Please critique my floorplan
grewa002
22 days ago
last modified: 22 days ago
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grewa002
22 days agolast modified: 22 days agoRelated Discussions
Please critique my floor plan
Comments (23)Garage/home walls have to be fire rated. It would function better if the garage was set apart from the main house with either a courtyard or breezeway between the two so that you could get more natural light into the house and still be able to utilize the visual connection between the two. A garage that needs to house two cars stacked on a lift will need to be taller than you are planning to account for not smashing the lighting on the ceiling. You might want to house something beyond lower height sports cars. Our 4 post lift in our garage won't allow a tall vehicle like a SUV on it and then raise to full height, and we vaulted our already 11' tall ceiling to 15' in the lift bay. Even with Corvette stacked on top of Corvette, it's really tight with the lighting when the lift is up enough to get that second vehicle under it. Only Formula cars without the wings would really work to have the double stack be comfortable at that height, and they have issues with the ramps, needing longer ones to get the ground clearance for the chassis. We also climate controlled our garage area, as that keeps the vehicles in much better shape, and it's a much more pleasant working environment. While you plan on having guests here, this isn't a very guest friendly house. There isn't enough room allotted for them, either in the public or private spaces. I might suggest the separate garage have a second floor guest suite(s) and make the main house more about your groundfloor space on one side, and the public space on the other, linking to the garage space visually through the breezeway. Double height space is very difficult to heat and cool, so I would suggest having hydronic radiant floor heating for winter comfort so that the people in the rooms are closer to the heating source.(We did that in our garage, so if you happen to need to be on a creeper under something, you don't have a giant cold mass of concrete sucking the warmth out of your body.) For summer, if you rarely get temperatures above 85, then I probably wouldn't do AC at all since you are in a low humidity climate. I would focus on doing some type of cupola with operable vent windows that will allow the hot air that rises to be vented externally. That's an old fashioned technique, but very effective in climates that don't heat and humidity to need full time AC. Overall, you really need a good architect to take these ideas and make them more functional and designed specifically for the site, to take advantage of it's positives. You will need that anyway for permitting, and in CA there are plenty of creative people who would love to be a part of an interesting build. Take a look at some back issues of Architectural Digest and see if you come across any designs that you like, Then contact a couple of those folks. This needs a large amount of technical expertise to wade through the red tape of building and permitting. So, you need someone local as a builder, well as an architect whose work you admire to work as a team to accomplish this build. Hire good people, and then listen to them. A good design is an interactive experience that makes the work better. Good design is "invisible" You don't even notice that things are where they need to be and work the way they "should". Bad design is obvious, especially if you live with it. It makes life harder. Don't make your life harder!...See MorePlease critique my floorplan
Comments (12)Thanks for the input, Lirio. My sketch is small, isn't it? I do have drawn 27" lowers in the sink wall, and will go 30" if we can pull it off (we did that in our last kitchen which was similar but 6" wider). To do more than 26 or so on the cooktop run would get us too close to the doorway to the foyer. There are two adults, sometimes both work at the same time, and two kids who currently are mostly in the way but will be cooking soon. We know it's tight but that's just something we have to accept. We want to have the dishwasher under the largest wall cabinet so we can unload directly into it. But having it near the table makes more sense. So yep. I'm gonna do that! Not sure we have space for an actual dedicated baking zone but in a kitchen this size, there's only one zone. :) The coffee/tea stuff can go in the little cabinet off by its lonesome--it would be neat to get all the countertop appliances over there. The appliances forum has assured me that I can microwave in a speed oven so I will put one of those in the wall oven cabinet and lose the microwave. It's not ideal over there but I'm trying to maintain counter space. The sink run of cabinets wraps around into the nook with a 12" deep upper and lower--it's like that now and we like it. The spouse wants to keep them although it knocks a foot off our dinky nook. But we do fit. They look like this: The bump on the end of the sink run is 10"--we could bump it all out 6" on that side I think. Otherwise, the plan has it pretty similar. And if you picture a six-inch wider oven cabinet, a refrigerator where the range is, and a cooktop between them, the other side is kind of the same as this photo too. (Currently, the refrigerator is in the corner corresponding to the lower left of my drawing. It's not a good spot. I want to keep it near the table as well as accessible to the cooking area so I haven't stuck it on the other end. But it might be weird to have it in the middle.) This photo demonstrates why the door's location isn't firm yet--missing wall. I don't want no stinkin' open kitchen! :) (An open kitchen would be fine if it didn't mean every other public room in the house could see it...) Ah yes, Debrak, my drawing kind of stinks. :) I will have the dishwasher NEXT to the sink. Promise. That's non-negotiable. Lemme see if I can edit that or at least grow it. In the meantime, the cabinets are mostly placeholders. (At least until I figure out this drawing program!)...See MorePlease critique my floor plans
