First, may I say I admire your clear, well-drawn, floor plan? If only most people who ask questions here started out with such a drawing!

The main functional issue that I see is that you have the clean-up zone between essential parts of the prep to range activity area.

What's behind the wall with pantry cupboards? Any chance you could "steal" some space from that room to allow the fridge to be recessed into that wall?

If you could move the fridge to the other side of the kitchen, and move the prep sink on the island you'd have a compact, and more important, separate prep cooking zone while meeting the non-negotiable criteria of the current clean-up sink placement. Space lost from the pantry area as drawn to accommodate a moved fridge could be re-captured as pantry storage where the fridge is now.

I bring this up becauce you mentioned a large, multiple cook family. In that circumstance you need to have multiple, discrete working zones so that different activities can take place simultaneously but without conflicting work zones. In other words, you need to be working at the same time, but not in the same space.

As you've got it now, everyody will be flitting through the sink corner angle to do anything in the kitchen. For a single cook household, that would be OK, but not for yours as you describe it.

Please do not despair or think that your years of mentally designing your space are wasted. Other people here will have many other, probably even better suggestions. Consider them all, even the ones that seem off-the-wall at first. There's always something that you've never thought of before which makes a huge difference for the better in your plan.

Other people here on the forum have very different pre-occupations with kitchen design than I do. I think primarily in terms of food and work pathways, and my suggestions are oriented towards ways I see that can improve those areas.

The beauty of the KF is that you get the advantage of all the various viewpoints.

HTH
L.

I have a very similar restriction and similar sizings (corner sink and windows plus 147" in one direction). I think it might be helpful for the experts on the forum (not me) if you point out the adjacent rooms, especially since traffic flow with that doorway could be important. You definitely have some pinch spots there, and the overlap in the zones. I'm having the same issues.

Thanks liriodendron. You highlighted my biggest concern and dislike of this kitchen layout. Unfortunately, I have played around a lot with the fridge on the wall you mentioned and have not come up with a good solution. Placing the fridge on that wall resulted in a much smaller, less useable island and a very awkward corner. Hopefully one of the experts can come up with a better solution!

Gooster, thanks also for your reply. I wish I had a floor plan to submit, but I will try to explain. The dining room is located on the other side of the wall pantry which is next to the front door. So, the main entrance to the kitchen is through that doorway. The other two kitchen walls are exterior walls. Other traffic can enter the kitchen by the sitting area. It is unlikely that the walls could be changed because the cold air return vents are located in that wall behind the existing small closet pantry.

I would appreciate any other feedback!

Nice layout and what a fun project. I'll be you're excited!!! Answering questions...I think the microwave is most functional where you have it. Also, the fridge is good there. You have two areas to place food you take out, and with your prep sink right across - it looks great! For the open spaces, 36"-42" is always suggested, so you are fine. The only thing I would change would be putting a french curve on the inside corner of the island. Take your line from two outside corners of the inside right angle (across from the small pantry), then french curve it.... I hope you post once it's all done!

Your non-negotiable is stifling any response to your post. And it's completely stifling a good layout for a kitchen with multiple cooks. A corner sink only works for ONE person. It's inefficient, and unless you are more flexible, you will not achieve your goals.

Something to think about. With this, the cleanup and prep zones are fully separate, and you can prep in front of those windows or on the island with good access to the sink from either.

I understand your desire to keep the window sink, and I also understand first hand the limitations it imposes.

With regard to the rest of the floor plan, it would be helpful to see what is to the left of the island (eat in area) with labels as to what the adjacent rooms are, and if there are any other obstructions (stairwells, etc). I see from your response that the dining room is behind the new pantry wall, and that the small existing pantry is backed with a cold intake vent that you don't want to relocate.

I'm no expert, I just have similar constraints. I agree with the need round off that corner in your existing island. You might consider converting the existing pantry to a corner pantry, if you keep this layout, to improve the flow slightly. I have an existing cabinet like this and it really helps with moving the flow around the working areas.

I have a similar issue with criss-crossing of zones in my proposed plan, so I feel your pain.

I have spent most of my adult life without a window at the sink. Just a few weeks ago "moved" in to our remodeled kitchen which does have a window at the sink. It didn't matter to me if the window was there or not, it just worked out that way.

Observations are that when working at the sink I never look at the window as I'm looking at what I'm doing. Also during the day everyone (my family) likes to prep, etc on the island and look out the windows into the backyard.

In summary, have the window where you prep and you will actually look out the window while working.

another quick note. I personally do not like cabinets in your face when at a sink. So if you go without the window at the sink, consider higher cabinets, shelves, etc.

GreenDesigns has drawn exactly what I was proposing: move the fridge, but don't locate it on the pantry wall, place it in (and through) the pantry wall and steal the extra space from the DR.

The thing with non-negotiable items is that they always have soom consequent costs in terms of planning options foregone. It's really important to fully evaluate what you're giving up in order to know whether what you "must have" is worth the sacrifice in functionality. Ultimately that's a question only you can answer, though.

L.

Thank you everyone for your responses! I SO appreciate your feedback. Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I was waiting until I finished a floor plan for you all to see.

I really like the idea of having the fridge on the pantry wall (in fact that is where it is now but we do not have an island). However, early on in our planning process, a kitchen designer told us it wouldn't be possible because of the windows in our dining room (along both outside walls)and it would create an odd doorway into the kitchen. As I look at my floor plan, though, I think I should get a second opinion. My other concern about moving the kitchen sink is the loss of upper cabinets. I guess that is the trade off for having a more functional layout? One thing I am trying very hard to avoid is a "barrier island" which I think GreenDesigns layout might create. Any opinions on whether a "barrier island" would be better than a corner sink?

I am interested in any other ideas out there and you can ignore my non-negotiable if that will help stimulate some more responses!! You have given me a lot to think about.

Thank you.

A builder came in and is pretty sure that the wall between the kitchen and dining room is a support wall. However, it would be possible to move it and leave a beam. Moving the wall would make the windows in the dining room off-center, but it is an option.

Any comments? Ideas? I really need some help thinking outside the box at this point! Thanks.

You don't have to move the DR wall to have the fridge as I have suggested above.

Think of it this way: all exterior walls are "load bearing", but all of them have windows and doors, right?

The load is safely transferred by using "headers" above the openings, but the wall remains in the same plane. You can't usually see the structural components when the walls are intact, but they are always there.

Think of it this way: What I was proposing is to create a "doorway" through that wall using the space now devoted to the narrow cab, plus the thickness of the wall and
"stealling" some more space from the dining room. Stick the fridge in the opening (a kind of closet, in a certain way). Since you are stealing space there are techniques that will allow you to make an exceptionally thin wall behind the fridge. Anyway, imagine the fridge poking it's backside through the wall and then imagine the whole thing framed in and tidy. You could incorporate a built-in china cabinet on the dining room side for the rest of thickened wall space. The fridge shouldn't eat up more than 12-18" max of the DR.

You would be creating a wall space that's thick enough to contain the fridge. Some parts of it would be accessed from the kitchen side, some from the DR side, if you see what I mean. You can minimize the thickness by using a so-called counter depth fridge, as well.

You can remove and reframe the wall if you, want but you don't have to go to that extent, or expense.

There may be ways to disguise the slight off-centeredness of the existing DR windows - curtains stacked outside the frame are one common tactic.

If I haven't made myself clear, I can try again. I thought from your comments above you didn't understand what I was proposing: don't remove or move the wall, just put a hole into for the fridge.

Don't think "outside the box", think through the sides of the box.

HTH

L.