First Home - PPOR - Kitchen Renovation Ideas

Discussion in 'Renovation & Home Improvement' started by xdfubar, 17th Apr, 2016.

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  1. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    Hi all,

    I'm currently in the process of purchasing my first home. It was built in approximately 1981-1985 (ambiguous records). One of the first things I'd like to do would be to open up the upstairs kitchen/dining/living rooms to make it all open plan and immediately renovating the kitchen. I am just after some advice, tips, critique. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

    I will be engaging a builder/structural engineer to have a look to see if these walls are load bearing or not. Obviously the result of this will determine which walls I can remove.

    In the mean time, I am struggling a bit with the layout of the new kitchen. I am currently working on the assumption that all walls can be removed. The idea is that later on, an upstairs deck would be built, connecting onto the kitchen/living areas. There is a door in the kitchen that leads to a backstairs. One thought is to fill this door in and remove the back stairs completely. A flight of stairs would be built onto the deck. There is a large window in the living area, ideally this would be opened up and bi-fold or similar doors would be installed to allow access onto the deck. The deck will be roofed.

    My wife prefers the L-Shape style kitchen, leaving a space to the left hand side of the kitchen for a meals area. My preference would be for a galley type, along the top of the room encompassing both the existing dining and kitchen areas. My thoughts are between a kitchen island and a covered deck dining area, this should cover meals area and allow a use of bigger space for the kitchen and living areas.

    What layout is best to greater utilise the space available? Open to other ideas as well.
    In addition, any trades/builders that you would recommend for the Brisbane South (Rochedale South) area would be appreciated.
    Your thoughts?
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    Whoever does the most of the cooking should have the most say in a new kitchen design and layout.
    Marg
     
  3. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Your layout is exactly the same as our sons. Remind me tomorrow (I'm in bed now :p) and I'll post before and after photos. He also closed up the back door and put in French doors to the deck.
     
  4. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    That would be awesome! Thank you. Would definitely be interested to see how his turned out.
    Did he have any issues (unforeseen or otherwise) with the renovation?

    I'm also struggling with placement of appliances, dishwasher/fridge/microwave.
    Currently thinking of going the freestanding cooktop/oven route.
     
  5. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    That's the way to go.
    Even if you can't remove it all, you might be able to still open the wall up so you can see through.
     
  6. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Issues he had were that taking out the support pillar that was on the corner of the semi-enclosed kitchen meant adding a hanging beam in the ceiling, which was costly and meant removing the end gable to get it in easily. It was a LOT of effort and cost to do that, so they left the post and worked around it. It sits near the corner of the new island bench and the stools stop people walking into the post. Leaving it there also meant not having to replace or patch the plaster ceiling, but they ripped it all down anyway due to some bright spark having glued dozens of foam tiles to it. The tiles came off but the glue didn't, so they replastered the whole house ceilings. It made a huge difference for the small cost of doing that.

    In the first photo, you can see that this kitchen had a little wall with two openings on the left hand side. One was a european laundry and the other side a pantry. These walls were removed, the back door closed in, window left with sink now underneath it. The window on the right hand side of the photo is now french doors stepping down two steps to a paved area. The land slopes so the back is yard level whilst the front is double level, and there is a full lower level under the whole house.

    They left a small bit of wall you can see in the first photo, and that formed the side of a new european laundry, then also backing on that wall is a large fridge. This allowed all the big appliances to not stick out, and meant they were tucked behind that wall return and the kitchen cupboard doors were made to close in the laundry and it just disappears.

    Then where the back door is on the first photo is the oven and cooktop. The corner was a problem so they made glass shelves with a downlight to display things. Sink is under the window that didn't change. They removed the L shape return and swapped it for a huge stone island with stools on the living room side.

    Son, partner, hubby and I did the wall removal (before it settled :eek:). I got up the tiles with a bolster and hammer (hit my hand more times than I care to remember). Hubby dressed the beam that was already there. They got a builder to close the back door and install french doors because he was doing other work for them. Otherwise, hubby would have done that too.


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    Last edited: 18th Apr, 2016
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  7. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    Thanks wylie, that's great. Heaps of food for thought.
    Would you by any chance have any floor plans with dimensions on hand for reference?
    How long and wide is that island bench?

    edit. How is your son going with all the bench space and storage?
    Is there enough? Is there anything in the day to day use of the kitchen that they would change or do different?
     
