I definately would ditch the overheads like you have done already. Are you going to have enough cabinet space since you won't have many overheads? How many people cook in this kitchen? I personally like the openness that you would have removing the peninsula but not sure where you will be eating and if you have enough storage/work space. Good luck.

We have a dining room, just past the fridge (can see in the 2nd picture above) and we have been using the peninsula seating for quick breakfasts, snacks and (right this minute) painting project area for a pair of 6 year olds. :)

The current peninsula base cabs are so inefficient for storage that I can pretty much put everything in them in one deep drawer stack plus the deep fridge cab. That how it was at my last house.

I guess the big issue is putting the range in the peninsula. I *hate* where it is now. I do like the seating and wouldn't want to lose that. I have seen many threads debating putting the cooktop in the island but admittedly I have not paid attention to the issues discussed. Anyone care to summarize?

I am the main cook but my girls love helping. Dh is the main cleanup person.

Leave the peninsula. Leave the range. Move the fridge to the wall on the right. Recess it into another room if you have to.

Even though all traffic funnels through the kitchen to the family room and back yard? The basement stairs are behind that wall too, it would have to go in the pantry area, then I'd have a food storage problem cause my pantry contains all the food...

I'm doing the same exact thing. My kitchen should be finished by the end of Sept. (work hasn't started yet). I hope we both made good decisions. I think it will be important to keep the paint color the same in both rooms. The open look really is popular these days. I hope you made sure you will have enough cabinet space after the remodel. I think you will like it. Please share once it's finished!

I love that you took down those uppers, BUT it sounds like you've been using that peninsula -- it's helping to incorporate the family into the kitchen, so I think you might miss it too much if you ditched it. Plus I feel like visually and functionally the rooms need a little separation and you need the storage. But the peninsula doesn't have to be as big -- long -- as it is now. You could shorten it and that would give you more openess and a wider walkway into the kitchen.

Based on your new layout drawing -- how about keeping the range and sink where you have them, then moving the fridge to the pantry area -- like Green Designs said -- and putting a pantry or tall pantry cabinets where you have the fridge? You might even have room to do another pantry cabinet next to the fridge.

You have a great space to work with. I hope some more layout gurus chime in.

Third, my favorite remodel story is that my friend helped me take down the cabs over the peninsula one day when DH was gone. He came home, walked into the kitchen and said, "Oh! Are we done?"! It made a huge difference in how the kitchen worked and felt. Unfortunately for our house there was almost no storage despite the excellent work/snack/chatting counter top. So in the end we rearranged but our situation was pretty different and the kitchen was much smaller. I like the peninsula as it is in your kitchen.

Could you extend the wall that your peninsula projects from (which would shorten the peninsula) and put your fridge there? You would have a smaller view into your family room, but the fridge would be out of the stove's way and you could have counter over there, to the right of the stove which is important. With regards to your pantry, can that be reorganized to increase efficiency?

12 feet wide? You have room for an island and I think it would work. Personally, I would much rather an island than the peninsula which creates such an inclosed feeling. You have room for an island, a row of wall cabs, and two nearly 4' wide aisles.

Post measurements, and people will play with it, I think.

Are the bulkheads staying? What I can't figure out is, in your new plan, how far down are you taking the sink/range wall? Are you taking it as far as the sliding glass doors or as far as the edge of the current peninsula. Is the window going to be a new one or is it the current window.

This was one layout I fiddled with for awhile, it has all the measurements of the wall with the big window and sliding door.

The biggest issue on ranges in peninsulas is the vent. If you put a vent over the range, you once again erect that visual blockage that you had with the overhead cabs. If you use a pop up one, there is much debate if they work very well. Of course, you could do without, but that has its own issues.

If you don't redo your peninsula, you lose all that counter space. I would not be in favor of giving that up personally. While the current peninsula has terrible storage, that won't necessarily be so for the new cabs you put under there. I have all my dishes, silverware, large salad and mixing bowls, baking necessities, junk drawer, foil, wax-paper, etc., plus the bbq stuff under the peninsula. It's a 7 ft peninsula. Just think how nice it will be with your lovely new countertops!

Blfenton- no, the soffits are coming down. In the 3rd pic above the cabs go further than the current peninsula by about 2feet or so, ending about 18" before the sliding door. The window and sliding door are both current, no funds to move/replace either one.

Enduring - I'm not sure I follow your fridge placement suggestion. The pantry can definitely be reorganized. The interior space is about 54" wide and 36" deep so it's a nice size but right now there are only shelves on the sides. And the door opens into the traffic flow from the rest of the house to the kitchen/family room/backyard areas. See pic, pantry door opens right over the doorway to the dining room:

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OK, I fiddled a peninsula plan. I lost the 36" deep drawer base (wah!) and gained a corner susan and a 24" deep drawer base. Dunno about the wall cabs, probably a wash:

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If I do my original plan above I get a table in the kitchen which, I think, will be nicer to sit at than a peninsula.

