Obviously you have a small kitchen so why the oversized appliances? I'd opt for more cabinetry and smaller appliances. I'm specifically talking about your fridge and your sink. Why not consider a smaller single sink; maybe a farm sink which tends to be deeper than normal sinks?

Also how about considering putting the sink under the window on the left with the dw next to it on the right, and then the fridge. I would put the range on the wall you have the sink now and the pantry and cabinets on the right.

I once had a corner sink and hated, hated, hated it. I felt cramped and as if I had no room to move around.

I can't really help - mostly because I can't tell what is what except the sink and a few windows and cabs. I think the 'box' on the upper left side with 2 black circles is the stove? if so, wouldn't you want cabs on either side of it?

are the 2 spaces on top left and right with what looks like handles doors?

also, there aren't any measurements on it.

Cpartist,
thank you for you input. I will look at the sizes of other fridges. What will I gain by switching fridge and oven?
I will try to play with the layout like you suggest. The oven on the wall where the sink is now will mean the oven is under a window...
Which kind of corner sink did you have, butterfly or not? I also think I might not like it...

Desertsteph, I will post again with more measurements...
Yes, ideally I would like cabinets on both sides of the oven, but doing so will mean the 21" wall cabinet on the left of the oven will have to be smaller... I thought I would just put a small shelf at countertop height on the right of the oven...

THANK YOU!

If that is your range on the end near the door; I would seriously look to tweak the layout so the placement is different. that is a dangerous place for a range. That second corner sink option is a space saver but typically a more expensive sink. with any option, I'd put the frig on the end where you show the range.

Corner cabs are such a colossal waste of space, that I think your kitchen could benefit by eliminating them all together and becoming a galley kitchen. Like remodelfla, I also think the stove right next to the door is a dangerous position.

Here's a suggestion:

You could place a slotted dishdrainer type cab higher up over your sink as both a decorative and functional use of the space. The range gets moved away from the door and has good prep space next to it. The frig stays on the periphery for snackers.

You got some issues.

Table
There isn't enough space for even a tiny table and two chairs. A table and one chair on each side needs about 5 feet unoccupied and about 7 feet when occupied. Even a small table is 30" wide. A table with two chairs side by side needs about 4 feet in depth (at least an 18" deep table surface plus 2 feet for a seated person plus another 8" to be able to get into and out of the chair.

The range and the two doors prevent it. If you draw those doors open and the range open, you'll see.

Sinks
Even using the small farm sink cabinet, to "set" the cabinet in a corner, the entire face of the cabinet needs to be in line on both sides with the other cabinets. Plus you need to make up a slightly odd looking corner molding to act as filler between the sink base and the two cabinets next to it so all the doors/drawers will still open.

This means the minimum it takes for the 24" front is a little over about 4 feet on each wall. You can lessen this length a little by setting the sink cabinet back from the edge a few inches, but its not going to be much saving = maybe 6" of length?

The second issue is with paired corners. You can't plan to use every inch because of two things. The doors/drawers on each side of the corner need to be able to open. The only way they can is to allow for a filler on each side of the corner of about 1.5" minimum. When your doors are installed, they will take 3/4" of that room and the rest is an allowance for both the handles and a tiny bit of travel space.

A blind corner has a blank space on the cabinet itself to use as filler for one side and normally includes a filler piece for the cabinets on the perpendicular wall. A corner cabinet "takes up" the room where you would need fillers for the corner.

Even if BOTH ends have corner cabinets, you'll still need to allow for one narrow filler to accommodate walls that aren't square or plumb. You need the filler because you won't be able to guarantee that your cabinets will actually be able to fit once they are lined up so the fronts are square. Kinda the round hole, square peg thing.

