I used to have a peninsula in previous house, now have island. Hands down, I preferred the peninsula. You are right about the bottleneck potential, but to me the greater functionality was worth a lot more.

What does your plan look like? From a purely theoretical viewpoint...it sound like you want a chair to sit on, so I'd think about the kitchen table, if you have enough prep space. I like chairs, too :)

That being said, if you need the prep space (and stools are going to be the result anyway) then I think the peninsula would give you more space and seating. Islands are often more popular on the forum, but peninsulas may be making a comeback. As long as there's enough room for the kitchen to function (appliances open, etc.) then a peninsula might be the answer...and you'd get the prep sink!

I reluctantly gave up the island I envisioned for the peninsula my sisters strongly suggested. They were able to look at my kitchen much more objectively than I was. Now, 6 1/2 years later, I still often think about how fortunate I am that they took enough of an interest to convince me to make the most of my space.

I love the expanse of workspace the peninsula provides. A real bonus, that I didn't think about ahead of time, is that I find it really convenient having my workspace on the peninsula and the range at the bottom of the U. I find it much easier to transfer things to the stove and and to stir a pot when I just have to reach out with my right hand instead of having the pot at my back or down the counter from me. This may not be your configuration but I thought it was worth a mention, just in case.

Bottlenecks only matter when the kitchen is busy. Our family only consists of 4 people + a hovering dog. We don't entertain a lot so it was much more important for me to design the kitchen for the 300+ days a year I'm cooking for my family than the few times a year we have a lot of people moving in and out of the kitchen. Our fridge is located on the other side of the peninsula from the workspace which helps decrease traffic from the bottleneck area.

I have a peninsula and am keeping the same floorplan when we put in new cabinets. We are really happy with the way it functions. I love the unobstructed counterspace. We considered changing the layout and getting rid of it in favor of a small island/mobile cart, but no other configuration would really work as well for us.

Our layout is a U that includes the range on one side, sink on the middle, and peninsula on the other, with 66" between the 2 sides of the U. The fridge is outside of the U (though only a few feet away). So working in the U is sort of protected from traffic through the kitchen, and others can get a drink from the fridge without getting in the way.

The peninsula we have now (our "before" kitchen) is a little too long- it does create a bottleneck because it leaves only a 33" walkway past the end. When we renovate, we plan to shorten the peninsula so we have at least 42" walkway. But to be honest, even the 33" walkway is not frequently a problem (we have 1 kid, 2 dogs, and almost never entertain, so take that FWIW).

Mamadadapaige how old are your children? That might make a difference. We always (at least until we started the kitchen) had sit down dinners and found the kitchen table wonderful-especially with young children. The table was horrific though for my back when I used it as a work space for baking. After our last went off to college we took down the wall and added the peninsula to save my back. It's a great workspace. You may want to try eating out in restaurants that have counter seating and see how that works out for your family. Is the dining room close by? Would sitting down there for dinner be feasible if you want to use a table and chairs? Growing up we always had dinner together and I have very fond memories of that kitchen table and the one I used in my home too.

two votes for a peninsula! I guess this is the way I am leaning as it is making me happy to get some buy in for this.

Here is what I am thinking for a floorplan... not fully developed yet - still in the thinking about it stage. The peninsula would be nice for the extra room to allow my kids to get involved in cooking projects. I love the idea of a table but I think the utility of either an island or more so in my case a peninsula would be better. Maybe I could shorten it a little to ease up any issue of a bottleneck across from the fridge.

here is what I have so far:

I fell in love with the white kitchen with a white island,

Flipping through magazines, watching HGTV,
Seeing all the beautiful islands on GW or FKB caused me to
dream.

I dreamed of an island,

I wanted an island,

I wished for an island....

But the reality of my space was a pennisula. And I love
my pennisula. I would not change it for an island today.
It functions great in my space and gives me exactly what
I need. I still love the islands out there in kitchen
world but I think a pennisula is perfectly fine in the
right space.

