We had a desk in our old kitchen. When we built a new house, we put a standing desk area in our mudroom because we never sat at the old desk. Mail goes there, etc. I also built in a small nook in the kitchen for a phone and pens, notepaper, etc. We also ended up using our "coffee bar" area (a separate hutch type area) for laptops to charge. If I were you, I would think about what might be the best use of the space for you. Coffee center or wine/bar area is what came to my mind first. Good luck.

Funky camper: thank you for the notes/ideas! I read the note about the basket for library books and wondered if you could see into my living room (where the basket of library books is generally underfoot). I've printed out your marked-up photo.

Kelleg, my sister-in-law did something similar and I really like their standing desk (now I know the term!). I've been spending this afternoon trying to figure out if I could somehow combine the laptop and phone charging with a wine bar. Just because I don't [shouldn't] use those things at the same time doesn't mean I can't have them in the same space, right? I realized that I'd been tempted by lots of nice looking kitchen desks in photos but that I can't envision myself sitting there (and I think the kids have lots of other places to sit).

How about hanging calendar/cork/blackboard on the wall next to this cabinet and using the big cabinet area for wine? You could put those wine glass holders (where they hang upside down by the stem) at the top of that big opening. The Misc shelf could be where you keep pens, notepads and such.

I think that would be very cool to store wine there.

Here are some ideas for attractive ways to hang a calendar and the other stuff on your wall. Done well, it won't detract from your kitchen.

I really like that idea. Thanks for that link. I'm going to look through for options that I could open/close (I saw a few on there). I agree that if done well, it wouldn't detract. I'm just not always doing things so well so I might need to be able to put a lid on it. ;)

I get that. I like to hide messes, too, lol. It should be possible to put doors on those open uppers. I'm not a carpenter so I can't tell you how.

Is there a door missing on the bottom left? I just noticed that.

Yes -- none of the kids will admit responsibility but it is no longer attached. It is convenient for experimenting putting doors in different places, though. (It does make me wonder though whether soft-close doors are worth much when I don't have soft-closing kids.) :)