Small/Obsolete Kitchen Plan. Any Ideas?
I am looking at a house for my possible next rehab project. It has an open contemporary look and a lot of space throughout. 50's colors, countertops etc. that I need to change. It has a big Master bedrm with patio doors to an upper deck. Some neat things in this house. It is a forclosure that has gone back to the bank. The numbers work for me. The biggest drawback is the kitchen. It is long and narrow. The countertop goes all the way across the back wall and and the side wall making an "L" with a Jenaire built in range. Although the room is 15 ft long, it is only 8 ft wide. To make it seem smaller yet, there is a built in counter area that fits 2 stools on the other wall. I could remove that counter/stool area however there is still only 8 ft to work with for a kitchen table area so anything put there is going to have to be rectangular and close to the wall. There is no dining room either. Can't move the wall to expand the room because on the other side is the stairway to the basement as well as a spiral stairway to upstairs. The other rooms in the house are very large and open. I think that this may be a great rehab but I need to figure out how to make the best out of this small kitchen without the expense of completely tearing it out and starting over. Any of you rehabbers out there dealt with a project like this one? Any ideas?
[ Edited by Sandbahr on Date 03/05/2004 ][ Edited by Sandbahr on Date 03/07/2004 ]
I'm not a rehabber, but I have done a few of my own kitchens, including a couple galley-style kitchens. Unless this is high-end house, you can get away with a nice galley kitchen. One the other hand, you can use better materials, since there is less space. It might sell better than another boring, white kitchen.
One thing I've done is use upper cabinets on the floor and wall to create 12in deep counters on the wall opposite the stove/sink. If you can recess a 24in deep fridge along that wall, it may not stick too far into the space. Then you can have a regular L-shaped main area for the stove/sink/counters along the main wall with uppers for dishes. You can even get a 12in deep floor-to-ceiling pantry. No digging for things in the back.
One house I had also had a 5 ft counter sticking out to make a U-shaped main section. This counter created a counter/bar for stools, some storage below, and left space for a 4 person table in the corner. It worked very well.
Good luck
- Peter
Moveitnow has some good ideas. I hooked up with a lady tht was doing kitchen and bath design at The Home Depot. You know, helping home owners with thier floor plans and pricing modular cabinets for them. She really knew the product lines and all the different add-ons and alternate details for the different manufacturers. She realy helped me out on five or six jobs. She quit and is working for a cabinet broker now. They have more high-end modular cabs and way better design software. She can crank out floorplan options so fast it makes my head spin.
This might seem so obvious, but the service is free. There have been times where I have used her to price out jobs and print a floorplan, but didn't get the job for whatever reason. It doesn't phase her at all... She says, you win some you lose some. I always call her back to thank her for the help and tell her that that we didn't get the job. She was surprised the first time I did that. I was surprised how many jobs she designs and prices that she never ever hears from again or don't even return her follow up calls. Good Luck.