Thank you everybody! Good points from all of you. I've decided to keep the corner pantry. I'm going to make sure I don't have wire shelves though. And I'm thinking on putting some frosted glass or the like in the door to lighten/soften up that corner a bit. I've never had anything bigger than a small reach-in pantry, and it wasn't IN my kitchen. There came a point where I needed to get rid of the wall oven and counter top stove OR the corner pantry to allow for more counter/cabinet space. I decided to keep the pantry then and looks like it wins again now! Plus it would have been tough on my cabinet designer, and myself to get it all redesigned so quickly. AND I would have went back to a wall oven/countertop stove, and that would have sucked considering our appliances are bought, paid for, and ready for delivery. I've put alot of though into the organization of the cabinets of this design, and don't want to start all over and make any un-thoughtout quick decisions anymore on this kitchen! Honestly...I had much bigger dreams for my kitchen in our new home. Seemed every houseplan I liked, DH didn't like. (he was more concerned about how the outside of the house looks). I finally told him to find a few that looked like he wanted, we'd pick once of those, tweak it, and I would deal with it. DH is the bread winner...so it really seemed only fair! This one really had everything I wanted, except the large spacious kitchen. I came to terms with that since the plan was nice and open. Plus most things can always be changed, renovated down the road sometime if I'm not happy with something...I am woman, I think that way! Men would rather just whine about it! I didn't want to go 5 years down the road and have him whining about this and that inside and outside the house. This way...if he whines, I'll just remind him that he picked the plan! ;-) Honestly...I'm going to love my new home. Lots of space for the family, and for company. Office space, laundry room, 3 stall heated garage, upstairs completely for the kids, big bonus room, out in the country, the list goes on and on...it's more and nicer than I've ever had in my life and I'm thankful for that...even if it isn't my dream kitchen!

I saw this thread when searching for advice on L-shaped kitchen layouts and just had to post as my kitchen is pretty much identical to the example posted by fireberd350 at 21:10. We're embarking on a remodel now and while I think the layout in general isn't bad, to me it does seem like the fridge would make more sense over on the other wall by the dishwasher, as suggested by blfenton. It is so true that in the year that we have been living in this kitchen, the no man's land of the counter over by the dishwasher has always been junked up since it's not a very functional area. We should be able to carve out some room for a pantry beside the fridge too. Good luck fireberd350 and I'd be interested to see how your layout develops!

May I ask where your small appliances will be located? Might be a nice idea to leave a counter top where you can put them, with shelves for additional storage above. I have corners like those you have pictured. The lowers are usable for storing things I don't use often and the uppers work well for food. The layout looks nice though and I can see you will be able to store a lot of food. If you run your shelves to the ceiling as pictured, will it be practical for you to climb up there for things?

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5874997/small-tight-u-shape-kitchen-layout-not-many-choices-got-any-ideas From ""Buehl About pantries...several years ago, there was a lot of discussion about pantries, with an emphasis on shelf depth. The consensus was that 12" is the "sweet spot" for shelf depth. 12" is deep enough to hold all food (cereal boxes, 2 or 3 deep cans, etc.), pantry storage containers (e.g., Tupperware), and the vast majority of small appliances (KA stand mixers, blenders, breadmakers, etc.). 12" is not so deep that things get lost in the "depths". Even 18" is too deep -- I had that in my old Kitchen and things got lost all the time! Plus you end up putting things in the front that are unrelated to those behind them. The most efficient pantry storage is one that 1. Allows you to see everything in it with one look 2. Doesn't "let" you stack unrelated things deep (e.g., cans of peaches in front of cans of green beans or pantry storage containers holding different things, ...) 3. Utilizes the entire space floor-to-ceiling, or as close to that as possible Pantry Types: 24" deep pantry cabinets don't meet any of the three above, made even worse when over 18" wide. Even if they have doodads that swing/pull out (and are generally expensive), storage is limited b/c of the need to accommodate the hardware and other parts to the swing out. 18" wide x 24" deep pullout pantry cabinets meet #1 & 2. BUT, they have to be pullout pantries, not shelves unattached to the door or roll out tray shelves (ROTS) (which don't work above waist level or so anyway). They work only because you can see everything when you pull the door open fully by looking at both sides. If you had to move things around, they wouldn't work. 15" deep pantry cabinets meet #1 & 2 and have the added advantage that you can look without moving things around. The 15" depth includes the back wall, so the shelves are really only 14" or so deep. (In non-IKEA framed cabinets, both the back wall and the face frame are included in the 15" depth, so shelves are 13" deep or so.) Built-in pantries, whether reach-in, step-in, or walk-in, are the most efficient and meet all three above.""