Ideas to consider

1. Move the range towards the sink a little bit and use a 9" perfect or 12" pullout on the end. Enough space to sit down a spoon or have a crock of tools or rest most pans if you need to. If the little door is a pantry, you could sit down the first few items while you dug out the rest.
2. Move the cabinet on the outside of the ref to the inside and slide the ref over. Even tho you'd possibly need to think about reversing the door swing of the actual door, it would be better to have a nice sized counter between the ref and sink than to have a little piece of counter on both sides.
3. Corner sink - I'd do it if I had your kitchen. Nice window while doing prep and just enough space between the sink and the range. The hard part is working out where the dishwasher goes (and I'd strongly consider an 18" one) because its not nice located immediately beside a corner sink. You can go 6-ish feet away, tho, running the hoses through the toe kicks and perhaps more with extension hoses.

Hth

Added to what others have said... the corner in the lower right is going to feel like a cave with the tall fridge so close to it, and the wall cabinet will be mostly out of reach unless you're quite tall.

I agree that losing the corner cabs and the bottom of the U and making this be a galley kitchen might be a better option.

Questions:

Are you wedded to the idea of the tall pantry cabinet? It would be much easier to juggle appliances if it could be a normal base + wall. I know you have a shortage of storage here but the tall cab may not be the best way to solve the problem.

How many people in the household, and how many cooks at once? If you only have 2 people you might be able to fit a small semi-circular table (even a dropleaf) against that big window at the top of the plan, with stools that slip underneath when not in use. As a previous poster said, a standard 30" wide table just isn't going to fit.

Then again, with only 2 people, why such a big fridge? Consider dropping down in size even as far as an apartment size fridge.

I would try losing the cabinetry at the bottom of the U, then on the left wall, left to right, have counter/sink/counter/fridge: on the right wall, left to right: counter/range-oven/counter. All counter sections could have wall cabinets above them. You could have a large counter area one side or other of the range, and a short setdown section the other side. You'd even have your sink under a window. Dishwasher left or right of the sink, as desired. On the wall around the window at the bottom of the plan, there could be narrow storage like spice racks, pot lid racks, or pegboard for holding all kinds of stuff.

The arrangement I just described is very similar to an 8' x 8' kitchen I lived with for 13 years, including cooking a sitdown meal for 18 people, and lots of baking and family cooking. It works best for 1 cook but you can fit 2 in if you're friendly :)

What are the actual dimensions of the space, including overall and detailed (doors/doorways, windows, and wall sections)?

Butterfly sink...yes, I think you would end up hating it. For one thing, imagine switching the faucet from one bowl to the other w/water on...

For a corner sink, you will probably need a 42" corner sink base for a medium-sized single basin sink. 48" if you want a double-bowl w/useful bowl sizes.

Thank you so very much for your inputs! I was feeling very disheartened until I saw everybodys' answers...I like the idea of a galley kitchen...I like your design, laxsupermom! Before I saw it, I had drawn another galley kitchen, switching the refrigerator and range as advised. Here it is. I do not know if this will be possible, since there is no outside vent for the range, and anyway I like laxsupermom's better, but since I had already drawn it, here it is:

Kevinw1, I am not set at all on the tall cabinet, I am at the "explore and listen for suggestions" stage. We are only 2 in the house now. I did not realize the refrigerator was so huge. We are thinking of a standard size counterdepth french doors. We buy in bulk. I could consider a smaller DW, it will get filled more often and used more often. Should I worry about resale value with a smaller DW? We are not planning on selling at all.
Finally, here is the kitchen as it is now:

I see what you mean about the fridge - the counter depth french door ones are very nice indeed for access, but they do take up more width than a same capacity standard-depth fridge. We are a 3-adult household and we also buy in bulk, but not stuff that goes in the fridge, so ours is often half empty.

And almost anything would be an improvement on your current setup! Isn't it amazing what we can live with when that's what we've got.

Even buying in bulk for just two of you, I'd reconsider about a french door refrigerator. How about a smaller bottom freezer one? They take up less space and allow for more cabinet room.

