I'd think through the steps you take when reheating something. If you heat stuff straight out of the fridge, then put the MW near the fridge. If you store food in larger containers and are likely to scoop a serving out onto a plate before reheating, put the MW near the bowl and serving scoop storage.

Thanks - I do both, and I think that either side of my range (high or low) or in my island will work well for both of those scenarios.

Microwave Placement:

How about expanding the row of cabinets (pantry cabinets?) on the chimney side to 18" deep and putting the MW in one of the cabinets in that run? If necessary, the refrigerator could be moved to the left another couple of inches.

If the majority of your MWing is reheating, then putting the MW near the refrigerator and the pantry makes the most sense anyway.

Note: I just looked at several GE Spacemaker MWs and they all said you need a 30" cabinet. (I looked at JVM1850SH, JVM1440LK, JVM1650SH, plus a few others)

Other Comments:

What are the cabinets on the far right wall? Pantry? Dish hutches? Combination? Where are you keeping your "utility" items (broom, mop, etc.)?

Sink/Prep Sink: How do you feel about a prep sink on the island? Right now, the work flow is not ideal. Work moves from the refrigerator/pantry to the sink and prep space to the cooking area. Your current work flow has you crossing the entire length of the kitchen to get to the sink. If you plan to prep on the island, you then backtrack to the island; if you plan to prep b/w the range and the sink then that step is fine.

Note, however, that prepping on the perimeter counter b/w the sink and range potentially overlaps the cleanup area. If someone is cleaning up while you're prepping you may be bumping elbows (or butts!). If you prep on the island, all zones are separate and there is no "elbow or butt bumping!"

If you have a prep sink, you only have to walk across a portion of the kitchen (exact amount depends on where you put the prep sink) and the range is immediately behind you.

Refrigerator: Ideally, the refrigerator should be closer into the kitchen work area, but on the outskirts so that people coming in from the rest of the house for a snack do not interfere with prep/cook/cleanup. However, it appears you're going for a "look" on the range wall, so moving the refrigerator over to that wall won't work. The sink wall, with the DW and trash, doesn't have enough room for the refrigerator, so it cannot go there. Moving the DW to the left of the sink would put it in the way of the range's oven door and loading/unloading the DW could interfere with cooking on the range.

Range Hood: It's strongly recommended that your vent hood be at least 6" wider than your range/cooktop. With a 30" range, you should have a minimum of a 36" vent hood. You have the space for it and it would only take 3" off of the upper cabinets on each side of the vent hood.

FWIW, I agree with your cabinet maker about detracting from the range...if you are you getting a particularly attractive/striking range.

Aisles: Your 39" clearance b/w the sink/DW and the island is a little tight. While it will work, I would feel more comfortable with another 3 to 6 inches (42 to 45 inches)

HTH!

Buehl - these are really helpful comments. Thank you!

Range Hood: I had been wondering about the hood width so I appreciate that comment. You're right, not hard to get another 3 inches out of each side. BTW, what happens if you *don't* get the bigger hood?

Aisles: Thanks for this suggestion - I can scootch my island another 3 inches, or potentially shorten it that much.

Refrigerator: We really struggle with the fridge placement. Our original design had it on the same wall as the stove. But it seemed too cramped in that corner between the stove and sink. That's why we pushed it over to the corner. That gives me about a 27' triangle (1 or 2 feet more than the recommended triangle).

The prep sink could help solve this problem. The thing is that I have always loved the idea of a plain uninterrupted expanse of counter on my island.

MW placement: I don't know that my range is going to be any more striking than most. It will be either a Bosch or Wolf 30" (depending on other splurges). The cabinet guy feels that the range tends to draw the eye and is typically designed with symmetric cabinets.

I could put the MW in the pantry as you suggest. My original thought for that area was pretty glass cabs and open shelving for cookbooks. Maybe I can get a MW cab with top-hinged door as part of it. (You say I need 18" depth for that?)

One thing to note is that my fridge is going to be hinged near the chimney (to open on the island side). Still OK to put MW in pantry area in that case?

I will be serving my family every meal on the island, so I was figuring that it would be ok to reheat near the island or stove anyway.

Lastly, thank you for checking out the cabinet sizes for the GE spacemakers for me!

a follow up -

Buehl, based on your suggestion, I am going to put a GE spacemaker MW in a *lower* cabinet in the pantry. That allows me to preserve the shallow depth there (lowers are 16" deep, uppers 12" deep), and also makes the MW accessible to my kids. I was thinking of putting a door on it (one that lifts up and tucks in above the MW) though I'm not sure. BTW the Spacemaker is about 12.5" deep, and I realized it is a different model number than the ones you referenced above.

To answer your question about broom/mop placement, they are in a very narrow pullout to the left of my fridge. I got this idea on another post (it is an IKEA thing but my cabinet maker says he can reproduce it.) Other cleaning stuff will be under the sink.

I am posting my amateur elevations of my kitchen in hopes of more feedback. I finally realized how to use the html image tags...yay!

{{!gwi}}