Enjoy your choice.

~boxerpups

i was posting while others were so even more than two votes for a peninsula. Nice to hear from those who have one that it is a choice you like and would opt for again.

You mentioned kids participating in cooking - just wanted to say that I find my peninsula to be perfect for that. My 4.5 year-old son has been cooking side-by-side with me and DH since he was 2, at the peninsula with a stepstool. It's great to have the long space for spreading out. If we were using a small island, it would be cramped and I bet we'd have a lot of accidental knocking things off the end.

That looks doable in your space, but the prep sink looks big. Are you sure you need one? Your main sink is not far away.
If you really want it, I'd move it left because that is not enough of a landing spot on the left to be worth it. I'd also make sure your filtered drinking water is at that sink if you have 2 sinks and it's not in your fridge.
This layout is much better than before. Having the fridge where it can be accessed without bothering the cook is a great plan.
I am curious as to why the counter to the left of the stove seems that much shallower? I can see going with little to no overhang, but yours seems quite shallow. Were you planning on wall cabs below the counter? Is it possible to move the w/d wall up 6 inches or so? That part of the kitchen should get little to no traffic and does not need a huge aisle, so I would let it be a little tight if need be...
I have a peninsula, island and table in our kitchen, so I am not biased. Each is good in its own way for the right space and function. I think the peninsula beats an island in your kitchen for sure and seems better than a table as well.

I have a peninsula and an island, so my comment may be less useful to you, but I would keep my island over the peninsula if I had to give up one. My household is just my husband, dog and I, so our peninsula bar stools are almost never used, but I can see it would be very different if you have kids.

My island is opposite my range, so I can do all my prep work there and set up my cookbooks and have a lot of uncluttered space to work (and I love the deep pot drawers it accommodates). I have floor to ceiling cabinets on the other side. It works great, but these sort of design decisions seems so dependent on how you use your kitchen. The diagram you included looks great - if you go with the peninsula, the cook will never be lonely! Good luck with your kitchen!

dee850... glad to hear you are having good times in the kitchen with your little ones.

it was so much easier in our last house with more counterspace but even in our cramped quarters they still love to be along side me while I cook.

My kids are 9 and 6 and get more into kitchen projects every year in particular 6 yo DS.

Dianolo, my thinking with the 21" cabinet to the left of the sink is that I can fit the Hafele Le Mans in there if I decide to go that way, but if not I think I can fit plenty of stuff in the shallower cabinet and I think it gives me a few inches i need for the sink/range run. Also, the refrigerator cabinet will finish at 24" so the countertop on the 21" cabinets can die into the side of the refrigerator AND finally, i think it will make it easier for me to lean over and open the window.

OOPS... just re-reading... you were talking to the left of the wall ovens. i went with 18" there to make it not feel so pinched if more than one person is in and out of there. i might have to mock this up to try and imagine what it would be like if it were 21" but I was just trying to be cautious on walking space.

blfenton, thanks for your feedback. sounds like your situation is similar to mine. and thanks everyone for your responses. I am feeling a little better about all of this but still intend to re-evaluate removing the chimney - DH is really not on board for a big disruptive mess so not sure about that.

OK, tweaking for maximum space and utility.

I didn't like the sink being so close to the range so I moved the freezer to the nook in order to have enough room to place it around the corner and increase that space. (Small shallow pantry between it and the window) I widened the window over the sink so you can have a nice view of the yard. Then I shifted the cooktop over away from the bottleneck by the chimney and centered it between two windows for maximum light in the kitchen. The peninsula cabinets can be 18" deep vanity cabinets for maximum clearance and seating.

I shifted the laundry north enough to get 12" deep wall cabinets above 12" deep base cabinets because with all of the windows you need the storage and to serve as landing space for freezer and oven. This is definitely a one butt area! The prep sink would be optional, but if it's that close to the range, it can serve as potfiller and I'd rather have the peninsula as unbroken space.

