by Marie Owens
“We want our refrigerator in the kitchen.” Who thought that would not be a given and would not be an easy request.
My clients came to me and said just that. Their main objective was to get the refrigerator out of the rear entryway and into the kitchen. They warned me that it was a small kitchen with several doors and windows. They also wanted to open the kitchen to the dining room with a snack bar. All very good ideas.
I initially thought this should be a piece of cake. Then I started working on the plan. It was much more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I tried the basic units (sink, range, refrigerator, and microwave) in any and all positions I could think of. My clients were willing to give up the view from their existing window to the back yard or replace it with a smaller one. The existing window was lower than countertop height. I strongly suggested that removing it was not a good idea and replacing it would put us slightly over budget. It could also create some difficulty in making the exterior look match when trying to patch the opening.
I was not willing to give up either window, but if one had to go or be changed, I suggested it be the one over the existing sink. This window was on the side of the house and looked directly into the neighbor’s house. However I am always reluctant to give up natural light. Plus, adding natural light was not a place I wanted to spend money if we didn’t have to.
After many not so good ideas, a few days to ponder and going to my bag of tricks, I incorporated two key concepts that made the design work amazingly well.
Design Concept 1: Put the sink in front of the window to the back yard and use the existing window to our advantage by incorporating a trick I have used many times called a window well. The sink cabinet is pulled forward approximately three inches. The back of the cabinet is finished so it looks great from the outside. A window sill is added or replaced so it totally fills the gap between the outside wall and the sink cabinet. The sides of the well are finished also to look good from the outside, but more important so things do not fall too far. The counter is cut out in this area, which becomes a great place to grow potted herbs or year round flowers.
Design Concept 2: I was taught that your should NEVER put the cooking surface in front of a window for safety and cleaning reasons, however if you change the window to a glass block window you can and it looks great. We had the glass block sized so it would fit into the existing opening so we did not have to get into reworking the existing siding. There are usually challenges to make it look unpatched from the exterior.
With those two design concepts, I was able to give my clients a wonderful, functional, great looking space while getting the refrigerator back into the kitchen. We did open the wall into the dining room incorporating a snack bar, and also opened the wall to the rear hall entry space and used the previous refrigerator closet space for a pantry. See the finished photo below.
The pair of doors next to the rear entry door is the new pantry.
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