Can you post a layout that has more dimensions labeled? It looks pretty narrow between the range and the island when the oven door is open.

I don't have a pic with the dimensions labeled, but the distance from the island to the perimeter counters is 48" on each side.

I would move the sink down slightly closer to the fridge and make sure the dishwasher was between sink and fridge. The area between the sink and cooktop/range is prepping “gold”; Since you have the perimeter space, I would want more area there to spread out.

Do you prefer to prep on the island or on the perimeter b/w the sink and range?

If the island, then I would seriously consider switching the range and sink sides so the long end faces the range and then adding a prep sink to the island.

If the perimeter, then definitely move the sink down toward the refrigerator/freezer so you have more useful workspace b/w the sink and range.

Microwave -- I'd put a drawer in the island on the refrigerator end to keep it out of the main work zones but not far from them.

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[FYI...If your designer put those seats on the end like that, then I question whether s/he knows what they're doing. There is no way 2 seats can be on a corner b/c legs/knees from the two seats cannot occupy the same space!]

Thanks for the thoughts. If I swap the range and sink, the basic “ice, water, stone, fire” arrangement would be lost.

Not when you add the prep sink, as suggested, while keeping the larger one for clean-up. Buehl is asking you to think about how you want to use the island. Prep? Then add a sink and switch appliances. If it's more about extra counter space and seating, then move the one (large) sink away from the corner some more so that it's a more comfortable work area between it and the range.

If this is more of a custom build/reno, then seriously consider raising the your countertops to a more comfortable height for yourselves. A finished height of 36" is standard but you might find it easier to work with ~38". Just watch the spacing between them and any uppers (18" or more) so you can tuck common plug-in appliances underneath.

Edit: yeah, only one person will be at the short end of your island unless they're newly in love, when lots of touching is SOP.

With a 48" gas range you're going to want a 54" hood. So not much window space is going to be left if you do the switch. If you want 30" more counter space on the sink counter you can flip the freezer around the corner into the pantry. . . . . .The most usable pantry shelving is 11-12" deep.

In our house the cooking time is often the larger percentage of the time spent working. It depends entirely on what is being prepared. When guests are present the majority of the kitchen time is cooking. Prep was done earlier.

As I looked at the plan, I was thinking the same as buehl. Switching the range and the sink, and including a prep sink on the island would give you a nice prep triangle, and a separate clean-up zone.

A 48" range seems very large for a kitchen this size--you might consider a 36" range, which would give you space for wider windows on that wall.

Dear Laurie,

The Reason you are here is that you don’t know how to read and interpret your kitchen plan. The majority of people don’t.

If you did you would already know what benefits and disadvantages this kitchen layout has for you. So you would know which advantages to keep and which performance problems need to be resolved, fixed, or eliminated.

For starters like many of the layout posted this layout is not a complete design. Your layout has no base cabinetry shown which makes reading a layout more difficult because we (people trying to help you) all have to guess what’s there. You have no wall cabinetry shown and there is little possibility for any.

Your pantry is HUGE which could be a good thing and the counters are drawn at 2’-0” deep. Is there going to be base and wall cabinetry in the pantry? Don’t know, have to guess.

Are all of your appliances shown? Do you have a list of all the appliances you would love to have in a perfect world, or are you getting what you think or where told would fit? Is a 30” all ref going to suit your needs for as long as you’re in this home? Do you really need a 30” all freezer? Do you not want wall ovens because you prefer a range with ovens below, or do you think wall ovens won’t fit?

These are just some of the questions that need to be asked and answered if you are designing your new life in your new kitchen, and not just a new kitchen.

Without seeing your architectural drawings, or exterior elevations I can’t agree with switching the range and the sink, because I don’t know how this window change will affect the exterior design of your home.

Views you may have, the structure of your building, etc. So without all the additional information you may be fixing one problem and creating another. Which is not helpful.

There is a ton of information you can gather from a kitchen layout. Let’s take a look at how yours works overall.

Your island separates work space from gathering space so when you entertain you can work and entertain your guests at the same time and your guests won’t get underfoot. Because all of your major appliances are in work space. However when you’re entertaining and your kitchen is filled with guests you may not be able to easily get into your pantry.

Your island, because it is 10’ long, appears to be too narrow it should be at least 42” wide but it looks to be 36”wide. If you make it wider it will “Feel” like it’s encroaching on your living room space. Or you can make your work aisle 42” wide instead of 48” to pick up the 6” in width to get a more pleasing rectangular shape. As it is drawn your island will feel very long and very narrow.

Also, your kitchen is open to your living room and kitchens can be noisy especially since you cook a lot. Just something to be aware of if you haven’t had a kitchen open to a living or family room before.

Kitchen Performance

Your work triangle is about as large as you can get it but it’s not terrible because your kitchen is small. You’ll just have to do a little more walking than you would if the triangle were smaller. You could switch the ref and freezer to save you a few steps but you may not like having both doors swinging in the same direction.

