A couple of thoughts: I very much like moving the refrigerator to where the desk was. I'd swap the door location so that the fridge is at the end of the run by the cooktop. This will: give you landing space by the fridge, give you a longer run by the cooktop, put the fridge closer to the island for prep, and give you more space in the laundry room for either a bigger closet or a longer counter (for folding clothes) or some cubbies if that's also a mudroom. (In your current iteration, that space to the right of the door in the laundry room is unused.) Also you can add seating to your island in an L shape, so that people seated can talk to each other. (Not sure about dimensions for the breakfast area tho; you'll need to draw in a table to scale and see if the seating at the right side of the island has room.) In my mockup I didn't extend the seating to the top left, as you might use that space for landing space for the ovens on the counter, and tray storage / pot holders etc. below. Another thought: if you move the prep sink to the right you can have a trash pullout in the island. If it pulls open toward the DW, it will be handy for clean up and also accessible when prepping at the island. This post was edited by chicagoans on Fri, Jan 4, 13 at 10:14

I would make the far wall into a majestic 'wall-o-cabinetry' but something that might look more like a butlers pantry when viewed from the kitchen, rather than a laundry room. Since you want to do something cheaply, I mocked something up with Ikea sized cabinets. I'm guessing something like this could be done in Adel White and Basalt Slate laminate for about $1500, which is not exactly the cheapest thing ever, but it's a thought. Here's a mockup: And here we go: Doing a tall pantry and the exterior corner would give you the vacuum storage, and with a creative behind the door hold you could get the kitchen rag hamper done too. Next in would be a pull-out trash organizer at 18" and then a blind corner with swing out for the kitty liter storage and what not. On the uppers some glass front doubles would look nice, but I mocked up three high 30" horizontal ones just for fun next to the 36" double on the end. I popped two 18" appliance garages in under the far corner to organize the small appliances. I tried doing this all in Ikea kitchen planner but got too frustrated with it. I think you get the idea though. It's not terribly important that it be Ikea, just if you want to do cheap cabinetry, at least they have a decent guarantee and good hardware. You would have to pull the blind corner out away from the wall in order to get it to work properly around a washer/dryer and you would need some filler up top, but none of what I put in would be too tight to not allow for all that.

Thanks. I definitely want both seating areas -- they will get used. If I put the fridge and pantry near the doorway, we've got max 4.5 ft aisle. I need 22" for fridge door clearance and then space for people seated at the island. I think that's tight. I am thinking of putting the fridge toward the end of the run closer to the bottom of the U where there is no island. I would put a 15" cabinet before the fridge to give some space to open the door, and then the pantry after. Maybe do the upper 15" can with no door and store dishes and bowls there. Thoughts? Fridge further to the right (closer to the door) or left (closer to corner with range). Thanks!!!

Any benefit to having the refrigerator at the end of the short wall vs end of long wall? The advantages to having the fridge on the short wall are that it's closer to the entry, where groceries are brought in, and so more convenient for stowing perishables, and more convenient for anyone coming from the bedrooms and living areas. The island can be moved toward the table to make the short aisle a little wider--maybe a moot point since you are omitting seating on the back of the island, and the long aisle will be wider. OTOH, it's nice to have the fridge near the dining table, if you need milk, salad dressing, etc., during the meal, but having it on the end near the table means it will block the light from the sunroom slider. You have the windows on the end to help alleviate that problem, and you might consider making the window over the sink wider, but that's more $$$, and you lose upper cabinet space. Another advantage to having the fridge on the long wall is better functional line-up--fridge-->sink-->prep-->range. DW and sink can also stay on the same wall, without DW being in the prep space. ... would I just add 6" filler panel between the range and sink to meet the 36" recommended distance? Did you mean range and DW? You could add a 6" or 12" slot for large cutting boards and/or baking sheets--I keep both in the same 12" filler cabinet that was plugged in between the end of a cabinet run and the wall. It's beside my baking counter, so a perfect location in my kitchen. If you're moving the DW, you have the option to use a 36" drawer base, great for pots and pans, convenient to the range, although usually in that case, you'd want the trash pull-out in the prep space between the sink and range, rather than on the left side of the sink. With the DW on the short wall, you can't move the sink any closer to the corner, and still have space in front of the sink to load the DW, so I'd leave the trash on the left side. That presents another problem--you'll need a 2-3" return panel on the left side of the DW, to support the counter (plus the fridge panel, if you decide to enclose it), so there will be only 12-15" between the open DW door and the perpendicular counter, to stand and load dishes into the upper corner cabinets. You could keep dishes in drawers in the island, which puts them just behind your prep space, or maybe in drawers facing the fridge: In your kitchen my preference would be the one you said you liked, with the sink, DW, and fridge on the long wall, and if you put an 18" deep pantry cabinet on the end, then there would be more space for the table. Think about the way you cook, and access the kitchen--maybe that will help you decide.