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Phil Moscowitz
Feb 19, 2007

If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha' paid in full!

Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything That's how li'l Johnny gets in

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PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so
WSJ just ran an op ed on kitchen islands (and why not to have one), essentially noting they just turned into monstrous storage spaces in the middle of the kitchen for “built-ins” that people don’t really need:


A THOUSAND YEARS from now, archaeologists sifting through the rubble will be able to identify early 21st-century homes by their kitchens. The kitchen island will be as recognizable an artifact as the Doric column. But they won’t find one in my kitchen in Mill Valley, California.
When I remodeled recently, I wanted an airy kitchen with white-tiled walls, a big window over the sink and a human-scale table, the kind where my grandmother sat when she chopped onions and where families gathered convivially—before the whole world turned into something that looks like a sports bar. But little did I know that dark forces would try to persuade me to incorporate a hulking Brutalist monolith designed to house a second sink and a spare dishwasher no one needs.
“Where’s the island?” my husband asked, poring over the blueprints at a meeting with the architect. “Where will we put the Cuisinart, the KitchenAid—my immersion blender, for God’s sake?”
He turned accusingly to the architect, Mark Fischbach.
“All my clients are asking for islands,” Mr. Fischbach said, tossing the live grenade back to me.
“We’ll have plenty of storage without an island,” I said, putting my finger on the spot where a wall of cabinets would go.
“What about undercounter wine storage?” my husband asked. “A separate freezer drawer? A trash compactor?”

“A trash compactor?” I replied. “Where do you come up with these things?”
Kitchens have gotten too complicated—and the island isn’t helping. In simpler, less cluttered times, kitchens had a cutting board, a knife, some onions—and a table where you could sit and chop them before tossing them into a pan with a little butter. This gave Americans everything we needed to fill the house with a lovely smell to reassure everyone that dinner was pending.

The kitchen has evolved from a humble household room to become the main public space in the house. I love that about the kitchen. But I don’t see how having a monstrous, multipurpose, built-in storage bin makes it a better family, entertainment or work area. The kids are better off doing homework at a table than banging their knees against an island. Drop-in guests can be more easily put to work at an elevation where their feet don’t dangle and lose circulation. And cooks of an average height (like, say, me), get more leverage rolling out dough on a 30-inch-high table than on a 36-inch-high island.
Sadly, I know I am in the minority (for now) on this design issue. Among renovating homeowners, a built-in island is the most sought-after kitchen feature after pantry cabinets, according to a 2017 Houzz kitchen-trends survey of 2,707 people. Demand is so high that celebrity chefs are jumping into the game. Rachael Ray, Paula Deen and Trisha Yearwood all have furniture collections that include free-standing islands which, like higher-end versions of the IKEA cart, are designed to add instant storage. “Rachael Ray’s island has functional features such as a well on the work surface, so you can scrape bits and pieces into it,” said Patricia Bowling, a spokeswoman for the American Home Furnishings Association in High Point, N.C.
The island trend, which started gathering momentum in the 1980s, is the latest in a long list of design fads to hit the kitchen during its transition from scullery to showroom. The idea of the kitchen as a designed space dates to the introduction in 1898 of the Hoosier cabinet, which with its clever cubbies and work top was marketed as the first all-in-one cook’s prep space. Between then and now, checkered linoleum floors, chrome dinette sets, and massive hanging pot racks all had their moment.

Decades of affluence and an increase in the average American home’s size (which grew to 2,466 square feet in 2017) have created a fertile environment for the kitchen island. “It grew along with the megamansion movement,” said Dallas architect Bob Borson. As walls started to disappear and “open” kitchens began to bleed into living rooms, Mr. Borson’s clients started asking for islands to delineate spaces. “I am trying to remember the last time I did a kitchen that didn’t have an island—and I can’t think of one,” he said.

