We had a narrow small galley kitchen circa 70s and began the process of turning it to a 2010 kitchen. The process (looking for cabinets, tiles, etc.) took 4 months. The work started on May 3 but was halted after 3 weeks as the contractor was a scammer (took our money and went AWOL!). We found another wonderful contractor and on July 3 our kitchen was finished (still some very minor work to be done)!!!!!! The old kitchen had two rows: cabinets, stove and fridge on one side, and sink, dishwasher and more cabinets on the other side. The sink blocked a floor-to-ceiling window which could not be opened. The stove and dishwasher were opposite each other and the fridge and sink were opposite each other, meaning you couldn't open one appliance without closing another! The space in the middle was so narrow that only one person could stand. We came up with a U shaped kitchen--the new refrigerator (a 24"x78" Liebherr) opening to the left with two narrow cabinets flanking a 24" Fischer Paykel stove, curving to a corner cabinet. The countertop goes around with the dishwasher and at the sink at the end of the wall, adjacent to the window which is now ublocked! On the other side of the window we have a double cabinet and a tall pantry. The old kitchen had swing doors which was a pain; we have replaced it with a sliding opaque glass door which hides in the wall when not used. Now we have more space and all the appliances can be opened without bumping into each other. We chose Elmwood framless oak cabinets in black, narrow but tall fridge, 24" stove, 18" dishwasher all in matte stainless steel to maximize space, Blanco stianless sink and faucet, Aquasana water filter, White Fantasy granite (looks like an abstract painting so so much movement), white ceramic subway backsplashes and large light grey ceramic tiles for the floor. We love our kitchen. To see the pictures please go to Flickr and search "Old and new kitchen" by Nilgris. Our advice to anyone considering a remodel is DO NOT HIRE A CONTRACTOR FROM THE ITERNET, AND CHECK OUT REFERENCES, BBB, ETC. Good Luck!

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess it just reinforces for me that the problem I have is how to configure the "breakfast room." I'm half tempted just to forget it, and focus my efforts and limited money on getting the most out of the galley. I hate this option, though, if only because it's probably not possible for me to squeeze sufficient food storage into the galley. Plus I really want to get better use out of the breakfast room space - with a small house it's particularly problematic to have wasted space. My last effort to make the room more user friendly involved putting in banquette style seating (a Home Decorators marked down version of the Ballard Designs corner benches)... it seems like it was never as convenient as it looked. Because of the proliferation of doors (entry door, closet door, staircase opening, opening to the playroom on the other side of the entry), it's hard to float a table in the center of the room without it basically feeling like you're sitting in the entryway or at the foot of the stairs. So after that long defense I've given a shot at a slightly different layout which satisfies my hopes for future Costco runs. Because of the stub wall on the fridge side, the high cabinets would be the slimmer depth models that Ikea has - only about 13 inches deep. I've stuck with what seems like an unpopular idea of a peninsula, which looks very strange because the Ikea software is quirky. I'd love any more critiques, feedback, ideas, whatever! I've tried to make it more symmetrical A couple of suggestions centered on eliminating the wall between the galley and the breakfast room - unfortunately it's just not an option. It would cost me about $5k to widen the opening so that the two rooms were better connected, and that's just not worth it to me - in part because it would create new problems (like the fact that you'd see all the appliances from the front door, which just seems wrong to everyone I ask.) @momtofour: is your kitchen on the FKB? If you have any pictures online, I'd love to see them. I think the idea of a super long run of base cabinets sounds great; in practice I'd worry that the countertops would just become a dumping ground for clutter. I currently have a 9 foot stretch of counterspace on the opposite side from the range, and I don't use it all that much, perhaps because I'm not a great cook. The other issue is simply that the wall stub is 19 inches (23 with molding) so I'd need to have reduced depth cabinets on either side of it. @doraville: Unfortunately I can't really move the stove without running a new gas line, which I ruled out at the start to keep costs and drama as low as possible. But maybe I'm overestimating what a big deal that would be? BTW I've almost settled on going with the lighter wood doors. What I like best about the darker wood model from Ikea is the glass door version, which has divided lites. But I don't need display space - I need storage space.

Incredible transformation!

I agree you need some pro help IMO pass throughs are never good and I honestly cannot see how removing a wall will get you anything better and have no idea how that would help to see into the FR at all. I like galley kitchens they usually are very functional . I would get a KD to help with layout but there is no way to remove a wall at all to make this better unless you take out the whole wall in the entry and then you would have anopen kitchen and I don’t think that is agood idea.You need ana rchitect probably or at least a good interior designer Could you post the actual size of the kitchen width. I can’t see how closing the window end would be nice at all. I also do not see one drawer for your base cabinets which is amust IMO. As for a pantry you will be much better off with pull out pantries in this space .