Open shelving on a range wall without ventilation equals greasy dirty contents. You really should go in and wash the walls above your current range to see the sticky muck that will build up on all of your cabinets, but especially on the stuff near your range.

At a minimum, put in a range hood if you want to go with open shelving. I'd suggest not doing open shelving if you want to maximize the storage. Wall cabinets give you more storage as you do not have to be at all neat and color coordinated behind the doors. You can purchase an inexpensive range hood for under $200 and install it now in recirculating mode and then do the work for adding the ventilation pipes themselves at a later mode when the budget improves. It's an investment in the future health and longevity of all this pretty new stuff.

I'd also suggest taking one of the cabinets on the range run, and creating a mobile butcher block topped cart out of it so that it can roll out from underneath the counter and be additional prep space. You will need more than 1/2" between the DW and wall. At minimum, you need a 3/4" panel, as it will be structural and support your counter. Many also add a 3" filler in an L configuration to increase the clearance and add additional strength. I would also suggest decreasing the sink cabinet base to 27" and going to a smaller single 25" sink. It will be actually be more functional than a double sink when you have a DW, and you can take the additional 9" to use as a pullout for cleaning supplies or cooking oils etc.

GreenDesigns:
Thanks for the feedback!

Vent hood:
I must admit that I am still learning about ventilation. I've only ever lived in cheap tract housing or older homes, and none of them have had proper ventilation. We are vegetarian and don't fry anything, so I haven't noticed a grease problem even on the white painted backsplash behind the range. A proper vent hood, however, would give me more options for ranges and would make the kitchen functional if I (or a future homeowner) decide to start searing steaks someday, so I would don't want to do anything now that will make it harder to install one later. From what I've read on GW, it sounds like the recirculating fans don't provide much ventilation. Will a recirculating fan be significantly better than no fan at all or do you see it as more of a place holder for real ventilation later? Are there other things I can do now to make it easier to add proper ventilation later?

Open shelves:
I'm a fan of both the look and functionality of open shelves. We don't own a lot of stuff, so we have enough cabinet space in the current kitchen. Since I like having things I use frequently out in view, we do have a lot of things that stack up on the counter in my prep zone, and it's these things (prep tools, cookbooks, pantry items in Mason jars) that I would like to put on the open shelves to get them off the counter. We currently have pots, pans, and large mixing bowls hanging on hooks on the range wall without a grease problem, but maybe I will spend some time scrubbing the walls over my range this weekend to see if that changes my mind about what I want to store there. :)

Sink wall:
I know that the sink wall is currently too tight. Your comments about having a 3/4" panel next to the dishwasher and 3" in the corner help to let me know how much more room I need. I am still leaning towards a double bowl sink because DH and I are often using the sink at the same time, and even though we have a DW, we do have a lot of stuff that we hand wash. I am considering several double bowl sinks that have the same internal space as my current sink but will fit in a 33" sink base. Would that extra 3" help with the crowding? Would it help to move the dishwasher next to the sink and put the left pullout against the dining room wall?

Mobile cart:
Thanks for the suggestion! You can never have too much prep space in a small kitchen.

In a house of this size, I am not sure what benefit you get from having a separate door to the hallway from the kitchen.

I would consider closing up that doorway and increasing your usable kitchen space. At the very least it means the pantry could be inside the kitchen and you could gain some set-down space next to the fridge.

palimpsest:
The kitchen layout sure would be better with only one door to the kitchen. A pantry in the kitchen! Landing space for the fridge! I have a few concerns about closing it up, though - how will it affect traffic flow and air circulation, how hard will it be to close up - but I will discuss it with DH. This might call for an experiment where we keep the hallway door (which is open 99% of the time) closed for a while and see what happens.

Let me say right up front that I'm terrible at looking at scale drawings and making a lot of sense out of them. On the other hand, I relate to small kitchens. Two things in the feedback struck me.

GreenDesigns, who is one of my go-to people for authoritative advice, says:
You will need more than 1/2" between the DW and wall. At minimum, you need a 3/4" panel, as it will be structural and support your counter.
We didn't though. Our counter run ends at a pantry, not a wall, but I don't think that makes a difference. We supported the end of the counter with a bracket on the pantry. GD, doesn't that address the problem in this case?

