What else are you going to have on the range wall? Artwork? Maybe some floating shelves? I think if your storage needs are covered, then you'd be okay as long as the range wall doesn't look naked.

The link doesn't show a galley, but it's what I picture when I picture your range wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floating Shelves

Cal_quail. I love the look of floating shelves, but my husband has vetoed them. ;) That leaves me with 4 feet on each side of the hood. I was thinking of taking the "backsplash" up pretty high to break up the wall. One consideration has been oversized frames with my grandmother's recipes matted inside. But, we might also leave it open...depending on DH. I love the look of sconces on either side of a hood, but we haven't priced out the electrical work yet to see if we can squeeze that into our very tight budget. I think my worry is ending up with a kitchen that looks like, "Hmmm, they quit before they finished."

Hi, Young! :)

Is this the same kitchen you posted on the Smaller Homes forum?

I would put the shelves on either side of the range. Why has DH vetoed them? Too difficult to keep clean? A good hood will help and make sure everything is easy to clean. Large items over lots of small ones.

Take care...and did you say pregnant? Again? Congrats!!

Here are some pictures.

It seems that most kitchens without uppers --- unless there are windows -- -have some shelves.

I was going to post a link to a pic that nosoccermom posted in another thread, and here she is. :)

The wall with the stove has shelves, but I can't tell what's on the other wall. I don't know where the pic came from, if there are more views available.

Here is a link that might be useful: No uppers, I think

Lav- We've moved (well, we sold our cottage and are awaiting closing on the new house...and yes, "AGAIN!!" It seems we can't have a baby without also having a renovation....this time with a one year old in tow.)

Noscoccermom- Thank you! That first one is perfect. (of, for colored cabinets...) And, you're right; there always seems to be some sort of shelf going on with no uppers. If only I could find a way to sway him.... :) I think he fears clutter??? I think exposed dishes are lovely; him, not so much.

CalQuail- My net connection isn't letting me pull it up...going to reboot and try again because I'm dying to see it. THANKS!

feisty68 is doing a small kitchen with no uppers...not officially a galley but definitely one long wall and no uppers. You should check out her "soft-modern" threads. Part1 has lots of great photos and elevations.

Young-gardener, your kitchen sounds fantastic!

Wow, you guys! Thank you! I'm traveling, and it was such a treat to check in and find these posts. You have all given me so much to think about, and it has really cleared things up for me. I worked on a quick sketch tonight, and I *think* I've come to a place of decision. Amazing what a few photos can do, isn't it? :) feisty68, that's quite a set of inspiration pictures; I can't wait to see your finished kitchen!

Here's a look at what I'm thinking. Rearranging a few of the base cabinets on the range wall led me to decide to use one upper in the room, next to our pantry. That narrows the blank wall space just a touch, which allows me to maintain the open wall look we love but not have the worry of "(how) do I fill it"/"is the backsplash too simple for no uppers." At the same time, it gives me somewhere to keep my monster of a spice collection. ;) I'm anxious to get home and show it to DH to see if he approves of my sneaking in one upper.

Gorgeous plans young-gardener. Just be aware that some would advise against having to cross an aisle between a range and sink. If you have to drain a pasta pot, for example, it could be a safety hazard.

I re-did my galley kitchen several years ago and wanted an open, modern look. We installed base cabinets only and used chrome metro shelves above. Now I am on the hunt for uppers. Unless you are OCD about cleaning, **everything** on the shelves will collect dust - and company. It's just too easy to reach up and put another dish, glass, vase, whatever on the shelf. Keep in mind that all the pretty pictures are staged; they're not reflections of real life in a kitchen.

Btw, I love your layout and I'm sooooo envious of your window wall. My range and sink are on opposite walls, too, and I've never had a problem. Even so, if I could, I'd put the range in view of the sink. Can't tell you how many times while I'm busy at the sink that I let something boil over on the stove!

I think it's going to be beautiful!

What do you have planned for above the fridge? Folks often do tray storage there, but I see you have that marked in a base. If you switched that to drawers, I've found that to be a perfect size for towels and dishcloths, bags and wraps. I have a 9" base cab with is big enough for cookie sheets and cutting boards.

I can't read the notes for the shaded cabinet next to the trash.

I have a 34" drawer stack, with two drawers on the top, as you've shown. My thought was that those two drawers would have completely different functions, so should be separate (one hold potholders; the other is a tool/junk drawer). But I wish I had kept a single drawer and used a divider, so I wouldn't lose so much space to drawer sides and glides.

One more tip - make sure that your big drawers are tall enough for the items you want to store in them. the bottom two drawer in my 3-stacks are not the same height - the bottom ones are taller, to accommodate cake pans (on their sides) and canisters of sugar, flour, etc. The middle drawers hold things like plastic storage containers and frying pans, where height wasn't an issue.

