An additional thought - I would pick option 1 but I would put the fridge on the other end of that cabinet run so people could get a drink or snack without having to come further into the kitchen. I would then put a prep sink along that cabinet run so you would have a good Ice-Water-Stone-Fire layout and have a separate clean-up zone.

ETA - I'm assuming the breakfast room will be used for most meals with that suggestion. If you will be using the dining room most often, it might make sense to keep the fridge where it is. I would move it a bit out of the corner though so the fridge doors have more clearance to open fully.

Where is the dishwasher? Dish storage far away from the dishwasher is a PITA in my opinion. Also, the angle of your U where the sink in looks like you'll be tripping over the dishwasher and make for a very uncomfortable setup.

First I'd address the layout of the kitchen from a functional perspective then worry about dry goods storage.

I'm honestly concerned about the peninsula, and the nook. How will that all fit? Are you planning a banquette in the nook area? Certainly nothing else will fit except a very VERY small cafe table and two chairs.

I'd stretch the space as you've planned then bump the kitchen down into the dining room a foot and have a window in the kitchen...

Maybe starting here...

I think we might need a little more info to really be able to help you. Where do you bring groceries in, take trash out, etc? Is the utility room also where coats and shoes are stored?

I drew up what might be a crazy idea, but maybe it'll spur some other thoughts. I slid the counter down toward the breakfast room. Maybe the toaster, coffee pot, etc could live here so that they're convenient to the breakfast spot. Then I moved the doorway and rotated the storage for a butler's pantry of sorts between the kitchen and utility room. You could either do a small counter for landing space next to the fridge, or a shallow pantry for canned goods there. (I might choose landing zone. The counters feel limited in here.

I'd go with 1. I'd want to straighten out that peninsula also!

I do think the fridge would be more usable at the other end of that run. Would there be enough space for opening it? Seems to me it'd get more use there with the brkfast nook and FR.

Are you going to have a sink in the laundry room?

/

You *know* I vote for pantry in a big closet in the 'back hall'. Can it be just 3' deep? Reach-in?

Don't lose your slop sink! (Mine is beside the washer.)

So far, I think we all want to move your fridge, and some of us don't like the peninsula. The fridge is the 'most visited' appliance in the kitchen. Yours is far into the kitchen from the breakfast area; worse, it opens across a doorway.

Another vote for option 1. As well as considering moving the fridge to the breakfast room end of the run.

My aunt had a similar layout with the angled bar between great room & breakfast nook. It worked fine for entertaining - snacks and appetizers before dinner; replaced by a selection of deserts after. Accessible to the porch as well.

Funky, That's the very photograph that made me consider "switching up" the pantry! I had intended to post it, but I forgot to do so. Your point about the opening doors is good.

Yes, I had considered moving the refrigerator towards the breakfast room, which will be where we eat most of our meals -- this is a retirement home for me and my husband, and we decided we wanted to eat in a more cozy, two-person environment for our everyday meals.

No, no interest in a prep sink. My intention is that all the work will be done inside the "U", and this "back wall" will be for storage.

MamaRachel, I already own the ideal table for this spot, and, yes, it's going to include a banquette across the back. I've carefully considered walking space and am not skimping on it.

LaughableMoments, DessertSteph, Thanks for your thoughts, but I've already gone over the "U" with a fine-toothed comb and am very happy with the alterations I'm going to make, though I didn't include them in this thread -- the angle won't stay, the cabinets will expand by 2', and the dishwasher will be very close to the dish storage. I'm ONLY looking to make storage choices about the "back wall" now.

Walking in through two pantries is intriguing, but I'm not sure it's as functional as the simpler, first option.

No, I don't care about a sink in the laundry.

ChiSue, Ilucy, Two more votes for Option 1 ... looks like it's a sweep! And it's the one towards which I was leaning anyway. Decision made!

Thanks, all!

Where did the booth go?

Just to be clear, is the pantry in the utility room just for backup, seldom used supplies? If so, I think it will be great! If not, and you have to be running around the corner and into the back room to make each meal, I'd rethink it. We had storage like that in our last house, and it was nice that we had the space to store things "next door", but it was a hassle to be running out there to get things all the time. I would have much rather had the storage in the kitchen proper. Just my 2 cents. : )

I rarely find myself disagreeing with laughablemoments. Prior to starting our remodel, there was no room in our kitchen for food storage except the fridge, spices, oils, and canisters of flour and sugar. All other food was stored in our pantry which is just around the corner almost identical to Mrs. Pete's layout. Food was about 6-7 steps from the prep area. Just a few seconds. To have the same storage in the kitchen proper, the kitchen would have to be bigger and you would probably still be walking those same 6-7 steps. It's the distance that matters not whether you walk those steps in the same room or into a different room, imho.

That said, for full disclosure purposes, I do have open shelves that is sort of like a mini-pantry in my kitchen now. Mason jars filled with rice, beans, ancient grains, baking supplies, etc. I refill from the pantry and the other items in the pantry are, for the most part, things less often eaten. I do find this arrangement more convenient but mostly because I tend to forget what I have. If I don't see it, I forget to make it. This way I see the healthy stuff we should be eating more of and, thus, tend to make it more often.

