This summer, Ben and I started our own remodeling and design company.  For obvious reasons, Ben’s building skills are put to use locally.  However, I love working on designs of all kinds, from all places.  Recently, I was asked to help create a layout for an awkward, angle filled kitchen.  The space has been demolished, with new windows, and is a blank slate.

To start, the owner sent a roughly to scale floor plan, with measurements listed.

Of course, a floor plan is the simplified version of the space.  Without knowing how tall the windows are, it’s hard to create a kitchen layout.  Luckily, I was provided plenty of photos from various angles, giving a full perspective of the adjoining rooms.  The house was built-in the 80’s, when architecture got kind of weird and experimental.

Above, looking from the dining room windows toward the half octagon shaped kitchen.

The kitchen location has five different angled walls, with a door to the laundry room and a hall coming in.  The longest edge opens to the dining room, with the ceiling going from 8 feet in the kitchen to 10 foot ceilings in the dining room.

Below is the view from the hall entrance, with the laundry room door to the right.

Straddling the kitchen and dining room is a 4 foot deep by 9 foot wide bump out.  Currently, it has a door out to a small deck, but the owner wants to do away with it.

We talked over what they want and need in the space.  On their list is a generous sink, refrigerator, dishwasher, trash pull out drawer, two ovens, and either a 36 or 48 inch range.  They do a lot of entertaining, so if there was a way to add a closet to store folding chairs, that was a bonus.  Here’s what I came up with:

With each angle, the front of the cabinet is narrower than the back wall, creating wasted space.  To keep the plan as open as possible, I put the refrigerator along the bumped out nook, creating a closet behind it.  The refrigerator is the biggest, bulkiest piece, so placing it on the end, recessing it back will keep it from feeling too heavy.

The owners want two ovens, but double stacked ovens near the laundry room could feel too closed off.  By placing a 36 inch gas range with vent hood above, that gives them one oven.  Another electric oven could easily go in the island, with a 5 foot wide walkway rather than a 4 foot walkway.  The island is still generous, at 5 feet wide by 8.5 feet long.  A row of 12 inch deep floor to ceiling cabinets to serve as a pantry space will make up for the lack of lower cabinetry in the main area of the kitchen.