{{gwi:1578615}}

I like the last iteration. Just wondering if it might make sense to swap the location of the prep and cleanup sink. Where do you store your dishes? It would be nice to have the dishwasher close to the dish and glass storage. And it might be nice to have the prep sink close to the refrigerator.

Make sure you have enough space between the windows to comfortably install a 42 inch hood over that 36 inch cooktop.

I like the prep sink, better on the island, as in Mamapaige's plan. The windows on either side of the range is a popular look, but I'd miss having an upper cabinet near the range. I dont' want to walk to the pantry for everything! LOL

LWO- I don't think the freezer can go there...it looks like a load bearing beam, next to the ovens. Could be a nice little pantry space, though :)

We have a peninsula in our u-shaped kitchen and I love it. I love to bake and provides me with so much work space to spread out everything I need and still give me room to work. We kept the same layout as the previous owners when we did our updating and I am so glad we did. I also love having the open space to move around, I feel like sometimes with an island it's more congested having to constantly having to go to one side or the other when working in the kitchen.

Epressler- That's been my concern about an island too. Narrow walkways and having to pick everything up to bring it to the island. With a peninsula, you can just spread out and keep going, without having to move everything to a new surface. Plus, I can put canisters against the wall, which would fall off, on an island :)

epressler and lavender, I am thinking the same thing. the expanse of space will be a luxury which gets to LWO's point of putting the prep sink elsewhere or just eliminating it. I can see both sides of that equation. On the one hand would be nice to peel carrots, prepare veggies, rinse off fruit right there at the peninsula but the sink might get in the way.

LWO, thanks for that plan. LL is right about the beam in the alcove - this has to be the most challenging plan known to man given all the impediments.

Thanks to everyone!! I greatly appreciate your help.

First off, I'm a big fan of large peninsulas. It's what we have and I'm so glad that we did it.

Second, if you are concerned about the one entrance kitchen, what about making your laundry area into a walk-through to the backside of the kitchen? I have no idea if that will work in your space or not, but here is what I was thinking:

Someone may already mentioned this, but have you tried backless stools? I, too, dislike climbing up into counter stools with backs. We got backless ones for our new kitchen and I personally think they're EASIER to sit down on than a regular chair. They also take up a lot less space visually, which I really like.

All the votes for peninsulas over islands in your case are really interesting. Sounds like the wheel has pretty much finally finished turning on that one. I remember feeling like an unwelcome nag when I recommended friends not tear out functional peninsulas for islands they just didn't have good room for. That was then, though, and the incoming tide was just too inviting.

However, let's not forget that comfy, gemutlich, family-style table and chairs. I was thinking a prep sink in the peninsula was not needed, but if it were not there would you tend to prep over there or by the stove? Now that you are considering creating an efficient work flow down the L counter, I'm wondering what would be the great benefit of a peninsula over a table and chairs in that case?

BTW, you could always try both. You would't have to buy expensive cabinets for a peninsula. A nice old reconfigured piece of furniture might do very nicely, and it wouldn't have to be bolted down initially while you decided to leave it there or move it to another place altogether. You could also do one or other other for a while and then change when the mood swept in. We ran the flooring under the island position, then installed it just to keep things nicely flexible.

Oh goodie! I have a peninsula, no room for an island anyway. I like that my little G-shaped horizontal space is all contiguous.

brickton - in all the time I spent pondering over this your idea never occured to me!! thanks for mentioning that . It is something that would work although I think I might like the laundry in its own little alcove as I don't keep the neatest laundry room and probably don't want it spilling into my kitchen space.

rosie - the plan has come a long way since you looked at it a couple of weeks ago. Your suggestion to have the more open space with fridges against the wall kept ringing in my ears. I think your observations were spot on. I know I don't really need a prep sink but I sorta want one! I think it will be fun having the kids help me and I bet we will use it a lot. In the last house, we had an island with no functional aspect (meaning no sink or appliances - just the MW)... as such it became a place to collect mail and junk. I somehow think this one will be better --- I am also planning in the butler's pantry for a place to put keys, mail, junk, etc.

linelle - huge groundswell for the peninsula, huh? wouldn't have expected it, but it is very helpful for me to feel more comfortable moving forward with my plan.

