I'm a little confused, not unusual and I may be the only one. To me a mud room is usually an entry in the back of the house or the garage. A foyer is a more formal entry from the front door into the more public area of the house, not the place to drop dirty shoes, wet coats, etc.. You refer to this as a mud room/foyer so I'm not sure what part of the house this area is in and what you are using it for. Do you have more pictures to show us and a little more explanation, pls?

OP, in my home the front entry door and garage entry door are right next to each other, just 24" apart.

With those cabinets, I suggest leaving the gap to one side. A table is nice in an entry, but 12" is narrow

pandtkendall Sorry for the confusion. It is technically the entrance to the house, so in my mind, a foyer. I guess it would technically be an entryway, since it enters into a hallway.However, it is our only entrance and we have no garage on top of the hill so it becomes the dropping point for everything. Shoes, coats, cardboard boxes that have to go down to the bottom of the hill, etc. The dog needs water that can't come from our house (too acidic) so there's also a lovely bright red 5 gallon cooler right there as well. We have very little storage space upstairs as well, so paper towels and the broom sit here too. So basically, everyone walks through our "mudroom" to get into the house, which is not a pretty sight most of the time. Here's a couple photos. The room will be painted a sage green before these go up as well.

View from the front door

view of the space the cabinets will go:

Sorry for the creeper.

This is currently my most hated room in the entire house. It's the first thing anyone sees.

How about 12" cubbies hidden from view down the long hall, all the way on the right side, where you could tuck in things like paper towels and shoes. I would make it the same height as the other cabinets, if possible. This is the closest I could come to what I'm trying to describe in a quick search. A 12" slot seems too narrow for a useful mirror.

Another option would be a pullout broom closet.

laughablemoments That was a thought of mine too, the cubbies, but with boxes so I can hide winter stuff, dog stuff. My SO tends to drop a lot of tools he's "still using" in there as well, so I thought I'd dedicate a box to all his random stuff as well. I'm worried I'll have trouble matching the white though. I also thought of the boom closet, but I am planning on making one closet the cleaning/supplies closet, so I won't have any use for a separate pull out.

I guess I'm worried if I butt the two cabinets together, it will overwhelm the eye when you first walk in. It will just be a wall of cabinets. I was thinking if there's something in the middle where I can drop my purse and keys, plus add a colorful image there, it will break it up a little.

If you have the 12" space to the far right, could you put hooks on the side of the cabinet to hold a dog leash and the broom and dustpan? A folding step ladder could be stored in the space as well.

We cross-posted. So, the coats do not go in the cabinets??? What will be stored in the cabinets?

bac717 The step ladder is stored in the basement, since we use it down there the most. This is the interior of the cabinets:

The cleaning supplies are currently overflowing under the sink in the kitchen and bathroom, with the mop being downstairs and the vacuum in the office. I'm hoping to condense it all and keep it it in one location so that I'm not running all over the house before I actually start cleaning.

Sorry to confuse you. I'm thinking of a tower shelf 12" wide by 72", or however tall your cupboards are. You could line the shelves with baskets. One basket could be for your purse and keys, and your sweetie could have one for his tool drop-offs. The dog gets a dedicated basket, and the growlers could go in another one. I'd label each basket, at least until everyone memorized the contents. Rolls of paper towels could go on another shelf or two if wanted, and some of the shelves could hold shoes. Fresh white melamine is a fairly standard color, so I wouldn't worry too much about an exact match.

I'd put the shelf wherever it was most likely to be used. If that's the kitchen to the left of the shelf area, then I'd park the shelf tower right next to the doorway to the kitchen. We're creatures of habit and convenience, might as well work with that tendency and make it as easy as possible to retrain yourselves to use the baskets to catch stuff rather than the counter.

I'm hard pressed to find pictures exactly like what I'm trying to describe tonight. This bathroom shelf unit comes relatively close.

laughablemoments I realized what you meant as soon as I responded to you :) Do you think that will be too overwhelming to see as soon as you walk in? I keep thinking it will just looks like a giant wall of cabinets and am worried. Then again, that is a pretty popular thing to do right now.

That second picture will basically what the one will look like, but at least i can close a door around it. I'm sure if I really try, I'll be able to fit the coats in there.

I don't think it will look overwhelming. If anything, seeing all that white surface area will be calming as compared to the open storage that's there now.

Between the cabinets ... connect them with shelves and put baskets or boxes in the cubbyholes. And one section would have hooks on the cabinet side for keys.

Hopefully you will be able to find room in the cabinets for your coats. The coats on the wall hooks make the hall seem crowded. Perhaps to dress up the hallway a little bit you could hang some pictures or posters in frames, maybe even a mirror. An indoor/outdoor runner could add color and style. How often do you use the pull down staircase? My eye is totally drawn to that dangling rope. I would find a way to minimize that. With your new white closets, the space will be transformed.

It it were mine, I'd keep the hooks on the right of the hallway and add a long narrow bench against the wall -- something like a picnic table seat -- positioned either beneath the hooks or against the opposite wall, depending on which works better. The bench could be used to set your purse or sit to remove boots, etc. I'd also add a scatter rug or two.

In the larger area, I'm assuming that you are removing the corner seat and placing the new cabinets against the far wall. I'd position the cabinets and then decide whether the 12" gap would work better to the left or centered between them. The photos make it look like the larger area isn't rectangular... I'd be looking for a small round table that could fit the space. Not sure of your dimensions, though.

seagrass_gw I hope to be able to fit them in too. It's usually completely empty in the spring and summer, except for rain coats. It's also currently holding the dog's leash. The cord bugs me too. I'm going to create a hook and pull for it, with the pull being stored in one of the closets. But that will be another day.

party_music50 There isn't any room for a bench. The hallway is literally only as wide as the front door. I'm planning on putting a runner down and artwork above the doorway to pull your eye up as part of the makeover. You are correct about putting the cabinets where the bench is. That cabinet area space is about 76" long and 26" deep. The actual space right there is squarish, with the doorway on the left going into the kitchen and another door around the corner going into the bathroom.

ah, I see what you mean. Bathroom on one side and kitchen on the other. What's on the kitchen side of that wall? My sister and BIL had a somewhat similar situation to deal with... one change they made was to create an opening between the hallway and the kitchen... the opening is in the wall behind their sink... it gives the hallway more light and air -- but her kitchen is slightly higher than her entry hallway.

party_music50 That is of coursewhere the stove is at, as well as the main prep area. :)

I think a narrow bench under the coats would work fine. If you've got room to walk past the coats, you've got room to walk past the bench.

I have a bench in my mudroom which was intended as a place to sit while putting on shoes. But there's coat hooks above it. And it's always piled with stuff I've either brought into the house and dropped, or stuff that needs to go out to the garage.

So the bench doesn't need to be deep enough to sit on. Just enough to set down your keys, and hide shoes under. And make the coat hooks look less like an after thought.

And I agree with the suggestions of a narrow open shelving unit rather than a mirror or art. I assume those cabinets are deeper than 12", so the leftover space is deeper than it is wide. So you're not really going to see anything hanging in the back of it.

kaitie, it sounds like storage space is at a premium for you... can you hang a narrow shelf just above the hooks where the coats are hung? put some small baskets/containers on it to give you a place to stash hats, the dog's leashes, etc.