Extending the Free Farmhouse Kitchen Plans

This post goes into more details on the kitchen ideas on the American Farmhouse Extended Plans. The original Free Farmhouse Plans build a small 975 square foot two-story traditional farmhouse. The Extended Design gives ideas for how you can build a bigger farmhouse or build onto the small farmhouse. The extended design is 1945 square feet.

American Farmhouse
Floor Plans for the Extended Design

With about 2,000 square feet and a garage, this design also includes a master bedroom suite on the second level, with an expanded kitchen and living area on the first. On the ground level, it also includes a wrap-around porch and an office (or guest bedroom), which can be easily converted to a master bedroom if necessary.

www.freefarmhouse.com

The book about the American Farmhouse, the first free plans, offered some ideas on how to expand the small 16′ x 32′ footprint plans. Above is the ground floor.

The Back of the House… where the additions can go.

Maybe you would like a garage, a bigger kitchen, or a larger bedroom suite. Build it to the back. Don’t inflate the house by squeezing another room inside. Instead, build additional masses, as if the house has grown over time. Use additions to create a T- or L-shaped plan. The back of the house is intended to look incomplete. May it inspire you to build out your dreams over time.

Now Jay Osborne, the architectural designer who designed the free open-source house plans has added complete plans, architectural drawings and design files with some additional ideas already included. You can find them on his site, www.freefarmhouse.com. He also has a Kickstarter right now for a printed version of his latest even larger farmhouse plans.

Extended American Farmhouse Kitchen Plan

The extended plans add a bay window so that there is more space in the dining room.

The sink is moved into the addition. The kitchen is a pass-through to the new wing.

The fridge is moved to where the sink had been. The fridge, sink and stove create a convenient work triangle. There is plenty of counter-space near them.

With a bay window, there is more room for a round dining table. This gives room for more storage in the dining/kitchen area, as well.  I loved the corner cabinet in the old plans, but this gives a lot more storage as well as maybe some more counter surface.

Here is the original kitchen area, but with the sink moved into the addition. The fridge is sorta where the sink used to be.

Then the addition, with plenty of counter-space and room for any sized sink and a dishwasher.

I love the addition of the little open corner shelves.

This has the details of the sink addition. I LOVE the windows.

Jay sourced is a single deep farmhouse style sink, the Highpoint Collection 24-inch Italian Fireclay Kitchen-Laundry Sink.  It is 9-inches deep and can be mounted under or over the counter.

The plans specify an 18″ wide dishwasher. I can see why, that’s what will fit and still keep the sink centered in front of the windows. If this were my house, I would consider putting a normal-sized dishwasher maybe where the sink used to be, under the counter on the other side of the fridge… the plumbing is already there. It’s not as convenient to the sink, but it is quite convenient to the table, which would be… convenient.

Key Notes KITCHEN FIXTURES

X-00 REFRIGERATOR
X-02 KITCHEN SINK
X-04 RANGE / OVEN
X-06 RANGE HOOD
X-08 WATER FAUCET
X-10 COUNTERTOP
X-12 FLOOR CABINETS
X-13 DISHWASHER
X-14 WALL CABINETS
X-22 WALL-HUNG TOILET
X-24 CORNER SINK

These are the details of the wall with the stove on it, the outside wall with the bay window. Then what used to be the outside wall of the house, then left to the addition where the new sink is.

FINISHES
F-60 HARDWOOD FLOOR
F-62 FLOOR TILE
F-68 BASE MOLDING
F-72 OPENING CASING
F-74 BEADBOARD
F-76 WAINSCOT CAP
F-82 CROWN MOLDING

This is the whole other side of the kitchen, the wall with the fridge on it. Close up views are below.

This is the doorway that comes in from the center hall.

The counter runs the whole way, so there is plenty of surface to work on. One side is close to the table, too so convenient to put serve from.

The plans specify most of the same materials as the original Free Farmhouse Plans.  Jay sourced a Blomberg BRFB1042SS 24″ 10.6 cu. ft. Counter Depth Bottom Freezer Refrigerator. The measurements are 23 3/8″ wide, 24 3/8″ deep and 67 3/8″ high. That model is discontinued now, but the new version, Blomberg BRFB1322SS 24″ 13 cu. ft. Counter Depth Bottom Freezer Refrigerator is nearly the same size, 23 2/5″ wide, 26 1/2″ deep and 72 1/2″ high. And it holds more.

On the other side of the fridge is the corner cabinet across from the sink.

The plans specify most of the same materials as the original Free Farmhouse Plans.

If you’ve read pretty much anything I’ve written, you know how much I prefer planning ahead to use standard-sized appliances as much as possible. There are more options available, they are more practical and often better quality is available for less money.

In this case the fridge specified is counter depth, 24 3/8″. I agree that would look better and make it easier to walk through the kitchen.  But this fridge is only 10.6 cu. ft. That means it really doesn’t hold very much.  The top-selling refrigerators at Lowe’s and Home Depot are between 17 to 32 cubic feet. They are all a little over 30″ deep.

So, here’s an idea. Recess the fridge. There is a powder room on the other side of that wall on the extended plan. The original plan only had a closet on the other side of the wall. Is there a way to box in some space for the back of the fridge? Perhaps have a vent in the wall, so the heat has somewhere to go?

Just look on Pinterest for plenty of ideas, photos and how-tos.

FIXTURE & EQUIPMENT SCHEDULE

X-00 REFRIGERATOR 25x25x69″ ENERGY STAR BLOMBERG / BRFB1042SS
X-02 KITCHEN SINK 24″x18″ SINGLE BOWL, VITREOUS CHINA HIGHPOINT COLLECTION / FIRECLAY
X-04 RANGE / OVEN 24″x24″x36″ – –
X-10 KITCHEN COUNTERTOP 1.5-2″ THICK – SILESTONE PEARL JASMINE – SUEDE FINISH (MATTE)
X-12 FLOOR CABINETS 15″, 24″ WIDE INCLUDES (3) 12″ WALL UNITS AS FLOOR CABINETS WITH OPEN SHELVES IKEA / SEKTION
X-13 DISHWASHER 18″ WIDE UNDERCOUNTER –
X-14 WALL CABINETS 12″ WIDE PAINTED, GLAZED DOORS PREFERRED IKEA / SEKTION