I was dealing with the exact same decision, really not wanting to give up an entry into my kitchen and wanting the flexibility to mix finishes and countertops with an island. I settled on a peninsula...we'll see how it works as we're in the demo process.

My mom, who has an island, told me that she'd take the peninsula over her island if she had it to do over. She preferred the separation from the cooking area and the eating side of the peninsula and opening to the table because she said it would keep people out of the kitchen when she's cooking. At family gatherings people tend to stand around the island to gab, as there isn't a real physical separation from cook space and conversation space. Something I would never have thought about?!?

I think it all depends on you and how you and your family operate. I had the most efficient peninsula. I could cook easily as everything was a pivot. No steps required. However there was inadequate space for more than one and I ended up being the only person behind the peninsula all the time. I live on a farm, have three young boys and love my new kitchen (15X17) with my table smack in the middle. I use it for cookie decorating, reading the paper, homework help, yacking etc etc. We entertain informally a lot and people just come on in and sit down at the table for pre dinner laughs. I have given up some efficiency (but not too much) by losing the peninsula, but for me, I am completely in love with my kitchen table as island. It is so welcoming, inclusive, and useful - for me. Oh, and plus I could not see aging gracefully by getting in and out of tall chairs for an island. Good luck!

If i had to choose between a peninsula and a small island, I would definitely choose the peninsula. I had a rather large U shaped kitchen in my previous house, with a really long peninsula. It was very useful. However, in our new house that we just finished building, I wanted a large island. For me, it was about form and aesthetics...my kitchen is quite open to the family room and breakfast room, and a peninsula would have visually "closed off" the kitchen area from the family room. With the large island, and plentiful aisles all around it, it seems more furniturey, which was what I was going for. (I think I made up a new word!) :)

It really is a matter of how you use your kitchen, and what looks and flows best! From your drawings...the peninsula seems perfect for your space.

Everything old is new again!

Th suggestions.

1. Widen doorway to butler's pantry so that you USE it as a butler's pantry. That means putting the cleanup sink and dish storage there AND A DW. That eliminates the burden of any but the pots and pans in the food preparation area. 25" sinks in both the butler's pantry and the kitchen proper can now work well and you can devote the additional room to something else.

2. Do a stackable washer and dryer so you have room to move the freezer next to that. Front loaders are more efficient, and freezer storage isn't used on a daily basis nearly as much as refrigerator storage. Then you can use the "nook" as more successful and less crowded baking area and pantry.

Okay, this has been making me crazy, so I finally just printed two copies, cut out everything with scissors, and slid everything around until I came up with something I could live with. So, sorry about the poor cut & paste job!

I really, really liked the built-in seating area that someone posted on a previous post, so I started with that. Also, I am a zone person, so I'm looking for a storage zone, prep zone, cook zone, serve out and dirty dishes back.

Also, I look for a "drop zone" for the fridge, freezer and pantry as you collect ingredients. The most recent picture (unless someone posts while I messing with this) has these 3 storage spots all over the kitchen and NONE have a drop zone, so you'll be carrying stuff everywhere.

I also didn't want to forget that you mentioned that this was a secondary eating area and your family mostly ate in the dining room, so I wanted a clear path to serve out hot food and bring back dirty dishes.

I liked the open W/D area and fiddled with putting in a pocket or sliding barn door to block it off, but I just couldn't get you a good prep area without that side.

So my plan has your cold and dry storage both in a reasonable drop to your prep, then access to your cook, which has access to serving, which is in a clear path to either table. Fridge/freezer not buried in the kitchen so kids can get in and out with ice and drinks.

