What does she do with that space beside the fridge right now?

How about moving the fridge toward the table end, so the counters could form a full U? Is there any chance of insetting it into the wall so it doesn't stick out as far?

I wouldn't go with an OTR microwave if I could ever help it. If you could do cabinets on the fridge side of the kitchen, I'd put it in the bottom shelf of an upper next to the fridge.

Where is the pantry you mentioned, and how does she get there?

Ooh, good idea about the micro. There is a hallway on the other side of the fridge wall, so no recessing. The pantry is just to the left of the dining table, on the same wall that forms the other side of hallway.

Right now, she has that pot bellied stove beside the fridge. I asked her if she wanted to leave it and she hasn't decided. I think she likes the look of it in there, but she might decide to move it if we came up with a layout she liked more.

Ah, a hallway, huh? So opening the dead end could be a possibility to chew over ? I'm not suggesting incorporating a portion on the hall into the kitchen without knowing anything else, but has that been considered? What does it go to? If not opened up entirely, could a door lead out directly from the kitchen to the pantry or the pantry door shift to a place that would make that work?

Does your mom enjoy her privacy in there and want to hold onto it? Is there a nice or useful view line somewhere through that wall that she's missing out on? How're the sunshine and view through that window? Could they be improved?

My feeling is always that basic layout changes ultimately pay off many times more than cabinet finishes and new bells and whistles on appliances so should be considered first.

First glaring thing that pops out at me is the added cab and counter space she could have with a counter depth refrig.

Rosie, good idea! The kitchen in our old house was much like your mom's, armomto3boys, and we took out the wall and put in an island. It enabled us to access the island counterspace from the hallway side, as well as have storage all the way around. It was much less claustrophobic with that wall down. --But it depends on whether or not she wants the kitchen open to what your hallway has off of it, like Rosie said. Ours had the basement door and one bedroom door, so it was OK, then the rest of the hallway that remained walled in had the bathroom and 2 other bedrooms.

I don't have great photos of that kitchen, but maybe these will help.

Before:

After:

only hers has a flat top with two of those round cooking areas.

The hall goes to the back of the house to the bedrooms on the left of the hall, and the bath on the right (right behind the range wall), etc.

But she is not wanting to do any demo. We're pushing it with my dad as it is. The exterior is brick, so no messing with the window or adding any. I had thought of seeing if she'd like a garden window, though.

Maybe this will help....

Just some tries...Not very 'out of the box.' I left the space for the potbelly stove in some, but they could have the cabinets continue, of course. If she doesn't feel she needs the counter space on that side, she could have some lovely glass front or hutch type cabinets. They could be shallow from top to bottom, or deeper on the bottom and shallow, but to the counter, on the top.

Thanks rhome410. I wonder if she would be open to removing part of that wall. We'll just have to show her the possibilies and see what happens!

Nothing like pictures to make possibilities come alive! Armom, if they don't somehow :) get seduced into more change, just rehanging the pantry door to hinge on the same side but swing inward against the wall would be a quick little improvement that would pay off in convenience.

For a one-cook kitchen, that's actually a very nice tidy space to work with. And, you know, that kitchen hall wall doesn't look like a bearing wall to me. The bedroom hall wall and probably the one by the DR do. How about if on one of Rhome's drawings the door into the kitchen were to shift to the bottom left corner, still facing the dining area, but with a little short open counter reaching across from the right for serving, socializing, and views? The entry would also be that much more convenient to...everything.

I just left it as is, respecting 'Mom's' desire to not change the walls, but I agree about the entry to the kitchen being better if moved to the other side, or centered. I also agree that it could be a neat and efficient space for a one-cook kitchen. There have been a lot of very wonderful kitchens designed here in similarly sized spaces. A few cool details can really make the room special.

Do you mean remove the little 2ft wall? Would there be cabinets then on that hall wall at the bottom? I'm sorry, I'm a very visual learner.

I'm busy perusing the FKB right now. Snookum's kitchen looks very nice and that layout could certainly work.

It seems it should be either all open, or both sides with little walls...But maybe it also depends on which layout is used, and I think Rosie might have meant cutting it to half walls. If, though, there are no cabinets in that lower corner, like now because of the potbelly stove, it seems that it would be easier to get out of the room toward the hallway, pantry, etc. without the wall section as it is.

Here are a couple renderings I worked on variations of the plans above.

Thank you! I think I really like that second one. Although, I also like the hutch area in the first. I wonder if she had the built in hutch, if I could get her to move the dining area hutch and put the little stove there?

Oh wait, she needs a message area. Right now it's basically the fridge. I wonder if we put a base cab where the hutch is and make that wall area the message center, if that could work and still look nice and neat.

How much of a message area? Is the phone nearby? (I like mine near the phone...and a convenient mail drop-off point) If she's using the fridge, does she just need a bulletin board, or will it be a place to keep bills? cookbooks? ???

This photo made me think of possibilities for your mom's kitchen

RHome, yes the phone is currently on the counter at the bottom right. But she has a phone jack right beside the fridge also, so it could be moved to that side. I think a bulletin board would suffice plus a small mail drop off. She keeps the cookbooks in the pantry.

jan_s thanks, that does look like a similar space. I like that bank of drawers.

I suspect your mom would LOVE drawers, and a nice little stand-up message center would fit in to the left very nicely.

That's a very good looking pic of a U above. If the layout stays a U intead of converting to a galley, which hasn't been discussed yet, she'll still have two blind corners. Some thought should be given to what she'd really like in that respect, what sort of setup to handle the corners, and even the possibility of getting rid of both. A shallow hutch for displaying plates or shallow decorative niche could provide a very nice view into the kitchen across that end if a stove wasn't there. The view in's always tended to be a neglected part of a galley kitchen.