Am i getting this right. You want to move the fridge closer to the door and add those 9" between the stovetop and fridge?

I wouldn't do it yet. I say live and work in the kitchen for a couple of months before making any plans to change anything.

Also can we see a picture of the side of the fridge cabinet?

If I am reading you right, I would ditto the above. It sounds like you are currently ready to plug in the frig, but if you change you will be revising the end counter and cabinets in a way that you could do later if you still want to.

So is it DH's reasoning that it was a big mistake to limit yourself to the bit of counter, and that the extra 9" will be a lot more functional? That's a good pro and con issue for the original design, but it may depend on who's the major cook and whether you also sort of adapt and use your island for unloading for the frig. It does seem like something you might do later if the 15" end bit turns out to annoy you and feel too closed in.

I guess, and this shows my lack of recent experience with the remodel process, that there would be an advantage to getting it all done before you clean up the dust and grime and move things in, because tearing out that end part later will create more mess. Also, things like that turn out to never get done later. But he seems to be late to the party!

All you're really gaining is the counterspace, because the cabinets, although not useless, won't be worth as much as the end cab facing out. It'd be one thing, as Frankie says, if he'd questioned this at the design stage. It'd also be something else if the counter to the right of the stove was really awfully small, but although it's not really roomy, it's a functional space. At this point, I'd be saying, "It might've been nice to have that counter, but we have this now...and I can really appreciate the cabinet on the end," and leave it.

Yes, here's the picture. I stole the idea from a fellow GW'er and the plan was to store cookbooks, have a message board, keys etc., there. The closed cabinet is actually two pasta sauce bottles deep with three shelves, so I think the storage we gained/lost is not much at base cabinet level.

Seems like I'm not even taking the pictures straight! Our prior kitchen had the same footprint, but that space was 25".
Our hardwood floor has been put down already and is due to be finished soon, so I don't think we can wait 6 months - we would need to pull up 4 boards and move those too, not to mention losing my recessed fridge nook. DH thinks a fridge sticking out 4 inches is not a big deal!

Here is a link that might be useful:

I'd leave it the way it is. Depending on what kind of ref you have, the garage and the ref can have door issues if placed side by side.

I really like that bookshelf there. If people come in through that garage door alot, it is a really useful landing/launch space for keys, mail, and as you said a message board, etc. I second the people who suggest you live with it for a bit and see how it works.

OH!! You mean if you move it over, the fridge will now stick out into the room because of not fitting into the recessed area built for it? I don't think I'd want to give up your end cabinet for the little gain in counter, but definitely a 'NO' on having the fridge protrude when you had it built not to!!!

I think you would lose more than you gain by changing it: I would keep it the way it is.

I love your end unit for books, messages, and storage. And I would definitely want the full-size fridge recessed. For what it's worth, I would definitely keep it as is. Good luck!

Love the way it is. Very smart, functional idea. I would leave it.

I really like the bookshelf! I also like not having the fridge right up against the door. It's gonna be great in there when it's all done. MY vote: KEEP IT as is!!

Just tell DH the change comes out of his golf fund. He'll learn to like it.

What would your DH want to use that counter space for? How much counter space do you have in the rest of the kitchen? I am not sure you would gain much really and you would be giving up some pantry space and your bookshelves.

Thanks all for siding with me:) I think I owe credit to the design to jbrodie, but that was before I learnt about clippings, so I'm not sure. Anyway, I digress.

We solved the problem of the garage door not banging into the cabinet with a $1.28 door stop, so having the fridge there instead would not have that issue, at least, unless the fridge door is open more than 100 degrees and someone opens the garage door at the same time!

Cabinet maker said $1200 to redo it all anew with base filler pull-out, and we get to keep the existing cabinet - we can re-use the bookshelf/cabinet and he would finish the wall side of it for us if we wanted to.
GC agreed with me to leave it, which is why he came in at a high $900 to reframe the header to extend the fridge recess, something to do with the door header and existing studs and general re-work.
Countertop company has not yet responded.

Now, DH wants to just do the cabinet/counter portion! He says to live with the fridge sticking out until it dies, then get a counter depth one. I have coveted the 30" Liebherr for a while, but just couldn't justify tossing out my 6 year old working Amana for it.
I think he definitely needs to contribute way more than $1200 to that fund!!