Palimpsest (I did look up that word eventually!) wonders if it wouldn't be better to move the pantry from the hallway to the kitchen proper and close up the hall door. I can see doing that and, all things considered, it would be nice to have the pantry actually in the same room. On the other hand, having two doors really increases the flow of the kitchen and keeps the cramped feeling down. My small kitchen has two entries on adjacent walls and Mom's has one in about the same space. My kitchen flows, hers is a traffic jam. I think I would put up with the out-of-the-way pantry. That door also looks like it's the main way groceries come in from the car and maybe the garden. Or maybe not, maybe they usually come in through the living and dining rooms.

Happykitchen47, we recently went from a double sink (37 yrs of the same sink!) to a single. I do any number of hand wash items and don't ever just fill the sink to use for washwater. If I have a bowl or pan that needs washing, I fill that. If not, I just put some dishsoap on the sponge and wash whatever. With a grid in the bottom of the sink the washed items can just sit there until they all get rinsed. It's also great for cleaning produce. If you get a single bowl sink, especially one with an offset drain, you get more useable room in the sink plus more useable room under the sink. Something to think about.

suzannes1:
Thanks for posting the picture of your countertop support. It seems like an angle iron would work to support the countertop over the dishwasher, though that might depend on what countertop material we end up using. Is your countertop stone?

I, too, am concerned about the effect going down to one door will have on traffic flow, but it is a change worth considering. It seems like every time I think of something that would improve the layout of this kitchen it comes with a big downside and I have to decide which trade off is better. I appreciate the feedback I'm getting here from people more experienced with these decisions.

Losing that doorway would concern me. Coming from the back half of the house would mean a somewhat lengthy trail through the living and dining rooms to access the kitchen. And where do the groceries come in... Front door or a back door we don't see?

If I was going to alter a doorway, I'd move the living room doorway left so that it lines up with the hallway and build a grand pantry facing the kitchen doorway all along the right side of the hallway, filling in the jog. It could be combo pantry and other storage, as needed.

happykitchen,

Your layout is very similar to mine, but longer on both sides and with a higher ceiling.

My concerns were these:

1. Is there enough space between the counter top and the bottom of the wall cabinets? My ceiling is only 7'3", so I have a 16" space now. It's low. In my renovation, I plan to either lose or shorten the ceiling mouldings in order to have a min. 18", but you have plenty of space on top to open that up if you want to.

2. Where can I put small appliances like the mixer, food processor, and toaster oven to get them off the counter? There's a lot of under-the-counter space in the corner of the L, and I've been considering 'blind corner' cabinets to take advantage of that otherwise dead space in the back. I'll store the mixer and food processor there. For that kind of cabinet, you need a minimum 15"W door, which I think you have to the right of the L. There are different kinds of pull outs to choose from that swing out far enough for the second cabinet to pull into place, so it's very convenient. What are you considering doing in that corner?

I agree with GreenDesigns regarding open shelving, particularly around the stove. Do you plan to have a microwave (oh, I see it, to the right of the doorway). Is it convenient there? Since it doesn't have to go above the range (mine does, no other space), then I'd definitely consider putting in a range hood with outside ventilation, if possible.

The only other thought I have is to maybe close up the space between the refrigerator and upper cabinet so as not to have to clean it! A longer cabinet above would do the trick, maybe with clear or frosted glass doors depending on what you'd store there?

Are you planning a trash pullout near the sink or stove? Do you bake? Where will you keep cookie sheets? A tray opening in the base might be welcome. What about spices?

I think the placement of your DW, sink, stove, and frig is perfect -- very convenient, so I wouldn't move any. That just leaves playing with cabinet sizes!

That's my .02, FWIW.

Sure, and angle iron will work for support to a straight and plumb panel like a pantry or fridge panel. The problem you run into with a DW is that if you leave only 24" and your wall is wonky (and what wall isn't!) then when you go to push that DW into place, there isn't enough room because the wall bows in and is actually smaller than 24" at some point. Even if you force it into place, opening the door scrapes the wall every time. That's why you always begin any cabinet run against the wall with a filler scribed to fit the wall. That gives you a clean vertical line to place your cabinet next to. A 1" filler is about as narrow as you can scribe something, and fillers usually come in 3" widths, so I usually cheat a bit for the installer and just have him rip a 3" filler in half and use half for the wall cabinet and half for the base.