Clear spot to dump dirty dishes (mine has tupperware underneath for saving leftovers), then DW near to dish storage, which needs to be near (under and above) serve-out.
Hope this all makes sense; I'm rambling now.

Measurements might not work out so well, but maybe this will give you a whole other game plan to think about. Probably want to slide the prep sink so that your pantry has a better drop zone, but not too much. Your main sink cut out really big and I don't know if you mean to have a sink that's 3' wide - I don't think your kitchen is going to be big enough to swing it and not sure why anyone would need it unless you're going to stack your dishes inside. (Also note that I didn't move any of the windows, forgot which ones move and which ones don't)

Anyway, I'll keep watching a looking forward to seeing your eventual outcome! {{gwi:1578618}}From Drop Box

mamadadapaige is everyone commenting here aware of the big picture layout? I'm not aware if there is somewhere to go look. In your layout I think I'm seeing a small piece of the bigger picture. Where do doors lead? Which way is front and back? At which door do guests arrive? Etc.

Thank You all... I very much appreciate all of your insight regarding my very weird space!!!

I think I am going to move forward with the peninsula plan. c9pilot... I had tossed around something simliar to what you proposed and very much appreciate someone taking time out of their day to consider my space. In the end, I cannot take the floorspace away from the laundry so I don't really have room to recess the other appliances in on the alcove. I guess I would also rather prep out in the open across from kids vs. against a wall. As time has gone by the peninsula idea has REALLY taken hold with me. I can completely imagine being in the kitchen with the kids and having a good time working on projects together. I think there is decent drop space. What I am still pondering is easy storage for dishes and glasses coming out of the dishwasher. I'd like to not be walking all over the kitchen. I really need to work on my elevations to pull this all together.

Green Designs- thanks! I think it will work better for me to have the window facing into the back yard vs. onto the enclosed porch. Your idea would give me much greater counterspace for sure though. Also, it is not possible to widen the butler's pantry doorway because of the headspace for the basement stairwell. There are so many obstructions, issues, impediments and the like in this space that it would make your head spin. I feel like it is candid camera for the kitchen designer with a gotcha around every corner.

It is very humbling for me to have all of your help. I appreciate it so much. I feel like the plan came SO far!

davidro1 - very good considerations... The entry into the kitchen is at the back of the house near our garage so this is our main entry. My plan is to convert some useless cabinetry in the butler's pantry into coat storage - sort of a mudroom of sorts.

The passageway through the butler's pantry leads to the front of the house - first you reach the dining room, with the living beyond that. To the left of the dining room is a family room with a hallway to the front door and with a powder room along side of it.

Guests more often than not come in through the front door.

I like the peninsula, too, but if you are worried about walking all over the kitchen, please really look at the placement of your fridge and pantry and freezer.
I look at that one plan above mine, and your drop zone for the fridge is over the dishwasher, which is nice next to the sink for washing veggies, and the continue to the right to the cooking area, or over a chair to the peninsula, where you would need a prep sink, or you'd go back and forth across the kitchen a couple of times.
The pantry has no drop zone, because it has the ovens next to it, so you're carrying that stuff all the way over to the peninsula or the other side of the cooktop.
I suppose the counter across from the freezer could be a temporary drop zone, but think about how you're going to get a glass of iced tea...glass here, ice over there, tea all the way across the kitchen in the fridge.
In the same way, you need to think through a complete meal and where all the ingredients are. Tacos...ground beef out of freezer, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese out of fridge, beans and taco shells out of pantry. Imagine where you'll be washing and prepping everything, and how you'll serve it out.
I think your plans are shaping up nicely, but I'm just concerned with some of the plans that others have posted. It's not just about where stuff will fit, but how you're going to functionally use it.
Good luck!

Mamapaige- Could you put some shelves, in front of the window (next to the fridge) and store some dishes, there? It might be a nice place for some pretty bowls, coffee mugs, etc. Maybe some plates and larger bowls in the peninsula?

