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January 2, 2009
Where would you put the kitchen
I'm in the market to purchase a 3 story 20 x 55 brownstone that will need a full renovation. My wife and I are pretty much in a coin toss as to where we want the kitchen to be. I'm thinking the garden floor and my wife is thinkng the parlor floor. Ideally, where would you put the kitchen and why? Hope to hear from you folks soon, as I get lots of inspiration from this website. Thanks in advance.
Comments
it is a coin toss...i put my kitchen on the garden floor to allow access to the back yard.. but my neighbor put her kitchen on the parlor floor because she liked the light...im a contractor and that is how i found this neighborhood, carroll gardens, 10 years ago
Posted by: eman1234 at January 2, 2009 9:01 PM
As above, both have benefits. The garden floor also reduces carrying groceries upstairs while the downstairs kitchen leaves the yard accessible for younger children while cooking. You could do a dumbwaiter type system to pass foods upstairs to a formal dining/living area while enjoying a more livable area downstairs.
I wish I had my kitchen on the street side because it's the noisier side.
Think of what you prefer and and build according to what's important to you and your family. Enjoy!
Posted by: CH11231 at January 2, 2009 9:11 PM
Two things, one I would second eman1234 about having it on the garden level. I have a great backyard, but I live on the second floor of my 3 family and vastly underuse the garden for dining because of the running up and down stairs with dishes etc. Even barbecuing is inconvenient when you don't have quick access to your kitchen. Think of the suburbs-you very rarely see anyone put a kitchen on the second floor. I would also agree with CH11231 about being able to plop your groceries down on the first floor, rather than schlepping them up to the second. Well, I guess you know where I stand!
Posted by: hoffster at January 2, 2009 9:19 PM
You really have to think about how you will use the space where the kitchen is not. The kitchen for many families is the hub of activity. I have seen several a few houses where the parlor level seems lost and poorly used. The inhabitants spend their time shuttling between the top floor and the garden level and the parlor is not well integrated.
For us, the 10' ceiling on the parlor floor and the 7' ceilings in the garden level were deciding factors. We plan to drop the floor of the garden level and set it up as a potential second apartment, or at least a place for the second home office, work-out room, laundry, or a more private place for guests to stay.
For easier access from the kitchen to the garden, we will build a patio with stairs going down to the garden.
If you spend time on the top floor during the day or in a home office, think about the trek down to the lower level just to make a coffee.
We love took out the wall between the kitchen and the rear parlor and love the open look and how a large kitchen/dining room in the middle of everything works.
Good luck.
Posted by: renomandru at January 2, 2009 10:51 PM
What do you mean by 3-story? Is there a parlor floor and 2 floors above, or only 1, plus the garden? If there are only 3 "living" floors, and you use part of the parlor floor as bedrooms, then the advantages of a garden floor kitchen are great. But I agree with renomandru 100% -- I have been to homes where the kitchen is on the garden floor, and the entire parlor floor is a more or less fancy entertaining area. Only, everyone ends up hanging out on the garden floor the whole time since the food is there and the parlor level does seem completely underused with the family always having to walk down 2 flights of stairs from the bedroom area to what becomes the primary living area on the garden floor.
So, I'd advise you to have the kitchen one floor below the first bedroom floor. If you want the garden kitchen, I've seen nice layouts where the back of the parlor floor is the master bedroom and the front is a family or living room. If you have 2 floors of bedrooms above the parlor floor, I'd put the kitchen on the parlor floor and not have it become an underused space for entertaining where no one ever hangs out.
Posted by: CGfan at January 2, 2009 11:33 PM
Since the parlor level has higher ceiling (11-12'), my advise is to located the kitchen on the parlor level (below the bedrooms as CGfan suggest) then it functions as part of the family room/dining room with the living room in the front parlor. (The kitchen will have a wall of cabinets and approx. 7ft island adjacent to the dining room.) This allows for a wonderful functional everyday use or formal entertainment space. You can also add a wood or metal deck with a circular or straight run stair at the rear or the building on the parlor level to access the garden.
