Designing Your New Kitchen: Developing a Floor Plan

To develop your own floor plans, review your Kitchen Survey and your Priorities List. Then tape a sheet of tracing paper over your Existing Plan and sketch in the general outlines of your present kitchen space and any adjacent area you might consider using.

Activity Centers

You may want to begin by laying out your counter space in some basic shape such as a U or an L, but you'll develop a more workable plan if you let the shape of your layout evolve as you go along. The first step is to decide where in your kitchen you want to do what. Do you want to work near the window, or would you rather eat there? Would you like a major work center in the middle of the room? Think generally at the outset to retain a sense of the whole. Sketch circles or ovals to represent your various activity centers-eating, cooking, cleaning up, baking, menu planning, laundering, and so on-and play around with these circles to get a sense of the different ways you might use your kitchen space. Choose two or three alternatives that spark your imagination and excitement, and start sketching in more de tail. Unless there is another more compelling area you want to start with, begin with your major work areas at the sink, range, and refrigerator.

Major Appliances

Cut out index cards or use a plastic template to draw in your major appliances. Move them around on the tracing, placing them where you'd really like to have them even if the whole room changes. If moving them from one side to the other doesn't work, consider using an is land or peninsula. Keep starting fresh rather than fussing with one idea. Brainstorm. Experiment. Try just about anything, regardless of cost considerations, because you may hit on ways to save money even if you relocate pipes and wires. Look at the way doors and drawers will open-you won't want the open dishwasher door to block the refrigerator door, for example. If none of your alternatives work comfortably, you may need to scale down the appliance sizes you've chosen. Or consider moving windows, doors, or walls. Even minor structural changes might help you create a workable kitchen. The work triangle will change with each new arrangement of appliances, so trace a plan whenever you find one you like.

Minor Appliances

When you have one or two configurations you like, fit in your other appliances, Choose which side of the sink you'd like to place the dishwasher, leaving yourself at least 20” in which to stand. If you want a trash compactor, place it somewhere near the cleanup area. Decide whether you want a new microwave to be part of an oven wall or on the counter. Locate it where you would do your quick cooking. If you'd like a separate freezer, see how a horizontal or vertical unit would fit into your plan. Plot possible locations for your laundry appliances. If you want a TV, mark an X where you would like to place it.

Work Surfaces

Block out work surfaces next, and work with the standard 2-foot, front-to-back counter depth. Decide what chores you will do to the left and right of the sink. You'll need at least 24” on one side for a dishwasher. Experts recommend 24” on both sides, and more if you have to use one counter in conjunction with two appliances. Plan the space to the left and right of the range or cooktop. Here, too, experts recommend 24” as the minimum, but 30” would be better if you will also use the area for slicing, serving, or making pastry. Try to place an 18” counter next to the open refrigerator door. If the refrigerator shares space with another appliance, 36” would be better. Wherever you have trouble creating enough work space, try angling one or more appliances across a corner to pick up additional space to either side. Also consider supplementary work surfaces such as pull-out cutting boards and movable chopping blocks.

Storage

Although you'll plot out most of your storage details on your elevations, adjusting work surfaces also affects storage units. For now, think about the types of things you'll store in each area. Bear in mind that standard modular cabinets increase in size by 3” increments, and adjust surface spaces accordingly. Wall cabinets are generally 12” deep, so if you want to indicate any upper storage units, sketch in a dashed line halfway back from the edge of the 24” counter. For corner work surfaces, consider diagonal corner cabinets. Be cause tall storage units are separate from work surfaces but take up additional floor space, include pantry units and broom closets in your plan at this point. Don't worry about connecting the work spaces with one another -- focus only on planning space around each appliance.

Other Activity Centers

When your work areas are positioned, start integrating them with other activity centers. Focus on the most important activities first, and see how you can use some areas for several different activities.

Eating area. Plan an eating area in conjunction with your work triangle so it is not too close to the range, sink, or oven but is convenient for serving and is out of the traffic flow. You may need a counter for quick breakfasts or a large table for visiting with friends and family, paying the bills, or reading the Sunday paper. Try a window seat. You can set it into a deep window, bump out a new space, or create one with cabinets. On either a peninsula or island, try incorporating an eating counter- stepped up, stepped down, or at the same level. If space is at a premium, consider some sort of mobile table that can be tucked away under cabinets or a table that pulls out of a cabinet.