If you moved the washer and dryer forward just a bit, you would have 12" (maybe 18"?) on the wall, across from the wall oven. Maybe have glass cabinets on top and store dishes there, too? If there's room, it would almost be like a hutch...that would be nice :) {{gwi:1578619}}From Kitchen plans

Lavender, I love that hutch - love the corbels.

I'm working on drawing elevations now - starting with the windows. Each of my existing glass panes are 15-5/8" tall by 8-3/4" wide. I want the new windows to have panes of glass with this size. I am thinking of windows along the lines of the ones you posted in the other thread (above the farm sink). Over the sink, double casements - tall but not too wide, but following the same proportions of the existing windows.

I would definitely like to utilize some of the space across from the wall ovens. I figure the uppers can be deeper and gut into the space above the washer and dryer with virtually no compromise - the W/D are 30" deep - I don't need 30" of counterspace so I pick up some room here.

I am very excited about how this is laying out. I can very much imagine myself moving around the room. c9pilot's point are good - as I work through the elevations i will be planning very carefully where food will be going (in particular the things we access on a daily basis for breakfast and school lunch since this is when we especially need to be super efficient) as well as dishes... right now we are walking into the other room for refrigerator items as well as pantry items and let me tell you it is just terrible. In addition, our DW is very close to a corner which makes it very difficult to unload - the main storage cabinets for things coming out of the dishwasher are above it, so with no real standing space (due to it being 10" off the corner) it is a lot of bending over and trying to squeeze into a tight corner.

this renovation can't happen fast enough! although i learned from the last renovation that it is best to take one's time in the design phase. Last time, we had our house pulled apart - weren't planning on doing the kitchen at all - BUt a rotten beam running under the kitchen necessitated pulling the whole thing apart so we decided to do it while in the middle of construction. this meant the whole thing was planned in two weeks - no time to think things through at all and while it looked good it could have functioned so much better (In the end it was a major selling point when we sold our house so that's good).

Here's the picture of the sink :)
{{gwi:1578620}}From Kitchen plans

I'm no expert, but I've always liked cereal, next to milk. Is there room by the fridge or on the peninsula, for cereal, bowls and spoons? It's nice if the kids can make their own breakfast, especially on the weekends!

The idea of using the butler's pantry for dish storage and cleaning is worth exploring, even though it may seem to be counter intuitive. That was the original intent of a "butler's pantry" after all. If you need coat hangup space, then you could do a very narrow bench with coathooks above between the basement and house stairs and even more coathooks/cubbies in the corner of the utility room. And I'm also really liking what stacking the washer and dryer do for the space in the laundry area.

The only thing I don't care for is the elimination of the second sink. I think this kitchen is spread out enough that a second sink is needed for the best efficient use of the space. If you do it like the last choice, with the open pantry/laundry area, then the second sink can serve as a laundry sink or a prep sink or a baking sink. It really makes more people be able to do more jobs at once without tripping over each other tying to get to a water source.

I was thinking the same thing about the cereal. I will have a lot of pantry space in the alcove but not as much in the main kitchen. I am planning for a 9" pantry between the two 24" fridge/freezers (each unit has a fridge on top, freezer on bottom which is good for me as I need more fridge space than freezer - I had the option of an all fridge and all freezer but the combo makes more sense to me - gives me more cubic capacity of fridge and also less bending over). The 9" pantry - haven't figured if it will be a pull out or shallow depth shelving or a combo of both -- it won't hold everything but I figured it will be enough space to hold the commonly used stuff that is needed on the fly.

Thanks for posting that pic of the window. so pretty!

I think the peninsula gives you more space and flexibility. You can get stools that are as comfortable as chairs - not even an issue. there are sooo many options. I would also explore the prep sink idea more. I have one on my island and it's basically become a bin for recyclables that need to go into the garage. We don't use it for prep at all. Once per year we use it as a wine/beer ice bucket. When I see that you have counter between your sink and your cooktop, you may find yourself using that instead, just as I do. Just something to think about.