Since you are building the cabinets yourself, you don't have to do "shortcuts" to make install easy. You can choose the harder way, because you are doing it yourself. You can probably scribe 3/4" filler against the wall at the face and then use a metal bracket along the wall to support the counter for the best compromise for support and plumbness.

And that's another point that I wanted to make here. Since you are doing your own cabinets, you don't have to use conventional 3" increments for them. You can make them whatever size your kitcchen needs them to be. But, don't forget you will need fillers at your corners to allow the doors and drawers to actually operate. You show the 8" cabinet smack up against the blind corner base without any fillers. It won't be able to open that way. A much better solution would be to eliminate that 8" pullout and blind corner and go to the smaller sink and now you have room for a super susan in that corner which will double the usability of that corner space.

rhome410:
That's a great suggestion for the pantry, but I think it is more work than we want to tackle now. Even closing up the hallway door might be more than we want to do. Honestly, though more storage would be nice, we don't have a storage problem now. A landing space for the fridge would be a bigger gain for me since I too often end up using the kitchen floor for that!

We normally bring groceries into the house through the back door and into the kitchen via the hallway door. Either the front door or the back door would work, though. We park in the driveway, which is to the left of the house in the floor plan, about half way between the front and the back door.

barbaranh:
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your kitchen. I'm often surprised at how well my kitchen layout works given its size, but since we are doing so much work to it now, I want to improve it as much as I can and I certainly don't want to make mistakes that will make it worse!

Upper cabinet height:
We currently have upper cabinets only on the sink wall. They are 13.5" above the countertop (they are even with the windowsill in the picture) which is too low. I think I need to mock up some cabinets in the space and see what height works best, but it is helpful to hear that 16" is still too low in your kitchen.

Small appliances:
The MW is currently on the counter above the DW and I hate it there. In the plan it is the box on the shelf to the left of the hallway door (sorry about my amateur drawings!). The toaster stays out on the counter in the corner between the range and fridge walls. I'm fine with it there, so I plan to leave it. The only other small appliance we use regularly is a blender, which we plan to keep in a drawer in pieces and will probably plug into the same outlet as the toaster.

Corner cabinet:
I'm planning on having a blind corner cabinet, but I haven't thought through all of the details yet. If one will fit in a 15" cabinet, would it make more sense to change the cabinets to the left of the range to a 15" blind corner and a 33" 3 drawer stack or is 33" too wide for drawers?

Cabinet above fridge:
We haven't decided on the exact fridge we are getting, so the fridge in the elevation is the size of my current one. I don't want to design the space so that I'm too limited in what fridge can go there in the future. Looking around, I figured 72" is the tallest fridge I would get, so I added 3". What is the recommended clearance above a fridge?

Trash:
Trash and recycling are currently under the sink hanging on the cabinet doors. We recycle and compost, so the little trash can on the door works well and I plan on keeping it. The little recycling can is woefully inadequate. I plan on getting a big recycling bin and devoting the whole of the right side of the sink base to it (minus any room for plumbing).

Baking/spices:
I don't bake much. I use my oven mostly for roasting vegetables and baking casseroles, quick breads and cookies. I was planning on putting cookie sheets and the like in one of the small cabinets next to the sink and larger baking pans in one of the large drawers by the stove. Spices are in one of the top drawers to the left of the stove and I plan on keeping them there.

GreenDesigns:
Based on past experience, I can assure you that every wall in the house is wonky. :) DH is really the woodworker in the family, so I will discuss with him how to deal with fitting the cabinets against the out of plumb walls. What I'm hearing, though, is that we need to have more wiggle room than is in my current design.

I'd prefer a corner susan to the pullout and blind corner cabinet in my design, but that would require a 28" sink base to keep the sink centered under the window. (I'm not usually a stickler for symmetry but I don't think I will like the sink 2"-3" off center on an otherwise symmetrical wall.) 28" means a much smaller sink and only a single bowl. I know everyone here loves single bowl sinks (and you guys are usually right on these things) but I have trouble conceiving of how we use our sink translating into a single bowl. I guess a trip to a kitchen showroom to embarrass myself with a pantomime routine is in order. Are there guidelines for clearance if I keep the corner pullout?

I wouldn't normally suggested turning a kitchen into a dead end, but other than lengthening the walk with groceries I am not sure what the additional doorway adds that wouldn't be compensated for by having some additional counterspace for set-done from the fridge and small appliances.

