Thank you, any suggestions for a site to use for the floor plan? I don't see being able to get second floor laundry, though I wish I could, I think I have about 500 sq ft per floor. The upstairs has a 7x9 bathroom, two medium sized bedrooms and one small bedroom. (Or two small and one tiny, depending on how you look at it, lol). If I had the money I'd put the laundry and powder room in a small addition but I can't swing it at the moment. I don't know what to do.

Its easiest to just use paper and pencil and if you can't scan the drawing, take the best cell phone pic of the drawing you can.

Hip Hip Hooray for Philadelphia row homes!

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Welcome, Hughes7809. When I got here, I put my first floor layout on graph paper & posted it. Everyone's been sooo helpful in planning my Philadelphia row home renovation.

Even if you think there is no way to fit the laundry upstairs, it costs nothing to post a floor plan and get some other brains working on it. If we're successful, you get laundry where you want it the most and then there is more room downstairs for the kitchen and powder room. If we're not successful, you've lost nothing.

There's another thread going right now where the woman had come to the same conclusion (no way to put the laundry on the second floor), but we found several ways.

You can either print or buy graph paper and then hand draw your plans with measurements. Then scan or photograph the paper and post it here. Making 1 square = 1 sq. ft. is easiest for us to work with. Or 1 square = 6 sq. inches.

In the layout above, is there a doorway into the kitchen? the lower blue 'bar' is lighter than the other 3 - and looks to have a window in it? Is it a wall?

the 3D pics look like it's a 'glass' wall with a doorway?

Thanks, everyone. Desertsteph, not sure why the bottom blue bar is a lighter color, the second 3D image shows the same view. The white bar in the lighter blue bar is a door way to the living room. I believe it's 60 inches.

I have since changed this design a bit to accommodate the right refrigerator door, so it isn't as close to the wall.

Again, there is nothing to lose from letting us make suggestions. There are a lot of creative people here.

Thanks, I will try to get measurements. Unfortunately, the cabinets we were going to use will not work, they're all too large. So we're back to square one.

There are a lot of creative and talented people in this forum that can probably help you improve your kitchen function without having to do something as major as moving the kitchen completely.

Selfishly, I'm hoping you post your existing layout and your goals so I can see what these wise folks suggest. I learn new things here daily and my mind is blown often.

You won't regret taking the time to let this community help you.

We definitely want to move the kitchen and it won't be a huge deal since my husband and his boss maintain tons of properties and have tons of knowledge and contracting experience. There is no intent to move forward with a galley, no matter what.

I just am trying to figure out how to make the best of the current plan, and how to use that space wisely.

Simply put, I'm active in another special interest forum. I know how frustrating it is when you spend hours a day researching a certain subject and someone comes in for advice, and when you give them advice they don't take it or make a completely different choice. I promise I'm not doing that, but I've lived in this house for 26 years and I have thought about what I want extensively, and without a small addition this is what we have come up with. The galley is 8x11 with 4 doors, 2 that swing in and can't be changed. I'd really like suggestions for a 10 x 13 eat in kitchen if anyone has any.

I think it will be good to resize the opening b/w the kitchen and the LR. If you keep a shorter wall next to the fridge you won't need a cab b/w the fridge and the wall and also you may be able to expand the table a little into the LR when you have company.

You may consider bench(es) with storage instead of chairs.

If you'll have an upper corner cab consider an easy reach (90 degree) one, instead of the diagonal you have in your drawing. For base cabs, I understand you'll use what you already have, I hope you have rollouts or at least can add them since shelves in lowers is a PIA.

Any glaring issues with this layout? I've removed the wall seperating the the living room and dining room on the right side. that area of my living room is unused anyway. I guess this creates a great room like effect, but gives me the bar seating I want for my kids. I've used Ikea 15" deep lowers to indicate a peninsula. The refrigerator wall needs tweaking, I'm sure, but in general I am really loving the setup.
View from the living room:

^R

^This shows where I've borrowed 3ft from the living room for the table.
Obviously, I'm not a professional, so this is just a mock up to show our friend my general idea. Does anyone have suggestions on fridge placement? I don't want to put it too far to the bottom and out of the kitchen zone, but I'd like suggestions.

How much distance between the edge of the peninsula and that side of the table?

The mockup shows 40 but I still have more room in the living room to borrow. Probably 2 feet?

I think this is a lot better. I'd use that 2 extra feet from the LR. The tall cabs on two sides of the fridge look great, but if you don't already have these cabs one wider may be cheaper than 2 narrow ones. So it can be wall-tall cab-fridge and if you have room maybe a base cab b/w the fridge and the door.

I like that last plan. I would love to see you have a bit more counter between sink and range as that is where you'll be doing most of your prep. Can you steal enough room from the front room to make that range wall of cabinets a foot or two longer so you can move the range "south"?

Thank you, Sena, I love that idea, as I hate the closed in feeling of something tall when you walk through a door way. A base would eliminate that and also serve as a drop zone. I really love it.

funky camper, I changed some things around and got some more prep to the left of the stove, it's got the blind corner and a 24" drawer base now. I also added the 2 feet from the living room

I think you'll really appreciate those extra inches as it would give more space for someone to be at the sink while someone is cooking. Two people may be a bit crowded if one is prepping but you could also prep to the right of the stove, if needed. Not as convenient as it's farther fro the sink but it is do-able.

I like how you changed the cabinet by the door as well.

I know some people will shudder at your blind corner cabinet. They're not popular here. I have one and I don't mind it as I only store things deeper inside it that I rarely use. I rarely make a bundt cake, for example, but I'm reluctant to get rid of my pan. So the once a year or so that I have to get on my knees, remove the items directly behind the door that are more frequently used, and dig for the bundt cake pan isn't a big deal to me. If you decide to use the blind corner, consider your storage needs and ensure that you won't have to put things in there that you use often that would make the blind corner very annoying.

I just noticed your MW hood. Never used one, but keep reading here that they don't vent well. Now that you plan to have more cabs around the fridge and opening more to the LR maybe you can find a new place for the MW and a real hood can be considered if budget permits.

Thanks for your thoughts funkycamper. I'm having a conundrum about the corner and I'm not too worried about the blind. I would prefer a lazy Susan where the door spins in rather than that lazy Susan with the elbow hinge thing... and I may still change it... but I'd almost rather have a blind than an hinged door Susan. Is that crazy? Lol

Sena, I've never used a microwave hood either, truth be told I don't even own a microwave, I just put it in to see how it looked and forgot to change it. I don't think I'll be adding a microwave to this kitchen at all.

Would you get more landing room by extending the cabinet to the right of the stove, and creating an L, but lose the bar stools? Or perhaps get rid of the bar stools and put in back to back lower cabinets for double the storage space?

I like the idea of the cabinets by and over the fridge with the landing space counter top.

If you put in a lazy or super susan in that corner, you would love the bank of drawers to the right of the sink. I think the drawers are the most valuable and wouldn't personally choose to lose them to gain a susan.

It looks like you have drawers on all bottoms except the blind corner and the sink base. Is that correct? It's kinda hard to tell with the white cabinet face. If so, that's great. Just about everyone here agrees that drawers whenever possible are superior superior storage. And that's especially important in a small kitchen.