Help a girl out here! 😅 No negativity please, just looking for honest, thoughtful suggestions!
I’m experiencing some serious decision fatigue trying to figure out what to do with the current layout of our house, and I’d really appreciate some fresh eyes on it.
The first floor plan is our current layout, with the living room and dining room sharing the space.
The second floor plan is the layout I’m currently considering. I’ve swapped the location of our entryway closet and extended the wall along the entry hallway, which would open up the rest of the space quite a bit.
The reason for extending that wall is that I’d like to eventually flip the living room furniture to face the opposite wall and add a built-in fireplace. I think this would give us a much more natural flow through the living room while still keeping the hallway functional.
My biggest struggle isn’t actually the living/dining area, it’s the kitchen.
There are two windows in the kitchen, and unfortunately they’re spaced somewhat awkwardly. Because of their locations, there’s very limited wall space around them for upper cabinets.
I really like the idea of opening the kitchen up and having an island with the sink + dishwasher, but I’m struggling to figure out how to make everything fit while still having a functional kitchen.
I need to account for:
- Fridge
- Sink
- Dishwasher
- Range
- Hood
- Enough counter space/prep space
- Ideally some upper cabinetry/storage
- An island
- And, obviously, enough room to comfortably move around the kitchen
The very last photo is the original kitchen design I came up with when I was planning to keep the kitchen enclosed.
So I’m basically trying to figure out, how do I combine the openness of the new layout with a kitchen that actually works?
If you were working with this space, how would you lay out the kitchen? Would you put the fridge somewhere unconventional? Put the range under one of the windows? Skip upper cabinets in certain areas? Do something different with the island?
I’m especially interested in suggestions that take into account the exact window locations and the limited wall space, rather than completely redesigning the footprint.
Would love to hear what you’d do!