Hello Ikea Fans,
This is my first post so prepare yourself for an info dump. Here is the link to my plan - please let me know if I am not doing this correctly:
http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI...SharedDesign=1
A little background - within the past year we moved into a hundred-year-old Arts 'n' Crafts four square in St Paul Minnesota. It is in great condition with ridiculous oak moldings everywhere except the kitchen, which is a disaster. The kitchen appears to have been updated at some point in the past 20 years in the cheapest and most haphazard way possible. We are planning to change everything except the wood floors and have already bought new appliances (dimensions are correct on my plan (except the microwave is not yet purchased, and the height on the range)).
That includes windows - currently there are no windows on the south wall (that's the one with the exterior door), and there is a huge window on the west wall (where the stove is placed in our design) that currently makes that whole wall unusable for cabinets. In the new design, I want to have a big window on the south wall, which looks out onto the backyard. The west wall just faces the side of the neighbors' house so, if we have any windows there at all, smaller and higher is fine.
Aside from those factors, the mission statement is to have plenty of cabinet space for our many kitchen gadgets/small appliances and have enough room for my husband and I to both comfortably work. My husband has a preference for bringing cabinets up to the ceiling where possible; I am not so concerned about that because our 9' ceilings make it somewhat impractical, plus I like the pictures I have seen on this site that use lighting in that open space. (The current design has them up to the ceiling.) Seating in the kitchen is not a priority... we have a lovely dining room adjacent to the kitchen and would prefer to use that.
I am very open to alternative suggestions and extremely appreciative to hear the group's thoughts. Additionally, I have the following specific questions/concerns/comments:
- Although I really like the butcher block countertops, since we've decided on the Adel red color cabinets, we will probably go with a light color stone countertop instead. The design currently includes the butcher block just to have something other than the white to look at.
- I was very confused about the cabinets above the fridge and not sure how to set them up so they are continuous with the adjacent wall cabinets.
- Do I have enough cabinets? I don't want to crowd the space but also don't want to under-do it. I think there is plenty of space in the current design but am open to opinions.
- I read the article on this site about how to arrange the tall cabinet, but I have (1) no idea how to lay it out using the planner software and (2) no opinion about how it should be laid out. Very open to suggestions and advice on this.
- I don't understand what needs to happen to "build in" the dishwasher and (less importantly) the fridge.
- This design is the product of a plan put together by the lovely saleslady at the custom cabinet place who quoted us $19k, and improved upon by a family member who is an excellent interior designer. One suggestion the family-member designer had, which is not included in this design, is to have a small peninsula that comes out from the wall just to the left of the stove. She drew is as 2' wide by either 5' or 7' long. That would eliminate the base cabinets with drawers that are currently in that spot. It is not included in the current design because (1) I couldn't figure out how to draw such a thing in Ikea's software and (2) I'm not sure I like the idea (the husband is more in favor)... I think I would rather have more storage space and I would prefer not to have seating in the kitchen.
- Oh yeah, last thing, there is supposed to be a sink in the appropriate cabinet on the south wall. Couldn't figure out how to add it in, and I will probably be selecting something non-Ikea.
Again, thanks very much for any comments.
