Here is the kitchen without fixtures. Each block s 1 sq foot.

How deep is the closet, and what is directly behind it?

Hi! The closet is about 36 inches deep. Behind it, the basement stairs pictured have a landing halfway down then turn left, behind and below the pantry closet (if that makes sense)

I would try a plan with the refrigerator recessed into the pantry opening and a set of floor to ceiling cabinets in 12-15" depth between the two door openings on the left.

Something like this? I may have to tape it out on the floor.. This definitely adds a ton of counterspace but my only concern would be not having a surface to put items from the fridge on as you take them out.

Why don't you want to open up to an adjacent space-dining room looks obvious but you would be well served by showing more of the spaces around the kitchen. Isn't it feasible to expand the kitchen?

If needed you could have an open shelf area on the shallow cabinets, and/or the DW is counter is not that far away...like three feet when standing in front of the fridge. That's not really a hike.

Hi herbflavor. We have definiteky thought about that! the thing is the house is a century old cottage that is not the best layout or construction for that type of expansion.. While we have considered removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room, that might be more expensive/extensive than what we are looking for at this time.

Palimpsest - tried another layout here. I think I may like this better... It's a 12 foot walk from sink to fridge, doesn't that break some rule of kitchen design? :) not sure I care though!

Hi Irene,

Congratulations on your new home.

I set this up in the IKEA 3D planner, guessing your ceilings are 96" tall.

This preserves your pantry, makes it easy to open your dishwasher, and gets your refrigerator out of the corner so you can open its door fully. The sink is under the window in a blind corner base cabinet.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA 3D Planner - link good for 7 days

Sorry about that double-posted picture. This could be your baking station.

Can you move the door to the deck to the DR?

ireno, in your last diagram it appears it would be difficult to get dirty dishes out of the sink and into the dw. The dw door opens in front of the sink.

What about swapping the stove and sink and putting the fridge into the current pantry as suggested earlier? I like the shallow tall pantry idea between the doors. That way your stove is the farthest removed from most of the traffic pattern, and your fridge and pantry are right by the sink/prep area.

A bit OT, but is there enough usable space with a 1 ft cabinet between the stove and fridge?

Technicolor I have that currently. It is a spot where I keep utensils in a crock and have spices in the small cabinet above and put my spoon rest on that side and some ingredients will go there while I'm cooking. Now the base cabinet the way I have it is all drawers. Not sure what the builder thought on that one. Would serve better as cookie sheet storage. But one of the few drawers I have.

Hi, Ireno. That actually seems quite a nice space you have to work with. If it were mine...

I'd do a simple L counter where you have one, with floor-to-ceiling pantry on the inside wall. I would not do any peninsulas or counter turns that added even one blind corner to the cabinetry. They have to be longer than you have room for to make up for what they do to the final 2' of counter space and storage below. (That said, if you "saw" yourself loving working in a little U like your 22:10 hours diagram, then that'd be entirely different.)

I'd set the fridge in the pantry space. The kitchen would feel, and work, far larger without its bulk in the middle of the room, and for me a few extra steps would be a necessary tradeoff. I know because I did this in my current space; it was just a must for me to keep the room open. The end of that counter would be close enough by the fridge, so a place to set stuff wouldn't be an issue. (An exception might be if the adjacent rooms felt very spacious so that a tight cozy, and very efficient, kitchen actually felt right in comparison.)

As for laying out the L counter and appliances, I'd design my work stations first, with plenty of counter for each, especially my main prep area, and then place the sink and appliances around them accordingly. I'd at least consider having my baking station and main prep share one large space. In a discrete room like that, I would not worry that the stove might "look funny there"--it would go where I needed it to be, and the sink would not need to go wholly or even partially under the window; from anywhere on the L, a side glance would see out it, so I wouldn't sacrifice the function of my work counters to get it there. Standing right in front of it would be a nice place for any kind of work, anyway.