Hobby and entertainment areas. Any of the counters and tables above might also function as a sit-down area for sewing, crafts, or model making. A cabinet below might offer space for a swing-up shelf for a typewriter or sewing machine.

Ill.43-44

1. Existing kitchen. Some of the problems to be solved in the same kitchen shown. Include: the conflicts between refrigerator, oven, and dish washer doors; Inconvenient and small work surfaces; the lack of drawer space; the crowded eating area, the lack of a well-defined baking center, and poor lighting.

2. Activity centers. Within the room's basic shell, rough circles show desired activity areas - cook and serve, prepare and clean up, eat and read. In this sketch, the locations are about the same as before, but several other sketches move the areas around the room, closing off doors and opening up walls. To save money, this one becomes the final choice.

3. Appliances. The refrigerator is moved to see if a workable triangle is formed. Although the dishwasher door now opens freely, the refrigerator door opens across the dining room entrance, and there is no counter space between the sink and refrigerator. Other options are tried until one or more workable triangles evolve.

4. Work surfaces and other activity centers. The refrigerator is moved again, leaving space for counters on either side of the sink and creating ample work surfaces-including a baking center-on either side of the range. A window seat and storage unit tie the eating area to the rest of the room, but the large table looks cramped and out of proportion.

Developing a Floor Plan

Traffic Patterns

Once you have planned all your primary activity centers, try tying them together in a way that creates an efficient and convenient traffic pattern. On a sheet of tracing paper over your work triangle and activity centers, rough out some possible traffic patterns. Draw arrows from your interior and exterior doors across the spaces between. How will people enter and leave the room? Where will they congregate? Where might several activities be going on at once? Begin establishing the traffic flow by connecting your various counter surfaces, using the recommended 4-foot aisle space. If traffic still flows through your work areas, try diverting it with a peninsula or an island. Most peninsulas are 2 feet wide, but they can be wider. Try islands of different shapes and sizes, and turn them in different directions to channel traffic away from work areas. If islands or peninsulas don’t work, consider moving doors to create a more workable traffic flow. Even a few inches can make a big difference.

Lighting

No matter how well you have planned your activity centers, they will be difficult to use unless you provide adequate lighting. Look at your door and window placements and sizes. Consider enlarging a window, adding extra windows, installing a greenhouse window, a skylight, or light well. Or put in a new sliding or French door to the yard or terrace. Then plan for the times you use your kitchen after dark. Try to think in terms of general illumination—for the entire kitchen or over an eating area—and specific, or task, lighting for work areas. For general illumination you may prefer an overhead fixture, a hanging lamp, tubes behind diffusers on the ceiling, or wall sconces on either side of a table. For task lighting consider fluorescent tubes mounted under the wall cabinets, recessed spots, or track lighting. Several tubes will cast an even light over a whole counter area. Several spots or canisters can be directed to cast light on specific areas. A dimmer control will give you a wide range of light levels for different uses.

Draw Your Plan to Scale

When you’ve found a layout that feels comfortable, connects your various work surfaces, includes a smooth traffic pattern, and indicates lighting sources, draw the floor plan to exact scale. You may need to adjust here and there to get it all in as you have envisioned it so far, and you should fuss as much as you like until you’re satisfied. Include all the details you’ve worked out.

Mechanical Systems

To complete your floor plan, note your plumbing, wiring, gas, and heating needs. Indicate where you’ll need plumbing and electrical connections; plot light switches, outlets for small appliances, and decide whether or not you want to wire or plumb an island. Note new locations for gas lines and heating ducts. When all such notations are made on your plan, you can move on to elevation sketches to detail your storage units and then tie your design together.

ill.44

5. Traffic patterns. The round table is replaced by a rectangular one that fits snugly to the built-in bench. However, the outer chairs obstruct the open refrigerator door and people trying to get into or out of the built-in seating area; it may be that the bench won’t work. Traffic from the dining room is clear, and counter surfaces immediately inside mean that dishes can be put down or picked up with ease.

6. Lighting and scaled drawing. The built-in bench is removed to gain space, and the whole area seems more workable. A hanging light fixture is planned for the eating area, and a row of track spots beams light toward the four work areas. The dimensions of counter widths are finalized, the lines drawn to scale, outlets and switches indicated, and the plan is ready for elevations.