Your link does not work as it requires a password. Instead of a link to your account, post the photos directly in the post. You will get more responses.

To Individually select a picture, mouse over it, and click the "HTML" code box. It will then say "copied". Then paste into your post. It will be several lines of code. Do not worry. When you are done with your post, preview it. Then you should see the actual photo.

Also read the "new to kitchens" thread which has lots of good info.

Thank you! I thought I understood how to do that, but apparently not. I have made that folder public now. Did not realize it defaults to private.

I DEFINITELY would not want the refrigerator in the other room! If you can't take down the wall between the two rooms, then leave it where it is. Have you put some investigatory holes in the soffits to see what type of wiring or plumbing pipes they might be holding? It can be a big expense to move them. Your cabinet quote sounds about right for the space pictured and what you've described.

I have Kraftmaid cabinets that were installed in the kitchen in 1993 by the previous owner. Mine are oak and not particularly attractive. I'm sure they are the most basic ones that were available at the time as this owner remodeled the kitchen just before selling the house. However, they have held up very well. I only have one minor problem in one cabinet. It is 4 feet wide and the shelves sag slightly (they have no center support). But other than that, drawers still glide smoothly and exterior and boxes are fine.

I don't know if today's quality is same as 19 years ago, but they have been fine. I've wanted to remodel the kitchen for years and I've held off because everything is perfectly functional.

I also do not like the fridge in the other room. But beyond that, it appears that the fridge is smack against a wall. You wouldn't be able to open the freezer that way. At a minimum, you will need to space it out from the wall.

Thanks for the comments so far! For the concrns raised:
- the fridge is a French door freezer on the bottom model. This is based on the measurements I took myself, so the professional measurement and accomodations for the specs for the fridge aren't pictured exactly. The doors do need some clearance, but not much, and essentially none for the freezer.

- Moving the fridge is a hard decision. In the mock up it is located in a small hallway that connects the kitchen to the garage. Next to the fridge is the pantry, then a utility closet. Not pictured across the hall is a half bath and stairs to the basement. So it's not really another room, but also not in the main space.

The main reason I am considering this is the amount of counter space and cabinet space we currently have. Currently by the sink is the knife block to the left and in the corner on the right is our toaster oven, which we use regularly. For lack of a permanent home, our rice cooker also lives there, which we use 2-3 times a week on average.

Currently the fridge is to the right of the doorway to the hall to the garage with one set of cabinets to it's right. My husband's Capresso coffee machine lives there, which is a good size super automatic (he's a little fussy about coffee). The fridge sticks out several inches beyond the counter and between that, the cooking area, and the bakers rack we have due to lack of storage there is very little room for a table. I thought the change would allow us to reclaim those inches the fridge intruded into the room and eliminate the need for a baker's rake, thereby allowing a more functional table that could be expanded to seat 6 or 8 on occasion.

Now some may be wondering why I don't put a table in our great room and be done with it. Well, our great goon is not so great. If the outer was was aligned with the kitchen, I would just take down the wall by the sliding doors to open the space up. But unfortunately the outer wall for the great room starts 1/2 way across that section of wall so that is not helpful. Due to the placement of the kitchen door, fireplace and window it is impractical to put a table in the great room.

I'm sure I've been round and round with this in my head so many times I probably haven't considered something that might help.

I'm not entirely sure if moving the fridge is the right answer, but it's the only one I can come up with. Suggestions welcome!

I will need to explore the soffits, but I know there is a closet and the bathroom above them, and the plumbing for the bathroom is not on that side.

I think the ref is ok in the other room and I can understand why its placed there. However, you need to make ABSOLUTELY certain that you are far enough away from the wall that you can open the doors wide enough for cleaning as well as being able to access all of the drawers. For almost EVERY french door, those measurements are different than door open at 90 degrees.

I would think about using more drawer bases instead of door+pullouts. I might also put a smaller cabinet to the left of the range in order to get more distance between the sink and the range. If I did that, I'd look at what the trash arrangements were.

After looking long term at my step mothers Kraftmaid kitchen: the shelves bend, specialty mechanisms like trash pull-outs are too fragile and broke. The non-pull out drawers all work, the pull-out shelves are getting difficult to operate and the insides of the doors are scraped from the pull-outs. This is 10 years later.

I would shop the cabinets, both by locating another Kraftmaid dealer and by looking at different cabinets particularly at someplace like Scherrs. Because of the small size of your kitchen, you'd get more usable space using frameless cabinets so that's what I'd look at.

Don't be afraid of the U-putit-together aspect. Any tool-using, instruction-reading human could put the cabinets together in a day or so. The same is true of Ikea cabinets - another place to investigate.

Thanks for the info. We currently have a regular old trash can that we keep next to the sliding doors near the stove. We have a garbage disposal in the sink so that helps. We would not change to a pull put for the trash, would rather use the space for other stuff.

I would love to remove the wall next to where the fridge is pictured. The hesitation with that is the popcorn ceiling. I've read mixed reviews about repairing small areas such as the one made by removing the wall. With the wall gone, that would alleviate some of the clearance issues.

Anyone have recent experience patching popcorn?

The best "repair" for popcorn is to remove it entirely. Easier than fixing it, and easier to keep clean, especially in a kitchen.