We do now have plenty of other counterspace on the opposite side -- 6 ft of the peninsula (or 8 if you count the corner). He said 7-10" difference is hard to visualize in drawings and 3-D renderings, but the cabinets without counter have been in place for at least a week with just the plywood tops, although the cooktop just recently became usable.
Not sure whether $1200+ more in the grand scheme of already being over budget lies.

I agree...leave it as is. The storage space you have with your current configuration trumps the tiny amount of counter space you would trade it out for IMHO.

Maybe he's right. Maybe you're right. Doesn't matter. It's too late. Nyah nyah nyah nyah! He loses!

Plus what you have now is very nice. There's a reason you put it there! And yeah, so what if that space between the fridge and range is only good as a landing spot for the fridge? A fridge needs a landing spot!

Obviously you need to work this out in an adult and understanding manner, and if it's really important to him you could let him have it, but on every level (except the be nice to spouse level, which isn't totally to be ignored), keeping it the way it is is the most sensible.

who cooks?

i say it stays as is...1200.00 to change it? wow.

I hate to the dissenting voice. I'm usually not the dissenting voice, but tonight I am the dissenting voice. In my current and much-hated kitchen, my range is hemmed in between a pantry cab and the fridge. I have 15" of counter space to the left of the range (enough to store the S&P grinders, olive oil, sea saltpeter, and tea canister) and 22" to the right. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I am right-handed. 22" of space is not space to start with, AND I bump into the fridge with my right arm as I am trying to work there. (Wait, did you say you have plenty of counter space to the left of the stove to use as cooking space?) That being said, I love your message/mail center cab. I'm planning on doing something similar on the end of new media center cabs as you enter FR from the garage. And thanks to you, I now have a photo to show my husband.

I will back up breezygirl a little bit.

I wouldn't have designed it that way because I too would like more space next to the range but would I pay 1200 - 2000 to change it now? I probably wouldn't.

And I definitely wouldn't do it if it meant going to to a counter depth fridge.

I think once you add up the costs; the cabinet, install/removal charge, countertop, wall changes, additional charge of the more expensive style of fridge, possible changes to lighting, etc; that it's going to be a lot of money.

Also, to me you had some reasonable compromises to consider with the garage door location. Sure, you can take the frig wall out to the end, but when you use the frig, you actually end up with the door, and/or your body, blocking that main pathway. There are just pros/cons/pros/cons endlessly, one good helpful thing may squeeze out another a bit, you made some choices, and they are reasonable. So it's not that DH is crazy or that the alternative might have had some advantages, but it would also have drawbacks, so round you go again.

One thing I've learned from the forum here is that you can second-guess or I-wish yourself to death instead of plowing ahead and enjoying the benefits you built into it. Enjoy the entry, make great use of the shelves and message board, key organizer or whatever, organize your counter space well--figure out the priorities for the small end, create a kind of helpful forcing function to get you using the generous left side for most activities (I am right-handed, too, but I would put my spoon rest and crock of utensils on the right, and then use the left for prep, pots, bowls in use, etc), maybe find a way to use the side wall of your frig cabinet for one or more items--how 'bout one of those magnetic knife strips--focus on what you've achieved and not what is left out. Start cookin'!

What you have is a perfectly functional and very, very nice looking setup. Changing it at this point for a minimal gain in counter top functionality, balanced by what I consider to be a larger loss of the functionality of the shelves, seems extremely silly and wasteful, especially given the cost you've been quoted. There is no way in the world I would agree to it now, if I were you. I would tell DH that it's time to suck it up.

It's difficult to see from the pics you linked, but would it be possible to move the stove down to the left by shifting another cabinet from the left of the stove to the right of the stove? It would be a pain to move the hood and such, as well, but if your husband really hates the small counterspace that much, that would seem like a far more reasonable compromise. If that's not possible, I'd tell him that he's stuck with what he's got and he should have contributed his opinion about the counterspace during the design phase.

By the way, I have exactly 18" of counter on one side of my stove, and I have never once thought of it as too small. Like you, I have an expanse of counter on the other side of the stove and an island across from it, and that gives me plenty of room to spread out. I do use the 18" counter, too, for setting things down as they come off the stove, for keeping a spoon for stirring, and for occasional prep work, but the other areas are where the real work gets done.