IKEA Condo Plans

In order to regain lost cabinet space from opening up Kitchen, I thought about creating a Built In against the Living Room wall.  This one from IKEA would costs $1707.  Questions that come to mind:

1. Would someone moving into a one bedroom have another need and/or furniture for this Living Room wall?  Being that most of the other walls are windows, wall space is pretty sparse.
2. Assuming they would use the cabinets in the kitchen for the everyday items (accessibility), what could/would they use this storage for?  The opaque glass would kind of hide what is stored.  You could also created a bigger paneled section on the bottom for the various odds and ends storage. 

Below are some plans I mocked up on IKEA's Home Planner.  Here are some general comments regarding the plans:

• Includes the Kitchen, Living and Den areas.  The entrance hallway is not included.
• Tan "box" in the middle is supposed to be a sofa.
• I modeled a 63" TV and 65" Media Center.

Floor Plan

View from NE Corner.  It does fell pretty open, which is nice.  The counter space here would likely have a coffee maker and microwave.  I've heard you can do the combination Microwave/Oven options, which would be nice below and save counter space.  Is it alright to have a microwave that low?  I am not sure why that range isn't centered on top of the oven, but I was planning on buying a drop in range/oven/microwave.

View from NW Corner

View from SE Corner.  Having the tall cabinets under the breakfast bar would be nice additional storage.  I could pull the lip of the counter out, to create an actual breakfast bar with stool, etc.  Would it be alright to still have the cabinets underneath or would people's feet likely mess up the cabinet doors.

View from SW Corner

 Office Area - Opening to Den?

I am hoping to create an office area out of the hallway closet, walk-in bedroom closet and excess space in the bedroom.  Because the room doesn't have window, it can't be considered an extra bedroom.  The dimensions on it could be as big as 8.5' x 10'.  In order to get some natural light in, I would like to open it up to the Den area.  This creates some challenges because this is the only remaining wall for a TV.  I have modeled 3 options below.

Door on the Left.  30" opening.  Seem to put TV in the corner.

 

 

 

Door on the Right.  30" opening.  TV seems to be more centered.  Not sure the feasibility of actually putting the door on that side, as I believe there is a pillar behind that wall.  There is also cable wiring I need to watch out for in that area.  This would also negate the idea of putting a long closet against the back of the office on the South wall.

No Door.  This looks the cleanest.  The office door would then either be a (1) pocket door right before you walk into the bedroom, or (2) doors from bedroom.  Option (2) would require you have to go into the bedroom to get into it (-), but it would also lend itself to the bigger walk-in if someone wanted to use it that way (+).