There's room to give the short side of the L extra counter depth if that turned out to be desirable, say 28-30" deep.

I have shallow floor-to-ceiling storage pantry where you have something drawn in on the left wall and love it. At 12", it holds a ton of stuff. You might consider using the depth of the wall as part of the storage, but I probably wouldn't go deeper than 13", and less would work very well. I wouldn't bother putting any work counter on that side since I wouldn't use it, although I did set an open niche in the middle of my storage wall here for a coffemaker counter, with microwave set above that (again, taking advantage of the wall depth behind for extra inches in the niche).

Well, I had fun playing at it, thank you, and hope something sparks a thought for you. Even a rule-out's a good step forward. :)

Lyfia, Thanks

"The closet is about 36 inches deep. Behind it, the basement stairs pictured have a landing halfway down then turn left, behind and below the pantry closet (if that makes sense)."

Make sure that the pantry goes from floor to ceiling. I have a cupboard that backs into my stairs, much as the way you describe. It makes great use of space, but starts about 2 feet off the floor. It wouldn't be suitable for a refrigerator.

Just having fun, put in a larger window that starts at current window, but is centered on short wall in order to center sink. Fridge is the wall wart where the pantry is currently. Highly recommend the shallow wall storage on dining room wall!

If this was my kitchen, I'd badly want to to add base drawers and counter. The only way to really do that is to sink that fridge into the current pantry. It's like it was made for that, too!

oh my goodness, so many responses! thank you so much everyone for your generosity with your creativity. :)

thanks very much tbb for the 3d renderings. i will have to use the ikea tool myself. love the baking station idea too - those metal shelves could actually double as cooling racks!

debrak - oops.. duh. obviously i am new at this! thanks. :)

deedles - i like everything about your rendering. i think we might go in that direction. you convinced me the pantry fridge is the way to go.

technicolor - i'll second lyfia. i used to have about 10 inches next to a stove and it was SO handy. our baking sheets were stored underneath, and narrow open shelves for oils and spices above.

rosie - what excellent thoughts, thank you so much. i agree, extra deep on the short side of the L would be great, and then clearance between counter and cabinets wouldn't be too big of an issue (i really prefer a lot of clearance over working surfaces - but then you tradeoff for storage space). i like the idea of the floor to ceiling pantry on the left, but i also wonder if i should put counter/cabs there. would i use it? would it obstruct traffic flow? tough choice. leaning towards pantry.

clueless- love your rendering.. and in fact, that window probably needs to be replaced anyway (garden window= leaky/condensation). i think we might do exactly what you recommended!

now i just need to decide where the sink and stove go!

thanks all :)

Ireneo: Don't remember if you said how many people in your house, but if you think it might work to have a little smaller DW, you could look at either an 18" OR Fisher and Paykel makes a tall drawer dishwasher. Either would give you a little more storage space. Under the DWD you could have a nice 12" deep storage drawer, or the 18" would let you have 6" more base cab width. Don't know if it would work for you but thought I'd toss it out there.

Here's a refrigerator-in-pantry plan, with a narrow pull- pantry on the (bigger) window wall. The deep cabinet above the refrigerator is a great place to vertically store your cookie sheets, platters, trays, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA 3D Planner - link good for 7 days

Say, how wide is the pantry closet? Any chance of making some open shelves next to the fridge or even a skinny pull-out?

(I'm just saying GOL-DANG GRAMMAR THREAD. I'm re-writing half of everything and am probably still getting it wrong!)

I really like deedles' layout. I might embellish a few things, if my DH were very handy: remove window on top wall, move range to the right. That would give you more storage/landing space to the left of the range and a super susan will fit in the corner. That reduces prime prep area between sink and range, so I'd slide the sink/DW down a bit. For the cherry on top, I'd add a window over the sink. I guess that's a pretty tall order for the DH!

Oops, looks like that window I'd add would look into the adjacent room. :(

Ireno, Not so obvious as I've seen actual kitchens built like that.