Potential Kitchen Floor Plan Options

As mentioned before, we knew that we wanted to remodel the kitchen before we even moved into our house; and thus I had been drawing out floor plan options for months, thinking of different possibilities and combinations.  While cabinets could be switched around somewhat easily (do I go with doors? with drawers? how many?), I had it narrowed down to three different layout options, each involving different deconstruction of the room.  I then translated these layouts to online versions using both the Lowes Virtual Kitchen Designer and the Ikea 3D Kitchen Planner, both programmed by the same company.  (Side note: Home Depot also has a digital room planner, but I really did not like the interface or the functionality as much).  My Mom even helped and planned out her own design, so I’ve also included it in this list.

Here is a reminder of the pre-remodel layout:

Option 1:

The first design would be the most elaborate to do, as we would be removing both the East wall to the Dining Room, and the South Wall into the Living Room.  I was fairly certain that the South wall was a support wall based on the layout of the kitchen/living/dining; so doing this design would involve hiring professionals and putting up a beam (I highly do not recommend any structural work as DIY!).  In this layout, the dishwasher is moved to right of the sink, the oven is where the dishwasher was, and the fridge is on the West wall, flanked by a cabinet pantry to its right.  The island would be centered in the room, (but for some reason the design program would keep snapping my cabinets against the wall).  There would be a countertop overhang on the bottom (South) part, and we would put 3 stools there.

Some layout inspiration from Pinterest for this design are as follows:
1          2 3          4

Option 2:

The second option would be the simplest demo, as the cabinet layout doesn’t involve removing any walls.  The fridge would be moved over a bit to the left, a tall cabinet pantry would be in the place of the fridge, the oven in the place of the dishwasher, and the dishwasher would be to the right of the sink.  I like this option because it would create a nice straight sightline as you enter the house, because you would see a nice open cabinet area all the way to the back wall.

This layout would be the easiest to envision, because it was most similar to what we had currently, and here are some other pictures for inspiration:

1          2

Option 3:

Option three involves removing the East wall into the dining room, but keeping the South (probably support wall intact).  The dishwasher would be moved to where the oven was, and there would be a tall cabinet pantry where the fridge was.  Here, the oven is moved on the West wall, and on the East, the cabinets would form a peninsula (sort of like an island, but attached to the other cabinets).  We would then have an overhang and put the stools on the dining room side.

Here are some images I found that best illustrate this design:

1         2          3          4

Option 4:

This fourth and final option is my Mom’s design.  It is most similar to option 2 in that you do not need to remove any walls to fit all these cabinets in.  I know there’s a strange gap in this one next to the dishwasher… but that’s only because she didn’t have the time or patience to place everything perfectly.  In her design, she has a skinny pantry on the South-East corner, the sink, oven and dishwasher are all in their original position, and the fridge is moved to the west wall.

(This layout does closely resemble 2, so the inspiration images would be the same).

So which option did we end up choosing? 

And where are we going to be getting the cabinets?  All will be revealed next week!