Hey, Brooklyn,

Used to live in your neck of the woods and had a narrow U kitchen (standard NY style) and it was fine, but I was a newlywed and moved to Canada when I only had one child.

Forgot to mention, we are a family of 9, although by September there will only be one high school'er left at home. My concern is when everyone is home for holidays, will there be enough room for all the cooks (my 3 daughters like to help!!).

The way it is now, I have no problem with the width. My concern is if I do 27" deep base cabinets, will there still be enough room when there is more than one cook in the kitchen. I'm thinking it will be okay, but not 100% sure. I don't have to worry about opening DW and stuff because even with 48" there is still plenty of room for that. Anyway, no one will be opening both dishwashers at the same time.

Thanks for your input!

I'm attaching my uppers too. The LG fridge faces the table and the pantry next to it will be above the drawer base.

My first thought was wide enough for WHAT? This is such a subjective issue; how much fanny bumping is enjoyable is strictly a matter of personal preference before you even get to efficiency issues. So I'm glad Brooklyn chimed in with her 32". That beats my 35" easily, but I also have a brisk efficient flow from one counter to the other.

That said, Suzy, it was clear from the start that you want a wide space in the middle, and 9 fannies certainly explains it. I'd suggest

1. Mocking up with counter-height boxes and deciding on your own personal favorite dimension. I did this and it allowed me to shave inches and then fractions of inches in laying out my kitchen. Can't recommend it enough. Your whole family can join in and take a vote.

2. Putting your stove, main work counter, and a prep sink on one side of the kitchen, and possibly a secondary prep area, with the refrigerator close by. Cleanup and a second or third prep area/sandwich and snacks center going on the other side. This way, you'd be cooking on one side and wouldn't need to carry food materials and liquids in various stages of preparation back and forth, dodging family, as you work.

I've got 48" between mine. That is about as low as I like to go because it is a pass through area also between the living areas and the front door and the living areas and the garage so fairly high traffic.

NKBA guidelines suggest 48" inch aisles for more than one cook. I grew up in a house with deep counters in a tiny and it made a huge difference - so much so that when we moved to a place with a decent kitchen but normal depth counters, I found it much more frustrating to cook! Even if your aisles were a few inches smaller, the trade-off is so great that I would still do it.

27" is however only 1.5" deeper than normal. You might consider having 29 or 30" deep counters to the side you will do the most prep on (likely the sink side) on a daily basis, and leaving the other side normal depth.

I don't know if you are open to layout suggestions and I know nothing about kosher kitchens, but if you are, know that most prep occurs next to the sink AND it is really annoying to have a tall cabinet so close to the sink. Personal experience speaking on the latter - there are bumped elbows, and only room on the one side for prep or a dish drainer (or dirty dishes) to be next to the sink, not both. I would consider moving the double ovens to the cooktop side and then scooting the cooktop down to make room. You then have a secondary prep space on the other side of the sink for those busy holidays.

Good luck!

What does a kosher kitchen mean? Separate dairy and meat sinks and work space!! That is why it is divided. I have accommodated for plenty of work space (more than I have had for 25 years) into this layout. Don't forget, other than holidays, it is going to be just me from now on.

As for the sink near the double oven, if you notice the sink is only 24" in 30" cabinet, which will give me 12" on that side to put my drain tray which is a fantastic rubbermaid thing that hangs over the sink a bit (only 10" wide) that I have had for years and LOVE. DH would rather not open up the wall to move the window and sink needs to be under window. Considering that our original plan was to open up both sides and enlarge the kitchen, perhaps moving over 1 window isn't so bad ;). Will think on it.

I am getting the feeling that 48" isn't so bad, from comments.

I am going to lay it out with boxes or some such. I think that's a great idea and since everyone is home next week, perfect timing!!

When I said 27"-I meant cabinet depth only. PLUS the counter, makes it about 28-29 on each side. That's how my aisle goes from 58 to 48. Besides, it is mainly the extra counter space and upper 15's, which I would like to do across the whole thing, that is making me want this.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I like your plan...my only concern is that the fridges are so far from the work area. Not a problem most of the time, but when it's crowded, will it be difficult to go back and forth? Any chance you could add a few fridge drawers or maybe swap the smaller fridge for the wall oven?

I'm not familiar with all the rules of kosher kitchens, so I'm not sure if the fridge is supposed to be outside the work area or not...but, I do like the idea of a separate work space for meat.

My Mom's kitchen is U-shaped with about 4 feet between the counters. I don't consider it to be a 2-cook kitchen (it's not as long as yours, about 7 feet, so you usually ended up working directly opposite each other), but you could have people working on both sides without difficulty. We were a family of five. As a one-cook kitchen, it was very convenient.

What about 27" deep cabs only on one side? Pick based on how often you cook meat vs. dairy, or whether one or the other has more or larger pots & pans that you need to accommodate.

The deep counters will be really great. I've only ever had one but really loved it and have wanted to duplicate it ever since. The right side, which had no uppers, belonged to our toddler, who crawled and played there and "helped" me prepare meals.

I completely missed the kosher part, which I guess plays its own part on keeping you from running back and forth too much with food.

I am not happy about the big fridge in the corner but I have tried this every which way and if I put it in the kitchen part, I will lose counter space which is more important and I'll have to put a pantry there and keep lots of my pots and stuff there, which means heading over anyway. Besides, I need the exercise!!

The fridge is there now anyway, which also means not doing anything to move it.

We could have done the additions and I would have an island so could keep the fridge in the main part, and hubby is ready to do it, but the more I thought about it, the sillier it seemed to do a 60K job instead of 25-30K at my age. After all, I want to start spending my winters in warmer climes in a couple of years.

Besides, this new kitchen will get me more space than I have AND a dairy oven and dishwasher which I don't have now. Win some, lose some. I'll have to live with the fridge where it is and I will get used to it!

Here is my current kitchen.