The upper can be organized as master suite and lower levels, more bedrooms or office or exercise room.
Optional...(Although, some brownstones have the garden level as a rental if it is a 2 family)
George Architect-917 414 1511
Posted by: silverstar at January 3, 2009 2:17 AM
I like having the kitchen on the Parlor floor in the back of the building with a deck and stairs to the yard. It's ideal because you have all that great light, tall ceilings and a deck for dinner parties. I'm sure I spend more time in the kitchen than any other place in the house. I'm happy to send you photos to show you what was done. You can reach me by email at r.ladd.bklyn@gmail.com
Posted by: Rick at January 3, 2009 9:18 AM
Garden floor back is historically correct. But parlor floor back with a deck and stairs to the yard is extremely convenient and good for entertaining.
Posted by: mopar at January 3, 2009 11:34 AM
I guess it depends on the house but my vote would normally be for the parlor floor for a few reasons. One - the higher ceilings and better light really make a room where you spend a good deal of the daylight hours in much nicer. Second - the kitchen should be near the dining and living rooms. And a dining/living room on the parlor floor is just nicer to me. Using the parlor floor for bedrooms or secondary rooms seems like a waste.
Obviously the drawbacks are having to have a deck to get in your backyard as well as carrying up groceries. Its worth the trade off for me.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 3, 2009 3:40 PM
I like the layout in my place. The basement is a rental unit and I have the parlor floor and the third floor. It's also a 20 footer which makes a big diffference. originally three rooms on the parlour floor...front parlour, rear parlour with kitcjen off of that. My front parlour is large enough for a very large formal sitting area around the fireplace plus a round dining table that expands to seat six comfortably in that front space. I use the rear parlour room as the TV room with a sofa, etc and the kitchen is off of that and is certainly large enough tucked into that room...maybe 8' X 16'. I think the design decision hinges on whether you want a really big open kitchen that sprawls across the whole back of the house or not. If that's the case I would design in an island that is larger than you think you would want because that is where everyone will congregate in a room like that. And a deck off of that back room is really, really nice.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 4, 2009 9:46 AM
We decided to put the kitchen in the parlor floor because it seemed a shame not to use the nicest floor for public spaces where we would spend the most time (i.e., living, dining, kitchen). Our bedrooms are on the garden floor.
We are pretty satisfied with our decision but also find that we might use the garden more if we had access from the kitchen. In particular, garden parties would be easier, and we might grill more in the summer, if we didn't have to walk through our bedroom to access the garden. Long term, we plan to put stairs & deck on the parlor floor to access the garden. This seems the best of both worlds to me.
Posted by: butterfingers at January 4, 2009 11:00 AM
I've threw my vote in the hat and decided to go with kitchen on the parlor floor. Most advice here pointed to that, and I also looked at floor plans of homes currently for sale and found that a overwhelming majority had the kitchen on the parlor. My wife still has a slight grip on the idea of a ground floor kitchen, but after reading some of the posts she is warming up to the parlor. I can so though, I really like the idea of having a deck of the parlor floor that you can have lunch on during a nice summer day.
Also seems that I may not have been clear, as a poster asked how many floors. There is a ground floor, a parlor, and a upper level.
Thanks for the advice.
Posted by: Attention2detail at January 4, 2009 12:34 PM
Me again. I had it backwards. My wife was thinking ground floor and I was thinking parlor.
Posted by: Attention2detail at January 4, 2009 12:37 PM
the problem with the deck at parlor floor is that you lose that portion of your yard to a dark, unpleasant space usually delegated to storage of rusting bicycles and old childrens toys
Posted by: eman1234 at January 6, 2009 11:30 PM
Hi Attention2detail!
Typically most people would like the kitchen on the garden floor to give you the opportunity of dining outdoors in good weather. If you would like to get in touch with an architect to discuss your project with more detail, I will be more than happy to put you in touch with one. My email address is melissa@slanyc.com. Look forward to hearing from you!
Posted by: ABSAEL at February 26, 2009 4:17 PM
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