You all are HILARIOUS and helpful, too. I want to thank all of you for the quick feedback. This is really good stuff- even the steam mop. My MIL brought one during her last visit to clean my kitchen floor for me. She constantly raves about it. I think the point was that even if you get stuff on the floor from walking all around in a bigger triangle, that there are easy ways to get clean again... Anyway, I wish I could comment back to each person specifically, but I'm just too tired to focus that clearly right now. In a perfect world, I would have every detail of my whole kitchen vetted by the GW community! Thanks. It is now 4am and I could not sleep. I have a three mo baby who peacefully sleeps through the night, yet I'm still losing sleep over this blasted kitchen!! I just can't win. OK. Maybe I still win b/c I don't know many babies and toddlers that would put up with all the dragging around I've done with my kids over the past several weeks! Anyway, we worked with the designer tonight and added a prep sink into the perimeter. It takes away a little bit of work space, but we can easily add a work table that is a little more authentic to the vintage look anyway. I'm happy. I think. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut, and cross your fingers and say a little prayer and hop on one foot and, well- just hope for the best! I'm tired. Hopefully you get my point. lol Based on what I've read across many of the threads, it seems as though many people spend a reallly long time on kitchen design and renovation. We only began the process about two months ago and have to be into the house in one month. So, I've been working on a seriously intense design and build schedule. My last few months literally consisted of the following: find temp apt, move to new area, give birth, buy house, design kitchen, build kitchen.... move in. Yes, this will all have been done within six months. Can I have a cookie now? ;) If you think this is nuts, you don't want to hear about my previous year- I went to live in Europe and could only bring my kid and some clothes. Just call me nuts. Seriously, I'm not sure I could agonize much longer over a kitchen anyway. As much as I love spending time in the kitchen, this whole renovation business just sucks the life out of you!! Between the renovation and having two small children, it's amazing there is any life left in me!! Alright, well I suppose I should try to get some more sleep... before everyone wakes up in a couple hours and I'm back in marathon mode again. Thanks for your advice and if you made it through this post- thanks for listening to my rambling. In the words of my favorite ladies from 'The Delicious Dish', Margaret Jo McCullen and Teri Rialto: Good times.

The room behind the fridge is the stairs to the cellar. I don't see any way to expand into it. Huango - I've had several people suggest moving the range, but I haven't thought about moving the range AND the fridge. That has really given me a lot to think about! The one thing about moving the fridge to the spot that you suggested would be that one would be able to see the fridge from the living room and I am not sure that would be as ideal as seeing cabinets??? Also, I seem to suffer from inertia/fear of change. I am going to talk with the GC and KD about those moves. ideagirl - I do worry about the kitchen being too dark, but I also like the rich, craftsman look, so I don't think marble would be consistent with that. Also, I worry about staining marble. I still like the idea of soapstone. Maybe I could find a backsplash that would lighten things up a bit?? herbflavor - thanks for the suggestion on the microwave drawer, I will look into that. Thanks for all your help!

With how little you use a microwave, I think you should do as Mama G suggested and put it in those cabinets next to the fridge. I don't know if it's still being made but there used to be a style called Spacemaker that would fit in a 12" deep upper cabinet. It sounds like something like that would work well for you with your limited use. Another plus for putting your microwave next to the fridge is that this frees up that lower micro-drawer space for your every day dishes. Mama G is right about the hutch above the peninsula creating a two-step process for putting your dishes away. Drawers in the peninsula sized so they can be open when the DW door is open eliminates that problem and would make putting dishes away super-quick and easy. You really don't want the dish storage in drawers on the other side of the sink as that puts them in the prep area making it difficult to do clean-up while DH is doing his prep in that area. Also, the drawers in the prep area should be used for things DH will need while prepping like colanders, bowls, knives, and other gadgets he uses regularly. Don't plan a traffic jam into your kitchen. If you want to put your mixer in the appliance garage on the peninsula, and I think that's a good location since you want that for your baking area, I think you should consider putting the toaster and coffee on the shelves to the right of the fridge. You really don't want them to the right of the sink in the prep area either. Imagine DH making breakfast for the family and the grandkids want toast, everybody else wants coffee, and DH has to interrupt his prep or move everything he's working on elsewhere to allow folks access to toaster and coffee. This is another traffic jam you're planning. The bookcase idea looks great to the right of the fridge. If you can't bear the idea of putting the microwave, coffee and toaster there, you could put it all to the left of the fridge. To be clear, I think it's more functional to the right of the fridge so someone can grab a cuppa coffee, make toast, and use the micro without having to come into the kitchen while DH is cooking. Or while you are cleaning up. It's just really nice to keep these things out of the kitchen proper while people are working in the kitchen. In your space, the second place for function, imho, is to the left of the fridge. It's not a close second. But it's a heckuva lot better than putting it all to the right of the sink. Regarding your two bookshelf designs, I do visually prefer the one with the shallow lower. However, I think the full-depth lower with the coffee and toaster on the counter with a micro-drawer makes the most sense for how you live, especially when family is visiting. Do you know what the width of the aisle is between bookcase and peninsula with the full-depth lower? You don't want to create a bottle-neck there where someone can't leave the kitchen while someone else is coming in. 42-44" is a decent width to provide egress/ingress at the same time although some folks prefer wider. But then you don't want the peninsula so short it's not usable. It IS a bit like putting a puzzle together, isn't it?

Correct. The gas and water lines are stuck on that wall and crossing them over each other would be expensive and I'm not sure it would buy me too much. I considered moving either the sink or the range to the other wall, but since I couldn't do anything with the space above it due to the breaker box and front door buzzer (building doesn't allow moving it) I felt kind of stuck. Also, it's not the best thing to walk right into when first entering the apartment. Range is gas. There is a hood vented to an air duct that runs the whole building - here's another view: As far as the fridge is concerned - it's not counter depth. It has a pantry to the side followed by a small base cabinet, and a small cabinet above it (you can barely see it in the picture. The issue with a 24" sink cabinet is that it doesn't fit with the wall cabinet above it, which is 30" (smallest IKEA has with double doors - again I can't win).