Islands are so ubiquitous that they are rewriting the rules of kitchen design. “We used to design around the three points on a work triangle—the refrigerator, stove and sink,” said Elle H-Millard, a Pennsylvania-based kitchen designer and a trends specialist for the National Kitchen and Bath Association. But these days she’s designing more kitchens in which all the appliances are built into an island: “With an undercounter refrigerator, a cooktop, and a sink, you can place the three points in a linear path instead of a triangle. An island lets you work in a very small footprint.”
Not everybody considers a dining table a dinosaur, however. In a big kitchen, homeowners want both an island and a dining table these days, architects and designers say. “There’s a casual aspect to the island, but there’s a more relaxed and intimate air to meals shared at the table,” said Steven Gdula, author of “The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home” (Bloomsbury).
In the end, our architect brokered a settlement in the Kitchen War: My husband got a dedicated nook for his cappuccino maker and coffee-bean grinder. And I got my table—sans island. With a reclaimed elm tabletop, its distressed look is impervious to stains, spills and the occasional scorch mark. And the table’s metal frame has wheels, tempting us to wheel it outdoors, where we eat on the patio in nice weather. We can seat eight comfortably in caned wooden chairs—and 12 when we bring up from the basement a folding extension my husband built. If we need it, we drag in the piano bench for two people to share.


Preemptive quote from goons about how “their lives” require a massive island to store 35 baking dishes and anyone who says otherwise is a moron idiot bitch fucker.

PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Apr 6, 2018

Baronjutter
Dec 31, 2007

"Tiny Trains"

The average american home is 2,400 square feet? Jesus christ.

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so
You could do a toggle bolt into drywall as a stabilizing anchor, but it would likely widen the hole as the dryer spun.

PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Apr 8, 2018

tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost
My mother's kitchen would be wholly unsuitable for her needs without an island, even though it disrupts her work triangle. But most people don't casually talk about having "only ninety dozen more cookies to make for Christmas" in a kitchen that's maybe eleven by fourteen including a closet and the unusable space occupied by walking paths to the basement stairs and a bedroom. Given that she is teensy, it does resemble a table since it is sized for her, though.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

There is no need, ever, to justify oneself to PRADA SLUT.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

Baronjutter posted:

The average american home is 2,400 square feet? Jesus christ.

Yeah, I don't believe that for a second. Maybe if they're talking only about new construction of detached single-family structures, but even then I'd be surprised if it were that high.

tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost

Subjunctive posted:

There is no need, ever, to justify oneself to PRADA SLUT.

You say that now, but their house has carpeted bathrooms, too. That seems to particularly irritate people here.

Edit: Probably new home size. That hit 2600 sqft in 2014, according to Dr. Google.

tetrapyloctomy fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Apr 6, 2018

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so

tetrapyloctomy posted:

You say that now, but their house has carpeted bathrooms, too. That seems to particularly irritate people here.

Only if the carpeted toilet cover doesn't match

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Yeah, I don't believe that for a second. Maybe if they're talking only about new construction of detached single-family structures, but even then I'd be surprised if it were that high.

The article is talking about new builds. Median is 2400, mean is 2600. I don't think they're considering something like condos or other multi-unit dwellings as part of it, mainly because the buyers there have little to no say in what size of a place they want or specific amenities.

The census data for everything trackable is here if you want specifics.


e: It's hard to say specifics in regards to what the mean / median house sizes in total are, because of changes to houses that haven't been noted, but this is the square footage of a given build by year:

1920: 1,048
1930: 1,129
1940: 1,177
1950: 983
1960: 1,289
1970: 1,500
1980: 1,740
1990: 2,080
2000: 2,266
2010: 2,392
2014: 2,657

You could take this by this chart to get the mean / median house size per year, at least from the 50's on up, or when the modern house building trends began. More or less:

PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Apr 6, 2018

tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost

PRADA SLUT posted:

Only if the carpeted toilet cover doesn't match

Contrary to the reasonable expectation, there are no toilet seat covers.

Overall, it's a somewhat charming house that would quickly become ratty and gross if owned by someone not so compulsively tidy. The new television and stand kind of kill the living room, though. I wish I'd taken pictures. My uncle built the stand, and while it is gorgeous, it dominates the room and also hosed up the seating pattern, which now needs to be completely changed.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


Anyone designing the feature set of anything in the abstract will be subject to all manner of biases and ego is a major one. I see it all the time in clients requesting software features.