I love your windows, and can't wait to see this one finished!

feisty- good thought, particularly with young children underfoot. hm...

tomatofreak, Your kitchen sounds lovely. I'm off to look it up. :) Your comment on the pot boiling over made me smile. Oh, how many times have I done that! More often than not, I'm burning a pot of beans due to getting distracted. :) With a little guy to chase, I've finally given in and just started cooking the beans in a crockpot. ha! Yes, the dust would bug me, for sure, if only because I haven't time to dust shelves. Hm. The windows aren't there yet. The house has just one tiny one, and we plan (hope) to install a large stretch, so I can work with the layout if I need. THe window wall is DH's *big* request though, and who can blame him!

annkh- Thanks for your comment on the smaller drawers. That's something I've been debating! (I never would've thought to add my own divider.) In fact, you brought up many of my worry spots. Spot on!

The 9" cabinet has baskets in it (we go through gobs of onions), for lack of a better plan. I'd considered it for baking sheets/muffin tins but worried it was too narrow. Good to hear it's not, because I could definitely put that 24" unit to use another way. I was thinking I'd have tray overflow above the fridge. We did that in the last house and loved it.

For the big drawers, I was thinking pots/lids, pans/lids, mixing bowls, casseroles/dutch oven, and everyday dishes/cups. Cooking stuff would be on the range side, dishes directly next to the dishwasher. Also, I've considered doing a different number of drawers for the unit next to the fridge, since one would likely house storageware. There's no need in it being deep, I'd say, since I like to keep as little of that as possible. ;) I keep fiddling with things because I really want the functionality and flow to be just right.

We also have a pantry in the adjacent laundry room, so it's directly on the other side of the wall that's to the right of the sink. I think I'll store dry goods there, though it's not totally ideal (needs pull outs of something because it's 28.5dx40w, with a closet style door).

I've gone round and round on what to store in the tall pantry cabinet (thinking pull outs on the lower half) mostly because I know my little guy will be *all over* that one. ha! I don't want any food where he can reach it because I'd really rather the pasta be in the box than on the floor. :) :)

There's room to add a cabinet unit of some sort in the breakfast room (directly left of fridge is that space), but I'm still debating on it and how it would best be used.

Finally, some of the current cabinets will be relocated to the adjacent laundry room, so I can have a butler's pantry, of sorts. I haven't worked up that layout yet because I'm still trying to decide what all I'd want in there.

I've been working HARD this past year to pare down my kitchen items to the basics. We're in a temporary apartment right now while waiting for the house to close, and it's refreshing how convenient it is to only have a few tools around to work with. Go figure. ;) DH is convinced this kitchen won't be big enough for me, but I just know I can make it both lovely and functional.

I do a lot of baking to accommodate some food restrictions and was hoping to use one space for that, so maybe I should think about putting the flours in one of the drawer units, if there is room, like you mentioned. By the time I pare down my pots and pans a bit more, there very well might be.

Here are the drawers I was talking about - look at how much space I lost by going with two!

Here's my 9", for cookie sheets, baking stones, and cutting boards. One thing I might do differently is to have a full-height door, and a shelf above instead of the tiny drawer. I'd use the shelf for aluminum foil, rolling pin - long things. I do use the drawer - it holds small boxes for pop can tops, Box Tops for Education, and soup labels. One of my kitchen remodel goals was to get clutter off the counters, and those things used to b on the counter (OK, so maybe I wouldn't change it, but it's another idea).

Here is the space as-is, if it helps.

taken standing in the existing doorway. it will be opened up to be much larger. the bump out window will have a bench/breakfast table.

breakfast room, which will soon open up to the library

looking down the kitchen into the laundry room. if you peek inside that doorway, you can *just* make out the pantry door, which is open. the existing window will be enlarged in the kitchen, priority #1!

range wall, looking toward laundry

pantry in laundry room

laundry, where we will relocate some cabinets and/or shelving for my glass jars of dry goods, etc

taken from laundry doorway. the left wall in the breakfast room will be opened up a good bit to improve the flow. I've considered leaving enough wall there to build in a hutch type cabinet for additional storage, if needed. I have to retain about 2 feet of it because of the library builtins which will be on the other side. As you can see, we are trying to keep the basic layout of the appliances, give or take a bit, to keep costs down. The range will move a bit, but that's no big deal because we have to install the gas line regardless. There's also currently a big dead space that we plan to make use of, and we've talked about adding a bit of wall to the range side in order to shift the opening down a bit (which would help hide the fridge a little better from the library and foyer)

the dead space

looking OUT of the breakfast room into the library

Thanks for the pictures, annkh. That really helps. It looks like I can put cookie sheets, a muffin tin, and cooling racks in the 9" and have the less-often used items head above the fridge. I wouldn't have thought to do a shelf instead of a drawer. Good point. And those drawers...you totally sold me on going with one! I was trying to give things very clear zones, but that could be done much more efficiently with inserts, it seems. Thanks!

