what I would have done is...put frig and sink on frig wall...run a long shallow depth 15-18 in cabinet/counter run for looks and use between the patio door side, under the kitchen window-all the way to that top doorway...6 and a half feet it appears. Then the range would have been installed into an island with the seating on some portion of it....this would have been in the mid to lower part of the kitchen space...would have been able to get more than 2 stools I think and the flow without the peninsula where it is would be more open. My hunch is you have view out the window and patio door-could be enjoyed more by folks at this island. what you have will be fine I think as well.

Interesting herbflavor! I may just play with that idea a bit. I wonder if we would have had the space for an island with that annoying wall section that juts out next to where the old refrigerator was... We may have with the shallow depth counter run. The kitchen is 13' x 11' 5" and the adjacent dining area is 10'x20'.

My idea for the counter height bar (and we may be able to seat three there - I think my stools are out of proportion) is a place for the kids to do their homework and projects while I make dinner as well as a place for guests to hang out while entertaining. I enjoy company in the kitchen just not standing in my work triangle which is what used to happen because no one wanted to stand on the other side of the bar and peer under that ugly overhead cabinet.

Congrats on doing so much hard work already. 8 layers of vinyl! Wowza!

The thing about your plan that struck me right off is that you will have a longer walk between sink and range than you do now. If you regularly make pasta, you'll be taking more steps with a big pot of boiling water.

How do you envision using the counters on each side of the fridge?

One idea I have is to keep the fridge where it currently is, move the range to the long wall (where you're putting the fridge) and include a prep sink in that same run. Add pantry storage and MW cabinet next to the fridge (Wall of Tall, as it's known here). Then you'd have much needed storage, a dedicated prep and cooking zone and a dedicated clean-up zone. I've no idea if this will work, however, since I've no idea how large your space is, the distances between and widths of doors and windows and how your family uses the kitchen but I thought I'd throw this idea out there anyway.

That's a great point about the longer walk between sink and range. And... having a larger workspace next to the range would have been desirable. There were two reasons we chose that wall for the refrigerator - one was so that the traffic in and out of the kitchen to grab something from the refrigerator or to go outside via the laundry room wouldn't interfere with whoever was working at the range. The other reason was because the small section of wall next to where the refrigerator used to be wasn't as deep as the sections of wall next to the door openings adjacent to the wall where we plan to put the refrigerator. Since the refrigerator sticks out a bit more than the range we thought it was better to have it on the wall with the "deeper" wall section.

But I think your idea makes so much more sense for the reason you mentioned - the back and forth between the sink and the range. I DO make a lot of pasta. Although... there is a lot of traffic through the kitchen into the laundry room since that is how my husband enters/exits the house and that is how the kids go outside to play. So I would be concerned about people walking by the range quite a bit too... But, in hindsight, I think I might like your concept better. It sounds more appealing to the eye too.

I would never put a fridge in the middle of a cabinet run in the interior of the kitchen. It's actually one of the big DON'Ts of kitchen design to separate a counter run with a tall object. It's the element you want to put on the edge of the kitchen because of it's attraction to snackers and water drinkers. Put the range where the fridge is and it will be a MUCh better focal point. Place teh fridge at the end of the cabinet run where you currently have the range, and put a MW somewhere in that run for quick reheats. Snack zone created.

I agree with green designs.

My instinct was stated by Green Designs

Since that wall next to the doorway into the DR isn't deep enough to allow the fridge there, put the fridge at the other end of that run, as GreenDesigns suggested. Otherwise, GreenDesigns and my advice is much the same.

Yes, it's unfortunate that the range will now be in one of the main paths but other than moving it to the peninsula with an island hood, I can't see any other decent place to put the range. On the plus side, you will have more counter on each side of the range so that provides a larger buffer at each doorway.

I love GW. I agree 100% with GreenDesigns and all of you who suggested that the range should go on the one wall without any openings and the refrigerator should go back on the wall where it was. In fact, the mental picture I had of the kitchen that way was so beautiful that I completely forgot how we ended up with the fridge in the middle of the other wall. So we tested it out and rolled the refrigerator around the room (it's nice to be able to do that since it's the only thing in there) and tried it out everywhere. And then I remembered how we ended up with it in the kitchen design no-no spot.

It's a monster. It's a 31 cu. ft french door model that is basically 36"x36". On an unrelated note - it rolls around like a Cadillac - so easy to move! Here it is in it's proposed spot:

Anyhow.... the little walls opposite from each other next to the doors to the living room and laundry room stick out not quite 35". The little wall on the other side by the dining room sticks out not quite 31". The doorways are tiny - the one on the south wall is only 30" wide. Putting the refrigerator on either end of the run that you all so wisely suggested just feels cramped both ways. On the dining room side the refrigerator door opens into the dining room opening which is where people always seem to congregate when we entertain. I was constantly having to open the refrigerator door in their face and say "Excuse me". On the other end of that run it makes the entry into the kitchen from the living room seem very cramped and makes for an odd view from the hall/living room. And we'd have the same problem of the refrigerator door swinging into the opening. I guess since that rubbed us the wrong way with the old layout we gravitated towards the polar opposite. I so badly wanted it to work that way you suggested, especially picturing the backsplash I want for the range, but the structure of this house (a very tiny 1950 tract home) is not cooperating.

So I think we will have to break with design guidelines and stick that monster frig in the middle of the wall. Hopefully with the wall cabinets it won't look too strange in the middle of the counter run. I haven't given up on your suggestions completely. This is not our forever kitchen but it is our right-now kitchen so we have to go with what feels most comfortable even if it looks a little odd. If we ever have the opportunity to build a larger kitchen I am keeping GreenDesigns suggestion in my notes because I LOVE the idea of a range in the middle of a larger counter run and the refrigerator wall as more of a snack center with a smaller counter run to one side and the toaster oven right there. And I haven't abandoned the idea for this kitchen entirely yet either...

Thank you so much! I have learned so much from this discussion. I'll definitely post pictures of whatever we decide to do and I'm sure this won't be my last question. Back I go to rolling the refrigerator around...

I haven't read through everything in detail so this may be repetitive. My first thought was to swap the range and refrigerator, too. I would then play with changing the L-shaped sink/peninsula to a squarish peninsula (which would function more as an island but be attached to a wall) that is a little closer to the range. Maybe there isn't the width to do that well, but it's an idea.

OK, to make it more attractive to look at, face the side with a chalkboard. Or bookcase. Or bulletin board. To make it less hulking, recess it into the wall with a header or bring the base cabinets forward to create a deeper counter and use 15" deep wall cabinets. Or, put a pantry on one side, then the fridge, then a counter run with a MW wall cabinet. The more you make it look built into it's surroundings, the less of a beast it appears to be.

Or, if you absolutely can't bear it to be any place but the back wall, do something else besides put it smack dab in the middle. Do a beverage or bar sink with some glass cabinetry for your dishes and pretties, and place the fridge 3/4 of the way down the wall to the right. Then put a deeper MW cabinet as an upper for your snack zone.

Centering it on that wall actually makes it look even more hulking and behemothish because you're making it a focal point.

What LWO wrote, who is apparently reading my mind (sorry if that scares you, LWO). I think if it's close to the LR doorway but not smack at the end with a cabinet between it and the doorway, it will be workable. If that still doesn't feel right, then place it on the long wall as LWO suggested but definitely give a purpose to the counter between it and the LR doorway. Splitting in half may be symmetrical but isn't as functional, IMO, and as LWO wrote, it doesn't need to be made into a focal point.

What a cutie pie your fridge demonstrator is! ;-)