I also feel like many people (past me included) don't think about their movement through a house and how it affects the likelihood of them using a room. If the room doesn't have a unique purpose and is also off the beaten path? Good luck.

Zamboni Rodeo
Jul 19, 2007

NEVER play "Lady of Spain" AGAIN!




Youth Decay posted:

Yeah we saw that one.

But not this 1970s Michigan time capsule!
It's like a weird mixture of Tudor, Victorian, and mid-century design that makes no sense yet works somehow. Whoever buys this had better keep the wallpaper.

I wouldn't change a loving thing.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

PRADA SLUT posted:

e: It's hard to say specifics in regards to what the mean / median house sizes in total are, because of changes to houses that haven't been noted, but this is the square footage of a given build by year:

1920: 1,048
1930: 1,129
1940: 1,177
1950: 983
1960: 1,289
1970: 1,500
1980: 1,740
1990: 2,080
2000: 2,266
2010: 2,392
2014: 2,657

Good lord, that's nuts. I have trouble imagining what a family would do with more than 1500 sqft.

For comparison, my house is ~1100 sqft (built in the 50's) and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a common room. So basically take that and more than double it, and you have the average house size for houses built in 2014? :psyduck:

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Good lord, that's nuts. I have trouble imagining what a family would do with more than 1500 sqft.

For comparison, my house is ~1100 sqft (built in the 50's) and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a common room. So basically take that and more than double it, and you have the average house size for houses built in 2014? :psyduck:

I have 2100sqft and it's all for me.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

Jaded Burnout posted:

I have 2100sqft and it's all for me.

And what percentage of your house do you actually use on a regular basis? I live alone too, and three of the rooms (two bedrooms and the common room) in my house are badly underutilized.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


TooMuchAbstraction posted:

And what percentage of your house do you actually use on a regular basis? I live alone too, and three of the rooms (two bedrooms and the common room) in my house are badly underutilized.

I've not finished it yet but I can answer based on previous experience.

Depends on your definition of "use". Is it "using" a room to have a drum kit set up permanently so I don't have to set it up and tear it down all the time or awkwardly walk around it? I think so. Is it "using" a room to have it dedicated to a particular season? I think so.

Could I make do with less? Definitely, but the point is to stop having to "make do" and be able to dedicate spaces to certain things without having to compromise and squash things together.

If it helps I use my cinema room and home office daily, though the guest bedroom is definitely a case of "I had some space left over".

Edit: I still wouldn't say no to some extra workshop/storage space.

Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Apr 6, 2018

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
Yeah, so for comparison, in my house:

* I use two bedrooms daily (one as a bedroom, the other as an office / piano room / dog's bedroom)
* I use one bedroom occasionally (it's the couch/bookshelf/TV room)
* I use one bedroom rarely-to-never
* The common room is basically storage + a passageway between the kitchen and the rest of the house

Both bathrooms get used regularly, though it's not like I couldn't just use one, I'm just lazy. So I have three rooms that aren't really being used "fully", two of which don't really have good dedicated purposes. But I'm having trouble thinking of what else I'd add to this house that I'd actually get use out of.

I guess in fairness I did build a 400 sqft outbuilding to house my workshop though. :v: It's not counted in the house's footprint since it's detached and not rated for habitation (no insulation or climate control, no sewage line, etc.).

PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Good lord, that's nuts. I have trouble imagining what a family would do with more than 1500 sqft.

Compartmentalize their lives so they don't have to interact with each other.

McMansionHell sums it up well:

"I know, I’m totally going to come off as one of those hippie types, but architecture does, in fact, have a huge impact on how we feel and live our lives.

The fact is, big houses can make us feel incredibly isolated. (The McMansion is a small scale version of what critics of sprawl attribute to modern suburbia, which is entirely reliant on the car to do everything from go shopping to visit friends.)

A family of four in a 6,000 square-foot house can go days at a time without having to interact with each other in any real respect. When I was in the sixth grade, I remember visiting a friend who, rather than traverse down the massive, useless staircase, would text her mother, who was making dinner in the kitchen, or her sister who was 4 (mostly empty) rooms away.