Gah! I'm so confused. The peninsula looks so nice now that the uppers are gone...

I agree with suzanne about the ventilation in the peninsula area. It will put you right back where you were. And I can tell you from experience you do not want a retractable vent. They are terrible. I agree with those that suggest moving the fridge, leaving the oven where it is and putting a pantry closet where the fridge once was. I think a kitchen table is also going to cause problems in the traffic area. I'd stick with peninsula with better cabinets under.

I'd keep it, it looks good. Just shorten it a bit so it will feel more open but it looks great otherwise. I think it looks too open without it. JMO.

I second trading locations between the fridge and the pantry. Could you open some of the wall between the kitchen and dining area?

-Put the fridge where the pantry is.
-Leave the range on existing wall.
-Lose the corner cabinet and peninsula.
-Build a 5 wall corner pantry where the corner met the peninsula.
-From the family room side of the pantry build a bookcase, entertainment center, make functional and decorative use of the two full pantry walls. On the pantry fall facing the cabinets you can mount a wall cabinet.
-From your photo it looks like you have a mini-tower computer in that spot. In other words, you're using that volume of space for a table with a computer on top of it. Why not extend it right up to the ceiling?
-You trade volume of space from the peninsula and give that over to the family room and from the family room you take that corner space and make a pantry plus you can use 3 wall surfaces.

-Check out this thread focusing on ranges with windows behind them.
-Make a stub peninsula and put sink there.
-Solves problem of exhaust hood performing the same blocking function as the peninsula uppers.
-Keep fridge in present location. Keep pantry in present location.
-Do some really cool window treatment and hood treatment and have a architectural talking point in your kitchen as your guests marvel at the utter stylishness of your layout.

You should check out leela4's kitchen, her layout may inspire you. She doesn't have a peninsula but she does have an island and her kitchen has a similar traffic pattern to yours. She recently posted photos of her island in this thread http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0807302612796.html Her layout was recently posted here, scroll down a bit

Here is a link that might be useful: Leela4's layout

I can't speak to the remodel part, but I definitely love the peninsula there.

You've got good seating, and if you're not an island girl (which I am not) it's perfect for the giant space you have. Gives you some delineation between the rooms.

It's going to look great!

Our kitchen was very similar to yours. We debated on an island but decided against it since it would involve moving our plumbing and we are on a on a concrete slab. Our sink is in the peninsula. We ended up putting our frig in the pantry area which is the same as yours.

You can still get a narrow cabinet beside frig if you do this, maybe even a large pull out.

We put in a cooktop which gave us a large cabinet underneath. We put our oven and microwave where the refrigerator was and have a drawer under and a cabinet on top.
We had a bookshelf and cabinet built on the other side and connecting to the peninsula. We also had a door put in on the outside of the pennisula to allow access to the blind corner.

You could put some narrow cabinets under the penisula to give you extra storage.

I hope this helps. I'm glad we kept our peninsula.

I have been rereading everyone's responses trying to weigh all my options. I do like the range in the peninsula look, and even the hood above I don't think would bother me. It's far, far less obtrusive than 102 inches of 30" cabinets with a 12" soffit was!

But I also see the benefits of keeping the range about where it is, moving the DW to the other side of the sink and moving the fridge to the pantry area. To THAT end I'm even considering flipping our basement steps so they enter from the front hall. We'd lose the smaller coat closet (no biggie) and the pantry but we'd gain about 6-7 feet of space on that wall (where the peninsula is pointing towards). That would make a lot of sense in terms of traffic flow, putting groceries away ie. proximity to garage, etc.

OK, so I paused typing to make a mock up of the stair flip:

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Thoughts?

Is your kitchen wide enough to do an L-shape like your original plan and then an island that runs parallel to the window over the kitchen sink?

I must say, however, that I really like your kitchen with the peninsula. I like the idea of tucking the refrigerator on the stair wall and then instead putting the range on the back wall that currently houses the fridge. You can do a range on the peninsula, but I know some have concerns about safety. Also, I imagine you're loving the openness of the removal of the upper cabinets over the peninsula. You'll want to be careful in range hood selection to make certain you don't close the space off too much.

This is the hood I already have, it's the island model:

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I like it alot with the peninsula. It looks more finished to me than if it was all open on that side.

I measured and the fridge won't fit in the pantry, part of that space extends past the boundary of the kitchen wall so I won't be able to make the opening more than about 42" which makes it impossible to open the doors fully. :( I don't think I'm brave enough (or financially enhanced enough) to flip the basement stairs at this time. Maybe sometime in the future. If we do this I can always add cabinets to space vacated by the fridge, and then move the fridge to current top of the basement stairs location.

