What you store is totally personal. I have three IKEA Pax 36" wardrobes (in the white, raised panel design) and love them. I have 2 deep ones for my clothes (there's only one closet in the master bd, and it's 4' wide) and one shallow one for linens. Few halls will be able to take a deep cabinet. Ours is 6' wide, and because of the door layout, a 2' deep closet would be claustrophobic. We do not have many linens, but our shallow cabinet is FULL with just linens for our family of four, plus some dirty clothes space at the bottom. The nice thing about the depth, though, is that everything is very accessible. We keep our meds, tp, etc. in the bathroom. Triage everything BEFORE investing in more storage. How many towels do you really need? How many meds are old? How many are duplicates? Lots of people have Nyquil AND Mucinex AND Sudafed without realizing that there is only ONE effective OTC decongestant, ONE effective OTC expectorant, and ONE effective OTC cough suppressant. Have a small bottle of decongestant/expectorant for the day (cough suppressant optional), one expectorant only for night plus Afrin for night use in emergencies, and that's it. With a bottle of pain killers and a swig of the alcohol of your choice, and you can recreate whatever branded blend you desire with a lot less total space. The basic rule is to learn to check ingredients before buying and make sure you don't duplicate products.

Check Ballard Designs, they have several less than 11". Also, Pier One has a nice 10" deep console. http://www.pier1.com/lincoln-console-table/2707854.html#q=Console&start=1 I tried to link to the Ballard consoles but got cut off from my post. Just search "console" on their site. Here's one: http://www.ballarddesigns.com/martin-3-door-console/376953 There are several more: http://www.ballarddesigns.com/lafayette-44-22-console/362696 I have this one in our narrow entry hall: http://www.ballarddesigns.com/castellon-console/304800 I was happy with the finish and the quality but I did not pay that much for it! There is a post on this forum by TurquioseRose that shows a photo of the Pier One console in her narrow hallway. Not sure how to find it. seagrass

Thanks for your responses everyone! I appreciate each and every one. Kippy -- looks like your pantry will be super functional! Unfortunately can't add any more width to our pantry. Stan -- thank you for your input. I think I agree with you on the 8" counter. No can do. Also thanks for your suggestion on the 4" shelves just on one side. That might do the trick! Practigal and Looklake -- the 18" pull-outs sound dreamy, but I really really really want a 36"x24" countertop. Those appliances need to be out of my way. I would leave them out if I used them consistently at least once a week, but there are times when I use them every other day, or not at all for weeks at a time. And Looklake, the size of the pantry is hardly ideal...we are turning a coat closet into a pantry and the size cannot be changed. Karenseb -- when you say pull-outs, do you mean drawers or roll trays? The roll trays would waste more space, right? And any idea what the weight limits might be? Also would it be ok that the pull-outs couldn't fully extend? Since I only have 45" total pantry depth minus the 24" depth of the base cabinet.

Hi Sharon, A few key things to keep in mind when designing are privacy and accessibility. I've attached a basic layout which I'll walk through my design choices, bottom up. Having the ensuite below the bedroom provides more privacy to ensure passersby have less visibility. The study office also provides a quiet room to seperate the bedrooms, create privacy between them and when entering that lower section from the hallway. The bathroom being located above makes it accessible for guests using the living and dining room without voiding privacy of the bedrooms. Attaching the living and dining room to the balcony means guests can easily access it in the case that you would like to have drinks when friends/family are over and the kitchen being there provides easy access to common rooms as well as a view over the balcony. One consideration would be switching the bedroom and ensuite, converting the ensuite to a bathroom so the second bedroom has easy access to a bathroom (rather than walking all the way down the hallway). I hope this helps!