Being able to hide away from the woes of family life hinders our ability to cope with others and learn important skills like conflict resolution, anger management, and empathy. In the house I grew up in, (1800 square feet, one story, 3bed/2ba, four people) my sister had to deal with my practicing the violin, and I had to deal with my sister’s incessant horror movie binges at top volume, and we all had to deal with my dad when he got way too into surround sound.

The (mostly BS) accusations older generations make about Millennials is that they are overly-sensitive and mollycoddled; stuck in a perpetual childlike mentality. Those generations’ decision to isolate their children from the comings and goings of everyday life, including exposure to people different than themselves out of a combination of fear and prejudice no doubt has had some adverse effects on their children.

Diversity is more than just racial quotas and pretty words - it’s an active participation in the world around us, interacting with people who come from backgrounds different than ours. Monocultures benefit no one.

The rise of the gated community and certain financial restrictions (e.g. building a community of houses in a certain price range to deter “riff-raff”) since the 1980s are just two of many ways people used property and planning to keep out undesirables (read: practicing legal racial prejudice), resulting in an echo-chamber NIMBY (”not in my backyard!”) mentality. "

Jaded Burnout posted:

Anyone designing the feature set of anything in the abstract will be subject to all manner of biases and ego is a major one. I see it all the time in clients requesting software features.

I also feel like many people (past me included) don't think about their movement through a house and how it affects the likelihood of them using a room. If the room doesn't have a unique purpose and is also off the beaten path? Good luck.

In my old place, I convinced myself I needed a balcony and ended up using it maybe a dozen times per year (and its entrance made the interior layout awkward). It's hard to take an introspective look at realizing where your mistakes are and correcting them, though it makes you happier overall. When you feel like you've got this new place with all this opportunity, you need to reel yourself in and make serious considerations else you end up with all sorts of nonsense. Everyone makes mistakes, bad design choices, etc, but it seems that a lot of people cannot take that tough look at themselves and correct something that isn't working.

That's also why I advocate not buying things until you move into a place. Viewing your new dwelling as some abstraction of infinite opportunity leads you to make decisions you might not make if you just waited a week or two and got a feel for actually living in space.

PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Apr 6, 2018

YamiNoSenshi
Jan 19, 2010
We just finished a kitchen remodel that put a massive island in. fite me irl.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


PRADA SLUT posted:

That's also why I advocate not buying things until you move into a place. Viewing your new dwelling as some abstraction of infinite opportunity leads you to make decisions you might not make if you just waited a week or two and got a feel for actually living in space.

I agree with this, tempered for practicality and individual situations. I could afford to build and plumb a temporary kitchen that I could shuffle around until it felt right, not everyone can afford to knowingly sink cost like that. It's also quite hard to do with e.g. internal walls.

wooger
Apr 16, 2005

YOU RESENT?

Jaded Burnout posted:

I agree with this, tempered for practicality and individual situations. I could afford to build and plumb a temporary kitchen that I could shuffle around until it felt right, not everyone can afford to knowingly sink cost like that. It's also quite hard to do with e.g. internal walls.

True this. I wonder if AR technology could help a bit in the near future. Ikea already have an AR furniture preview feature I think.

I even tried to mock up layouts a bit with moving boxes after I bought my place, to play with layout.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

I do think that while size itself as a status symbol past what you truly need or even want to use is dumb, reducing an older kitchen down to 'a cutting board, a knife, and a table' is pretty stupid. Obviously she's exaggerating and skipping over stuff like stovetops, a fridge, a sink, etc, but from my perspective that's undercutting her point since kitchens have always been a focal point of a house.

That said I do think it's going to be pretty uncommon for an island to actually be a helpful feature in a kitchen, and just jamming stuff like a second dishwasher you never use or wine storage under there feels like admitting you didn't actually need it. If it's just about counterspace I prefer something that can be used comfortably as a table without banging my knees and if it's about storage space it feels like you need to be a pretty intense cook or baker to need in if you have a kitchen big enough for an island anyway.

