The Better Kitchen Triangle

Christine,
I'm sending you some more pictures of my kitchen that you posted on your blog under "The Good Triangle" dated October 2nd.

I liked your idea of having the range on one wall and keeping it pretty. I understand the triangle, but with your suggestions it doesn't seem feasible because of the size of the room. I attached some measurements to get more of your input.

I also attached a picture of a plan that Lowe's came up with.

My two ideas I'm considering is:
1) The plan that Lowe's came up with, which is a peninsula island.
2) The second idea would to be having a floating island instead of the peninsula.

As you can see, the kitchen is small and challenging......which is why I'm still up in the air with things.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth,

Is Lowe's plan alright- yes. It is perfectly fine. However if I could have just the stove and not the refrigerator on the stove wall- I would try for that. The prettier we can make the focal point wall in the kitchen- the better. I found a nice focal point kitchen for you in Veranda- at the top of the post. Now imagine a refrigerator right by the cooktop...

It also makes a better working triangle to not have the stove and refrigerator on the same plane- as it separates your work areas- giving you more space around them. In your case it gives you more counter space near your cooktop. This is even more of an issue if your kitchen is likely to have more than one person using it at a time.

With the floorplan that you e-mailed me (thanks- I love having measurements)- I drew an idea for you. Having the peninsula come out from the other side is another option. Your window there would require you to lower the height of the counter surface- and the width of the room would require you to have it be a shallow area- unconventional- yes- but what a great place to have a cookbook shelves mixed with display of serving pieces. You could also add a couple of baskets to store napkins- etc. I also added some floating shelves on the right hand side for more storage and display.

Please send us an "after" shot. I love complete re-models. They excite me. :)

If my entire response was too slow and you are already finished- I apologize- I try to answer in the order questions are received... BTW- did I suggest eliminating the soffit before?

Thanks for writing in,

Christine