wow vicnsb - your kitchen looks wonderful!! last time I ran across photos of it was when the cabinets were being stained/painted. Nice job. You must love being in there!! To all the other "small" kitchen owners, I don't know about you guys, but I never really considered my kitchen "small" until I started seeing all the ones here! My kitchen has never been an "eat-in" or had the room for an island or peninsula, but for a 1600 sq ft ranch, it seemed to be a very normal size :) Both my sisters and my mom have large, open, eat in kitchens with double the amount of cabinets and counterspace than I have, but their houses are all two story 3000+ sq ft, so you get that. Even though I am the one who loves to cook most in our extended family, I have never envied them the size. Small kitchens can work SO efficiently when you have the right set-up. charlikin and all others who live on the East Coast - I lived upstairs in a 2 family before moving here and I had a neat kitchen there. Built-in china cabinet with glass doors and huge drawers in my kitchen. Beautiful, beautiful door and moldings everywhere. My refrigerator was actually in the butlers pantry........ but ohhhhh, the shelves, counter space, deep cabinets with ice box latches and beadboard wainscotting. Man, I wish I had a picture of it. It was never "updated" except for fresh paint and it was to die for. I MISS that pantry......

In a small galley your zones will overlap. It's more about organization than location so that you can have economy of movement when you have a galley. You still need the cardinal points of the triangle: sink, stove, fridge. With those planned so that you can easily move between, and not be butt to butt at any of them, figure out where you're going to prep meals (generally between sink and stove--a place for knives, peeler, etc., cutting boards and bowls), where you're going to do your baking (a good place for mixer, bowls, scrapers, flours, baking spices--might be the same as your prep space, but best if it's in a different little area, perhaps the far side of the stove, where it doubles as a landing area), where you're going to have coffee/toast/snacks (best near the door or eating area) or whatever. Figure out how all your different functions interact, and if you have good fridge access or whatever you need, or if you'll be constantly moving someone in another zone to get at what you'll need. Does that make sense? That is, the place where you prep might also be the landing place for dirty dishes from the table, or the place you roll cookies, or both. The place you use your mixer might also be where you use your food processor and also the landing zone for the fridge. You have to prioritize and really analyze what tasks you have happening all at once so you'll know where to put what. The best thing in a galley for not constantly bumping is a wide enough aisle (at least 48"). The next most important is to develop habits that minimize the dancing, like preparing the coffee (but not turning it on) before starting meal prep, and emptying the clean dishwasher before that so that you can start filling it again, since there's nowhere out of your way to stack dishes.

I was told Shenandoah doesn't have a 12-inch rollout. Odd that they do offer a 9 inch. A 9 is pegged for next to the d/w on the opposite wall. Open shelves are above that now. It seems narrow and hard to see some of the shelves on the rollout but they are adjustable. I might have to remove one. I agree the two drawer upper on the bank might need to go. That's a rolling pin, masher, or a box of saran. I probably can't afford to loose that space. I think I will nix the 2-tier utensil tray which looked so useful, doubling some space up. They are pricey and the shelf depth is so narrow (1-1/4 and 1-1/2). Maybe a luxury in a large kitchen but possibly not so useful as it looks so a waste for someone like me. I don't have a ton of flatware to worry about but lots of miscellaneous tools of various sizes and heights it seems. Mixing bowls, tupperware, larger pots and pans I don't use daily so would probably find comfortable in the closet or possibly a spot on the wall for some pans. Then again, I have to think of resale and make it functional for typical use. It's so hard when the amount of cabinetry is so limited. I haven't been cooking much the last decade but had enjoyed it and was wanting to get more into it again. I expect my needs to change so want to plan for what generally works and to maximize what space there is here and its flexibility. I wish that d/w wall weren't so awkward and could do an upper cabinet without a hitch. Not too sure about that right now.

@beth09, there was a recent discussion about built-in cutting boards here and I was surprised that there were people who didn't like them. I was also surprised about how many of them had major concerns about sanitation with them. Mine haven't made me sick yet. Every older kitchen I've had, including my current one, has had those type of cutting boards. I love them. I have three in my current kitchen and they are one reason why I'm reusing my cabinet boxes as I'm not finding these type of cutting boards in newer cabinet lines unless you go custom, definitely not in my budget. I hope you have better luck finding them in the cabinet line you choose.