    Last edited: 18th Apr, 2016
  8. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    They sold the house and didn't really cook much anyway. The island bench I think was likely 1.6m deep and at least 2m long. It had 600mm deep drawers on the kitchen side (plus the microwave underneath on that side), 600mm deep cupboards on the side with stools, plus the extra stool area overhang.

    No dimensions to hand, sorry but european laundry would have been 600mm wide to take the washer plus the size of a large tub beside that. Two door fridge beside it that ran to 600mm from the back wall where (you can see a little of this in the last photo), there was one cupboard, then the 900mm oven, then double doors under the sink (rubbish bin there) and dishwasher at the end (under the red mixer in the photo).

    Cupboards also above the fridge and laundry area. There was plenty of storage in total.
     
  9. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    Do you think a 1800 by 900 kitchen island is too small? (600mm storage on one side and 300mm overhang on the other side). I'm conscious of making the kitchen too large for the area.

    Total area of the combined dining, kitchen and living spaces is approximately 5.5m x 6.5m.
    The current kitchen area being about 2.6m x 2.6m. Can squeeze a little more in with wall demo and fill in of the back door. I will be re-doing some measurements again soon to be sure (exact placement of windows etc).

    Definitely a lot to think about! :)
     
  10. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I've uploaded a photo taken from the kitchen into the living area to show how much room there was. Your floorpan looks like it would be exactly the same. I'd be guessing dimensions probably the same too?

    That large mirror sitting under the air-con on the left hand side sits between the dining table and the living area. You can see it in the other photos to gauge the total living area. Bear in mind this is a photo taken for the sale campaign so it is stretched but the remaining living area took a very large sectional sofa (some of it removed for the photo to open the space out a bit more), coffee table and large rug. The window is a large(ish) slider but it looks extra long due to the streets effect. It is still a large enough area.

    24125880_3.jpg
     
  11. Ting

    Ting Member

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    Rochedale South is not far away from where I live. Last two years I have engaged a local kitchen company to do up two of my IPs and I am satisfied with his price and quality. He quoted a fixed price and very flexible. All bench top are stone and door hinges with soft close. Let me know if you interested.
     
  12. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    It sure does. Thanks again wylie. Much food for thought. Will keep playing around with the layouts.
    I think I need to measure and layout the areas with some masking tape for visual assistance with how everything fits.

    [​IMG]

    Just another layout, this time with a galley type kitchen for ideas/comments.

    Thanks mate. Definitely interested if you can drop me a line and I'll get in touch.
     
  13. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Your island bench is 3.2m long :eek: and if you tuck your fridge where the pantry is and shorten the island, the dining table could be where our son put his. That frees up the other area (where you have soft and table) just for couches, tv etc.

    Where is the door to the back deck on your plan? I do think the kitchen how you've drawn it is too big for the space and you lose a dining area.
     
  14. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    There's a window to the right of the table shown in the last layout plan. Planning to convert that to doors onto the deck. The deck would be about 7 metres long (at most). It adjoins the short side of the house.

    The back door that I was thinking of filling in was at the top of the plan. This door only leads to backstairs which are kind of redundant. There's no space back there for a meaningful deck.

    I'm thinking that the original L-shape in the upper right hand corner is better anyway. Will probably mean less re-routing of plumbing and electrics.

    Ideally, the cupboard/pantry as shown I would get rid of and open it up as space. Mainly because when you walk up the stairs you have a bit of wall obstructing views/egress etc.

    Agree that the galley as shown is too much for the space. Shooting ideas at the moment.
     
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  15. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    Updated layout design. Have measured up the area so it's a just a bit more precise with dimensions.

    [​IMG]
    My only issue now is in deciding to go with a separate built in over and gas cooktop.
    I am struggling to find room for another 600mm wide space to accommodate both the wall over and microwave without compromising on space for the fridge and pantry.

    Any ideas?
     
  16. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    Did you get someone in to find out if you can remove kitchen/lounge walls?
     
  17. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    I've had a couple of builders come through and they've all said it's possible.
    Just waiting on some quotes/estimates to come back now for the works.
     
  18. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    Good stuff.
    But how possible - possible as in anything's possible if you put in a massive beam, or possible as in not load bearing and a piece of wee wee?
     
  19. xdfubar

    xdfubar Active Member

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    I think anything is possible at this stage with a beam.
    I am just unsure on the cost, so hopefully it's reasonable.
     
  20. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    I would want to get a concrete idea of that before doing too much planning.
    If it needs a beam to span the whole open space, the cost would add up pretty quick.