Kitchen renovation brainstorming help wanted

[renonewbie]

Hi there, we are a family of 3 living in a 2 bedroom two storey townhouse. Have just had a little addition to the family and so am wanting to renovate our downstairs living area to make her (bub) more visible and open up the living space area. 

I will get a builder in to complete and assist as there is hopefully going to be some bigger structural changes - ie. opening kitchen to living so pulling down a wall or else part of (depending on the loadbearing necessity of the wall).

Main goals are 

1. open up living space to join kitchen to living room through removing the wall section or if needed leaving a structural part of the wall and make it a bit of a statement pillar with wood cladding.

2. if able to open up fully, have an island bench with a lower set timber surround for a dining table (make up for the lack of space)

3. potentially moving laundry into small area in garage - to then free up the 'laundry room' to become an office/spare space. would remove the pantry from laundry space and incorporate pantry storage into new kitchen thus allowing me to make the laundry/new room a bit bigger by eating into the garage 

- here is the plans, my own very rudimentary new plans and photos

Any help much appreciated - let me know what more information or photos you might need? 

I'm struggling mostly as I know I need to move the stove top but obviously need a floor to ceiling space so as to have a vent but because of the doors/windows there is not much option. My thoughts were to move the door into the 'laundry' and use that space for the stove top

Thanks 

 Whole house planliving space sans furniture for referencerudimentary plansknock down wall where macrame hanging is...kitchen space - door into laundry

[Remarka6le]

Hey @renonewbie ,

If we're working with the idea of moving the Laundry into the garage, I'd knock out the office nook so you can place a washing machine / dryer in there with some bench space and maybe some overhead cabinets. If you can show us the area (garage) we can see what we're working with in there. 

For an office, I'd utilise that space under the stairwell, awkward space but as far as a PC setup and filestorage, it's a real easy one to renovate, it also keeps you in the main lounge area for supervision purposes. 

I'm of the opinion of maxamising walkway space, so I wouldn't impede any of your walkways as is. I'd look into options of removing the door / divider between the "Laundry" and "Kitchen" and combine the two into one larger kitchen space so you'd be able to use that backwall for your stove / oven.

That's what I've got for that, I'm torn over ideas to incorperate the timber seating table, as it'd impact the walkway as is, though you could always flip the exterior door to the left hand side to create a straighter walkway from front to deck. You'd have to investigate removing that wall between the kitchen and lounge.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @renonewbie,

Have you considered removing a portion of the wall and keeping your kitchen as is? That would allow you to look out at your bub without doing such a significant shuffle. 

Most of this project revolves around the ability to remove that wall, so the first place to start would be finding out if that's even a possibility. There doesn't look like much room in the garage to move the wall and then have the laundry in there. I'd suggest you might be better off leaving the wall where it is and trying to fit the laundry in front of the car as per the plan below. If you're happy to lose the ability to walk behind the vehicle, the wall could also be shifted.

Let me mention @redbournreno to see if they have any thoughts.

Mitchell

[renonewbie]

Thanks @MitchellMc and @Remarka6le for your input

Yes priority 1 - find out re potential for wall knock down or knock through 

I do like the idea of keeping things simple and if able just doing a knock through like a servery window, but with the stovetop there it means I'd have to keep the vent system I presume and that would make the knock through area very small or low sitting.... wasn't sure if it'd be enough? Here's a picture looking straight at the wall that I'd like to do the knock through with the stove top and vent. 

Do you think it would work keeping that vent even though it's so low? 

Ideally I would at least like to have the space that I've indicated on the photo as the open area, which would mean doing something about the vent system. 

My second issue with the kitchen that I'd really like to rectify even if we don't go with the major mods is the low lying ceiling - you can see here how low it is in comparison to the rest of the house - the lighting is really poor too so I was hoping to raise the ceiling back to height to match the rest of downstairs and consider some better lighting options. 

Moving the laundry into garage and incorporating the pantry (which is what they actually have called an office on the plans ! no idea why) would be so that room could possibly become a 'office' / spot for a pull own single bed if ever needed but I'm not sure whether we have the space for it, so may be a moot point. 

Thanks. Let me know what else might help. 

Clare

[MitchellMc]

Perhaps if you were to remove that section and brown cabinets, you could flush mount an undermount rangehood in the cream cabinets above, @renonewbie. 

Raising the ceiling would be possible if it was just a hollow bulkhead. That's a question to ask the builder when they're checking out the structural nature of that wall. I'm suspicious that the area might contain some structural members, as lowering the ceiling for aesthetics alone seems unusual, though not unheard of. If you cannot raise the ceiling, I'm sure our members will be able to assist with finding better lighting solutions for the area. What type and wattage globes are in the lights currently?

