Center hall colonial- kitchen in a front room

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put the kitchen in the back. You don't want to walk into the dining area from the garage. If it is in the budget, move the powder room from the back of the house to the hall.

I wish I felt comfortable showing photos of my house- garage door sort of opens in the space right where kitchen and dining meet. So with whichever layout we pick, if the dividing wall comes down, the garage door will open into the kitchen / dining room combo. We will not have a formal dining room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our house (Dutch colonial McLean) was built with kitchen immediately to one side of entrance with living room to other side. I was surprised when we first saw the house, but we love the house and have gotten used to it. It is not a problem at all.

This is exactly what we will end up with with the layout that I prefer. I agree with the initial surprise / weird feeling but I think I still prefer it, given our other constraints with layout I think it’s the best option.

This is weird/ I’m assuming you won’t reply to it and that’s fine- but if you don’t mind could I see a photo of what your house looks like when you enter, with the kitchen to one side and living to the other? My husband says he won’t feel comfortable with this plan unless he actually sees it working in another house. And my google search is coming up empty (which might be a sign, I know…)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when you walk in the front door, will there be an opening on your right into the kitchen?

Usually there’s a big window in that front room. Are you keeping that window(s) the same? How is the kitchen to be laid out? Counters on that front wall? I’m just having a hard time picturing this.

So when we walk in the front door, you’re in a hallway with the staircase in front of you. Walls to either side, with 30 inch opening with French doors. Living to the left, dining to the right. New layout would be kitchen to the right instead. Now if the French doors stay closed into the hallway then no, you will not see the kitchen from the hallway. If the French doors are left swung open, then yes, you’ll see it through that 30 inch opening .

[Anonymous]

Sorry- to continue- the kitchen stove and fridge will be along the wall that abuts the hallway . Then a Long Island down the middle of the room (front to back). There isn’t a large bay window or anything . The front of our house is a large wooden door and 2 windows with shutters on either side (looks like a cape cod from the front).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be weird to have the kitchen in the front of a 4 on 4 colonial. Could hurt resale value. But if you are staying there and it is what you want, by all means do it.

Yeah, I know you and DH are right, it’s a little weird. Ugh. But keeping the kitchen in the back room/ even opening up the wall to dining area- will limit what we can do and eliminate the option of having the 4 big windows looking out into our lovely backyard since we will need that wall space for kitchen stuff.

My thought is, we have been here 5 years and know our current annoyances with the kitchen, and we plan to stay for another 20 so resale value isn’t as big of a concern, the kitchen will be outdated anyways when we sell it. But I don’t know if I’m being blinded by just wanting the kitchen stuff in that larger space.

The trendy solution would be a big island and no upper cabinets, just big windows. Would that work?

So yes- one option from the designer is the kitchen stays put, sink at the back stays put, and the 4 big windows still go in. Then the fridge is sort of awkwardly in the corner alcove (it works, but it’s the part that seems weird to me) and the oven/ range is along the other side wall next to the garage door. Then the big island between kitchen and dining. On paper , to me, this loses almost all of our overhead storage and loses half of our pantry space next to the fridge. But if the island is big enough- we could put a lot of our kitchen storage items under there you’re saying?

Yes. This is what people are doing now. I haven’t lived with it so I don’t know how it would work, but it’s a nice look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry- to continue- the kitchen stove and fridge will be along the wall that abuts the hallway . Then a Long Island down the middle of the room (front to back). There isn’t a large bay window or anything . The front of our house is a large wooden door and 2 windows with shutters on either side (looks like a cape cod from the front).

Putting the stove on the hall wall seems like a poor layout. You want the stove on an exterior wall if at all possible. And will the front window be too low to sit nicely above a kitchen counter? Is it the right height already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when you walk in the front door, will there be an opening on your right into the kitchen?

Usually there’s a big window in that front room. Are you keeping that window(s) the same? How is the kitchen to be laid out? Counters on that front wall? I’m just having a hard time picturing this.

So when we walk in the front door, you’re in a hallway with the staircase in front of you. Walls to either side, with 30 inch opening with French doors. Living to the left, dining to the right. New layout would be kitchen to the right instead. Now if the French doors stay closed into the hallway then no, you will not see the kitchen from the hallway. If the French doors are left swung open, then yes, you’ll see it through that 30 inch opening .