Storage:

Your pantry is Huge which could be good. Not sure if you are going to store kitchen items that won’t fit in your kitchen cabinetry. Or if you’re using it just for back up pantry storage, or as a sort of butler’s, pantry because the tops are drawn 25” deep. Since there is no door on your pantry I can only guess.

Dish and glass storage:

You have room for one small wall cabinet about 24” wide to the left of your ref/f. You may be able to store glasses you use daily there but your dishes will have to be stored in cabinet drawers. Maybe to the right of your dishwasher or on the island?

Pot, pan, and lid storage:

Standing looking at the range the base cabinet to the left appears to be 30” wide which as a 3 drawer base would work well for pot, pans, lids, and cooking utensil storage. However if you center the range on that wall it may not be wide enough. Especially if you’re considering framed cabinetry.

If there is a corner susan to the right of the range, so you can make full use of the inside corner, the base cabinet that remains adjacent to the range would be about 24” wide and not of much use for storing bake ware which would have to be stored in the island in a 30”-36” wide base cabinet.

You could add a pair of wall cabinets for active pantry storage on the range wall but they will be narrow about 18” wide. So with a 54” hood, depending upon ceiling height they maybe too narrow.

Your island has a microwave on it, your bake ware, if your add a second sink, which I think you’ll need if you want more than one water source, the majority of your islands storage space is spoken for.

I don’t have your kitchen item inventory checklist of what you have in kitchen items that will need to fit into this kitchen layout. But based upon the amount of cabinetry you have in this plan. And small appliances you have and use that haven’t been discussed or accounted for. I would guess that much of it will have to be stored in your pantry.

Making your kitchen very inefficient, because you will have to go to your pantry to get many of the items you will need to provide food and beverage service. That is a lot of walking you’ll be doing and a lot of time you’ll be wasting.

At your main sink you have a staging area (counters) for dishes, glasses, pots and pans when you clear the island or dining table. However, I don’t know where your pull out trash/recycling bins would go that would work efficiently in your clean up area.

Your prep area, whether located between the range and main sink or on the island, creates a need for additional cabinetry storage space you just done have.

Your appliance requirements:

At your range you have enough room on both sides of it for staging items you’ll need and use in cooking and baking.

When using your ref you’ll have to walk past the freezer to get to counter top or use the island behind you for loading and unloading items. This will make using the ref more difficult and time consuming.

I could go on but my hand is cramping up from all this writing. I hope you get the idea.

You are making the same mistakes almost Everyone makes in designing a new kitchen. You are focused on getting your kitchen done. When Your FOCUS should be on HOW you are going to Live your new life in your new kitchen and home AFTER your kitchen is done.

Two very different problems to solve, two very different approaches, and two very different set of results to achieve.

The First gets you a beautiful new kitchen Everyone Else Loves. A Kitchen you don’t know how to work in, but realize you’ll have to adapt to when you move into it. And as long as you know where everything is you’ll make do. Just like you adapted to your current kitchen when you moved in.

The other delivers what you truly want. That new, better, easier, less time consuming life you really want and expect to get to live in your new kitchen that’s waiting for you, to enjoy, on the other side of your new kitchen project. That life you don’t have access to or get to live now in your current kitchen.

EVERYONE designs the kitchen but very few designers also design the life the client is going to Live in their new kitchen AFTER it’s done.

Your new life doesn’t begin until AFTER your new kitchen is done and continues everyday for as long as you own it.

I hope this has been helpful.

Joe Brandao

Kitchen Design Company

Thanks for all the feedback. I've been traveling for work and unable to get back to this thread until now -- a lot for me to digest. The major thing I've gotten out of this is that I need to go with the 36" range (or cooktop if we go that way).

Answers to a few questions:

I am the "head chef" and my husband is often in the kitchen helping me with prep or doing cleanup as I make my messes.

The pantry is planned to have cabinetry (uppers and lowers, with countertops) to provide my husband space for his espresso machine (we will have a small sink in there too, probably under the window in the pantry.) I plan to store larger, less frequently used items like crock pots, big roasting pans, in the pantry.

Small appliances - I'm probably forgetting something, but we have (and rarely use) small and large food processors, blender, stand mixer, 2 crockpots, instapot, coffee maker, espresso machine, coffee grinder. The only thing that would be on the kitchen counter full-time is the coffee maker. The espresso machine and grinder would be on the counter in the pantry. We don't own a toaster or toaster oven.

We do need a 30" freezer since we live in the mountains far from the affordable grocery stores. So we tend to shop for meat at Costco once a month and fill up the freezer space we have.

I am OK with not having a ton of upper cabinets since I feel like they make the kitchen seem cave-like. I like the design mama-goose did with the sink on the short wall and upper cabinets on each side. I'll have our designer mockup that and see how it feels.