Oh, I so don't miss those days, now that we finally placed our cabinet order I feel like a weight has been lifted! Have you thought about where you will store things? That really helped me out and is often recommended at this stage. I have a 27 inch drawer base between the sink and range for pots and pans. I wanted 30 or 33, but once I figured out they are now stored in 2 x 18 inch regular cabinet with 1/2 shelves in them, I realized they would fit fine. Some of the current space is taken up by sheet pans and such, and I will have a tray pull out for them, and there will also be more storage above that section if needed as I have a 12 inch spice pull out, and currently all the spices are in the 18 inch cabinet above that space. I also wanted a dish drawer. I was going to have a 30 x 21 deep drawer, which worked fine when I mocked it up on cardboard with our dishes. I'm happy to now have a 30x24 drawer, but it would have worked the other way too. You may be fine with what's pictured. Mock it up with markers if needed, just be sure to account for face frame (if applicable) and drawer sides when determining inside dimensions. The 36 inch drawers should be fine, you may want to make the 24 inch stack 27 or 30 if you can, depending on your needs. I ended up giving up the thrash pull out to get other things I wanted. I will have a small recycling pull out under the sink though. Everything's a trade off. Once I figured out what I needed where, it was easier to make choices. Still not 100% there, but I know the important things have a home, and the rest will definitely fit, just not sure exactly which space will have which things yet so I haven't ordered dividers.

Hi Marcolo Thank you. It did not occur to me to simply eliminate that box and replace it with storage. I just figured we were stuck with it. And you are right: it is just an empty box sitting there taking up space. And, since it is made of uninsulated 3/4" wood, it probably makes the kitchen cold. So either of your ideas -- the bench or the cabinet -- would make that space more useful, and warm it up at the same time. Fiberglass for the door. I will investigate that material. I had asked one carpenter if the door could be remade in Azek, but he thought it would not be rigid enough. So I started thinking about Azek with a backing of plywood, but then I imagined that double layer would again make the door very heavy and difficult for me to open and close which is why I haven't taken pictures of of the headroom yet. I need DH's help for that project, and he has been tied up with a tennis tournament this week. I think we can do it on Sunday. Hi rmtdoug, Good points, all. Although it would squeeze the sink closer to the cooktop, I will ask the carpenter when he next stops by about shortening that wall from the mudroom to the kitchen, I would very much like to do that if it is not too costly, especially after seeing lisa_a's latest design with an expanded mudroom just off that space. When I saw her good idea I realized we would not have to preserve much of that mudroom/kitchen wall at all to maintain the current size of the mudroom since we could just open up the other wall and, until we get a shed built, store a whole lot of necessary gear close to the back door, including a snow shovel in winter and a rake in summer. Hi lisa_a, What an incredible design idea. I absolutely love it and it solves so many of our problems simultaneously. The pocket door between the bath and the shower is a clever solution. The only sticking point is that the maximum opening on that wall (where you have shown the entry to the new mudroom) is only 28" because there is an old chimney on one side. The chimney is shown on the architectural drawing as a funny shaped rectangle protruding into the "shower" area on the plan. That unused chimney is actually a square that sits outside the kitchen on the mudroom-side of the wall. However, I so love your design that I want to use it anyway. If we ripped through some of the trim on that bathroom we could widen the opening to a suitable sized doorway. I realize I need to upload all the dimensions of the mudroom, the BP and the dining room. My design software has arrived and I have used it to outline the kitchen with some gross dimensions, but I need to get all the dimensions on it because you and Jillius have had to guess the measurements of areas outside the kitchen. I see you drew the stairs opening to the living room. Thank you. Now that you have imagined how that will look, do you think the opening to the kitchen from the living room should be closed up and the sink sited there? I ask this in case we can afford to widen the kitchen opening from the mudroom as rmtdoug suggests since doing that would cut down on the length of the sink/cooktop wall. The distance from the inside wall of the kitchen (the one with the mudroom on the other side) to the furthest wall of the BP (with the dining room on the other side) is 181". The distance from that same kitchen wall to the closest-to-the-BP dining room wall is 185.5". Let me know if those measurements are not what you were looking for.

I'd have to see pictures to decide, but at first blush, I'd opt to leave it open. Perhaps it has to do with how the top of the wall is finished. If you go to houzz.com, and search on "partition wall" you'll see lots of ideas of how a wall can be completed from wood slats to plexiglass panels to open screening to etched glass or fill it in with bead curtains: or vinyl decorative lattice panels. Any number of options, though I'm thinking leaving it plain would be fine.

The only thing I can think of is this. I used this under my sink but it’s dimensions are 1 1/2 x 6 1/8 x 24 1/8. The holes match the inside cabinet holes. From the bottom, 1 7/8”, 3 1/8”, and 4 3/8”. From the front, 1” and 12 7/8”. You can recreate using scrap as we did here for Sektion since they no longer have that part.