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Awkward kitchen w/ empty nook - What would you do?

Awkward kitchen w/ empty nook - What would you do?


  #1  
Old 02-18-19, 01:32 PM
D
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Awkward kitchen w/ empty nook - What would you do?

So I have been scratching my head as to what to do to make this kitchen a bit more open and to make the large empty nook at the end more useful. The weird empty nook is too small to be a breakfast area so not quite sure what it was intended for. I've cobbled together an approximate floorplan so you can see what I mean (each square = 1 ft) and put a big ol' red question mark where the nook is (please see images below).

Some of the things we are considering:
  • Moving the fridge (which is sticking out a bit) or pantry into the weird nook, but would require some modifications to the counter/cabinets sticking out at the end
  • Moving the laundry connections into the mudroom and divide the room so we can widen the kitchen and have a hallway

Floorplan
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Kitchen Images
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  #2  
Old 02-18-19, 04:43 PM
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Hmm,
I suspect you're the victim of a "put the sink under the window" remodel somewhere along the line.

How old is the house?



I can kinda-sorta see remnants of a classic 1960s layout.

The nook seems about the right size for a 50s or 60s sized vertical fridge and freezer, or perhaps a vertical fridge and a chest freezer.
Stove would have ben under the window so it could vent outside. Sink would be where the fridge is now to share the wet-wall where the laundry room is. Current fridge and counter are probably where the kitchen table was if/when this was an eat in kitchen.

Now, what to do?
I'd go with open "bookshelf" storage along the walls with a lazy-suzan tucked into the triangular area-
 

Last edited by Hal_S; 02-18-19 at 05:02 PM.
  #3  
Old 02-19-19, 01:12 AM
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I like the idea of moving the laundry room to the mud room, would give more space and could move that refrig into the wall so it didn't stick out.

Back corner could be made into a butlers pantry/bar with wall of cabinets, definitely a dead end!
 
  #4  
Old 02-19-19, 03:03 PM
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Ooooh, really like the idea of a lazy-suzan in the corner. Should of asked you guys sooner! One can never go wrong with more shelving/storage.

As for the age of the house, believe it or not its only 20-ish years old, however after cleaning it out we found some building plans and the style of them look very old school and modified on top of that so maybe they got inspiration from an old 50/60s blueprint and went from there?

I guess my next step is figuring out what walls are load bearing and what not to see if my more ambitious ideas are feasible.
 
  #5  
Old 02-19-19, 03:50 PM
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Ok, bigger picture-

1) Appliances
Relocate the fridge to the current Pantry slot, this puts the most-used appliance close to the rest of the living space.

Consider swapping the existing stove for a separate cooktop and wall oven.
Locate the cook-top where it is most convenient.

2) Laundry room.
Reverse the existing door so it opens OUT.
Swap to front-load washer and dryer.
Add a second door, also opening OUT, facing the basement entrance.
This gives you maximum use of the Laundry space, AND gives you a quasi-hallway.

3) Next-level -
add a dishwasher and wall-oven to the kitchen, but place them THROUGH THE WALL and into the laundry room space. Stagger them, Oven top-right, dishwasher bottom left (or vice versa).

4) Enclose the odd "back corner" as pantry space.

FYI, the top left of the odd "space" appears to be the TOP of the basement stairway, you MIGHT be able to add deep "pull out storage" there, converting dead-air-space at the top of the stairs into wall-mounted deep shelving.
 
 

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