here is what the kitchen looked like before along with the stair utility room junction

bumping

Anthony,

Do you need the closet in your utility room? Could that be your pantry? Then you could have a straight path from the laundry into the kitchen. Doing this means you'll have to address the peninsula, maybe take some of those cabinets and make the island a bit longer. I didn't look at the proposed cabinetry you have shown, so not sure what it would entail.

We are definitely using the utility room as an extra pantry. I was considering moving the utility sink in the laundry (which we never use) into the garage, then we can convert the utility room into a pantry. We would stack the washer and dryer. This would give us about 4 floor to ceiling stacks for a pantry.

right now we are not removing the pantry, but I was considering it as a last minute change. We would need a pantry so I was considering closing the doorway and putting a small pantry there, with the rest of the pantry in the utility room.

the pantry has an angled wall because the stairs (stupidly) come out at an angle. If the pantry gets a right angle, the stairs would need to be straightened out too, not enough space between the pantry and the stairs. There is hvac right next to the stairs to the hvac would need to be moved as well.

If we took out the pantry, we would need to put at least a small pantry somewhere in the kitchen. Maybe next to the fridge which is right now just a junk area + microwave

I’d be sorry to see you lose the angled pantry in the kitchen, and I like the direct connection from the kitchen to the dining room. Have you considered putting a door of some sort on the back of the pantry that could operate as a pass through from the garage to the kitchen? Honestly though, it doesn’t look too far to carry groceries from the garage and set them on the peninsula. (It’s certainly a much shorter jaunt than what we do from our driveway, along the walkway across the front lawn, up the porch, through the entryway, across the kitchen and onto our kitchen island!)

Putting a pantry in the former doorway to the dining room would make it feel quite crowded while working at the stove. I think you will appreciate that straight run of counter next to the stove much more. You will need that left hand run as a landing zone for hot dishes, as chances are good that to the right of the stove will be full of prep stuff as you cook.

Personally, I think it can be a good thing to have what you’re calling a “junk area” somewhere in the kitchen. It’s helpful to have a “command center” (you can google those words and find images as examples) where a calendar, schedules, school papers, phone chargers, the iPad, etc. can all be housed where they’re convenient to access, but out of the way of the busyness of the food prep. That MW spot looks good for that. (Otherwise, that stuff might clutter up the peninsula, which I’m sure you’d rather keep clear for eating.) Nobody says you can’t put food items in drawers below the MW, though! It’s the perfect spot for boxes of cereal, snacks, and so forth. Maybe the top drawer could be outfitted with outlets for chargers where the electronics could dock, middle drawer for cereals, bottom one for snacks.

I agree with you that the trash and dw will conflict if they open directly across from each other. Your aisle is just a little too narrow for that. I know you said you wanted to put pots and pans in the island cabinet facing the stove in an earlier thread, but I still maintain that this is the best spot for trash in your layout. I’d like to suggest that you consider putting the pots and pans in the base cabinets to the left of the stove instead. This would allow the trash to pull out toward the range.

Maybe this is, way out there, but have you thought about swapping living and dining rooms? Close the door off to dining room and open a door to the back of the living room.

Hi, again, Anthony.

I agree having a pantry in the kitchen proper is ideal. Here's an illustration of my idea regarding removing the corner pantry. Maybe it's too late for you to change, but your layout with the peninsula and island just looks odd on paper. This change gives you a clear path from the utility room into the kitchen and from the stairs, lengthens the island and allows a tall pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator. It does, however, mean you lose the "junk" space.