Oh, I think your drafting skills are pretty darn good.

Where is the door to the bathroom?

Can you change the windows?

Can you add on an enclosed back porch?

Do you need both a cooktop & a wall double oven? A combined range, even one with a double oven would free up some valuable real estate.

I'm sure others will come up with something better and more ingenious but here's an idea.

Regarding the dining room wall/hallway. Definitely make that door wider. If you want to bring more light into the hall, that should help. Also maybe consider something like this display wall but with a tweak. I would put glass shelves instead of wood, lighting down through the shelves, and then a frosted, seeded, or ribbed glass wall behind. This way the light will come through into the hall but someone using the bathroom would still have privacy.

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What about something like this? Move range to outside wall, (or cooktop with oven below) and keep fridge on 'back wall' with message center on side. Then have glass (or glass on top half) door to outside.

Widen doorway to dining room...and add a pantry/display space for extra food and dishes. Just a quick idea.

Idea for range or cooktop/oven wall. I like this picture! Thought I'd share it :)

Thanks all, great feedback!

funky camper, we can't add on (at least, the small amount of space we'd be able to gain doesn't warrant the expense) but are open to moving or adding windows. The back wall has the best/most private view to the backyard. The bath and bedroom are actually half a level up at the top of the stairs, just to show how the house is put together like a Rubik's cube! I like your ideas for a display wall divider and having the range on the outside wall, which would make venting so much easier and more efficient.

Tmy_jax, I should have been more clear. Completely agree with you that the DWO/cooktop setup is not a good use of space in this kitchen. We're planning to go with a 30" range, though I've recently fallen for a 39" model that would be perfect for the way I cook. Probably too big for the space, really.

Lavender Lass, your suggestion has me thinking - we really hadn't thought about an L configuration, and I like the shallow pantry wall a lot. Pretty pic and close to our palette and style, we're going for very simple lines (slab flush inset), soft blue-grey and creamy tones with unpolished/patinad brass.

SJ - great callout on the zero clearance doors. On the height issue, the problem is the few inches of additional clearance needed to stand up the fridge once it's in the room - IIRC, an 80" tall fridge has an 83" and change tipping radius.

Appreciate all of your ideas and will let them percolate until I can play with more drawings this weekend!

This image is the first thing that came to mind when I saw your layout. But I see you have a window at the narrow end. I imagine it would be hard to close that up, but perhaps if you made the one over the sink bigger.

Thanks CF!. We've considered a U and have pretty much eliminated due to the corner inefficiencies and making the breathing room even tighter...plus that's where we keep the dog dishes (which can go on the other wall in LL's layout). On a different train of thought, we'll have to try a cardboard mockup to see how a full height, full depth item feels right inside the entry door...definitely gets us thinking through other options!

I don't want you to lose your best view to the backyard. So I took Lavender's suggestion and tweaked it. And I see that ControlFreak and I are on the same wavelength.

Fridge: I would inset the fridge partially into the wall so it doesn't stick out in the room as much. If you have the budget for a counter-depth fridge, even better. The fridge should be enclosed in cabinetry with upper-storage. Make sure you get a cabinet above it that is the same depth as the fridge. Far more usable than one of those that only sticks out as far as the upper cabinets. Then you actually tend to use it instead of piling stuff on top of the fridge because reaching the cabinet is so difficult.

DW: Normally, I wouldn't suggest a DW up against a door but your door opens out (unusual for an exterior door) so someone coming in will see it instead of opening the door into the DW so this should work OK. You would, of course, need to train yourself to watch for it before walking in. I would get a panel DW for this location since it will be seen so well when coming down the hall and, possibly, from the DR, especially if you open that wall the way Lavender suggested.

Sink: I moved your sink and window both down the wall. You need more space between sink and range so someone can clean-up and someone else can cook without bumping into each other. This also gives you a longer stretch of counter between sink and range which is where folks tend to do most of their prep work. Moving the window down also helps bring more light into that hallway. I kinda hate to see you have the extra expense of moving the window but I think the extra space for prep is worth it.

Range: Unless you couldn't stand it to cook on, I really think you should go with a 30" range in your small space. Most of our daily meals are sauted and steamed so I use my cooktop a lot and a 30" range has never been a problem for me. Of course, YMMV. I just think you need the space for other things

Pink Rectangles: These are windows on each side of your hood. I know you probably feel you need storage but the storage would be minimal there so I would do tall, narrow windows. It will not only allow you to get more natural light and look outside but it will also make your kitchen feel more spacious.

Yellow = lower cabinets

Blue = uppers

Trash: I didn't mark it but I still think you need to have your trash under the sink. You really need all the storage you can get so wasting a cabinet on a trash pull-out doesn't make sense, imho. You are close to outside. I'm assuming your outdoor garage can is close? I keep a small holder on the inside of my sink cabinet door that holds plastic grocery bags. It doesn't hold much but it holds enough, imho, and then we empty it regularly so no trash smells build up in the kitchen.

I really like Lavender's idea for opening up the dining room to the hallway. I figured there was a bathroom door there not drawn in. Since there isn't, I think doing that will bring that light into the hallway, the hallway won't feel so long, and it will actually make your kitchen feel bigger since it will be so close to a wide open space instead of a narrow, dark hallway.

We were x-posting. If you took your upper cabinets around the corners and didn't put in the narrow windows, I would agree with you about the U-shape making your kitchen seem too tight. These should eliminate that problem.

Also, there are other ways to feed your dogs in your small kitchen.

A section of lower cabinet between fridge and range can be open like this:

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Or you could put them in a drawer like this:

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So a place to feed without giving up valuable counter and storage in your small space. I love this idea.

Interesting and will definitely give this some thought! For the fridge, we will definitely go integrated counter depth. There isn't room to recess into the walls or to have a cabinet above with the crazy l-o-w ceiling, and we want it flush with the cabinetry to keep everything as streamlined as possible. On the range, I know you're right and appreciate the nudge back toward reality!! On the DW, I don't think that would bother us as it's similar to what we have now.. Trash on the other hand is a different story! That said, it's currently taking more space than it needs to, retrofitted into an existing cab. When we replace, it would be 18".

Glad we seem to be on the right track with opening things more to the DR...next is to figure out the structural and cost implications. We're in complete agreement not to pack everything to the ceiling with cabs... I've learned over years that that my workhorse must-haves are relatively few, and am so used to limited and horribly inefficient storage that organized, accessible space will be a dream!

I LOL'd with the dog dish drawer :). Let's just say mine isn't exactly a dainty eater or drinker and that would be trashed in no time...point taken however, there is always another option! :)

Oh, I know! I kinda laugh at the drawer style because my dog would ruin it pronto. Plus, I have water out for her all day. It's not like she would be able to open the drawer to drink when she's thirsty.

However, the shelf would work well even for sloppy eaters/drinkers/slurpers. You could line the bottom and sides with whatever you're putting on your counters. If you go with a counter too expensive to put in your dog's shelf, you could get an inexpensive laminate or tile that coordinates with your finishes and line the shelf with that. Then no cabinet trashing.

See, there is almost always another option.

If you have a very streamlined supply of kitchen items, you may get by with less uppers which would really open up your kitchen. Like this:

Oh, just imagine prepping while looking out that window. And you could cook and turn to look out it in addition to the small side-windows on each side of the hood. Your kitchen would be so bright and feel so spacious1