I actually think this is fine because you can close it off if you want and even when open it’s only partially visible. It sounds like you aren’t walking in the front door and greeted by a fridge.

But I’m in a rambler that has been opened up and we walk into our dining space with the kitchen to the front right of the house and our living spaces (family room/den) at back of the house. I actually like being able to see out our front windows when I am cooking dinner, but my kids like to play with neighbors out front. I know some people want to be able to look out over the backyard.

If you’re confident you’re going to be there 20 years I vote do what you want. The next owner will probably rip everything out anyway. Maybe leave some plumbing capped off so down the line you can sell it as being capable of renovation to flip things back around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry- to continue- the kitchen stove and fridge will be along the wall that abuts the hallway . Then a Long Island down the middle of the room (front to back). There isn’t a large bay window or anything . The front of our house is a large wooden door and 2 windows with shutters on either side (looks like a cape cod from the front).

Putting the stove on the hall wall seems like a poor layout. You want the stove on an exterior wall if at all possible. And will the front window be too low to sit nicely above a kitchen counter? Is it the right height already?

The front windows actually won’t be against any counter . The kitchen appliance wall and the island would both be perpendicular to the front wall of the house with the windows. (There are 2 additional windows out to our driveway. But they won’t have a counter either)

I agree with your point about the stove. This plan has the vent hood still venting to outside but it’s more money to achieve it.

[Anonymous]

I agree with your DH. This is strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when you walk in the front door, will there be an opening on your right into the kitchen?

Usually there’s a big window in that front room. Are you keeping that window(s) the same? How is the kitchen to be laid out? Counters on that front wall? I’m just having a hard time picturing this.

So when we walk in the front door, you’re in a hallway with the staircase in front of you. Walls to either side, with 30 inch opening with French doors. Living to the left, dining to the right. New layout would be kitchen to the right instead. Now if the French doors stay closed into the hallway then no, you will not see the kitchen from the hallway. If the French doors are left swung open, then yes, you’ll see it through that 30 inch opening .

I actually think this is fine because you can close it off if you want and even when open it’s only partially visible. It sounds like you aren’t walking in the front door and greeted by a fridge.

But I’m in a rambler that has been opened up and we walk into our dining space with the kitchen to the front right of the house and our living spaces (family room/den) at back of the house. I actually like being able to see out our front windows when I am cooking dinner, but my kids like to play with neighbors out front. I know some people want to be able to look out over the backyard.

If you’re confident you’re going to be there 20 years I vote do what you want. The next owner will probably rip everything out anyway. Maybe leave some plumbing capped off so down the line you can sell it as being capable of renovation to flip things back around.

Yeah, we are going to do what we want without worrying too much about resale value - but we can’t decide on what we want, hahaha. I keep going back and forth myself. Pros and cons to each.

[Anonymous]

I understand why people do this and I understand how the center hall colonial layout is frustrating, especially in a small footprint, but I’m just not sold on this. I think it’s going to look and feel weird, and it’s so discordant to the architecture of the house that I would worry it will age really poorly and become an albatross.

Ugh I’m such a downer, obviously I’m sure it will be great and a warm and happy home which is way more important

[Anonymous]

We have almost the same house but our kitchen was in the back left side. When you walked in, the dining room was on the left with a wall dividing it from the tiny kitchen and the living room was on the right. Now our “dining area” is on the left which is open to the kitchen going all the way back. It’s basically one long kitchen space. Yes, you can see it’s a kitchen from the front door, and no this doesn’t bother us. It looks great and the traditional entry with walls provides good separation.

[Anonymous]

Kitchens on the front when you directly walk it will hurt resale value. Generally only small homes/TH/Condos do this because of lack of space.

So your husband is correct.

[Anonymous]

From your comment later, it sounds like your house is actually a cape cod, and not a center hall colonial? If it is a cape cod, I think it is less odd. Those are small cozy houses and sometimes do have kitchens at the front with a bedroom behind.

[Anonymous]

OP, there is a show on Netflix or somewhere about a kitchen designer in Grand Rapids MI. They did this to one of the houses. Honestly, I hated it, but it would be a good way for your husband to see a house with it