Revised Kitchen Plans + Butler’s Pantry Vibes

I feel like I think about my kitchen an inordinate amount. I think about it when I go to sleep almost every night. I think about it when I wake up in the morning. I think about it throughout the day. I blogged about it less than a month ago yet here I am again. Going on and on.

I’m hoping this means that I’m thorough and not just too stupid to figure stuff out faster. This is the first kitchen I’ve ever truly renovated for myself, and I’m super excited. But I also really don’t want to screw it up and hate myself forever. I want to get it right. And I also want it to be very beautiful. And I also want this to be the kitchen that I have, enjoy, use, and live with for a gooooooood long time, because I have absolutely zero plans to sell and move and I never want to renovate it again.

Also! It’s for me! How much fun! I end up designing for other people much more than for myself. I’m used to having the constraints of what a client will go for, or certain expenses that affect how the budget is allocated…it’s working your ideas into someone else’s priorities, basically, and at the end it’s never really all the things you want even if you’re satisfied with the result. Ya know? But here…I’m the client. I’m the future homeowner. I’m the wind beneath my own wings. Too far? Point is, I HAVE TO PLEASE NOBODY EXCEPT MY OWN DAMN SELF. How thrilling. How paralyzing.

To be clear, this is not to say that I don’t care what you think. You guys had a lot of thinks to think on the last kitchen post, and I read every single think and and found them very helpful! You people are smart and kind and important and the best on the whole Internet? We have fun here? We’re nice to each other? We disagree about fridge placement yet we still find common ground over wood stoves? I’m so grateful. Never change, you.

By the way, just to quickly dispel an assumption that came up in a lot of comments: I DO actually cook! I love cooking! I’m not some amazing chef, but this kitchen is by no means decorative. It will be used and abused.

So this was the plan I presented a couple weeks ago:

I still like it but it’s got some problems that some of you picked up on.

1. The island is too big, unnecessary, I don’t know. It’s shown at 6’x3′, giving a 3′ path on either side. I DO love the idea of having a big work surface, but with the wood stove 3′ isn’t going to be enough to maneuver comfortably without stepping onto the hearth stone (which will get annoying and make the room feel cramped) and/or burning my ass. It needs to be scaled back.
2. The cabinet return from the corner to the chimney is dumb. Chimney will look better without it, and I do hate corner cabinets.
3. The pantry mudroom build-out is a mess in these drawings. I should have been more clear about that part of the plans being MUCH more preliminary than the main kitchen part. Everyone freaked out and I was like WAIT CALM DOWN. Oopsie!
4. The door from the kitchen to the dining room can and should swing the other way, out into the dining room. That’s how it was originally and I think it’s worth restoring.
5. Everyone and their mother thinks the sink/stove placement is wrong. This isn’t necessarily a problem, just a notation.
6. There IS a dishwasher to the right of the sink, standard size, completely necessary to my life. I lived without a dishwasher for almost a decade, and in that time I learned that I’m a slob who would rather do almost anything than my own dishes.
7. Lighting: Aside from the sconces, there will also be a central pendant ceiling light chandelier number. I know recessed lights in the ceiling would be functionally good and there are some pretty inconspicuous options out there, but it’s not happening. Not on my watch, not in my ceilings.

DON’T GET TOO EXCITED. But for the sake of making my indecision that much greater and the voices of disagreement that much stronger, I did some stuff:

1. Bye bye, island. Hello old table. I do think it helps greatly with the too-cluttered issue, particularly around the wood stove (and in turn making the stove more of a feature in the room) and I think could be really pretty and nice. I’m about it.
2. Cabinet return to the right of the chimney, eliminated!
3. I made the sink/stove change. I have so many feelings about it:

When I say I think about my kitchen, I guess I really mean that I visualize my kitchen. Being in it, cooking a meal, laughing with friends…the inside of my brain is an Applebee’s commercial. And I always picture the stove where I had put it before. It just feels more right in my head? So that’s been Option A. And this has been Option B. And I go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Both are equally possible, technically.

I actually think Option B is prettier, for what it’s worth. I’d prefer to look at that kitchen.

