I’m going through a design exercise and tossing around ideas (for about the 10th time!) on how to economically expand our living space. the light bulb went on again last night and I’ve had floorplans running through my head all day.
I’m stuck on the kitchen, specifically a lack of wall space for cabinets. I’ve basically got one 7′ section of wall for traditional under/over counter cabinets. height is not a limiting factor so it may become a non issue if I go full height 10 +. There IS room for a large 6×3 or 6×4 island but the sink and dishwasher (not to be confused with the DW!) have to reside in the island.
Can anyone point me towards a resource(s) for non traditional kitchen storage solutions? Pictures / examples would be excellent. Oh… and the DW will not stand for open shelving!
Replies
What are you storing? Will it be the food pantry? Fine china? Pots & pans? Do you need a worksurface?
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Pots, Pans, Kitchen appliances, Dishes, etc...
I will have a dedicated food pantry
If you make the island 4 feet wide, you can get a lot of drawers into it, even with the sink and DW. We did a new, open kitchen a few years ago. One thing I am convinced of-drawers are a lot better use of space than shelves behind doors and more small height drawers are better than a few big ones.
The island in the attached photo has an oven on the side facing the sink, drawers on the near end and a trash/recycling combo next to the oven, with a drawer on top for plastic wrap, foil, misc. junk. The cabinet to the left of the fridge, behind the dog, has slide out metal drawer baskets (from Lee Valley) we use as a pantry.
You can't see it, but to the left of the cooktop is a 3 inch wide cabinet used to store spices. Next to the dishwasher is a narrow cabinet used for cookie sheets and cutting boards. The nice thing about building your own is that you can make the cabinets any size, and use up all of the available space.