If you don't want to give up the air circulation and light into the hallway, you could keep the top half of the doorway like a pass-through.(Which would partially solve the grocery issue as well since you could unload the bags onto the counter and then walk around to store.

You could even consider leaving the door intact and running the cabinets across and finishing the back edge of the counter and the back of the cabinets so they looked good through the open doorway. Unusual, but very low impact to the original house too, and it could always be reconverted back should someone want to do so.

My counters are 3cm granite and that open space underneath was where we put the dishwasher. GreenDesigns is right though, actual walls can be way out of straight. You see that little shim in back of the angle iron picture? That's compensating for the wavy back wall. Check this - the blue metal is a lifting device, the wall is on the left:

On that wall, one stud was placed with the bow towards the kitchen and all the rest were placed with the bow to the room on the other side of the wall. That one stud was the second or third from the corner, so all the cabinets needed shimming to get them level both vertically and horizontally.

Fridge/cabinet above fridge: the width of the fridge turns out to be more critical than the height. Most standard refrigerators are around 69", so 71" of space is about good to plan on until you know exactly what model you're getting. We wanted a French Door fridge, but we only had 33" max in width. They make French Doors in that width, but the usable space inside isn't optimal. We went with a Whirlpool Gold which maximized our space. Our cabinet above the fridge is 24" deep, but to the right the uppers go back to 13". We put vertical divider racks up there and store cookie sheets, platters, cake pans, etc. Mostly I can reach.

Space from counter to bottom of uppers: We also had 16" before reno, and it was too short for work being done on the counters - just crunchy, not impossible. Now we are close to 18" and that's all I'd want to give it. If you have a tall coffee maker or something you want to keep out, you could make it taller.

palimpsest:
Thanks for the additional suggestions for closing up the hallway door. I'm prone to tweaking what I currently have rather than stepping back and reassessing the best use of the space, and this whole kitchen design feels like I'm paving cow paths because they are already there. I appreciate outside the box suggestions.

suzannesl:
We have narrowed the fridge choices to one-door bottom freezers. These come in 29.5" - 33" widths, so our new fridge will be somewhere in that range. I think the fridge I used in the elevation is 33" inches wide. I will play around with making the cabinet over the fridge deeper and a few inches longer.

I was planning on 15" deep for the other uppers with 10" - 11" on the open shelves. I might need to make the microwave shelf a little deeper than 15" for when we have to replace our current microwave, which seems to be shallower than most on the market. Do these depths seem OK?

It's another doorway-moving suggestion, but what about centering the dining room door and turning the fridge against the dining room? I think you might be able to have room for the microwave and counter underneath between it and the hallway wall.

I would think about doing a cabinet, dw, sink base, cabinet as
up to 2" of filler, 15" drawer cabinet, 18" dw, 30" sink base, 9" pullout, REQUIRED filler at corner of 1.5"(which your drawing is missing plus another filler after turning the corner). The required fillers at the corner are what allow the cabinets on the other side of the corner to open without striking the other cabinet or getting bound up in its handles.

If I measured the walls and found them pretty straight, I might risk reducing the initial filler to 1/2" and raise the drawer cabinet to 16.5" wide, but I'd probably talk myself out of it because its really chancy (or increase only an inch.

I might also try to weight the pros and cons of the wall cabinet to the right of the range. Because I'm right handed, it would be kinda klutzy for me to reach into it. But I also wonder how you intend to do doors on it? Plus you might need a small filler right at the inside corner between the wall and the cabinet. Again, I take wild chances sometimes, but I'd probably choose to have a wider cabinet parallel to the range instead and rearrange the wall shelves.

rhome410:
That's another good suggestion I hadn't thought of! If the center of the dining room doorway was 6' from either corner of the kitchen, I would have room for the fridge and a cabinet in the corner 19.5" to 23" wide depending on the fridge width (a few inches more if I was OK with the fridge overlapping the door trim). That would be wide enough for our current microwave, and it makes use of the dining room wall, which feels wasted in the current plan but is hard to use without moving the dining room door because of the clearance needed for the DW. I'll have to play around with that idea.