I also think Option B has some issues. And that I’d prefer to work in Option A.

1. I installed those windows for three-ish reasons: trying to balance out that exterior elevation, bringing natural light into the kitchen, and ventilation. The view out that window was not part of it. Telephone pole, street, parking pad, falling down fence, trash receptacles, yellow aluminum (and, out of view, green asbestos)…it’s far from bucolic. I actually would prefer to NOT have the sink under the window in this instance, even though I know that’s a really normal thing that’s perceived as almost a requirement and unanimously understood to be more pleasant than facing a wall. This is a not a new concept to me, but I just think it doesn’t suit every single space! That being said, I don’t wash dishes by hand unless it’s completely unavoidable. It’s not like I’m ever really standing at the sink for a long time and looking at anything other than what I’m doing with my hands. I guess what I’m saying is that the sink/window thing is neither particularly appealing nor entirely unappealing.
2. The sink feels far from the stove. Like too far. But moving either one closer to the other feels very weird and does not satisfy my urge for symmetry or having things line up with other things. I know I could do a pot-filler to resolve some of the issue there, but it still seems a little…off to me.
3. Those windows sit pretty low (I wanted them as big as I could while matching the header height of adjacent windows at the top and being above counter height at the bottom), so I feel like I’d be cleaning water spots and stuff off the window panes CONSTANTLY. I also kind of don’t want to see my sink faucet from outside the house? Also if there are window boxes on these windows outside, will reaching over the sink and around the faucet to access them (assuming herbs are growing, which may be a pipe dream anyway) feel good?
4. If there’s one modern kitchen design thing that I totally do care about and I think will enrich my life, it’s prep space on either side of the stove. In Option A, there’s such an EXPANSE! And in Option B, it’s two feet on either side. It’s enough—I know it’s enough—but it could be MORE and I really think I want more. ESPECIALLY if I’m losing the more spacious island.
5. A range hood feels more necessary in Option B because you lose having two windows right on either side of the cooktop. Necessary might be a strong word. Advisable. The being said, if I were going to add a range hood down the line, I’d prefer to do it on the wall in Option B than right between the windows in Option A. SEE HOW HARD THIS IS?

By the way, here’s the deal with the range hood. I have to confirm with the building department, but I actually don’t think it is required by code, which is something a lot of commenters brought up, because natural ventilation is provided (amply!) by the windows. I understand the benefits of range hoods. I’ve had them in the past. I don’t feel like I need one, but what I WILL do is rough-in the electric to add one and leave it dead in the wall, just in case. That way it’s really easy to do down the line. I’m just not ready to plan on it because lots of people have (mostly valid) feelings that I should. I’m too stubborn.

SORRY. There are also other venting options that I’m looking into. I’ll keep you in the loop!

SO ANYWAY, I think I’m still in the Option A camp for the stove/sink placement, but with the changes to the cabinet layout and modified island/table included here. I should have done that in SketchUp but seriously, it takes me so long so let’s just imagine.

You don’t seem convinced.

On the other side of the room is where the magic happens. Here’s where we were…

Here’s what I’m thinkingggggg….

SO, I lost the hutch (that grey mass). Which is sort of disappointing but OK. It’s a really large piece that I think would be great in a kitchen, but maybe just not this kitchen. ALSO I think there’s another wall for it in the dining room that will work better than where it is now. I love that piece so I just want to do right by it.

What I gain is…

1. More shelf. This suits my collection of old and semi-useless but beautiful bowls and pottery greatly.
2. It’s not in the drawing, but I think I’d like to do some simple shaker-y pegs along the apron beneath the shelf, which can hold aprons and tea towels and…aprons…and…DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. I like how that wall is more flexible now.
3. A more central and sizable entrance to the mudroom/pantry space. Allow me to explain:

I’ll give you a moment to pin.

Ready now? Try to keep up.

This is an old picture of the old kitchen and the entrance to the now-demolished solarium addition. For reference, that doorway is about where the stove is in Option A. Obviously all this has now changed but you’re insane or just very fresh to my blog if you think I didn’t salvage that little transom and the surrounding trim work.