Where do the two doors lead to? Please give room measurements if you want some actual help. Also what is it you do in your kitchen? Where would you ideally like to store different things? Before I started I thought hard about what it is I do and where I need my food stuffs, etc.

Sorry I did not post the overall dimensions before, they are 12 ft 6" to the door that goes to the outside (used to take the garbage out) and 9 ft 6" on the other direction. Here is the current layout. We are planning on knocking down the walls circled in red, they will become half walls:

For a while we thought about closing the access to the door that goes out and to the living room but DH cannot get used to the idea. The other door that will be moved is just an opening, no actual door.

Here are some answers as to how we use the kitchen:

Goals: More counter space between sink and range, eat-in kitchen, more storage.

Family: 2 adults who both cook and cleanup.

Kitchen is used for cooking and eating, we eat most of our meals in the
kitchen when we are by ourselves.

We have a separate dinning room to the right of the kitchen which we
would like to start using more often.

How do you entertain? When friends come over, we serve appetizers in the
living room and then move to the dinning room for dinner.

Windows cannot be moved.

I will be happy to provide any other details. THANKS AGAIN.

Have you considered opening up the kitchen to the diningroom and having an open kitchen with an island? I just took your rough drawing and overlaid it. it's not in scale or anything.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1956184}}

What about the window sizes, the distances b/w window/walls/doors/doorways? Each segment should be labeled. E.g.,
What is the distance b/w the left corner & the window the sink is currently under?
How wide is the window the current sink is under?
What is the distance b/w the window the current sink is under and the door where you take the garbage out?
The door is 34"...does that included door trim?
Ditto on all the other walls, windows, doors/doorways...including the wall on the Kitchen side that's being reduced to a half-wall and the distance b/w the end of that wall and the "top" wall (where the outside door is).

How does your drawing w/dimensions relate to the layouts you previously posted? I see long windows in the original posts but not in the dimensions. I also see windows & doors on the layouts that don't seem to exist on the dimension drawing...

All, I am blessed to have your experts opinions!

Cpartist, thank you so much for your suggestion. Did you realize that it would involve moving the stairs that go to the basement. One of the contratists that came to bid on the project said it did not involve a lot more money, but then never came back with the estimate. I think it will be very expensive. Maybe we should ask again? As you come into the house, the kitchen is on the left and the dining room is to the right. A nice island where the stairs are would be great. I do not mind an open kitchen, just will have to conceal the oven somewhere less visible.

Buehl, Sorry I managed to confuse you, it is that part will be new construction. This morning when I woke up the first thing I thought was that I had not put in the dimensions of the windows, etc. I will be more careful and post again the dimensions tonight. Please forgive me.

Finally, I triple-measured everything, here it is:

I have figured out the problems with my previous drawings. I used the Ikea software and got used to placing a door as a "space holder" before the real door that we use to take the garbage out, because we need that clearance space to be able to walk through (we cannot run the cabinets all the way to the door). But the door is actually directly in front of the stairs to the basement. The big picture window will be new construction. Right now we have the walls that encase the stairs to the basement, and these walls will become half walls (I have marked this in red). And on the right, the opening to the dining room can/will be moved to the right.

# What is the distance b/w the left corner & the window the sink is currently under? 2 ft.

# How wide is the window the current sink is under? 3ft.

# What is the distance b/w the window the current sink is under and the door where you take the garbage out? 93" from the trim of the window.

# The door is 34"...does that included door trim? yes.

# the wall on the Kitchen side that's being reduced to a half-wall and the distance b/w the end of that wall and the "top" wall (where the outside door is). 32"

I hope the drawing is clear now, I tried to scan at the highest possible resolution but if it is too light I will redraw over it with a marker. There is an interior window to the right, because there is so much sun coming in from that direction. I would like to keep some kind of opening there, even if in between counter and wall cabinet.
Thank you so much again. I am looking forward to your comments and to more measuring if necessary.