I do appreciate these ideas that include moving around doors and such. If one of them has enough advantages, we would consider doing more work than we had initial planned. I would also like feedback, however, on what the best cabinet layout would be if we leave the basic structure of the kitchen intact.

bmorepanic:
Your recommendations about spacers against the wall and in the corner are really helpful. I would prefer to keep a 24" DW since we need the DW space more than we need an extra set of drawers, but I will see what I can fit on the sink wall with the appropriate spacers included and a smaller sink base.

The upper cabinet to the right of the range is really all about me trying to find a way to get the MW off of the countertop. I like the idea of it near the hallway door and the fridge since we use it mostly for snacks and heating up leftovers, but I didn't like the amount of space it took up when parallel to the range wall. I tend to prefer an unfitted look with fewer uppers, but I need to balance that with my strong desire to get the MW off of the counter. What size cabinet would you use for the MW and how would you handle the corner?

Thanks for all the great suggestions you gave me yesterday!

I've done a new floor plan using rhome410's suggestion of moving the dining room door. I centered the door in the dining room and moved the fridge and some cabinets onto the kitchen wall abutting the dining room. Unlike rhome410's original suggestion, I moved the fridge back into the corner because I didn't like it right across from the range.

Here's a new version of the floor plan showing the kitchen and dining room. I haven't incorporated the other changes you guys have suggested yet.

Here are elevations of the kitchen walls abutting the dining room and hallway showing the changes:

What do you guys think? Is this change worth the effort of moving the door? Does it disrupt traffic flow in the dining room or the kitchen? Is the aisle between the range and the fridge wide enough (I count 43.5" using 30" deep cabinets on the dining room wall)?

I would flipflop the fridge and adjacent cabinets, or put at least a narrow cabinet to the left of the fridge and see if combined, the 6"-9" cabinet and the doorswing of the fridge slightly into the hallway door opening would allow full opening of the fridge.

I like this a lot better.

The following is a long shot. It is motivated by the fact that I don't like cooking in the aisleway. Are you open to the idea of having your range under your window? If so, flipping the sink and range would give, IMHO, a better layout. (I am biased, because this is what I did in a very similar sized/configured kitchen.)
Layout:

Perspective:

Result:

Thread that describes the design evolution:
Challenging Layout Conundrum

To clarify, when I said "I like this a lot better," I was referring to your new plan (and/or Pal's tweak of it) with the DR door moved and the fridge turned. (I also like my suggestion, obviously, but that wasn't what I meant to say just then.)

I might even shift the door further to the sink side to be able to get that narrow pantry between the fridge and the wall. A fridge against a wall like that has issues opening, and you need additional space to allow that to happen. There is no point in wasting that space, so I'd want to try for at least a 12" pullout like Ikea has between the fridge and wall. (And you will NOT be able to build a pull out pantry for the price Ikea sells them for, so take a look at your local store.) If the door is shoved over closer to the sink, then you have room for the pantry, fridge and then MW cabinet right there next to it for a very tight and well organized snack zone. It takes advantage of every bit of space and makes it usable rather than excess.

I also agree with the need for real ventilation. If you are doing a consumer grade range, then a simple under cabinet range hood is inexpensive and can be ducted straight out an exterior wall or straight up through a roof. For someone with the skills and tools needed to make their own cabinetry, this will be a simple matter and well worth doing. I also agree with going to a single sink in order to get a corner super susan. It has much better storage than any blind corner, and you can actually reach the stored goods there rather than having to get a headlamp and small child to crawl in after stuff.

Thanks for the feedback on the new plan! So far there is agreement that it is worth it to move the dining room door and that the fridge shouldn't be in the corner.

My only concern with moving the fridge away from the hallway wall is that I don't want it across the aisle from the range. The range is 42" from the hallway wall, and I'm planning on a 30" or 33" fridge. Where would you put the range and the fridge so they don't conflict?

I can move the door 10" further towards the sink wall, which would give me more space for cabinetry on the dining room wall. If I do that, the front of the dishwasher would be 5" from the dining room door. Is it a problem for the dishwasher to open up in front of the dining room door?

Angie_DIY:
I have been following the progress of your gorgeous kitchen while I've been lurking here on the board. I didn't realize the footprint was so similar to mine!

Took me a while to realize, too! In one dimension you have me by half an inch, but I am grateful for the extra two feet that I have over you in length!

