Kitchen Design: Making Room For An Island

Here is a great example of how Gilday Renovations can reconfigure interior space to address functional needs in a kitchen design without getting into the cost of a room addition.  We do that by redesigning the existing floor plan.

This right-sized Bethesda, Maryland home had plenty of space on the interior, but the proportions were off.  For example, the kitchen was small and the dining room too big.  Movement from room to room throughout the main floor was interrupted by unnecessary walls and doors and an awkwardly located powder room.

The key to making this project work for the homeowners was to expand the kitchen so that it would accommodate a large center island -and- to improve its relationship to other rooms on the main floor.

The yellow highlights in the plan below identify where the designers removed, relocated or reshaped walls to optimize flow and function.

As shown above, we made space for an island by moving the wall between dining room and kitchen (making the dining room smaller), and by bumping out (about three feet) a rear exterior wall to recess the sink run of cabinets.

Here's what the kitchen looked like before...

Here's how the interior designers reinvented the space.

And... as seen from the (now slightly smaller) dining room.

Obviously, this was much more than a simple replacement kitchen.  The program called for improved room to room  relationships throughout the main floor.  To that end, walls were removed, relocated, shortened, lengthened and realigned in order to improve traffic patterns,  achieve visual clarity and bring daylight into the center of the house.  The new kitchen works on its own and in relation to the rest of the house.

Learn about how to approach a kitchen design and remodeling project by downloading The Definitive Guide to Kitchen Design & Remodeling Success.