Young- This kitchen looks perfect for you! Great bay window and with all the extra light over the sink...it's going to be wonderful.

I'm so glad you have a space for your glass jars...I kept wondering, where is she going to put those??? :)

My kitchen might be considered a galley design with no upper cabinets. Over the years we've eliminated walls and added a room so today's design, which is newly renovated, is basically two peninsulas with no upper cabinets. I do have a pantry closet, a storage closet and a very tall wall cabinet that holds dishes and stemware. Take a look: http://www.houzz.com/projects/553165/Open-Concept-Kitchen-and-Living-In-West-Chester--PA

mrsbrandywine, that's stunning! What fabulous light you get from such a beautiful open concept design. I love how the whole kitchen seems to float! The pull out next to your fridge looks really handy. I've been debating how I want my oil/vinegar stash this time (it's rather large).

young: your house is so pretty and such nice windows already. Anyway, what are you envisioning behind your sink. Your drawing shows a curved something for a backsplash...what do you imagine it to be? Super neat touch but what kind of material?

Hi, deedles! We're hoping to do marble for the counters (honed), so it would be the same material.

Oh, that'll really be nice..can't wait to see it! I just love special little elements like that.

Not a galley but your drawing reminded me of it:

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[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by href='http://www.houzz.com/professionals/architect/c/Norwich--VT'>Norwich Architects & Designers Smith & Vansant Architects PC

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[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Minneapolis Architects & Designers TEA2 Architects

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by New York Architects & Designers de-spec

These kitchens probably aren't what you're looking for, but I've been planning a galley or small L shaped kitchen for a long time. I think kitchens have some great ideas in terms of aesthetics and storage.

Here is a link that might be useful: This Old House small kitchen

young-gardener -- Interestingly enough, that pull-out unit next to the fridge is something I resisted during the design phase because I was reluctant to sacrifice 7" of counter space. My designer stood her ground, though, and promised me I'd thank her for it. She was SO right! It's probably the single feature I like most of all in my new kitchen.

That really is a fantastic space you have to work with. Love the pretty windows. I'd measure it out and mock up the basic layout with a free rendering program. I used the one on IKEA.com. It will give you a sense of how things will look from different sightlines. I changed my layout quite a bit so I found it very helpful to visualize.

Sightlines can be tricky in galley kitchens because the elevations you've shown - as pretty as they are - aren't actually how you'll be looking at your kitchen a lot of the time. The primary visibility is parallel to the line of the kitchen so that perspective is very important visually.

Since young children are involved and the kitchen aisle really IS a passageway in this case, I do think it would be wise to re-think having the sink and range on opposite walls. Some kitchen designers consider that an absolute "no" due to the safety considerations.

Lav- We'll have to talk laundry room (aka The Bulter's Room. ha!) I know you'll have some ideas if I show you what I've been thinking.

Iowa- Thanks for the photos! That top one is actually one of my favorite inspiration shots. I love, love the hutch cabinet and would love to recreate it, if I think we can get by with the exposed cabinet in our small space. :) I actually asked for the high back sink, but DH shot that idea down pretty fast. LOL.

feisty- Sightlines: so true! I, too, am an Ikea planner. DH chuckles, saying "Didn't I already see this one?" Oh, you can't tell I changed the cabinet from 12" to 15"??? Hm. I thought it made a world of difference. Ha! We've been talking a lot about appliance layout. Such a sticking point!! Besides having the aisle thing to consider, DH wants to put the fridge at the end of the run (where the pantry cabinet is), but I'm worried that it will cause congestion with people having the door open at the same time someone wants to walk in/out of the laundry room (which has a narrow door already). But, he makes an excellent point in terms of moving it so it's not visible from outside the kitchen. I'd love that. BUT, do I want to do it at the expense of counter space near the range??? Hmmmmmm. Toughie because I cook a LOT. From scratch. With big messes. :)

Before I had to conceded to needed upper cabinets, attached was my inspiration to show off some of my large framed prints.
Right picture is photoshopped to impose the prints closer to my own.

Had a pair ready to center to sides of stove, now going with pair of smaller ones between our rangetop and hood but still miss what might have been (notice Ive not yet deleted the photo LOL).

Jaynes- What a fabulous statement that would make! I can see why you are mourning the loss.