I don't think you said so explicitly, but I have the idea it is just two of you? Could you make due with a smaller fridge? Perhaps 30"? You could then squeeze in the space next to it for a narrow closet without overlapping your range. If you cannot or do not want to follow LWO's advice and get a usable pantry, perhaps you can settle for a narrow broom "closet" pullout? Maybe 6"

You said you had a small budget, and I am ALL TOO AWARE how GW can make you want to spend more than you were originally planning to spend. That having been said, there are fridges that are designed to be able to go against a wall. (Liebherr; I have no direct experience with them.) Many here have found them to be good tools for small kitchens.

Could you take out the kitchen/hallway door and the wall that's directly below in in the floorplan, so that you could access the pantry from the kitchen instead? It would make your pantry deeper, and not as wide, so maybe it's not as functional, but it would save you going around the corner to get stuff.

Angie_DIY:
Yes, it's just the two of us, so we can get away with a 30" fridge. That probably is the best solution.

It's against code here to have the range under the window, so if I move the dining room door and put the fridge on the dining room wall, the range will have to be in the aisle. I'm also not eager to move the sink off of the exterior wall because I'd rather not move the plumbing.

GW is full of great advice, and I don't think we could remodel the kitchen without the information I've learned here, but, yeah, it doesn't help the budget to start comparing your small, low-end kitchen to the much nicer kitchens here!

beasty:
Thanks for the suggestion! Changing the placement of the pantry door would make the pantry more accessible from the kitchen. I don't know, though, if I would make this change and move the dining room door since I bet I would access the pantry less frequently if I had more storage on the dining room wall.

It's against code here to have the range under the window,

To have the range under a window, or the range under an operable window with flammable trim? Big difference.

marcolo:
Great point. When I was reviewing the code related to ranges, I remember seeing that ranges are not allowed in front of an operable window, and my window is operable. I can't find the specific citation with a quick search, though, so I might be misremembering. I should know better than to rely on my memory. :)

Whether it is allowed or not, my inclination is to not swap the range and the sink since that would require moving the plumbing and any ventilation for the range would block the only window in the kitchen.

Yeah, it was worth it to swap positions for my situation, probably not worth it for yours. I was going to ask the same question as Marcolo, though, but for a different (?) reason. It sounds like this doesn't apply to you, but many people say (or "have been told") that it is against code to have a range under a window. Few, including builders, have actually checked. So, I was going to ask if you had actually checked the code or just had been told that, mostly for the benefit of future readers of this post.

any ventilation for the range would block the only window in the kitchen.
Did you see my window and range hood?

I don't, however, want to get the reputation of thinking that every range needs to be under a window!! ;-)

I am working on one more option for you. Not yet sure if it will be an improvement or a downgrade over your latest plan.

Again, this is motivated by wanting to get your range out of the aisleway, and minimize structural changes. For that, we turn to our friend Mr. Galley.

I like this layout, both for your kitchen and for mine. I am actually glad that I did not think of it before GW (videlicet, Buehl) came up with the layout that I eventually settled on. If I had, I would have chosen it without exploring other layouts. (I slightly prefer the layout I chose to this one, but this one would have saved me many dollars.)

I chose to leave your doorways where they are. (You could, of course, tweak the DR door position, but that does not seem worth it for this layout.) In the current form, it gives 18" on one side and 15" on the other side of your range, leaving a few inches for the door casing. Ventilation can easily be run out through the ceiling. Not moving the doorway means that the fridge needs to remain relatively small; I drew a 30" fridge, placed 6" from the wall assuming a "broom closet" of sorts would go there. The sink position is somewhat arbitrary. I just chose a decent compromise, giving prep space to its left, and plunk space for the fridge to its right.

The sole window remains nicely centered in the space, as is preferable IMHO with a galley.

The cost, of course, is moving the plumbing. I moved mine myself, so I am not sure what you should expect to pay for that. Perhaps someone else with experience can chime in with a ballpark estimate. Probably a wash with moving the door.

Again, I am not convinced it is better than your previous layout, which I do like a lot. They each have a few pros and cons. Just giving you another option.

Angie_DIY:
I checked the code about ranges myself to make sure that my original plan was compliant, but I didn't note down the part about ranges under a window carefully because I wasn't thinking of putting my range under a window at the time. I have seen all sorts of misinformation about what is in the code on various internet posts, and it is possible that what I am remembering is someone else's misinformation. Thank you and marcolo for clarifying so that I don't lead others astray! I will look up the actual code again when I have time.

