Center hall colonial- kitchen in a front room

[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

[Anonymous]

Do you have room to put an addition on the back? That is how this is handled in houses of this traditional design.

[Anonymous]

Sounds nice Op. I would love to lookout from the kitchen to the front yard. More to see. Make sure the biggest window is wither over the sink or next to the a seated area.

[Anonymous]

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.

My kitchen isn’t huge, but has lots of windows and very few upper cabinets. I do have storage in a large kitchen island. Since you can expand the kitchen portion of the space, are you sure something like that wouldn’t work?

FWIW, when house hunting, I have seen what you’re proposing done, and it was a deal killer for me. I wouldn’t buy a house like that. But, if it’s your forever home, and it’s what you want, go for it.

[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?

DP. I’m the ppm with the windows and almost no upper cabinets, and it works fine. Almost all of my lower cabinets have drawers. I have six drawers in my island that contain all my dishes, storage containers, bowls, platters, etc. There are small shallow cabinets on the corners of the island that work great for coffee cups, wine glasses, etc. Drawers work so much better than cabinets.

[Anonymous]

We rented briefly when we first moved to northern Virginia and we rented a rancher with a kitchen in the front of the house and I felt like it really cramped our style. I felt weird being in the kitchen in pajamas because I always felt like someone could see in and like we were too close to the street. We had little kids and it was normal for someone to wake up early and you take them into the kitchen for breakfast or whatever and then there was that whole extra step of having to get changed before you went downstairs. I even felt weird in a robe. Much less hanging out in the kitchen at night. We ended up spending way too much time in the basement tv room as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

You know what, you’re right, it’s a cape cod. I’m an idiot. I’m sorry!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have room to put an addition on the back? That is how this is handled in houses of this traditional design.

Unfortunately no- our house is on a shallow hill so the kitchen, while on the main floor obviously when we walk into the house, actually feels like it’s on the second floor (large family room below it) once you walk to the back of the house . An addition would ruin the family rooms nice open feeling to our back patio (it would cover part of it, and the landscaping would look all wrong).

[Anonymous]

I think you should consult with an architect and see a 3D design of your house before you decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have room to put an addition on the back? That is how this is handled in houses of this traditional design.

Unfortunately no- our house is on a shallow hill so the kitchen, while on the main floor obviously when we walk into the house, actually feels like it’s on the second floor (large family room below it) once you walk to the back of the house . An addition would ruin the family rooms nice open feeling to our back patio (it would cover part of it, and the landscaping would look all wrong).

What about to the side? Could you bump out along the side of the back half of the kitchen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have room to put an addition on the back? That is how this is handled in houses of this traditional design.

Unfortunately no- our house is on a shallow hill so the kitchen, while on the main floor obviously when we walk into the house, actually feels like it’s on the second floor (large family room below it) once you walk to the back of the house . An addition would ruin the family rooms nice open feeling to our back patio (it would cover part of it, and the landscaping would look all wrong).

What about to the side? Could you bump out along the side of the back half of the kitchen?

No, our garage is there. And on the other side is the rest of our house. I think an addition would be too much.

Another option involves keeping the layout with the kitchen in the back, moving the fridge/ pantry shelving/ wall oven to the exterior facing (well, garage facing) wall and then having the cooktop on the island. Cooktop on the island seems to have a lot of haters and a lot of lovers. What do you guys think?? Island would probably be 8ft long and … standard width? What’s that, 4 feet? And 36 inch cook top