Both Ccoombs1 & Buehl's pantry's are corner types. Mine is just on the flat wall and rectangular. Its 4' along the back wall and then approx 2' deep. I think I will put shelves along one side of the 2' depth and then along the back wall (like an L). The L will be on the right side and the door will be shifted to the left side. So if there were 12" deep shelves at a min on the L side, I would have approx 30" or so of opening for a door or doors. If any shelf was deeper, then it would be smaller. If it was a single door it would swing right. Immediately to the left of the pantry is the doorway to the hallway. So there is a space issue here and therefore tying to see how small of a door I can put in and still be comfortable to get in and out as well as access the stuff on the right side that forms the L. Does this make sense? A friend of mine has the same door on hers. Can't remember though if you can see the stuff on the shelves through it or not. This style is on my list if a single door would work.

Perhaps change the door hinge/swing on the pantry so it doesn't hit freezer and reverse. It is really nice that the dining seats at the lower island are in front of that triple window. One thing I noticed that might be a problem over time is that the fridge is quite a way from the family room, the dining room, and the island seats. Do you plan another beverage and snack area? Having the fridge where it is now is great for your work triangle, so I'm not sure you'd want to move it. One possibility is to swap it with the desk, but then the cook is walking a long way...

measurements of appliances would help. It's difficult to know how they would fit into the space w/o them. is the m/w used a lot? in cooking process or just for snacks? the first thing I'd do is draw up a layout of a galley type kitchen/work area with a 3.5 - 4' doorway to the DR/FR centered on that wall. That gives you about 4' on either side of the work area. I'd put the fridge about where it is (w/o cab to it's left), move the sink a bit (a foot?) to the the right of where it is. that's gives you several ft of work space between fridge and sink. fridge is close to prep/cook area and to DR/FR. On the stove side I'd move the stove a bit to it's left (hard to tell how much w/o knowing size of the stove). put a 'wing' on the corner to the right of the stove w/ a prep sink on the end that turns (so is 'backed' to the DR wall). if mw is needed for cooking process, possibly it could be smaller and put on an 'under an upper cabinet' shelf - be it to the left or right of the stove. My choice would be putting it in the corner area. I'd consider another short cab/counter 'wing' on the right end of the sink run. That gives a bit more counter space at the end of that run and a slight barrier to a table put in front of the window. I wouldn't put a bench up against a peninsula there - that places the heads of people (and their hair) too close to counter range for me. The other end and opposite the table area could be a baking/other work space with pantry area. Possible 2nd oven/wall oven. on the end wall (in front of ext door - that goes where? garage? backyard?) I'd put a halltree/bench w/hooks over it for my sweater, sun hat, dog leash. open space under bench for incoming dirty/muddy shoes/boots. what I call an end 'wing' - I think this is from buehl's kitchen. it's at the end of a run. it's just a short 'turned' section of cab and counter. The corner area of it can open (doors or drawers) into the space behind it, be it the DR or the kitchen table area. this is another sample - from a gw'er whose name i don't remember. to the left of the dw (if I remember correctly) the cab/counter angles off to the back door. it's just a bit of a triangular cab (you can see the knob on it). i wouldn't use a diagonal across the corner area tho - it cuts into the space too much.

Bob, figuring out the best lighting for our kitchen was one of the harder decisions I faced. In retrospect I wish I'd put in more cans, and spaced them more closely for more even light. The amount of light from each bulb is plenty (75 watts) but there isn't enough overlap. Our ceiling is 8' 7" high, and the room is 13.5' x 19'. We put in nine 6" recessed fixtures, one small, lower wattage recessed accent light, and two pendants over the island (I haven't yet figured out the best bulbs for these yet.) Eight of the recessed lights have 75 watt halogen bulbs, and one has a rather dim CF in it. The accent bulb doesn't add that much general light. I don't have any of them on a dimmer because there's barely enough light as it is. Above the sink area (a 12' long run of cabinets) there are 4 in a row, about 2.5' to 3' apart. This is the only part of the kitchen that is very well lit. In the rest of the room I only put one above each cabinet. This gives enough light to see into the cabinets and work at the counters. But even when all the lights are on, the general room lighting is a little annoying to me. This is because it's so directional (focused down) and there isn't enough ambient light. It's a little hard on my eyes. It would be better if there were more fixtures, closer together. That way the cones of light overlap and you don't get the dark patches between them. An ambient fixture that lit up the whole room might also work. I'd say follow the guidelines to make sure the cones of light overlap. Someone told me not to listen to lighting store people or electricians b/c they'd over-recommend the number of fixtures needed. That was a mistake, I should have gone with more lights, and not try to save money by installing a minimal number. Good luck!