Your hood looks great in your kitchen. My kitchen has only one small north-facing window, however, and we have our windows open a lot, so I would prefer not to obstruct it at all.

Thanks for all your help!

Angie_DIY:
Thanks for putting together another plan! The dimensions of my kitchen have always made me think that it should have a galley layout, but I have hesitated because I didn't want to move the sink. I will take a closer look at this option now.

I have been playing with the layout that requires moving the dining room door, and my new drawings are below.

I have drawn a 15" pantry and a 30" fridge on the dining room wall. I have also changed the sink wall bases to a 9" pullout, a 24" DW, a 30" sink base, and a 36" corner cabinet. I have kept some open shelves (against your advice), but I have moved them further from the range. I need to do more research before I know what to do with the range hood, but I have left a place for a 36" range hood in the plan. I have also changed the backsplash height to 18".

What do you think?

I think your new plan is worlds better than what you started with!

I wouldn't split the top drawer in your 30 inch stack to two, though. You'll be left with very little internal space to work with. It makes more sense to have one big drawer and use internal dividers.

And that last set of drawers on the other side of your range- I think you'd be better off combining with the set next to it- whether you make it a three or a five-stack- so that you have more usable space.

You might look at french cleats or other versions of invisible shelf supports and drop some of the brackets. They limit your ability to place things on the shelves.

The other benefit is to be able to use closer set shelves (more stuff, easier to reach, less dust!).

The sentiment expressed against open shelves was associated with your plan to forgo ventilation. There are lots of happy campers here with open shelves!

stranger4 and bmorepanic:
Thanks for your suggestions!

Angie_DIY:
I'm happy to hear that others have had good experiences with open shelves. When I reread the negative comments about them in this thread, I realized that, indeed, the comments are really about the ventilation issue.

I have been working on drawing up a more detailed version of Angie_DIY's galley plan. Here is the floor plan:

So far, I see the following advantages and disadvantages as compared to the plan I posted yesterday.
Pros: range and sink more sheltered from traffic aisles, can fit a bigger sink
Cons: less storage space & counter space, less convenient microwave placement, short cabinet runs near stove, less convenient landing space for the fridge

I'm leaning toward moving the dining room door and using the plan I posted yesterday, but I don't want to go with this layout if the traffic flow will be a problem. How concerned should I be about traffic flow in the L-shaped aisle? The aisle in front of the dishwasher is 39" and the aisle in front of the range is 43.5".

How much traffic do you get from that hallway? I know you said you bring groceries in from that direction, but what else happens? Do your DH and other people come through the kitchen to get to the Dining Room, or do they go through the kitchen?

It could be that I am overly sensitive to foot traffic, because we have a lot of it in our floor arrangement.

I'm not a layout guru, but I think your second-to-last version is the best, combined with Stranger4's advice about combining the drawer stacks to the right of the range, although 42" wide drawers seem kind of big--maybe 36" and another 6' pullout?
Just out of curiosity: I can see having the hallway doorway, but why a door in it? Is it a vintage swinging door?

Angie_DIY:
The path through the kitchen is the shortest path from the dining room to the bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry, all of which are accessed via the hallway. DH is often working at the dining room table while I'm cooking, but he can get from there to the back of the house via the living room as well.

With only two of us here, there is not that much traffic to deal with. I asked about the traffic flow, though, because these aisles seem small. I can make them a little bigger but at the expense of the counter by the fridge, which is one of the things that I like about this plan. I think I will mock the aisles up in the kitchen and see how they feel.

iroll:
Thanks for the feedback!

Our house has several extraneous doors. The floor plan above shows the one between the living room and the hallway. There is also one further down the hall. There's a small addition on the back that looks like it dates from the 1950s. They extended the hallway as part of the addition, but they left the door where the hallway used to end. We haven't taken these doors down because we occasionally find them useful for blocking sound and light traveling through our small house when one person is making noise in the living room or kitchen and the other wants some quiet in the bedroom. We also store stuff (like our grocery bags) in the little space behind the kitchen door.

The opening between the dining room and the kitchen used to have a door, too. It must have been taken down decades ago because you can now barely see the mortises for the hinges under many coats of paint. This door swung into the kitchen towards the fridge, which makes you wonder what the original kitchen layout was.