One piece of wisdom I would like to add for those who are building a house, completely gutting a first floor, or adding an addition... Design the entire area together as one piece. Don't wait too long to plan the Kitchen...including the layout. (Door styles, etc. can wait 'til later, layout cannot.) You really should be planning the entire first floor (or addition) at once along with the Kitchen layout so you won't end up w/a Kitchen area that's difficult to make work properly. I've seen so many people who are building, etc. who just draw in a quick area and say, "that'll be the kitchen...details later." Then, when later comes, it's difficult to fit the kitchen they want in the space they've allocated for it. We've seen many posts where people say...our kitchen will be here w/these dimensions...but what I want won't fit, so how do I make it work??? (Or they go into denial and say, "It will be OK with these narrow aisles or dysfunctional layout.") They usually tell us they've either finalized all windows/doors/walls or that they've already installed/built those windows/doors/walls so nothing can be changed...and then want us to come up with some "miracle" layout that will still allow them to have what they want. The placement of those windows/doors/walls is important to all rooms, but especially the Kitchen, so do it all together. People forget that in many respects, the Kitchen is the most important room in the house. So don't treat it like it's the least important by putting it off until later & "making do" with what you're stuck with! Plan it up-front! (If we ever build again, the Kitchen layout will be one of the first things planned...not the last!)

That was great! Really funny. We can add don't answer your door if you hear a baby crying....it's gang member initiation. Also, don't stop your car if you see a baby seat or baby carriage along the road.....gang initiation Don't get in your car if you see a van pulled up along side your drivers side in a parking lot...... Don't get back out of your car after getting into it and starting it because you see a piece of paper stuck to your windshield, or back window...... Hahaha

Regarding your original question, I think white cabinets and dark countertops would be great. I did this in the last place we lived - the kitchen was a different shape but also quite small. I have photos of it somewhere - I think on 3.5 disks - I will see if I can find the external drive and post them. Personally I love the look of white cabinets and black counter tops (since you don't have kids you can even go with painted). I agree with bmorepanic about the pocket door - we are putting some in and it will really make the space seem less cramped. And with michellemarie about putting a 24" depth cabinet above the fridge. You could store cooling racks, cookie sheets, etc. above the fridge. Or you can put a pull-out tray in there and just pull it out so you can access the whole space. Your garage is off your kitchen - are you able to use it for storage? My mom lives in CA and uses an extra fridge and tall cabinet (Ikea I think) for extra food storage (Costco etc.) and it works great. Can you remove the soffit above the upper cabinets to gain some additional upper cabinet space? Depending on how much space you need under your sink (will depend on how deep your sink will be, do you have a garbage disposal) you can do an inverted sink base. This is where you have a drawer on the bottom and all cabinet on the top (no pull out shelf).

OP returning to update. So push came to huge shove (framing started and kitchen along with it) and I had to just jump. So here is how it shook out (framed shaker style, white premiter, stained island): Custom: $17,000 (bummer!) Shiloh: $12,596 Koch: $13,188 Medallion Silverline: $11,478, Medallion Sliverline: plywood upgrade: $12,923 Home Crest: $9,333 - so low it kinda scared me? Showplace: $14,184 Based on KD which I have read and read how important that is plus you can 'hear' it in the KD's posts on here - it was down to Shiloh and Medallion. Medallion had a promotion which brought the price down a lot and the KD really quoted aggressively. I really also liked her style and she was very helpful/knowledgable. Medallion also has been around a very long time, good reviews - that also weighed heavily. The Shiloh KD also very helpful/knowledgable. I liked them from the start. They have free glaze although I'm not sure I'll use it. Still thinking on that one. A little unsettled at the recent bad review on GW regarding them. BUT, that was just 1 review and nothing is ever perfect. In the end - it came down to PAINT color and door style. I like the bevel in the Shiloh lancaster shaker and Medallion's was a straight 90 degrees. I could get over that though. The paint however - for Medallion the White Icing seemed so bright white while the Divinity felt too yellow. That was the clincher. Shiloh has 4 shades of white and I like a couple of them. I am debating between Polar and Soft White. Side note: I had so much time but felt like I waited until the last minute getting quotes, etc.. So worried about making the wrong decision or paying more than I needed or getting a better cabinet than I really needed.... I ended up not getting the last quote until Sunday (as in 2 days ago - KD super busy) and they started framing yesterday. So I showed up at the job site to see they had framed the kitchen windows (spaced incorrectly from the printe) and had to decide right then and there. Just like that - decision made. So thank you all for your help thus far with determining where costs are and how/where to cut them. This kitchen quoting business has been quite the process. Now I need to fine tune the design and choose a paint and stain and away we go. Gee that sounds simple doesn't it? ;)