WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 2 / Design Tips - Clearance at Seating

Earlier this week the homeowner sent us this email:

I was thinking about the right hand side of the bay window (the side by the patio door) and was wondering if we could now fit a small cabinet there, perhaps a corner style one now that we have more room as the stairs are wider. Is this possible? What do you think?

As much as we try to anticipate every design question in advance, sometimes ideas pop up as the renovation unfolds and we have to make some design decisions on the fly.  In this situation we were able to relocate a support column making our stairs into the dining room quite a bit wider.

The area where the customer would like to add cabinets is the blank area to the left of the cabinet labelled BEA1215R.  As you can see there is definitely space available, about 5 feet to be exact.  So we can order more cabinets, right?

Courtesy of NKBA.org

Before we answer that, let's examine NKBA Kitchen Guideline #8 - Traffic Clearance at Seating.  In a seating area where no traffic passes behind a seated diner, allow a minimum 32” of clearance from the counter/table edge to any wall or other obstruction behind the seating area. If traffic passes behind the seated diner, allow at least 36” to edge past and at least 44” to walk past.

This is a wider view of the area in question that shows the island that sits in the middle of the kitchen.  Across the back is a raised eating bar, and with this family of 6 the bar will definitely be used.  The distance between the bar and wall is shown as 60".  If the guideline says we need 44" then we should be able to put cabinetry up to 16" deep along that wall.  Order more cabinets already!

Courtesy NKBA.org

Guideline #8 continues, stating that if traffic passes behind the seated diner, we need to plan a minimum of 60” to allow passage for a person in a wheelchair.  This addresses "Universal Design".  We'll deal with Universal Design in detail in another post, but for now it refers to making a room as accessible to as many people of as many abilities as possible.

In this situation, nobody in the homeowner's family is in a wheelchair.  In fact they're all very fit.  But there are 6 of them (4 active kids), and they also enjoy entertaining.  The staircase (directly behind the island) is the only access into the living room and the back patio and pool.  In other words, it's going to be a very busy staircase.

While adding cabinetry to this design would fall within the basic guidelines, the more stringent Universal Design guidelines seem to be a more prudent course of action.  In the end, it's the homeowner's decision.  But for this situation we suggested not adding cabinetry.  We'll keep you posted as to what the decision was in the end.

Note from Paradigm:  We spent some time with the client today (10/29/10) mapping out the cabinets on the floor and actually standing in the space.  With the Christmas party season fast approaching they saw this area as a potential bottleneck and decided to leave the cabinetry as planned.

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:

Part 1
Part 3