EDIT: Like it's mind-boggling to me that it's apparently The Thing to have in newly built kitchens these days.

Anne Whateley
Feb 11, 2007
:unsmith: i like nice words
I think what people are missing about islands is that they aren't just a block of storage, they're a room-facing counter. At normal counters, you're facing the wall. At an island, you're facing your family, the room, the next room in an open-floor plan, etc.

The lighting is usually way better too since lighting sources are over the island, and cabinets and your body aren't casting shadows on your workspace.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

Anne Whateley posted:

The lighting is usually way better too since lighting sources are over the island, and cabinets and your body aren't casting shadows on your workspace.

This is what undercabinet lighting is for. You want a feature that every modern kitchen should have, there it is.

A MIRACLE
Sep 17, 2007

All right. It's Saturday night; I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix-tape... Let's rock.

PetraCore posted:

EDIT: Like it's mind-boggling to me that it's apparently The Thing to have in newly built kitchens these days.

Like the article said I think it's more about delineating space between the kitchen and the living room than having an island. It's not that you need an island, it's that you don't have any walls / galley style kitchens any more. Everything is open concept. And if you're entertaining guests its a great spot to serve food from if you don't want a buffet / credenza. I guess. I don't really know what I'm talking about these are just my personal observations

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Oh, that makes more sense. Still wouldn't be my thing but if you've got a more open floorplan I can see it.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Peninsula galley 4eva.

How much of those 2400 sqft new builds is basement? (Our new build is 1300 sqft and very adequate for 4-6 people!)

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
I've been periodically playing around with TurboFloorPlan, thanks to the person who suggested it here. I have no idea how realistic any of my designs are though. Is this a reasonable place to ask for feedback? Hell with it, have a couple images. These are obviously pretty un-detailed, but even working at this level is an interesting thought experiment, for me anyway.





Garage, front door, etc. can pretty much be slapped onto any of the sides I guess. The second floor is tricky since I have to work around the staircase, and closets take up awkward amounts of space. I'm not super-thrilled with the shape of the master bedroom or with the tiny-rear end bedroom in the top right. But how much time do you spend in your bedroom anyway? And that big "hallway" at the staircase landing is also kinda weird, but maybe it can be turned into a sitting room or something.

All told this works out to around 1300-1400 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (maybe slightly overkill there). I feel like it should have pretty good walking paths or whatever you call them; you don't have to go through the middle of any room to get anywhere, except for the kitchen. The rooms might be a little small though. Maybe this is one of those situations where it'd make sense to have a cantilevered extension where the upper floor extends out to the side more than the ground floor does.

Anne Whateley
Feb 11, 2007
:unsmith: i like nice words
Master bathroom is small, plus it has that hotel layout, which I think will feel weird. I would take the upper left bedroom and call that the master (it's already bigger), extend it farther down the lower left, and add a bathroom. This also gives the parents separation from the kids plus control over the stairs. If you move the door down perpendicular to the stairs, then the back half of the hallway could become a walk-in closet or the bathroom instead of wasted space.

Since lower right isn't the master anymore, take out the bath and bump everything down a little, making the upper right more even in size. Also in the upper right, move the closet to the upper right so you have usable space instead of that niche.

On the ground floor, where's the entrance(s) to the house? The dining room is bigger than the living room, which I don't think you'll want, but I don't really get the distinction of living room vs. media room. The bathroom opening off the dining room isn't ideal.

I don't think you'll want the media and laundry rooms next to each other, since laundry rooms produce white noise and I assume anyone spergy enough to have a media room is spergy about intruding sound. I'm also very strongly on team Upstairs Laundry. You could also do that with the upstairs hallway -- folding doors along the back for a combination laundry closet and linen closet (you'll want one regardless).

I don't work in the field at all so there's probably a ton of stuff I'm missing (rules about doors near the tops of stairs, ease of plumbing, you name it).

Anne Whateley fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Apr 7, 2018

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


It will be stronger if the walls line up so you can have beam continuity across both floors. Lemme try a sketch...