I do want the pantry to feel like a natural extension of the kitchen, but totally opening up that wall is not an option I’m willing to entertain. It doesn’t fit with the house and structurally it’d be tricky. But a larger cased opening with a transom above that matches the header heigh of the windows…that sounds nice, right? This way the entrance would be 44″ wide, so wider than a standard doorway but nothing too crazy and out of place.

The doorway also moves over to the left about three feet, which means there’s a much bigger corner to play with by the wood stove/radiator. Partially, this is in anticipation of storing firewood, but I also think you could sneak a nice chair in into that corner, or a dog bed, or whatever, and it would make the room feel more…rounded?

Here’s the pantry “plan” from a couple of weeks ago:

Here’s what I’m thinking now:

And then what do you get? Butler’s pantry vibes. Ohhh yeah they feel so good.

I moved the exterior door again. I like this better for a number of reasons, inside and outside the house. Groovy. I feel at peace.

We gain a window! This will add some balance to the exterior as well because the powder room will get the same window. Smaller than the kitchen windows but same proportions.

Also, more pantry! More cabinet space! More counter space! The room is very narrow (5’7″) so the base cabinets here are really uppers, just installed as base cabinets. Still, that’s 8 feet of (shallow, albeit) countertop and cabinet space! I’ll take it!

Countertop next to the fridge. This is a big thing people brought up, and I think this plan accomplishes it. It’s all RIGHT THERE. You could wrap the counter but I still want that small closet. I really do need a place to store a vacuum cleaner, a mop bucket, stuff like that, and there’s not really anywhere else in the house that makes more sense than in here.

NOW, I KNOW. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. I could rotate the fridge 90 degrees, cut a fridge-size hole in the kitchen wall, and recess the fridge into it so it faces the kitchen. Many commenters suggested this. My boyfriend suggested this! I know the option exists.

I’m not going to do it. That feels distinctly like a better option for newer construction, maybe? But I can’t picture it looking OK here. I really can’t. The house is too old and the vibe of this kitchen is too old and it’s just so not right. It also seems like the most minor functional difference. We’re literally talking about a few extra steps. I can deal with a few extra steps to build a kitchen that I love with a pleasantly tucked-away fridge. Sorry folks. Fridge niche is not for me.

This is also one of those me being the client things. It’d be so hard to find a client who could be convinced of this plan and I think that’s part of what I like about it? Because normally it would be an idea that would start and end with “if I could do anything I wanted…” but in this case…I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT! Ya know, within reason. This is very exciting to me and I want to take full advantage by making as many unpopular decisions as I want.

Shall we address the elephant in the room? OK YOU GOT ME. I have to confirm that it’s as easy plumbing-wise as I think it is, but I’m enamored with the idea of adding a teeny tiny bar sink in the pantry. Three semi-compelling reasons:

1. Fancy. My god, how fucking fancy. Two sinks. It’s like I’m the Queen of England!
2. Coffee station! How nice would it be to keep small appliances like the coffee machine a bit more out of sight and in here, not cluttering up the kitchen countertops? I’m never gonna be the type to brew my coffee in anything more attractive than a regular drip coffeemaker every morning, this much I know. And with a sink right there, it would all be so easy and convenient.
3. Ice cube trays. I hate filling them but it’s a part of life since I’m not planning to replace my fridge. Too much money, no real reason. I’d rather not walk to and from the main sink to do this because I always spill.

ALSO CAN YOU ALL RELAX BECAUSE THIS SINK IS UNDER A WINDOW? I DID IT FOR YOU. Kinda. Not really.

But THIS window looks out on the backyard, and that’s a very different situation than the other window.

Nobody in my life seems to think tiny bar sink is remotely necessary, but I’m obsessed with it? So, until further notice, consider it the plan.

So that’s kinda where I’m at now! I’m feeling really good about it, and it’s making me so excited to get going.

Improvement? Worse than before? TINY BAR SINK?

I love tiny bar sink.

Revised Kitchen Plans + Butler’s Pantry Vibes published first on manhattan-nest.com