Mitchell

[Jason]

Hi @renonewbie,

Let me also tag experienced renovators @2Belindas and @prettyliving to see if they might be able to add their thoughts. 

Jason

[renonewbie]

Hi thanks @Jason and @MitchellMc and @Remarka6le 

I just had a builder through and I'm back to the drawing board - would appreciate any assistance. @Remarka6le  we may end up following up with your idea of opening up kitchen into laundry.

So I've scrapped the open window/servery idea as I can't get over the low hanging mount that will be needed for the range, I just don't like the aesthetics and don't think I'd just get over it -

so number one - wall will go and I'll keep the current cabinetry as an island bench. The builder has said that we could get rid of the side wall too but will need a small 10 x 10 cm maybe beam to maintain integrity of wall. 

Now I need to work around the idea of moving the stove top. Again very limited in choices - so was thinking either 1. next to the sliding doors (remove the sticking out part of the current cabinetry) so it would be between the kitchen window and the door

Is this a suitable location? Or is there not enough bench space? 

or 2. open up space into laundry like @Remarka6le had suggested and have it next to the sink. 

If we open up to the laundry the idea would be to have the stovetop over that side to the right of the sink, with the washing machine and laundry sink switched around and moved up closer to the laundry door. (I had wanted to get rid of the laundry sink but not code so will need it somewhere) 

If we do that, I'd then consider moving the fridge and having the island bench more of an 'island' so that I could be at the stove and still involved in what was happening in the kitchen/living area. Fridge to pantry area? 

Another suggestion the builder had was to move the laundry (washing machine and sink) to outside and make an outdoor laundry. I've never really seen these so wasn't too sure, thought it would free up a lot of space. 

Ceiling and lights wise - no joy in raising it and the lights are downlights waaaay too dark. Wondering what would be the best method of changing the ceiling.

Hmmm. All over the place. Look forward to hearing your advice.

Thanks again. 
Clare

[Remarka6le]

Hey @renonewbie, did your builder provide you any plans (or did you have any drawn up) so we can have a visual representation of the options (to provide feedback & suggestions)?

Kitchens in the UK are often found with their washers and dryers in the kitchen when pressed for space (which most of their homes are), you'd have a heap of bench space by knocking down the kitchen / laundry door and continuing it through, so 2 spots next to each other for the Washing Machine & Dryer would be fine and it wouldn't be an odd room decision.

The only thing (strictly IMO) that I wouldn't do is have your laundry moved outside, it will become a massive inconvenience during the extremes of summer & winter to go outside to do basic chores. 

I'd hard pass any suggestion of moving it outside unless a structure is built around it. 

[renonewbie]

Hi there, thanks heaps for the response. It's such an interesting process and I am learning a lot!!! No plans as yet from builder, I guess he is waiting for me to confirm what exactly I'd like to do perhaps. 

I agree re the laundry outdoors so will keep it internally. I do like the idea now of opening up into the laundry. I know you need a seperate laundry sink in NSW but would a double sink count with one 'dedicated' to the laundry ? I'm Irish so fully understand the concept of just having the washing machine in the kitchen We'd just have the washing machine so no need for anything else which would mean more bench space. 

I've returned to idea of leaving most of cabinetry and stove top in place - have a range hood poking down from ceiling over island bench (but look for one that is visually appealing - potentially wrap in some timber looking material. Move the fridge into pantry space so it's an island bench and knock all the wall bar the beam that is needed. 

I've just started Sketch up but my skills are still fairly lacking so I've attached a drawing of my plan 

[Remarka6le]

Hey  @renonewbie , 

I'm under the impression that you need to have both a kitchen sink and a laundry tub. My solution to that would be to set it up like this to make plumbing easier

• Kitchen Sink - Bench Space with Dishwasher Underneath - Laundry Tub

You'll need to see if your fridge fits the space you've shown in the laundry, you wouldn't want it to be protruding out in front of the W/C. Integrated would look nice here if it can fit. But it does open the place up. 

If you're entertaining the idea of an island and your stove top on it, you need to ensure you have enough space around it to account for spillage, you don't want boiling water spilling over to potentially unseen children on the other side, I had a colleague who set theirs up similar to this with a ceiling based exhaust, it works well:

A left field option that my wife just suggested to me (and I'm being forced to type this :P) would be to remove the outside Laundry door and have the cabinetry run across the entirety of the wall. It would create an issue where you have to use your sliding door to go outside, but you'd have more room to play with (and possible add a large pantry where that door used to be).