See how a consistent floor can change the entire design of the kitchen

I'm a huge believer in having a consistent floor throughout the main floor of a home. There are so many benefits and one that I'm sharing today is how a kitchen design changed when we moved to having a consistent floor.

First of all, let's take a look at the 'As Is' of a project we are working on.

As Is for the main floor

As the home sits now, there is carpet in the family room and hardwood floor throughout the rest of the main floor.

For both of our design options, we are suggesting to remove the corner pantry. While I am not going to go into the details of the entire kitchen renovation, I do wish to show you how the kitchen design will look with keeping the carpet vs having a consistent floor throughout the main floor.

Option 1 - Keep the existing flooring

We always like to look at the most budget friendly way to get from Point A to Point B. This kitchen renovation is going to be an extensive one so if we can save a few dollars in other places, this would be the option. Option 1 has our kitchen design plan working around having carpet in the family room.

Option 1 with no consistent flooring

This option has us reconfiguring the kitchen, but I wish for you to notice the size and placement of the island. Due to the carpet in the family room, we only have so much space for an island. Right now, this newly designed island is currently sitting at roughly 8 feet by 4 feet.

We have discussed whether or not this family would like space to sit at the island or not, and this plan shows no seating at the island to maximize the storage.

Conceptual rendering with keeping the flooring in the family room. | By keeping the carpet, we are limited to the size of the island. | Design by Get It Together

Option 2 - Consistent Flooring

While the option above has a large island, when we look at the option to have consistent floor throughout the entire main floor, our kitchen changes.

By taking out the carpet in the family room we would feather in hardwood to match the rest of the main floor. Our plan is to also have the entire hardwood floor refinished. As you can now see, we now have ample space to extend the island AND have seating. Currently, this design option has the island at 12'-0" X 4'-8".

Consistent Flooring allows for a longer island as well as ample seating at the island | Design by Sheri Bruneau

Consistent Flooring

As I mentioned above, these kitchen designs are not complete however they do show options around having a consistent floor vs keeping the carpet.

When we presented the initial concepts to start to narrow our ideas down, the concept of removing the carpet was one that our clients are definitely open to.

Because every home plan is unique in its own way, it is not easy to make a blanket statement regarding consistent flooring. Some home plans are really conducive to having different flooring.

For this blog however, I'm throwing it over to you. Are you a fan of consistent flooring throughout the main floor for this home or are you on team 'keep the carpet' in the family room?