Catching up on this post from yesterday… it just gets progressively funnier. Since we’ve bypassed delicacy, I’m not actually concerned about the *need* for an exhaust fan… And I agree that I don’t expect a guest bath to see much use…just the general strangeness of sitting on the sofa chatting with friends, while some one is in the bathroom two feet away. How often that would be a problem? Probably never… like you said, they can go upstairs. Bellsmom-- I’m impressed with your photoshop skills. That looks really nice!! Thank you! There really isn’t another spot for a powder room. We had considered moving it to the other end of the kitchen, where it could be aligned with the fridge and you wouldn’t see it as a boxed-out area, but then it’s really IN the kitchen. And disrupts the whole layout of the area. We’ve gone back and forth on the backdoor. Bumping it out to square the room would be ideal. But it would require adding a foundation, and also removing the concrete and brick stairs that lead directly down to already existing concrete patio. So it’s not just the door… it’s the other twenty things it affects. I wanted to square the room, and put French doors on the right hand wall, but there is a tree there, and adding steps down to ground level would require removing it. I love seeing it out the window, and was unsure I wanted to take it down. The problem with this project is that we are trying to fix someone else’s poor design rather than doing it right. Which may be only marginally easier than starting from scratch. Thank you so much for sharing all your thoughts!! I will upload a photo when we have some kind of mock up of the wall… hopefully it will give us a better idea of how it might look in reality. Bellsmom’s photo kind of looks too good to be true. And I liked the idea of bookshelves, although the wall would probably be better as a sofa wall, since the room is long and narrow and the sofa depth would be better not sticking into the room.

Will you have a walk-in pantry? Many people who only use their MWs occasionally put them in their pantry. As to mounting it above your single wall oven, that's actually an ideal place since they both can be mounted at almost any height as long as you meet the minimum distance requirements (see your oven and MW installation specs). I think the ideal height for a MW is b/w your waist & chest. I think the oven should be lower than that anyway. Please note though, that it's difficult to give advice without "seeing" the kitchen and without more information such as wall lengths, etc. I suggest you draw your kitchen to-scale, preferably on graph paper, with doors/doorways, windows, etc. marked along with their sizes and distances b/w each other & walls and post it here. See the "Read Me" thread (linked below) for more information on posting. I know you're trying to remodel quickly, but I assume you don't want to spend all the $$$ on this remodel only to have it not work for you. We can help you quickly w/a design if (1) we have the necessary information and (2) there's a quick turn-around w/responses. If you do go the post route, let it be known in the post that you have a small window of opportunity to work on the design. HTH! Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Oh thank you so much for posting that other brick kitchen :) I knew there was one out there since I'd researched it so long ago! You know...a little wine fridge in that microwave/coffee bar actually would be easy to do. I can do one upstairs (kitchen) and one downstairs in the man lounge :) Cheri :) Come on up! The weather's fine! ::looking outside at the six new inches of snow:: lovely actually...gorgeous LOL The micro location as in the last drawing is actually where it is now (in a built in oven and micro combo) and really it's handy there. We're not micro cookers, but if we were there would be a bit of open space there to land a dish, or right behind on the island. I think I'm going to go with it there and raise the cabinets up on the other side for more counter space. Venice thanks for the perspective in using a 7' isle kitchen. DH is the big cook in our kitchen, and he just isn't a fan of an isle that big. If this kitchen didn't have the opposing doors, we'd just work in a real island or do a U shaped kitchen, but given the circumstances, it works better with an island on wheels. And it can be rolled outside as well as inside which would be handy during parties. Heck I might get one for the deck :) We'll have a big smoker/bbq out there anyhoo. Lyfia LOL I have so many stoves and fridges I got confused :oP You mean the "current" stove not the future one heh heh Well still that poses a problem because the brick in the fridge location is made specifically to squeeze right around the fridge. The brick does not go all the way back on the wall as shown here, instead it's just on the outter edge so if I don't put a fridge where the fridge is, I would have to rebuild that side of the brick wall so you'd have a nice wall in there...verses cinderblock which is what you see after about five inches of brick. And I'd have to move the water location, which would be a bear with the brick enclosure I'm told. I had thought of a second sink where I currently have the microwave...but that high cost to move the water over there was prohibitive to that idea. My budget for this remodel is $150,000 but I would like to keep it below $100 if I can because that leaves me room to sell immediately if I want and still pull in some cash on the place. The $150 I'd have to work off for a year to see profit. Of course it would be easier if cheri could get her bumm up here and rent when it's open in July/August :oP heh heh I know that budget seems pretty large, but the place needs quite a bit of work. We need to do floor throughout the entire 2600 sq ft (we'll be doing hardwood), quite a bit of drywall work, remove wallpaper from 30' walls in the living area, and upstairs, texture those walls, paint, rebuild the stairway with wood and change out the balastars, remove a ceiling and a wall in the bottom level, and reface a fireplace down there, new kitchen, new deck, redo 3.5 bathrooms from the ground up, yank out a pink brick entry floor, redo the laundry room, new doors, change out all trim, replace a few windows, replace the furnace and hot water heater, and the baseboard hot water heaters, oh and furnish and decorate it for executives :( It's a lot!

@Build Beautiful thanks for your thoughts & kind words- it took about 100 drafts to get to this point but we’re finally getting there :) The space is only 708 square feet overall with the Kitchen taking up 210 sf total so far...so rather small compared to average homes but you make due with what your given right? Since its such a small area with the dining and living areas so close without separation the island is going to be a furniture style builtin without seating. Its only my partner & I living here so no need for all that just for the handful of times a year we entertain large parties. Plus any extra storage for things like batteries, light bulbs, dog snacks, etc that can stay out of the kitchen is a bonus! Only real entry point will be front door. The other “doors” on that wall will be European Tilt & Turn Doors so they’ll appear to be full pane glass windows unless opened from the inside. The patio door is a similar situation- it’ll be 3 large sheets of pane-less glass that operate independently & slide along a teflon track & stack open if desired (so no hardware on the outside for either of these walls). Unless you already know they slide apart & open it’ll appear as if its just a large wall of glass....