kitchen on garden floor or parlor???
we are buying a 17’x36′ brownstone with three floors, rental on top floor that one day (maybe 4/5 yrs) we will stop renting and turn into bedrooms. We are trying to decide whether to keep kitchen on the garden floor. Plan is to eventually blow out back wall and have mostly glass addition/sunroom and I…
we are buying a 17’x36′ brownstone with three floors, rental on top floor that one day (maybe 4/5 yrs) we will stop renting and turn into bedrooms. We are trying to decide whether to keep kitchen on the garden floor. Plan is to eventually blow out back wall and have mostly glass addition/sunroom and I love having the garden off the kitchen (I am an avid gardener). But of course parlor floor has much higher ceilings and is lighter and we plan to put a deck on roof of addition with doors from parlor floor out onto it. My feeling is if we have kitchen on parlor floor, when we have bedrooms on top floor we would never use the garden floor, whereas if we have kitchen on garden floor and start using bedrooms on top floor, we will have parlor floor for living. Sorry for long convoluted question, but anyone willing to share thoughts on these configuration issues?
same situation w/3 story in Bed Stuy. we flipped the configuration and moved the rental from garden to third floor, in order to have access to garden. Then, moved kitchen from garden to parlor fl. nice thing is, we have an extension that goes up all three stories which really frees up living space an provides more room for kitchen. my opinion is to have a “formal” parlor fl, you should have kitchen, dining and living room on one level. our bedrooms are on garden level, leaving a nice buffer floor for tenant noise. also, because there is less natural light, it’s perfect for bedrooms. we are building a metal spiral staircase from kitchen to back patio to address the outdoor entertaining issue.
doing a renovation now and decided to keep the kitchen on the garden level for a number of reasons. first, it was important for me to keep the original layout of the house. the floorplan has barely changed since it was built. also, it’s more practical on the garden level because you have direct access to the garden and the street for bringing in groceries. in addition, i prefer a more casual kitchen. my kitchen is like an art studio to me. i couldn’t imagine it on a grand parlour floor. i know a lot of people do that with a deck off the back, but i’ve never really seen it done that successfully. it always looks like a kitchen was stuck in that room and doesn’t belong. i wouldn’t want to ruin the openness of the parlour floor by sticking a kitchen there… but afteral it’s all about personal taste.
we have the same situation as you, and and have chosen to renovate the garden floor first (we’ll tackle the other floors next year), putting the kitchen there, along with a large dining room, 1/2 bath, closet and small breeze way with built in bookcases. our plan is to restore the house, so i have always felt that kitchens on parlor floors look out of place. we are avid gardeners, and entertaining is wonderful–french doors open out to our patio. you may think about putting the kitchen in the front, on the south side of your house if light is an issue for you. i’ve also been in a home where the kitchen was placed in the middle of the garden floor, with a dining room at the front of the house and a family room/sitting area to the back, which led to the garden. that was a lovely set up. remember, once you renovate, you will be able to add overhead lighting where you need it, which makes a big difference.
I think the nicest places I’ve seen have the kitchen on the parlour level, opening to a deck (either metal or the roof of a lower extension), and garden stairs, and bedrooms on the garden level. You could also make the garden level a rumpus/family/media room, or a rental, and put bedrooms upstairs.
I don’t like upper rentals as you lose the stoop and hallway space.
We moved our kitchen from the garden floor to the back parlour and LOVE it (bedrooms downstairs). We don’t have a deck now but plan to eventually build one so we can eat/grill right outside the kitchen. Makes for a beautiful, big kitchen where everyone loves to hang out. Another plus is with the bedrooms downstairs you never have to hear the tenants walking around on top of you while you’re lying in bed.
I had the exact same problem in my old house – and that’s why I moved. I absolutely HATE the double parlor with a kitchen in the garden floor. We had our bedroom as one of the palors, and the other sat unused because everyone was downstairs by the kitchen.
I think the best way to deal with it is to honestly ask yourself whether you’ll get more out of your house by having the kitchen upstairs or down. Will you be able to use the full parlor floor if you have the kitchen downstairs? Alternatively, will you be able to use the garden floor properly if you have the kitchen in the parlor?
Personally, I prefer the kitchen/dining room/living room on the same floor and bedrooms upstairs, but hey, everyone’s different.
we’re doing a reno now and moving the kitchen from the garden to parlor floor. the reason is that the parlor floor is by far the nicest in our house (details, high ceilings) and the kitchen/dining area is where we will spend the bulk of our “living” time. access to the garden is a good point, though — we plan to ultimately build a deck with garden access outside the kitchen on top of a rear extension.
OP here – I live in an apt with a garden outside our kitchen now and love it. I feel like the only way you actually use your garden if it is right outside the kitchen. But garden floor has low ceilings and garden is north facing, so I’m worried that it’s too dark and that the parlor floor will go to waste. What do you do with your parlor floor? Do you ever use it or are you always in the kitchen? If we had kitchen on garden floor, dining would be on that floor as well of course.
I can see it working both ways, but we inherited a layout with kitchen on the garden floor and I have come to really like it. No dragging food, dishes, etc. down a flight of stairs if you want to eat outside, which is nice if you just want to be outdoors on a Tuesday night and not make a big production out of it. Good for parties too. It really works for us.