This is an odd shaped room. The fridge is definitely out of the work triangle. I would make that nook into an eat-in area (banquette maybe ) and arrange the kitchen like a galley, not wrapped around the corner.

Sorry, I should clarify, there is a large breakfast area beyond the island.

It would be helpful if you could show the layout of this entire floor.

Anne

If there is already an eating area, then I would partially wall in that nook and add a door to make a big walk-in pantry (or even put laundry room in there) and still do a galley or corridor-style kitchen. Walling over part of that nook will give you more wall space for cabinets.

Could you move the refrigerator to the area where the microwave is now?

donald, I already have a mudroom and a pantry. I agree more wall space = more cabinet space though. rufinorox, I thought about that, but I think I need clearance for the doors (we have decided to go with a french door fridge. I'm afraid it's awkward all around and I'm just going to have to deal...

how old are your boys?

{{!gwi}}

I would remove the L like bmore suggested, open up a little more to the family room, extend the island that direction, and put the fridge on the other side near the pantry. Instead of the curved counter into the butler's pantry, I think I would square it off and treat it as a separate space. You have a very large footprint for your first floor, and a relatively small kitchen to serve it. I might rethink the assignation of space on your plan in general.

It looks like you have a kind of bar area set up inside that nook but it would make more sense to locate that closer to the dining space so that people are not walking through your work space to access it. Maybe you could turn that nook into a baking centre, or put in a home office space. I think the fridge location is fine because french doors don't need too much clearance and it looks far enough away from the island.

Damn.. I've written this twice already but the site won't let me post another follow-up. What's the deal with that!!!

Anyway, I looked at the whole house plan and saw that the 'nook' is actually a corridor connecting your kitchen and DR so you have it set up like a butler's pantry. Now that makes sense (although on the first drawing it looked like it was an enclosed space).

But maybe you could still extend the kitchen wall over a bit to gain more cabinets or countertop in the kitchen space.

I have to run, but two other ideas in addition to BmorePanic's idea:

OR

as donaldsg said, the 72" long wall at the top of the layout, is actually open and is a walk thru to the DR. You can't tell in the KD's rendering, because she shows it as a closed wall, but you can see it in the first floor layout.

I missed that! Thanks Malhgold. Too bad, it would have made a nice walk-in pantry!

Wow! Great ideas and advice - Thank you! Buehl - great renditions, if only they'd work! Donald, I thank you esp. for all your posts. I agree about extending the wall, my DH and I talked about this just last night. I don't mind losing space in my pantry since it's quite big anyway, and I'd rather have the space in the kitchen.
Thanks to all who shared ideas - I'm feeling better.