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Has anyone made a vr headset plugin for SketchUp yet? That'd be great.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


I drew this with Japanese floorplan guidelines because that's what's familiar and easy for me. The floor is measured in tatami mats (90x180cm or 3x6ft), basically the size of a door and minimum width for stairs and halls.

The 1st floor bathroom is under the stairs.

- Plumbing should be concentrated on one half of the house if possible.
- The maximum span between beams is 12 feet (360cm).
- A 90cm deep closet is more than adequate for coats, 70cm is standard minimum for hangers, 45cm is perfect for linen and shelves.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Bedroom 2 could be swapped for the Master, putting Bedroom 2 in the bottom-left, and the master dominating the whole right side with a massive bath and closets.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

wooger
Apr 16, 2005

YOU RESENT?

TooMuchAbstraction posted:






Maybe this is one of those situations where it'd make sense to have a cantilevered extension where the upper floor extends out to the side more than the ground floor does.

Rather than talking about a cantilevered top floor extension, why don’t you start by just making it the same size as the ground floor? That space above the living room would go a long way to making the bedrooms bigger, or just making the layout better. I’d want a bigger bathroom, especially if you have a family.

I don’t personally like en-suite bathrooms, and would normally prefer just splitting up the main bathroom into 2 rooms:
A half bath, so just toilet & sink.
A full shower / bathroom without a toilet.

Also, you’ll be saving lots of money & complexity if you can make the bathrooms near / above the other rooms with plumbing.

Re the downstairs, I agree with the other poster that having laundry next to a media room doesn’t make sense, as it’ll disturb you when in use. If you can find the space upstairs that could be good, otherwise maybe move it to the other side of the house.

In general, just think about what you’d be using the separate rooms downstairs for, and whether you need a separate media room. How many people are there in your house?
Do you want the front door opening straight on to your living room?

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Our kitchen is 9x12 feet and is considered huge by my friends. The sink and stove are on a semi-open peninsula, with the dining table against the counter to easily pass dishes over. The living room is in the foreground...

You ought to consider TV placement wrt window glare and walking paths. Is the TV in the media room, or is that more like a library? We have a library separate from the LDK zone that helps contain the books and toys. I imagine the TV against the staircase, a dining table in the middle-right and a couch in the bottom-right.

It might be better to have the kitchen in the bottom-right, and the living room on the top-right to give max wall space for couches and a tv stand.
Also maybe switch the 1st floor laundry and bathroom so the bathroom can have a window.

peanut fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Apr 7, 2018

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


I think I meant to include this action shot

Only registered members can see post attachments!

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

peanut posted:

I think I meant to include this action shot


I love the chalkboard wall!

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
re: kitchen islands, as a Tall Person I really enjoy them because it means I'm not in the annoying position of having to work with a cupboard in my face. It also means I have a workstation I don't have to hunch over to use, if I buy one that's nice and high. One of these days I'd like to have the ability to design my own kitchen, complete with counters that aren't made for people under 5'8", but renting makes that difficult, so islands it is.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


Magic Hate Ball posted:

re: kitchen islands, as a Tall Person I really enjoy them because it means I'm not in the annoying position of having to work with a cupboard in my face. It also means I have a workstation I don't have to hunch over to use, if I buy one that's nice and high. One of these days I'd like to have the ability to design my own kitchen, complete with counters that aren't made for people under 5'8", but renting makes that difficult, so islands it is.

Same, and I'm in the process of doing that. Oven vents are my nemesis, forever cracking my head on them.

If you ever do get the opportunity to do that, tell your sparkie about it ahead of time as they'll place the sockets at a specific height assuming "normal" counter heights, and you might have trouble with space for the flex to curve depending on your territory's plug types and laws.

Edit: I also lived in a place that had sort of a 5ft wide version of this:


Very stylish and interesting, and no problems at all until two people are working side by side at the same counter and one of them opens the cabinet. That hurt.

Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 7, 2018

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Jyrraeth
Aug 1, 2008

I love this dino
SOOOO MUCH

I want an option to be able to sit at a bar-height stool at a kitchen prep station. I have lovely legs and can't stand still for very long and I don't like prepping meaty things at the kitchen table.

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