I love the hood I have (pictured above, and pasted in below) and I don't think it looks bad at all. A 36" chimney hood all by its lonesome in a 12 foot span doesn't seem obtrusive to me and is 100,000% better than those overheads.

Thinking through the idea of the range in the peninsula, got creative with my non-Photoshop photo editing skills:

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Has anyone been injured by a cooktop in an island, or been a first hand witness of an injury? The comments I've seen are concerns of people who don't have this setup. I get the concern and have concerns myself, but would like to hear some real experiences. Maybe I should start a new thread and crosspost in appliances?

FWIW, 98% of the time I use only the front burners and always have no matter what kitchen I'm cooking in. We don't fry anything, I might cook bacon occasionally and for that I'll clear the seating area. Otherwise I make a lot of pancakes, pasta, chili, steam veggies, full on turkey dinners, that sort of thing.

I continue to appreciate all input, including the naysayers! Those are the ones that make me really think about, and consider all aspects of, my choices. :)

As long as you have enough room behind the cooktop (At least 15"), what you have pictured will work just fine. I wouldn't do a to the counter cabinet in that corner between the sink and range though as that will be your prep space. Keep that for a knife block or Kitchenaid with food processor attachment.

Good point on the cab to the counter! Will change to a standard upper, maybe glass doors?

I have flexibility on the seating overhang, will be sure to make at least 15". I was thinking maybe even a curve there so the part across from the range is even deeper. And it will echo the arches in the fireplace wall and hood. :)

My mom has a cooktop on her peninsula...no one has ever injured sitting on the other side watching. Ventilation is a problem for her (she has a downdraft instead of a hood) only when she cooks with high heat (like when she is frying meat) or stirfring with high heat). Her peninsula has about a 12" overhang for people to sit at so they are not right next to the cooktop.

I haven't read all the posts but can you move the peninsula down closer to the sliding glass door to increase your cabinetry space.

Itsallaboutthefood (love your username!) yes, I can and will push the peninsula down towards to the door. I might even have room for an island parallel to the sink like pricklypear suggested above. Maybe I'll get an island cart type thing to see if I like it before committing to attached cabinets on the floor. :)

I think your layout is looking great, and it sounds like it's making you happy! Now that I see that great big pantry, I'm glad you get to keep it.

IF you are worried about counter sitters being right near the cooktop, and if you have the room, you could do a two-level counter on the peninsula, where the kitchen side, with the cooktop, is counter height, then there is is a short little backsplash and the eating counter is bar height. We had this in our previous home and the nice thing about the bar-height counter separating the two rooms is that the folks sitting in the family room don't have a straight line of vision to any messy counters, sink, range, etc. -- if that kind of thing bothers you!

The downside, of course, is that you don't have as deep an expanse of counter.

See pics:

LOL at the messiness showing comment krabby! Did you see my pictures above? My family room pretty much always looks like that, the messes in the kitchen are tame by comparison. My twins can really tear things up, and they are girls!

OK, here's the plan I put together while I should have been sleeping (east coaster here, coming up on midnight, can we say obsessed??):

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peninsula:
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I think I love it...

Deep drawer bases: 36", 30", 24", 18"
36x39 wall cab
corner susan
over fridge and over the counter micro cab
2 roll front wall cabs, 18" each
and a 24" cab in the dead corner, facing the family room, for storage of seldom used things. I didnt want another corner cab so this was my answer...

Thoughts? Concerns? Questions? Comments? Wanna come help me? This is a DIY remodel btw...

I really like Kompy's second photo and I think it would work great in your space. It dedicates a walkway, keeps the walk way out of your main kitchen working space, and gives the fridge easy access to family room. I guess it does create a barrier to the pantry closet, but given all the other pluses, I could live with that.

thirdkitchenremodel...do you have a special program or software you are using for you drawings? I'd love to know whta it is.

Thanks.

I love the new drawings. I think you will be so happy leaviang that peninsula especially without and island. I have exactly what krabbypatty pictured; cooktop with elevated bar. I would be sure to check the measurements of where your hood comes in if you decide to elevate the bar. I am one of those with downdrafts on the cooktop and have problems with it constantly. It does not vent while cooking or fying..one reason I am remodeling my kitchen...besides no work space. So good decision on that beautiful hood!

If you have a chance take a look at my most recent post. I posted pix of my kitchen titled 'what would you do'?

I didn't read all the replies but wanted to throw something out- The peninsula is similar to my IL's cabin and they have a cabinet in the blind corner facing out towards the living area. When we remodeled and added an overhang for seating we kept the cab facing out. Weirdly, it's a 4-drawer base. We keep instruction manuals in the top drawer. It's full-extension so we can still access it. Even if the drawer wasn't accessible because of the overhang it is would be worth it to have those other 3 drawers. They hold household tools, lightbulbs and "junk-drawer" stuff. You could do a simple cabinet there also.

I like the peninsula! Without upper cabs peninsula kitchens are quite nice...