Comments (3)Is this a 1-person, 2-person, or more kitchen? Children? Ages? Do you entertain a lot? What are the dimensions of the other things like doorways, walls w/no cabinets, etc. What would be even better would be a layout of the entire area...kitchen + surrounding rooms. It would give us a better "feel" for what would work. For a major walkway, I would try to get at least a 48-inch aisle on the side of the island that will have that traffic (or, is it on all sides?) If you take down 3' of wall, will that draw the traffic through the cooking zone (where the range is)? What are your "wants"? Is there anything not in your current layout that you'd like if you could fit it in? ***** From the "Layout Help" part of the "Read Me" thread ***** The best place to start is to draw up your kitchen (to scale, if possible) either without cabinets & appliances if you don't know where to start or w/your proposed new layout if you have something to start with. Regardless, measure and label everything...walls, ceiling height, widths of doors & windows, distances between windows, walls, doorways, etc. If you cannot move plumbing or gas, mark them on your drawing as well. Mark all doorways & windows (w/dimensions) and label them as to where they lead. If they're actual doors, mark how they swing. It also would be helpful to see the connecting rooms, even layouts so you see how they interact with the kitchen and/or extend the kitchen feel and flow. Make note of traffic flows in and out of the kitchen Make a list of things like: What are your goals? E.g., more counter space, more storage, seating in the kitchen (island? peninsula? table?), etc. Do you plan to merge two rooms/areas (e.g., Nook and Kitchen into a Kitchen only) Where are you flexible? Can windows or doorways change size? Can they be moved? Can windows be raised/lowered? Can any walls come down? Does the sink have to be centered under a window? Does it have to be under a window at all? Do you bake? Do you want a coffee/tea/beverage center? What appliances do you plan on having (helps to figure out work flow, work zones, and types of cabinets...upper/lower vs full height, etc.) Range or Cooktop? Single or Double or no Wall Oven? Warming Drawer? MW? (Advantium, drawer, OTR, countertop, built-in, shelf?) DW? Standard or drawers? If drawers, 1 or 2? Refrigerator CD or standard depth? Vent Hood? Other? Sizes of desired appliances (e.g., 30" or 36" or 48" cooktop; 36" or 42" or 48" wide or other Refrigerator? Counter depth or standard depth refrigerator, etc.) Pantry: Walk-in or cabinets? ***** Very Important ***** Is there anything you: Can't live without? Definitely don't want? Would like if you can find a way?...See MorePlease critique my floor plan before we finalize it!!
Comments (5)funkycamper, thank you so much for the feedback! I did actually consider putting the refrigerator where the beverage center will be, and there were a couple of reasons I decided against it... The first is that the space is only 69" long, so there isn't enough space for the 48" built in refrigerator plus the pantries, so I'd still have to have some of the pantry space be over where we have it shown. One of the reasons we are getting rid of the pantry that is there now is that it's pretty annoying having the pantry space split across the kitchen like that, I frequently find myself running back and forth from one to the other. Plus, if there is something I need from the other pantry I would have to go over to that side anyway, so it would seem to be more convenient to have the pantries and fridge together so I only have to go to one area to get the food. The second reason is that currently we have a regular depth refrigerator in that space and the opening to the dining room is 2 ft 5 in. We are widening the doorway to 4 ft and putting in a built-in (therefore counter depth) refrigerator, so I figured that would keep the refrigerator doors from blocking the doorway when they are open. Although I do love the idea of getting as big windows into the space as we can, the reason we have the upper making that turn is that we are going to have an appliance garage under it to put my food processor, blender, and stand mixer. I didn't want them to be too far from the range since I will likely be using them either right before or right after things come off the stove/out of the oven....See Moregrewa002
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18 days agolast modified: 18 days agoMark Bischak, Architect
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