However, if I didn't have the options of those open shelves in the kitchen and had to walk around the corner to the pantry for everything, it would be fine.

No, not overflow supplies. This will store most of our food. I want a large pantry for storage and a small kitchen in which to work. So, yes, pretty much everything would be around the corner -- that's really the crux of my question: How convenient or inconvenient would this be?

As I said, I think the distance/# of steps is the best way to determine convenience. If you had a bigger kitchen and it took, let's say, 7 steps to walk from prep area to in-kitchen food storage and 7 steps back, is that any more or less convenient than walking those same 7 steps around a corner into a pantry in another room? I think not. To me, it's the same thing. So, to me, your plan is fine. YMMV.

If it's a concern to you, you might consider what all you plan on storing inside the kitchen itself. Are there any serving pieces or gadgets or small appliances that you don't need daily that you could move to the pantry instead? This could free up a shelf or more for your most used food items to come into the kitchen.

I should also add that all my normal baking supplies like flour, sugars, baking soda and powder, and such are in my kitchen baking area. It would drive me batty to always have to go to a pantry to get those types of things. But I don't store things like chocolate chips right in the kitchen because I don't use those that often. Or even sprinkles because I usually only make cookies that I sprinkle with something a few times a year.

This is why you should be measuring what you want to store in the kitchen and pantry, and determine just where you will store it. Items that are used daily or almost daily really are more convenient in your kitchen. Items used weekly can be a bit farther from your work space. Items that you only use a couple times a month or even more rarely can be stored even farther away.

That was my concern, that you'd have to hike to the pantry for lots of food items for each meal. It'd be different if the pantry was for overflow and you were refilling your kitchen cabinets from there. For instance, we do some canning. Some of those jars of food are in "deep storage" since we only need to replenish from there occasionally. Even so, I need a convenient spot for the empty jars, too. (And I still haven't figured out where that spot is yet in my own kitchen.)

In our kitchen now, I have a 30" upper cupboard to the left of the stove that holds dry goods like rice and beans. The 30" upper to the right of the stove holds oils and vinegars, pastas, boxes of broth, and large containers of spices that won't fit in my spice drawers, which are below my cooktop and right next to it. I keep my onions and garlic in my corner cabinet since I use these nearly every day. In my baking area, near the stove, I have canisters of flour, sugar, brown sugar, and jars that hold baking soda, powder, salt, etc. These are all things I use frequently (well, the dried beans not so much) and I want them at the point of use.

In my pantry is where I put stuff I don't need quite as often, or the things that are too bulky and awkward to store anywhere else. Canned goods, potatoes, extra ketchup and mustard, spaghetti sauce, ice cream cones, cereals/homemade granola, bulk bins for my 50 lb containers of wheat berries, oats, rice, pitchers, coffee makers, extra crockpots, etc.

I feel for your dilemma. I'd love for my kitchen to be cockpit style, with everything within a step's reach, yet I have a lot more stuff that needs to be stored than will fit within my arms' lengths. (I have short arms, which doesn't help any. ; ))

You may have changed houseplans by now, but I liked this pantry you posted last spring.

Oh, laughable reminded me, my oils, vinegars, and sauces that don't need refrigerating are next to my range. So are all my cooking spices/seasonings. In my kitchen baking area, I have all my baking spices and extracts. Just wanted to be thorough.

I think it would be a pain to have to go get everything from where you plan to keep your pantry but, to beat a dead horse, if you can store all your regularly used items at point of use or as close as possible and then have overflow and/or less seldom used items in your pantry, I think you'll be fine.

mojos's sketch looks similar to what I was trying to draw up. I do wonder if one side was deeper storage for larger items, and the other side of the walkway was all shallow storage, say one can deep, for smaller items, it would be really nice.

Funky & Laugh, Y'all are on different ends of the spectrum here ... but I lean more towards Funky's side: Aside from spices, oils and vinegars, and a bit of flour near the stove, I do not want to store food in the kitchen. I want my kitchen to be small with just enough cabinets to store my "everyday" cookware needs, and I want the adjacent pantry to hold all the food plus the occasional cookware items.

Mojo, Yes, we changed plans. While I adore (present tense, not past tense) that kitchen, pantry and casual seating booth, I realized that everything was perfect in terms of kitchen and bedrooms and exterior ... but I just didn't love the living and dining rooms ... I barely even liked them ... and I allowed myself to gloss over those very important items because I was focusing on the things I could make work perfectly.

mrspete - I've had a kitchen like you want in the past -- no food stored in the kitchen due to all cabinets on outer walls in AZ that got HOT in the summer. Food deteriorated and discolored rapidly. So I had a separate pantry in the hallway. No problem gathering what I needed to take into the kitchen. As you state, oils, and spices will be in the kitchen, and everything else would probably come out of the fridge. Hey, my freezer was 3 rooms away!

Having the pantry 3 feet deep may be a bit deep -- but if you store things by the case, 18" deep shelves work well. Otherwise, 15" deep or less for shelves. If you use bypass doors, you can have baskets of sorted laundry on the floor in front of washer/dryer and still get into the pantry. Swing out doors need clearance.