Thanks, all. I'll try to answer some questions. First, it is just the two of us adults with no youngsters in the house, so no need for a kid zone separate from the main cooking area. We do not do heavy cooking and only 2-3 times per year will there be more than two cooks working in the kitchen at once. Also, this is essentially a budget reno with Ikea cabs, stone/quartz, backsplash all coming in at $10-12K. The galley layout is staying the same, with appliances staying where they are (except for relocation of the counter-top MW). The layout works great as-is. The long bank of cabinets has an indoor garden on the other side, so is essentially an open galley wall rather than an "island." There will be no seating/access on the opposite side. The wall opposite the large bank in the photo has a 30" range (staying) with 30" of cabs on either side and the fridge. The uppers will be gone. Two reach-in pantries flank that wall. Here is a photo that sort of shows it, absent the pantries: 1) trash pullout. I know this is a great idea for most folks, but we tend to push the garbage to maximum density. Also, we don't mind just pulling the can over to the counter for heavy prep needs. (Yuck, I know, but its how we work!). 2) Warming drawer - there is one in the range. 3) Second sink - I don't think it would get much use, and it would be essentially "next to" the main sink, albeit several feet away - a little odd?. There is a bar sink in the living area for emergencies, although it never gets used. 4) Drink Fridge - this is a strong contender, and would remain useful even if we eventually upgrade to a fridge not manufactured during the Eisenhower administration. There is also the possibility of locating this at the wet bar across the room, but it would be less prominent in the kitchen. *The fridge drawers are nifty, but I don't think the benefits would outweigh the cost for us. 5) Pet feeding center -- I hadn't thought of this. Dog food is now in a tub in a closet near the door (they eat outside). Cat food stays in the room where cat's dish and litter box are. A good idea, but I don't know that it would give us any real increased utility. 6) Cleaning product pullout -- all of this will be in the sink base and should fit there. 7) Extra 4-drawer stack. I've got one planned at the "junk" end of the kitchen, and there will be a lot of "top" drawers elsewhere, so I shouldn't need this. 8) Micro drawer -- this is probably the top contender if we decide to expand the budget a bit, It will get the MW off the counter and out of the pantry. _______________ Thanks so much for the input, fellow kitchen folk!

I'll scout around, Aliris. This and a few other tips really helped make my kitchen the functional paradise it is (for me) today -- when I began, I was quite uninformed regarding design issues that are just accepted traditions and design issues you can change with impunity for the better. I'll quote the above Starcraft Builders article here just for reference: "The ideal maximum height of upper cabinets is about 32". The top shelf should be not more than about 26" from the bottom of the cabinet. Anything higher is "stool storage" -- you have to stand on a stool to get to it. There is no harm in having taller cabinets, even right to the ceiling, so long as you recognize that the top part of tall cabinets is usually unreachable and should be used to hold things only rarely used. Even the top shelf of a 32" cabinet is for most of us in the extended rather than the primary arc of reach. We can usually reach just the stuff in front of the shelf. (Lazy susans installed on the top shelf can remedy the problem, however -- everything at the back of the shelf can quickly be brought within reach with a little twist of the wrist.) The placement of upper cabinets can hamper efficiency. Most commonly they are placed 18" above the counter top. This has become the standard, not because it is the best height, but because it's where the typical 30" wall cabinet happens to fall when installed on an 8 foot wall under the usual 12" soffit and above a 36" high counter. This is, however, too high for efficient use by the most people under 6' tall. The best reach height for most people is just 57" -- about shoulder height. If the bottom of the cabinet is at 54" then almost everything in the cabinet is above the best reach height. Lowering the cabinet slightly makes the stuff in the cabinet more readily accessible. The best height for a wall cabinet is 14-15" above the counter top. A lot of countertop appliances, however, especially coffee-makers, assume an 18" height above the counter, and use every bit of it. If you have these tall appliances, then at least some of your cabinets will need to be placed higher than the optimum height. Lowering the upper cabinets just this 3-4 inches makes all of the bottom two shelves of the cabinet easily reachable, as well as at least the front half of the third shelf. Upper cabinet storage is now much more efficient with just this modest change."

We had 15" in our old kitchen and I hated it, but it really depends on how you're using the space. In our kitchen, it was the primary work space so I was always hitting the cabinets, and the stand mixer kept gouging the underside of the cabinet when I'd forget to pull it out all the way before flipping it back. But if, in contrast, you're using the space to house a microwave or toaster oven or what-have-you--16" will be fine (and better to have the storage space there). Don't forget that you can put three shelves in a 34" cabinet, too, though. We have three in a 32" cabinet and love it--every shelf doesn't need to have a full 12" of clearance. I can reach all of our shelves (intentionally designed that way) and we keep cans/jars on the lowest shelf since they don't need height. How tall are your ceilings? If you post that with a floor plan, I'm sure you will get lots of feedback and ideas on how to plan the cabinetry! If you're doing custom cabinetry, I wouldn't feel hemmed in by standards sizes and distances--one of the benefits is that you can mix it up and do what works best for your space.

I ended up going with 4 drawers in all my drawer banks and all fo the base cabinets in my main work areas are drawer banks. I measured EVERYTHING and found there were only 5-6 things that I planned to store in a drawer that wouldn't fit, and so I am planning to store them either in uppers, in the sink bases (will have separate trash pullouts), or nearby in some base cabinets that are only 17" deep. I, too, struggled with the problem of getting banks of different configurations to look right together. I finally just decided all drawer banks would be 6,8,8,8 which will give me about 4,6,6,6 of actual drawer height. I keep second guessing my decision, but then I go back to my list of measurements and feel reassured. I figure I can always get a couple new drawer fronts and reconfigure if I hate it.