I'd definitely look at taking down that wall so the sink could shift over to the right a bit and get more room between the sink and range. (As well as shifting the range to the left.) That's the measurement that's really important here, and with that wall gone, and the fridge back in it's original spot, you've got a lot more continuous counter space to the right and left of the sink. It creates a much more efficient kitchen if it's possible and there's nothing too important in that wall.

I'm with bmorepanic, I don't mind the fridge on the other side of the wall if it makes the rest of the kitchen work better. My MIL had a set-up similar to yours and it was a tad odd, but perfectly functional. If you already own a FD fridge and that is what you're using, it really, really needs enough space to open the door fully, as in close to 180 degrees. Maybe swap the positions of the fridge and pantry?

Small space kitchens need to maximize every square inch - I know, I have one! For this frameless works better than face frame cabinets. Ikea and Scherr's both get good reviews from folks here who've used them for both price and quality.

I would avoid door + roll out shelves for standard bottom cabinets. We retrofitted our old cabinets to this configuration 20 years ago, and it was a big step up from crawl-inside-to-find-things, but a big step down from all drawers. They waste enormous amounts of interior space and you just can't afford it. Our new pantry (we never had one before!) has roll-out shelves in the bottom section, though, and that works well for the pantry.

Counters: I'm not aware of a one-stop info page on the different types, but that's a good idea. For your kitchen you want to be good, but not the most expensive. You could look at the lower priced granites, which means more common, not less good. They've come way down in price evidently. Quartz will run you about the same as granite and are a great choice material-wise. Laminates come in everything from el cheapo to near the price of granite depending on the pattern. The link at the bottom is to a recent discussion of why laminate is a good idea. Wood countertops can be both fabulous to look at and cost-friendy. When you check out Ikea, check out their wood counters while you're there. Other choices can include stainless steel and tile, not my favorites, but loved by many.

Here is a link that might be useful: Does anyone on here actually have formica countertops?

I assumed that wall between the kitchen and where you show the fridge was load bearing and had to stay. If that's not the case, then absolutely get rid of it. Scraping the popcorn off the ceiling and doing something else up there isn't a big deal. We took out a little stub wall like that (but not in a doorway configuration like yours) and redid the ceilings ourselves. That's what gave us room for a pantry. Best idea we had.

Regarding countertops: there is no perfect material (or else we would all choose it!). Each material has disadvantages. You have to weigh off the pros and cons yourself.

For one-stop countertop info, you could do worse than these from Starcraft Builders:
http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/kitchen.countertops.htm

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/kitchen.countertops2.htm

Thanks for all the ideas! I've been thinking a lot about everything mentioned. I think we will end up taking out the wall and popcorn ceiling, it seems silly after mulling it over to sacrifice what will improve functionality when the scope of the changes are so wide to start. This will fix the fridge door clearance issue too. Still exploring replacement options, might decide after picking cabinets and countertop.

The current issue of Consumer Reports is all about kitchens! If anyone else is in the market, I have read it cover to cover and it has some great info, including an overview of counter types and floor materials.

My husband will not put the stove next to the wall, and I really can't move the tiny window, so I think the sink will stay where it is. I am considering losing 6 inches of cabinet next to the hall for a 9 inch deep bookcase on the end, got to see if that's possible. Also thinking about using the space inside the wall in the hallway to make a mail/memo center if I can.

@Suzannesl - can you elaborate a little on using drawers? How does that work for larger pans vs cabinets?

I really can't move the tiny window, so I think the sink will stay where it is.

You know, the sink does not have to go under a window.

I'm not sure I understand: Are you saying that your fridge will be in the great room?? ie: in the same room as your fireplace and living area? I don't like this idea. If it's in a utility room or something similar, then I think that would be OK.

I think one of the big issues here is that you have two, large, counter appliances. You can get an over-the-range microwave that doubles as a toaster oven. http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/microwaves.

Also, could you put your husband's espresso maker in another room?

The fridge would be in a shirt hall to the garage, opposite a half bath and stairs to the basement.

Pawa, thanks for the suggestions. We are actually looking at a GE microwave that has convection and broiling (not the advantium). If we like it and it broils well, we probably could lose the toaster oven. As for the coffee maker, I think it's the only thing in the house he has strong feelings for. I hesitate to move it since it does have to be emptied into the garbage and cleaned on occasion and it's handy to have it there. If I can find a spot to tuck a coffee center, either somewhere in the remodel or when we redo the "great" room, that's an intriguing idea.

I've been busy collecting more ideas from the forum, Kitchen magazines (who knew!) and the internet. My latest finds are nail up ceiling tiles to cover the popcorn ceiling and sliding bypass shutters for the sliding door.

I love all the comments. Thank you! I'm the type of person that gets tunnel vision sometimes and it really helps to see all the new ideas and questioning what I've posted.

@Angie_DIY: I also spent some time looking at sinks that are not under windows and also what people put above them. I really like the idea of a dish drain cabinet above the sink, but for my particular situation I don't think I'd gain anything. We leave the dishes in the dishwasher after the cycle to dry, and putting pots and pans in there is not an ideal place.

I'm going to ask the contractor how hard and expensive it would be to swap the sink and dishwasher. I've got a growing list of things to ask about as I do more research, then I can start looking at what is reasonable.