WHEN REMODELING
2604 Organizing kitchen, family entry, and laundry room.
Traffic, function, and natural light is paramount when remodeling
Some homes look great when you are house shopping. We see the sparkling details like new-ish appliances and tastefully decorated rooms, but we really don’t “see” the house until we buy it, put our stuff in it, and start to functionally use the house. The problems that you discover might not be horrible, but likely you will have a feeling that ‘something is off.’
PROBLEM
The issue here is that we are going to greatly improve the family spaces on the first floor. The bedrooms and baths on the second floor are fine for now.
This partial plan shows the entry (A) in the lower left corner, which is adjacent to the static dining room (B) which is never used except as a traffic path to the kitchen. The spacious living/family room (C) is somewhat open to the kitchen via an opening (E) above a half wall.
The kitchen is indeed a large space, with several requirements. It has an unused desk (F) that for some reason the builders are still putting in kitchens for the “little woman” to sit, face a wall, and pay the bills. I’ve never seen one that is not loaded up with stuff that has no other place to be.
The cabinets along one wall have the refrigerator and the range. On another wall is cabinetry for the sink. An island was added that doesn’t work because it is too small and too far away from the other cabinets to be practical There is a table with not enough space for bodies to back the chairs out to sit on. Since the dining room (B) is not used, this is the only table available for eating.
There is a pantry too smally to provide much storage. Besides the small window over the sink, the only natural light in the kitchen is the sliding glass door to the deck (G). Don’t forget the traffic that passes from the kitchen to the deck, likely with food.
The half bath (H) is well located and will not change.
Now, for the laundry room (I) which is also the family entry with a closet. All it is basically, is a hallway from the garage (J) to the kitchen. Can you imagine sorting and storing dirty laundry in this hall, and changing from the dryer to the washer while someone is trying to enter the house, probably with backpacks or groceries???
SOLUTION
Starting with the entry (A), the coat closet was extended when we took part of the dining room (B) to create a separate laundry room (K) that is separate, a window, and counters for sorting and folding. It also features a drop down hanging short rod for hanging things up from the dryer.
The balance of the dining room (B) space is a spacious hall with a decorative piece of furniture that stores stuff and provides a surface for incoming mail.
The former hallway from the garage (J) to the kitchen (D) is allowed to be just what it should be – a family entry (I). The laundry equipment is removed and also are the closet doors. In the new floor space is a bench and a shoe tower.
A conservative addition (bump out) provides for the cabinets for the range and the exhaust fan, which is not also a microwave. The microwave is located at the cook’s eye level, in the wall cabinets beside the refrigerator.
Two new windows are above the new location for the sink
Now, we have a FUNCTIONAL island that is 30” away from the sink, and 48” away from the range. It is ideal not to put an appliance on the counter of an island. It would be great prep space, facing the family or tv or guests. The eat-on counter is 42” high, which should shield the view of any mess from the dining area. This is the only dining table (M), with lots of space around it to expand.
Two closet style pantries l(N) line up side by side.
The new windows (O) in this dining area match the existing windows (O) in the living/family room. A glass passenger door is the way out to the expanded deck (G+).
The whole house looks and feels calmer and is more pleasant to live in.
MARCIA LYON is a professional residential remodeling designer and freelance writer, producing projects locally and several other areas across the US and Canada. Like Creating Spaces on Facebook! Reach Marcia at archimeatus@gmail.com; or phone 515-991-1300. Her website is www.creatingspacesdesign.com
Her Substack column is at marcialyon.substack.com